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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
So I'm coming home from KC and just finished taking the astb and got a 58 6/7/6. I wish some of the aviation scores were higher on the aviation portion but overall I'm quite pleased and putting my package together. Quick background, I did 4 years in the marines as an 0313/ LAV Crewman. Im at 3.1gpa finishing up my degree this December with the extremely competitive degree of General Studies! Hopefully all that doesn't work against me too hard when it comes to the board. Thanks everyone again for all the information on here!
First of all,
I want to thank everyone who provided information/feedback regarding the test. It helped me tremendously!
I just took it today and scored 70 9/9/9. I studied the Barron's practice tests, and went through this forum from like page 280 till the end lol. Studied for 3-4 hours everyday for 8 days. My background is Mechanical Engineering with a 3.8 GPA (just graduated in December and am working full time).
OAR
Math - Questions got VERY difficult quick... I felt like I was doing horrible. Only knew how to do 50-60% of them... If you start getting freakin hard questions you are on the right track. By the end I was answering basic calc questions and logarithms. Kicked me out with 10 min left.
Mechanical - Super easy for me because of my background. Had to guess on 1 or 2... took like 5 minutes total
Reading - REALLY hard for me... felt like I was doing bad. Took the ENTIRE time. Was confident on 3/4 of the problems.
ASTB Specific
Av knowledge - Same as everyone said above. Mostly aviation questions (I am a private pilot so this was easy)...completely guessed on the 2 or 3 history questions... Got another 3-4 on parts of a ship (luckily I studied that).
UAV - Flashcards online HELPED A TON. Got 100% correct and average 1.8-2.3 seconds ish
Joystick madness - Right off the bat thought I was getting f*... It was hard for me the entire time (but apparently I did well). Stayed calm and really focused on getting the emergency procedures/listening correct (even if I lost focus on the tracking)
Hope this helps! Don't hesitate to message me or reply if you have questions!
I want to thank everyone who provided information/feedback regarding the test. It helped me tremendously!
I just took it today and scored 70 9/9/9. I studied the Barron's practice tests, and went through this forum from like page 280 till the end lol. Studied for 3-4 hours everyday for 8 days. My background is Mechanical Engineering with a 3.8 GPA (just graduated in December and am working full time).
OAR
Math - Questions got VERY difficult quick... I felt like I was doing horrible. Only knew how to do 50-60% of them... If you start getting freakin hard questions you are on the right track. By the end I was answering basic calc questions and logarithms. Kicked me out with 10 min left.
Mechanical - Super easy for me because of my background. Had to guess on 1 or 2... took like 5 minutes total
Reading - REALLY hard for me... felt like I was doing bad. Took the ENTIRE time. Was confident on 3/4 of the problems.
ASTB Specific
Av knowledge - Same as everyone said above. Mostly aviation questions (I am a private pilot so this was easy)...completely guessed on the 2 or 3 history questions... Got another 3-4 on parts of a ship (luckily I studied that).
UAV - Flashcards online HELPED A TON. Got 100% correct and average 1.8-2.3 seconds ish
Joystick madness - Right off the bat thought I was getting f*... It was hard for me the entire time (but apparently I did well). Stayed calm and really focused on getting the emergency procedures/listening correct (even if I lost focus on the tracking)
Hope this helps! Don't hesitate to message me or reply if you have questions!
That is exactly how I felt. If you are getting difficult questions over and over you are doing well apparently.
TlaurenS93
Tyler Lauren
Hey, this is extremely late... but what kind of math questions did you see on your final OAR attempt?
TlaurenS93
Tyler Lauren
Hey! Do you remember the farmer fraction question being 375? I tried working this out... I converted the tons into lbs, and just cancelled them out. I could be wrong.
joshanders13
Member
I took my first exam back in February and received a 50 5/5/5. I didn’t know much about the test going into it and, obviously, didn’t do too well. The joystick portion really kicked my ass since I didn’t grow up with video games and didn’t completely understand the inverted controls. However, exactly 30 days later I went back again and got a 50 4/5/5—I was devastated that I did even worse! But I think there were a few things that really kept me from doing well. I went back on June 21 for my third and final try and received a 51 6/7/7, which isn’t super amazing scores but scores that I am still proud of.
Math – After my second exam I ended up creating a Khan Academy account and it was probably the best thing I could’ve done because it walked me through different formulas and problems and had videos to walk me through everything as well. I also ordered the Barron’s Math GRE book and it helped a lot, too. Pay attention to all the answers and know exactly which one you are clicking on—I got a little clicker happy on my first two tries and it hurt my scores.
Reading- This section is super face value, the only advice I can give is to read each statement allowed several times because they are super dry and boring and some of the answers seem right but they are just a little off—watch out for the little details. I actually ran out of time (I was in the middle of a question and it kicked me out) which probably hurt my score a little bit.
Mechanical-Huge emphasis on pulleys and the like, just make sure to brush up on high school physics.
ANIT-The Quizlet’s help so much! Memorize everything that you possibly can because this is the easiest section to improve on.
NATFI-This section pairs up two statements about how you would describe yourself more and they are usually super self-deprecating but make it through just by being honest.
UAV-The compass rose trick using the pencil as a spinner helped me so much—I missed a few but that just because I wasn’t paying to exactly which parking lot I was clicking on.
Dichotic Listening-The best advice I can give is to lean towards the target ear and bunch up your shoulder with side of the headphones to try to clearly hear in the target ear and push the other noise away. I also wrote down below the trigger and clutch which one I should press when there was an odd or even number because I know that the last time I took it I missed a lot of them because I wasn’t being careful.
2-D Tracking-I bought a joystick and throttle and I think it helped a little bit but I was practicing with a 3-D simulator and the test uses a pacman style layout with 2-D. What I did do was use a part of the scratch paper and write out PUSH=DIVE and PULL=CLIMB to remind myself that it was inverted. I also kept track of the larger side of the screen with both my eyes and out of the side of my left eye I kept track of the smaller section.
2-D Tracking & Dichotic-This is where shit gets real and I don’t think anybody really does that great here.
Emergency Procedures-Write them down but also before starting make sure that the I-knob and E-knobs are set to about 50 otherwise you have to take them fully back down or up in order for you to finish the emergency sequence.
Attached is a Word document that contains a lot of really useful flashcards, readings and practice tests.
- I spent the nights before the first two tests worrying about how well I would do and stayed up extremely late trying to cram information in before the exam but on my last exam I went out early with some friends to a pub and studied a little bit (but not too much) before going to bed relatively early and getting nearly 8 hours of sleep.
- I drank too much caffeine and didn’t really eat much before my first two tests but this time I took a slow morning and had only one cup of coffee and a full breakfast and some fish oil for brain activity.
- I didn’t really know what was going to happen during my first exam and only gave myself about a week to study and then in my second exam I studied up on what was in my first exam and got really cocky that I knew it all—the second exam was completely different than my first exam question wise.
- I prayed a lot before the exam and did some push-ups throughout in order to get rid of the built up nervous energy.
Math – After my second exam I ended up creating a Khan Academy account and it was probably the best thing I could’ve done because it walked me through different formulas and problems and had videos to walk me through everything as well. I also ordered the Barron’s Math GRE book and it helped a lot, too. Pay attention to all the answers and know exactly which one you are clicking on—I got a little clicker happy on my first two tries and it hurt my scores.
Reading- This section is super face value, the only advice I can give is to read each statement allowed several times because they are super dry and boring and some of the answers seem right but they are just a little off—watch out for the little details. I actually ran out of time (I was in the middle of a question and it kicked me out) which probably hurt my score a little bit.
Mechanical-Huge emphasis on pulleys and the like, just make sure to brush up on high school physics.
ANIT-The Quizlet’s help so much! Memorize everything that you possibly can because this is the easiest section to improve on.
NATFI-This section pairs up two statements about how you would describe yourself more and they are usually super self-deprecating but make it through just by being honest.
UAV-The compass rose trick using the pencil as a spinner helped me so much—I missed a few but that just because I wasn’t paying to exactly which parking lot I was clicking on.
Dichotic Listening-The best advice I can give is to lean towards the target ear and bunch up your shoulder with side of the headphones to try to clearly hear in the target ear and push the other noise away. I also wrote down below the trigger and clutch which one I should press when there was an odd or even number because I know that the last time I took it I missed a lot of them because I wasn’t being careful.
2-D Tracking-I bought a joystick and throttle and I think it helped a little bit but I was practicing with a 3-D simulator and the test uses a pacman style layout with 2-D. What I did do was use a part of the scratch paper and write out PUSH=DIVE and PULL=CLIMB to remind myself that it was inverted. I also kept track of the larger side of the screen with both my eyes and out of the side of my left eye I kept track of the smaller section.
2-D Tracking & Dichotic-This is where shit gets real and I don’t think anybody really does that great here.
Emergency Procedures-Write them down but also before starting make sure that the I-knob and E-knobs are set to about 50 otherwise you have to take them fully back down or up in order for you to finish the emergency sequence.
Attached is a Word document that contains a lot of really useful flashcards, readings and practice tests.
TlaurenS93
Tyler Lauren
Congrats on your scores! What are some of the math topics you encountered on your final attempt?
So I wanted to throw out there my thoughts and opinions about this test and how I approached it because my personality does not fit with much of the advice on this thread. I got what I think are decent scores after studying for about 2 weeks. For some people, years of studying and hours each day works so do that if it does but for me it doesn't. I don't retain information that way so don't over stress yourself out by thinking the only way to do well is years of knowledge and study. Second, I'm sure this is kind of weird to think this way, but I think the best way for you to get over the stressors is to accept that you know what you know and you don't know what you don't know. You are going to face questions that you know that you are not going to be able to figure out because you simply don't know how to. Accept that, choose an answer, and move on. By the time you're taking the test, you've learned all you're going to learn. Last, the answers are right in front of you. You have a 25% chance of getting the right answer so eliminate answers that are definitely wrong and your calculations aren't perfect but get close to one of the answers then go with that. Do your best and work hard but use common sense and try to relax as much as possible.
Math- This was difficult but easier than I expected. I had simplification problems, basic arithmetic, and fractions questions. Like I said above, use common sense and your best ability to narrow down the answers.
Reading- This absolutely sucked. I'm a decent reader and was getting hard questions so I think I was doing well. The format was a paragraph and 4 statements, no question. READ EVERY ANSWER! Read them all slowly and consider the answers carefully. My statements were all basically exactly the same except for one small word or phrase. Look for key words like "must" or "will" as opposed to "may" or "might".
Mechanical- just know basic physics properties like levers, pulleys, etc. There were a few laws questions and stuff that I legitimately had no clue about so I just guessed haha.
Anit- like everyone else says, this is just knowledge you know or you don't and there is a wide range of topics to study for it. Also I'm pretty sure the answer for the question regarding the aircraft converted to a tanker in OIF is the Tomcat, the S-3 Viking wasn't an answer.
Uav- I did ok and used the compass trick. I held it in my hand next to the screen and turned it because it was faster than looking down at the table. The questions switch quickly so be ready.
Stick control/dichotic- this was just wild. You kind of just have to do it and can't really practice since this throttle and joystick have awkward dead zones. For the emergency scenario's, I wrote the directions by drawing the toggles with an arrow and percentage to show which way to turn it and how much. It took maybe a couple of seconds and I was back on it.
Hope this helps someone!
Math- This was difficult but easier than I expected. I had simplification problems, basic arithmetic, and fractions questions. Like I said above, use common sense and your best ability to narrow down the answers.
Reading- This absolutely sucked. I'm a decent reader and was getting hard questions so I think I was doing well. The format was a paragraph and 4 statements, no question. READ EVERY ANSWER! Read them all slowly and consider the answers carefully. My statements were all basically exactly the same except for one small word or phrase. Look for key words like "must" or "will" as opposed to "may" or "might".
Mechanical- just know basic physics properties like levers, pulleys, etc. There were a few laws questions and stuff that I legitimately had no clue about so I just guessed haha.
Anit- like everyone else says, this is just knowledge you know or you don't and there is a wide range of topics to study for it. Also I'm pretty sure the answer for the question regarding the aircraft converted to a tanker in OIF is the Tomcat, the S-3 Viking wasn't an answer.
Uav- I did ok and used the compass trick. I held it in my hand next to the screen and turned it because it was faster than looking down at the table. The questions switch quickly so be ready.
Stick control/dichotic- this was just wild. You kind of just have to do it and can't really practice since this throttle and joystick have awkward dead zones. For the emergency scenario's, I wrote the directions by drawing the toggles with an arrow and percentage to show which way to turn it and how much. It took maybe a couple of seconds and I was back on it.
Hope this helps someone!
Some topics I encountered:
https://medium.com/@LindaVivah/learn-how-to-read-binary-in-5-minutes-dac1feb991e
https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/exponent-fractional.html
It's probably been said a million times but I'll reiterate... The test is adaptive so it will throw questions at you of increasing difficulty until YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THEM lol... Every single person that takes this test is going to miss questions. It is literally designed to find your limits of ability. On math I only answered like 13-14 questions and took almost 30 minutes before it kicked me out...Probably scored a 50-60% raw score if I had to guess. Stay calm, be confident, eliminate obvious wrong answers like @jalen22 said. Just a tip: if you have to do long division by hand (which you will probably) most of the time you only have to solve to the first digit because the options all have a different first digit haha (not always but check for it before you start going ham on your scratch paper).
Good luck to all of you! You'll be fine.
https://medium.com/@LindaVivah/learn-how-to-read-binary-in-5-minutes-dac1feb991e
https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/exponent-fractional.html
It's probably been said a million times but I'll reiterate... The test is adaptive so it will throw questions at you of increasing difficulty until YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THEM lol... Every single person that takes this test is going to miss questions. It is literally designed to find your limits of ability. On math I only answered like 13-14 questions and took almost 30 minutes before it kicked me out...Probably scored a 50-60% raw score if I had to guess. Stay calm, be confident, eliminate obvious wrong answers like @jalen22 said. Just a tip: if you have to do long division by hand (which you will probably) most of the time you only have to solve to the first digit because the options all have a different first digit haha (not always but check for it before you start going ham on your scratch paper).
Good luck to all of you! You'll be fine.
They must have a large bank of these questions because I specifically remember choosing S-3 for this question.
Yea they must, I found that both planes have had tanker roles after your comment the other day so I was worried. Im just glad that both weren't options haha
I just remembered a question that I had and it threw me off. It was something like, "if you're landing on runway 28, what runway heading would be the opposite?" My initial thought was 80 but the only options were 100, 180, 240, and 360. Can someone tell me what I missed? Lol
Runways are in magnetic compass heading. So Runway 28 is facing in the direction of 280 degrees. To find the other, just subtract 180 to get the opposite direction. In this case 280-180 = 100 so the direction is 100 degrees and the runway name is "Runway 10".