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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)

I'm totally confused by #42 from OAR Math Guide.docx in https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6

Yeah I know that two complementary angles sum to 90. It says the correct answer is "A: Complementary angles are two angles that equal 90º when added together."

71 + 90 is != 90. Am I misinterpreting something?

I recall seeing a question like this on my first test attempt.
I remember that question. It is wrong. There are a few in the study guides that are not correct.
 

nyynyg

Member
I would like to thank the earlier participants of this forum, as it was extremely helpful in my preparation for the ASTB. I am a recent college graduate with no aviation or military background and played a decent amount of video games when I was younger but would not consider myself a “gamer” in any sense. I took the test relatively recently and scored 69/9/8/9. While I did not initially plan on posting and most of what I have to say has more or less been stated in earlier posts, I feel obliged to detail my process and advice here considering how helpful this forum was to me.

Overall: I would say I began studying in earnest roughly 2-3 weeks before my exam. The number of hours per day varied considerably, however in the last week I studied rigorously and took a few days off of work to fully commit myself. While I tried to adequately prepare for every subtest, the ones that took up most of my study time were the Math, Mechanical, and ANIT portions. While how much studying is necessary/best varies by the individual, if you have made the decision that becoming a naval aviator is your truly your goal, I would advise erring on the side of “over-preparing”. My thought process was that I would rather look back and realize I studied more than I needed to than not prepare enough to get the necessary scores to be selected. I will also say that I was pleasantly surprised by how long each subtest took, I never felt like I was running out of time. Finally, I did not feel like I was doing especially well when I actually took the test, and was pleasantly surprised by my results, so if you feel as though you are not doing well do not be discouraged, keep doing your best, as you may only think you are doing worse than you actually are.

Test Day: All of this information will seem obvious/intuitive, but I think it is worth sharing. I made sure I got an adequate amount of sleep, stayed hydrated, and ate well in the two days before the exam. Around 9-10pm the night before, I stopped studying and made getting my mind into a relaxed, confident state the priority. I left for the exam quite early, to allow for possible traffic jams, car trouble, etc. I went to the bathroom just before the exam, and brought with me scratch paper, pens, water, snacks, tissues, a light jacket, and an analog watch, and made sure I had the proctor’s permission to have each item with me in the exam room. I also used the break period to stretch, walk around, go to the bathroom again, and do whatever was needed to stay in a constructive state of mind. Again, I am aware none of this advice seems especially insightful, but forgetting any one of them could potentially harm your results, so having a mental checklist like so can be helpful.

Study Materials: I will post the usefulness of the materials for each section in greater detail below. I have no prior aviation/flight sim experience, so I got a stick and throttle controller for my Xbox to get used to using such a controller, but honestly I did not use it that much and the controls in the exam are much bigger/heavier/clunky, so I would not consider this a necessity. Kyle’s guide (which I believe includes the Peterson’s materials) posted earlier in this forum is a godsend, probably the most useful of any one resource, and Barron’s prep book is also very useful. I also had Officer Candidate Tests for Dummies, which can also help but is clearly inferior to Barron’s if you only wish to purchase one book. For further information on specific information/concepts, plenty is available via quick, intuitive Youtube/Google searches.

Math: I majored in a social science in college, so even though I have generally been competent in STEM subjects throughout my education, it is certainly not my wheelhouse, so I studied this section rigorously to compensate. As posted by others, many of the preparation materials, such as Barron’s, are far too easy on this section. Kyle’s guide is generally more useful here. Concepts such as probability, exponents, logs, series, matrices, etc. were all areas that I needed to brush up on and were covered lightly if at all in some of the softer study materials. I would advise you to cover all of your bases in regards to both your theoretical understanding and being able to solve practice problems. When I found a subject to be especially tricky, searching for online resources, especially Khan Academy on Youtube, got me to where I believed I needed to be. While I was unsure of some of the problems on the actual test, I am sure that had I not been told that Barron’s, etc. were too soft and not done further preparation I would have gotten a significantly lower score.

Reading: My education background was relatively well-suited to this subtest, so I did not prepare for it as much as some of the others. I received no vocabulary questions, only inference. The material was, in fact, quite dry and Navy-specific, so reading some actual Navy materials that have been made available may be helpful in familiarizing yourself to the types of passages you will see here. I believe it is generally helpful to take the approach of taking the questions very literally (what are they actually saying as opposed to what are they alluding to). Practice tests in sources like Barron’s, etc. was how I did most of my preparation here.

Mechanical: Like the Math section, this subject is not my natural academic home so I studied for it quite a lot. Unlike the Math section, most of the widely-used study materials like Barron’s will prepare you pretty well, however again I would recommend using sources like Kyle’s guide. Cover areas like circuits, simple machines, basic physics/mechanical sciences, etc. Again, I used intuitive Google and Youtube searches if I felt like I needed further explanation on a particular concept. This subtest really is pretty straightforward, and unlike math I do not believe it runs the risk of certain, popular test materials leaving you largely unprepared. Build a strong theoretical understanding, execute the practice problems, and you should be fine.

ANIT: Again, I have no aviation/military background, so there was a lot I had to learn before the test. While there really is a lot of information out there to be potentially tested on, the good news is that this subtest measures “knowledge” not “aptitude”, so improvement here is quite attainable. I did not review the FAA materials, however I used Barron’s, Kyle’s guide, the ASTB Cram flashcards, and Google and Youtube searches if there was an area I felt like I needed additional explanation on. This, more than any other subtest, was where I thought I was getting killed, so if you think as you are doing poorly do not get discouraged, just do your best one question at a time.

NAFTI: This section takes an annoyingly long time, and some of the questions will definitely feel strange/uncomfortable. It is true that this is much less conventional than the earlier subtests and does not require substantial, traditional studying time, and the best piece of advice is to just answer the questions as honestly as possible. However, I actually think a little preparation could help here. Hopefully you have had the opportunity to meet/speak to some naval aviators or military personnel in general, and gotten a sense of how your specific character/personality can constructively fit into that larger community. What I did was just take a little time, certainly less than an hour, to undergo some personal reflection, and imagine that if there were an actual interview portion of this test, how I would want to present myself and what personal qualities I would want to emphasize (while still being truthful of course). Then, I tried to pick the responses that best conveyed those qualities.

UAV: I watched the Youtube video that was been posted several times in this forum, drew a compass rose, and practiced with some flashcards. If you do that, there will be absolutely no surprises on this subtest. I will say that while accuracy is obviously more important than speed, it would be hard for me to imagine that nearly every competitive applicant who adequately prepares does not get nearly every question right. Therefore, I would imagine most of the differentiation between potentially competitive applicants comes from speed, not accuracy. In other words, while accuracy is the most important thing here, speed is likely quite important too.

PBM: There is another Youtube video that has been posted earlier in the forum that does a good job of explaining what to expect in this subtest. I knew going into this one that it was going to feel hard, there were going to be moments where I felt was screwing up, so the most important thing was to stay calm, collected, and not to get discouraged, just keep doing as best as I could. You will also get some time between sections and some practice sections, which are very helpful if you use them to take a deep breath (literally and figuratively). The test will have you undergo a dichotic test of pressing the trigger/clutch when you hear even/odd numbers in the target ear, vertically track an airplane graphic with the throttle, and track a similar graphic across a 2-D field with the flight stick, and then combinations of those three. You will also have to undertake 3 emergency procedures while tracking with the throttle and flight stick. For the dichotic sections, I tilted my head in the direction of the target ear to give myself a mental cue. I also wrote down the emergency procedures on my scratch paper before the section that included them, which you will have plenty of time to do. During the sections that required me to do 2 or 3 of the tests at the same time, my priorities were 1. Dichotic/Emergency Procedures, 2. Flight Stick, 3. Throttle, though I still tried to do as best as I could on all three. The set up is right-handed and bigger/heavier than one might expect, so be mentally prepared for that if you are naturally left-handed and/or have skinny forearms like me. Again, I cannot emphasize enough how important staying calm and not getting discouraged is during this subtest; if I had to give just one piece of advice for the entire ASTB, it would be that.

BI-RV: Some of the materials out there still say this is part of the ASTB, however it was not given to me and I believe it is no longer part of the larger exam.


Sorry if this was excessively long, I wanted to be comprehensive. Again, study hard, get adequate rest, be calm and resilient during the test, and take it one question/section at a time and you will be fine. This forum was a true help to me in my preparation, so I am more than happy to answer questions people might have via a direct message. Best of luck to all who are preparing for this test and undertaking the larger process of becoming a military officer.
 

maowczykowski1

Active Member
hey man im having trouble getting both this and the UAV simulator working. would you might checking it out and seeing whats up? i would love to practice these for my upcoming test.
 

Juliakostecki

New Member
Took the astb using my second attempt today.
First scores: 40 2/3/2
Second scores: 38 4/5/5

I am pretty embarrassed to post those scores, but hopefully one person benefits from this. I also don’t feel this test accurately represents my knowledge.
Going into exam one, everything that could have gone wrong did. I wasn’t prepared and my results reflect that. I got every UAV question wrong and my tracking was mediocre.
After that, I studied my booty off for 6 weeks (or at least I thought I did). I watched math videos on YouTube, took flights and ground lessons with a private pilot instructor, studied kyles guide, stalked this air warriors page, read the barrons book, the blue astb trivium book, and another red 2019-2020 astb book off amazon.
My advice: if you take the test for the first time don’t waste an attempt until your prepared. DONT double click when selecting your answer, read each instruction screen thoroughly before moving on, make sure the headphones work, don’t chug coffee before, and don’t do the compass trick backwards. My point: Don’t fail because you disregarded the simple things. Take it one section at a time, and don’t let a previous section bring you down on your current section. I’m still currently evaluating all the mistakes the simple mistakes I made.

If any of you have advice, just want to talk about the test, or hear my experience in depth feel free to message me. (Or roast me on the forum). It’s hard to talk about this test with normal friends who just don’t understand what this experience is like.

My scores may be low, but I’m still determined to improve. I’ll be seeing my proctor again in thirty days, hopefully third times the charm for me! I genuinely want to be an officer in the military, and I don’t want to use my computer science major.
Email: juliakostecki21@gmail.com
 

Arkrunner

Member
I'm totally confused by #42 from OAR Math Guide.docx in https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6

Yeah I know that two complementary angles sum to 90. It says the correct answer is "A: Complementary angles are two angles that equal 90º when added together."

71 + 90 is != 90. Am I misinterpreting something?

I recall seeing a question like this on my first test attempt.


Yeah that might be wrong. Complementary = 90 and supplementary = 18

What I have seen: "which formula forms a complement if X = 15?"

Possible answer: 2(30+x)
 

maowczykowski1

Active Member
Took the astb using my second attempt today.
First scores: 40 2/3/2
Second scores: 38 4/5/5

I am pretty embarrassed to post those scores, but hopefully one person benefits from this. I also don’t feel this test accurately represents my knowledge.
Going into exam one, everything that could have gone wrong did. I wasn’t prepared and my results reflect that. I got every UAV question wrong and my tracking was mediocre.
After that, I studied my booty off for 6 weeks (or at least I thought I did). I watched math videos on YouTube, took flights and ground lessons with a private pilot instructor, studied kyles guide, stalked this air warriors page, read the barrons book, the blue astb trivium book, and another red 2019-2020 astb book off amazon.
My advice: if you take the test for the first time don’t waste an attempt until your prepared. DONT double click when selecting your answer, read each instruction screen thoroughly before moving on, make sure the headphones work, don’t chug coffee before, and don’t do the compass trick backwards. My point: Don’t fail because you disregarded the simple things. Take it one section at a time, and don’t let a previous section bring you down on your current section. I’m still currently evaluating all the mistakes the simple mistakes I made.

If any of you have advice, just want to talk about the test, or hear my experience in depth feel free to message me. (Or roast me on the forum). It’s hard to talk about this test with normal friends who just don’t understand what this experience is like.

My scores may be low, but I’m still determined to improve. I’ll be seeing my proctor again in thirty days, hopefully third times the charm for me! I genuinely want to be an officer in the military, and I don’t want to use my computer science major.
Email: juliakostecki21@gmail.com
Kieno Thomas has been very helpful to me.
I had a similar experience as you on the test both first and second attempts.
The test is a adaptive and difficult to use. Don’t give up. I’m on my third try as well
 
I took the test today for my second time.

First attempt: 48 - 5/5/5 (12/19/2019)
Second attempt: 53 - 7/8/7 (2/25/2020)

Initially, I thought I was screwed, but my second score came to my surprise.

Because I got most of my degree done online, I really had to put a lot of effort into studying for this test. I studied full-time for about 4 months prior to my first attempt. After my failure, I took a few weeks off to relax before getting back into the game. During that time I also programmed my three practice simulators.

I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was so anxious, but at the same time super excited and eager to just get this test done once and for all. I got about 6 hours of sleep. I woke up and just ate a Cliff energy bar to tide myself over for the next 5 hours. I also ate a Snickers and drank some gatorade to give myself an energy boost shortly before I started. Do not eat too much, that got me my first test attempt. I ate pancakes and I was stuffed, big mistake! Just have a simple snack to tide you over.

What really helped was Kyle's ASTB Study Kit 2019, so take full advantage of it: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6

Math:
Exponents, expressions, proportions, DRT problems, mixture problems, working-together problems, geometry, probabilities, and more.

If you're skeptical about your math abilities, no shame. Start fresh by watching all of MathAntics's videos on Youtube. You should also visit their website and run through their entire playlist. Then you need to really work on becoming fluent with algebraic word problems. Algebra is about solving for an unknown property. Every word problem involves an unknown property to solve for by writing an equation that represents the situation. Another Youtuber that was very helpful was The Organic Chemistry Tutor.

Watching Youtube videos, I learned more in one day than a semester back in High School.

I mean it, focus on the word problems. Especially DRT! Know the three DRT formulas.

What really helped me on the DRT word problems was writing down the most applicable DRT formula given the situation. For example, for problems involving when two planes will converge from a certain distance. I knew I needed to find how many hours. So the applicable formula was D=RT.

Reading:
Just read and understand what the passage is saying. Go over each answer choice one by one and rule them out! Look for details in the answer choices that conflict with the passage.

Most of the readings were Navy policy and history. You don't need to be a lawyer to understand what the passage is saying.

Mechanical:
A lot of random questions involving air density, air pressure, voltage, mechanical advantage of levers, and too much for me to recall.

Some questions involved fluid flow and volume. For example, at which point of the narrowed funnel does water flow the fastest? How airplanes fly with pressure differentiation, what point of the trajectory has the greatest velocity, etc...

Some harder problems asked me how much an object of weight on Earth would weigh on Mars given the planet's "acceleration of mass m/s^2 yatayatayata." I had to guess. Don't spend more than 10 seconds determining if you can solve it or not. If you know for sure you can't solve it, just guess it and move on.

Make sure you understand how to determine the MA of all simple machines. To name a few that were most important:
First-Class Lever: L1 * F1 = L2 * F2
Second & Third-Class Lever: Middle Force * Middle Length / End Length = Lift/Push Force
Hydraulic Jack: Output Radius / Input Radius #It can also be diameter since they're proportional.
Pulley MA: Count ropes supporting the moveable pulley.

Drill them into your head!

Momentrix OAR really helped with my mechanical knowledge.

If you have an engineering degree and/or background, you're at a tremendous advantage.

ANIT:
Bunch of typical aviation and Navy stuff. "How did aircraft carriers evolve to support the F-14?" I'm assuming larger jet-blast deflectors, but that wasn't a choice, so I selected more powerful catapults. Some other answer choices I recall that made me laugh were "more powerful aircraft, larger flight decks." Another interesting question "what aircraft was retrofitted to be a tanker during Operation Iraqi Freedom? - Super Hornet?". Definitely not the Harrier, the Tomcat, or the "Avenger?" Other questions I recall were "Famous dive bomber - Dauntless," "If all VASI lights red - too low," airport tower signal lights, angle of attack, flight deck crew colors, and much more. The only nautical question I got was "What happens to the freeboard if you add more weight to the ship?"

Read the gouges, visit a museum, practice flashcards, and much more. These really helped: https://www.cram.com/flashcards/tes...l-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163

BI-RV:
From what my recruiter told me, they recently did a software update to the test in Pensacola. They changed this section so now you just have to click the text to proceed to the next paired statement. That being said, break your habit of double-clicking!!! This was explicitly warned in the test section's instructions.

Some questions were "I occasionally run stop signs when in a hurry," "I get mad easily...," "my car occasionally runs out of gas," and a lot more! Just try not to contradict yourself. Be patient and read before you answer. Pilots should follow checklists to save themselves and the plane. If not sure, just select the least destructive scenario.

PBMB:
I wasn't prepared for the PBMB my first attempt, which is what killed my score. I have no doubt my simulators improved my stamina and gave me some serious practice.

See my past posts for the simulators I published for the tracking portions, dichotic listening test, and UAV test.

Although my recruiter laughed, I brought my own pair of headphones just in case of even the slightest chance of their headphones not working properly.

UAV Test:
I only missed one and that was because I heard someone laugh hysterically in the background which caught my attention off-guard. Take advantage of my UAV simulator. Create a strategy to answer each orientation in your head, rather than using the paper method. Make sure that you don't get them backwards like most people do. The red nose points to your heading, not the yellow tail!!! Run through my practice simulator repeatedly until your hand is sore! If you can train yourself to do them all in your head, you can get a score like this:

24626

Dichotic Listening Test:
On the dichotic listening test, clear your ears by swallowing, take a breath, and relax. Focus your attention in the active target ear. Do not press any trigger until you hear both characters have played in both the left and right ears. This is due to latency by a few milliseconds between the audio being played in one ear before the other. At one point I was quick to depress a trigger on the joystick, but quickly realized that number I responded to was from the non-target ear. Don't rush yourself!

What really helped me was to mentally repeat the characters that I heard in the target ear as they were playing.

Needless to say, take advantage of my dichotic listening simulator!

Tracking & Emergency Scenarios Test:
I cannot stress this enough, GET IN THE HABIT OF Y-AXIS LOOK INVERSION! If you play any FPS games like COD or Halo, set your look to inverted and deal with it! The Navy uses the Saitek X52 joystick. If this test means that much to you, I would even consider investing in one. I for one got the Logitech X56 HOTAS because I enjoy playing flight simulators as well.

For the Emergency Scenarios Test, memorize the emergency scenarios in your head. Repeat them even in your free time until they are drilled into your head!

24622

FIRE:
-Fuel: LOW
-Power: LOW
-Press the clutch!

ENGINE:
-Fuel: HIGH
-Power: HIGH
-Press the clutch!

PROPELLOR:
-Fuel: NEUTRAL
-Power: HIGH
-Press the clutch!

After you've tested on all three emergency scenarios, the gauges will disappear and you will have about 30 seconds to continue the multi-tracking. During that time just hang in there and give it your best shot to maximize your score! It's like the final round in the game. Immediately after, you will receive your final ASTB score.

A frequently asked question is what positions do the colors on the gauges represent. RED - HIGH, GREEN - NEUTRAL, YELLOW - LOW. See attached "EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png"

Look at "EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png" and just imagine yourself crosshair tracking two flies simultaneously with a flight sim joystick.

If you're computer savvy, take advantage of the tracking visualizer I made and use JoyToKey with a flight simulator joystick and bind it to your mouse cursor. Remember to make the Y-axis inverted (Up goes down and down goes up).

Lastly, don't die by the gouge! Read the test instructions beforehand to ensure no discrepancies from what you studied.

How often you practice shows how badly you want this career. Just don't schedule to take the ASTB until you're 100% comfortable with all of the material on this forum. Make the effort and research!
 

Attachments

  • ASTB-E+Sample+Questions.pdf
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  • EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png
    EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png
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  • OAR Math Guide.pdf
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  • Test 4 Questions.pdf
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  • Test 4 Solutions.pdf
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  • ASTB_Personal_Study_Guide.pdf
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Last edited:

Jmarsh21

New Member
I took the test today for my second time.

First attempt: 48 - 5/5/5 (12/19/2019)
Second attempt: 53 - 7/8/7 (2/25/2020)

Initially, I thought I was screwed, but my second score came to my surprise.

Because I got most of my degree done online, I really had to put a lot of effort into studying for this test. I studied full-time for about 4 months prior to my first attempt. After my failure, I took a few weeks off to relax before getting back into the game. During that time I also programmed my three practice simulators.

I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was so anxious, but at the same time super excited and eager to just get this test done once and for all. I got about 6 hours of sleep. I woke up and just ate a Cliff energy bar to tide myself over for the next 5 hours. I also ate a Snickers and drank some gatorade to give myself an energy boost shortly before I started. Do not eat too much, that got me my first test attempt. I ate pancakes and I was stuffed, big mistake! Just have a simple snack to tide you over.

What really helped was Kyle's ASTB Study Kit 2019, so take full advantage of it: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AvPi5oH_h_13TGajDvflDWkftwXO8LS6

Math:
Exponents, expressions, proportions, DRT problems, mixture problems, working-together problems, geometry, probabilities, and more.

If you're skeptical about your math abilities, no shame. Start fresh by watching all of MathAntics's videos on Youtube. You should also visit their website and run through their entire playlist. Then you need to really work on becoming fluent with algebraic word problems. Algebra is about solving for an unknown property. Every word problem involves an unknown property to solve for by writing an equation that represents the situation. Another Youtuber that was very helpful was The Organic Chemistry Tutor.

Watching Youtube videos, I learned more in one day than a semester back in High School.

I mean it, focus on the word problems!

Reading:
Just read and understand what the passage is saying. Go over each answer choice one by one and rule them out! Look for details in the answer choices that conflict with the passage.

Most of the readings were Navy policy and history. You don't need to be a lawyer to understand what the passage is saying.

Mechanical:
A lot of random questions involving air density, air pressure, voltage, mechanical advantage of levers, and too much for me to recall.

Some questions involved fluid flow and volume. For example, at which point of the narrowed funnel does water flow the fastest? How airplanes fly with pressure differentiation, what point of the trajectory has the greatest velocity, etc...

Some harder problems asked me how much an object of weight on Earth would weigh on Mars given the planet's "acceleration of mass m/s^2 yatayatayata." I had to guess. Don't spend more than 10 seconds determining if you can solve it or not. If you know for sure you can't solve it, just guess it and move on.

Make sure you understand how to determine the MA of all simple machines. To name a few that were most important:
First-Class Lever: L1 * F1 = L2 * F2
Second & Third-Class Lever: Middle Force * Middle Length / End Length = Lift/Push Force
Hydraulic Jack: Output Radius / Input Radius #It can also be diameter since they're proportional.
Pulley MA: Count ropes supporting the moveable pulley.

Drill them into your head!

Momentrix OAR really helped with my mechanical knowledge.

If you have an engineering degree and/or background, you're at a tremendous advantage.

ANIT:
Bunch of typical aviation and Navy stuff. "How did aircraft carriers evolve to support the F-14?" I'm assuming larger jet-blast deflectors, but that wasn't a choice, so I selected more powerful catapults. Some other answer choices I recall that made me laugh were "more powerful aircraft, larger flight decks." Another interesting question "what aircraft was retrofitted to be a tanker during Operation Iraqi Freedom? - Super Hornet?". Definitely not the Harrier, the Tomcat, or the "Avenger?" Other questions I recall were "Famous dive bomber - Dauntless," "If all VASI lights red - too low," airport tower signal lights, angle of attack, flight deck crew colors, and much more. The only nautical question I got was "What happens to the freeboard if you add more weight to the ship?"

Read the gouges, visit a museum, practice flashcards, and much more. These really helped: https://www.cram.com/flashcards/tes...l-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163

BI-RV:
From what my recruiter told me, they recently did a software update to the test in Pensacola. They changed this section so now you just have to click the text to proceed to the next paired statement. That being said, break your habit of double-clicking!!! This was explicitly warned in the test section's instructions.

Some questions were "I occasionally run stop signs when in a hurry," "I get mad easily...," "my car occasionally runs out of gas," and a lot more! Just try not to contradict yourself. Be patient and read before you answer. Pilots should follow checklists to save themselves and the plane. If not sure, just select the least destructive scenario.

PBMB:
I wasn't prepared for the PBMB my first attempt, which is what killed my score. I have no doubt my simulators improved my stamina and gave me some serious practice.

See my past posts for the simulators I published for the tracking portions, dichotic listening test, and UAV test.

Although my recruiter laughed, I brought my own pair of headphones just in case of even the slightest chance their headphones not working properly.

UAV Test:
I only missed one and that was because I heard someone laugh hysterically in the background which caught my attention off-guard. Take advantage of my UAV simulator. Create a strategy to answer each orientation in your head, rather than using the paper method. Make sure that you don't get them backwards like most people do. The red nose points to your heading, not the yellow tail!!! Run through my practice simulator repeatedly until your hand is sore! If you can train yourself to do them all in your head, you can get a score like this:

View attachment 24626

Dichotic Listening Test:
On the dichotic listening test, clear your ears by swallowing, take a breath, and relax. Focus your attention in the active target ear. Do not press any trigger until you hear both characters have played in both the left and right ears. This is due to latency by a few milliseconds between the audio being played in one ear before the other. At one point I was quick to depress a trigger on the joystick, but quickly realized that number I responded to was from the non-target ear. Don't rush yourself!

Needless to say, take advantage of my dichotic listening simulator!

Tracking & Emergency Scenarios Test:
I cannot stress this enough, GET IN THE HABIT OF Y-AXIS LOOK INVERSION! If you play any FPS games like COD or Halo, set your look to inverted and deal with it! The Navy uses the Saitek X52 joystick. If this test means that much to you, I would even consider investing in one. I for one got the Logitech X56 HOTAS because I enjoy playing flight simulators as well.

For the Emergency Scenarios Test, memorize the emergency scenarios in your head. Repeat them even in your free time until they are drilled into your head!

View attachment 24622

FIRE:
-Fuel: LOW
-Power: LOW
-Press the clutch!

ENGINE:
-Fuel: HIGH
-Power: HIGH
-Press the clutch!

PROPELLOR:
-Fuel: NEUTRAL
-Power: HIGH
-Press the clutch!

After you've tested on all three emergency scenarios, the gauges will disappear and you will have about 30 seconds to continue the multi-tracking. During that time just hang in there and give it your best shot to maximize your score! It's like the final round in the game. Immediately after, you will receive your final ASTB score.

A frequently asked question is what positions do the colors on the gauges represent. RED - HIGH, GREEN - NEUTRAL, YELLOW - LOW. See attached "EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png"

Look at "EST-Examinees-attempt-to-track.png" and just imagine yourself crosshair tracking two flies simultaneously with a flight sim joystick.

If you're computer savvy, take advantage of the tracking visualizer I made and use JoyToKey with a flight simulator joystick and bind it to your mouse cursor. Remember to make the Y-axis inverted (Up goes down and down goes up).

Lastly, don't die by the gouge! Read the test instructions beforehand to ensure no discrepancies from you studied.

How often you practice shows how badly you want this career. Just don't schedule to take the ASTB until you're 100% comfortable with all of the material on this forum. Make the effort and research!

I was told on the math and potentially the mechanical portion the test has Formulas available too look at. Was this this for most problems? I’m having difficulty remembering each formula used to solve a problem.
 
I was told on the math and potentially the mechanical portion the test has Formulas available too look at. Was this this for most problems? I’m having difficulty remembering each formula used to solve a problem.

There is a link on the right side of the screen that says "Formulas." Click that and it will display a side bar with common formulas such as:
-Circle area
-Circumference
-3D volume
-Triangle area
-And more...

I did not pay too much attention to this list as I did not need to use any of the formulas.
 

maowczykowski1

Active Member
You need to "overcome" the GPA by taking probably 1-2 community college courses and bumping it up. See the calculator, you're not even eligible with the 2.48.

Bump the GPA up and you should be fine. I wouldn't recommend retaking the ASTB, the scores are fine as is. Your Pilot/NFO scores bump up to an 82 and 89 respectively with a 2.5 GPA.
Where to find this competitive score calculator
 

gugu

New Member
I would like to thank the earlier participants of this forum, as it was extremely helpful in my preparation for the ASTB. I am a recent college graduate with no aviation or military background and played a decent amount of video games when I was younger but would not consider myself a “gamer” in any sense. I took the test relatively recently and scored 69/9/8/9. While I did not initially plan on posting and most of what I have to say has more or less been stated in earlier posts, I feel obliged to detail my process and advice here considering how helpful this forum was to me.

Overall: I would say I began studying in earnest roughly 2-3 weeks before my exam. The number of hours per day varied considerably, however in the last week I studied rigorously and took a few days off of work to fully commit myself. While I tried to adequately prepare for every subtest, the ones that took up most of my study time were the Math, Mechanical, and ANIT portions. While how much studying is necessary/best varies by the individual, if you have made the decision that becoming a naval aviator is your truly your goal, I would advise erring on the side of “over-preparing”. My thought process was that I would rather look back and realize I studied more than I needed to than not prepare enough to get the necessary scores to be selected. I will also say that I was pleasantly surprised by how long each subtest took, I never felt like I was running out of time. Finally, I did not feel like I was doing especially well when I actually took the test, and was pleasantly surprised by my results, so if you feel as though you are not doing well do not be discouraged, keep doing your best, as you may only think you are doing worse than you actually are.

Test Day: All of this information will seem obvious/intuitive, but I think it is worth sharing. I made sure I got an adequate amount of sleep, stayed hydrated, and ate well in the two days before the exam. Around 9-10pm the night before, I stopped studying and made getting my mind into a relaxed, confident state the priority. I left for the exam quite early, to allow for possible traffic jams, car trouble, etc. I went to the bathroom just before the exam, and brought with me scratch paper, pens, water, snacks, tissues, a light jacket, and an analog watch, and made sure I had the proctor’s permission to have each item with me in the exam room. I also used the break period to stretch, walk around, go to the bathroom again, and do whatever was needed to stay in a constructive state of mind. Again, I am aware none of this advice seems especially insightful, but forgetting any one of them could potentially harm your results, so having a mental checklist like so can be helpful.

Study Materials: I will post the usefulness of the materials for each section in greater detail below. I have no prior aviation/flight sim experience, so I got a stick and throttle controller for my Xbox to get used to using such a controller, but honestly I did not use it that much and the controls in the exam are much bigger/heavier/clunky, so I would not consider this a necessity. Kyle’s guide (which I believe includes the Peterson’s materials) posted earlier in this forum is a godsend, probably the most useful of any one resource, and Barron’s prep book is also very useful. I also had Officer Candidate Tests for Dummies, which can also help but is clearly inferior to Barron’s if you only wish to purchase one book. For further information on specific information/concepts, plenty is available via quick, intuitive Youtube/Google searches.

Math: I majored in a social science in college, so even though I have generally been competent in STEM subjects throughout my education, it is certainly not my wheelhouse, so I studied this section rigorously to compensate. As posted by others, many of the preparation materials, such as Barron’s, are far too easy on this section. Kyle’s guide is generally more useful here. Concepts such as probability, exponents, logs, series, matrices, etc. were all areas that I needed to brush up on and were covered lightly if at all in some of the softer study materials. I would advise you to cover all of your bases in regards to both your theoretical understanding and being able to solve practice problems. When I found a subject to be especially tricky, searching for online resources, especially Khan Academy on Youtube, got me to where I believed I needed to be. While I was unsure of some of the problems on the actual test, I am sure that had I not been told that Barron’s, etc. were too soft and not done further preparation I would have gotten a significantly lower score.

Reading: My education background was relatively well-suited to this subtest, so I did not prepare for it as much as some of the others. I received no vocabulary questions, only inference. The material was, in fact, quite dry and Navy-specific, so reading some actual Navy materials that have been made available may be helpful in familiarizing yourself to the types of passages you will see here. I believe it is generally helpful to take the approach of taking the questions very literally (what are they actually saying as opposed to what are they alluding to). Practice tests in sources like Barron’s, etc. was how I did most of my preparation here.

Mechanical: Like the Math section, this subject is not my natural academic home so I studied for it quite a lot. Unlike the Math section, most of the widely-used study materials like Barron’s will prepare you pretty well, however again I would recommend using sources like Kyle’s guide. Cover areas like circuits, simple machines, basic physics/mechanical sciences, etc. Again, I used intuitive Google and Youtube searches if I felt like I needed further explanation on a particular concept. This subtest really is pretty straightforward, and unlike math I do not believe it runs the risk of certain, popular test materials leaving you largely unprepared. Build a strong theoretical understanding, execute the practice problems, and you should be fine.

ANIT: Again, I have no aviation/military background, so there was a lot I had to learn before the test. While there really is a lot of information out there to be potentially tested on, the good news is that this subtest measures “knowledge” not “aptitude”, so improvement here is quite attainable. I did not review the FAA materials, however I used Barron’s, Kyle’s guide, the ASTB Cram flashcards, and Google and Youtube searches if there was an area I felt like I needed additional explanation on. This, more than any other subtest, was where I thought I was getting killed, so if you think as you are doing poorly do not get discouraged, just do your best one question at a time.

NAFTI: This section takes an annoyingly long time, and some of the questions will definitely feel strange/uncomfortable. It is true that this is much less conventional than the earlier subtests and does not require substantial, traditional studying time, and the best piece of advice is to just answer the questions as honestly as possible. However, I actually think a little preparation could help here. Hopefully you have had the opportunity to meet/speak to some naval aviators or military personnel in general, and gotten a sense of how your specific character/personality can constructively fit into that larger community. What I did was just take a little time, certainly less than an hour, to undergo some personal reflection, and imagine that if there were an actual interview portion of this test, how I would want to present myself and what personal qualities I would want to emphasize (while still being truthful of course). Then, I tried to pick the responses that best conveyed those qualities.

UAV: I watched the Youtube video that was been posted several times in this forum, drew a compass rose, and practiced with some flashcards. If you do that, there will be absolutely no surprises on this subtest. I will say that while accuracy is obviously more important than speed, it would be hard for me to imagine that nearly every competitive applicant who adequately prepares does not get nearly every question right. Therefore, I would imagine most of the differentiation between potentially competitive applicants comes from speed, not accuracy. In other words, while accuracy is the most important thing here, speed is likely quite important too.

PBM: There is another Youtube video that has been posted earlier in the forum that does a good job of explaining what to expect in this subtest. I knew going into this one that it was going to feel hard, there were going to be moments where I felt was screwing up, so the most important thing was to stay calm, collected, and not to get discouraged, just keep doing as best as I could. You will also get some time between sections and some practice sections, which are very helpful if you use them to take a deep breath (literally and figuratively). The test will have you undergo a dichotic test of pressing the trigger/clutch when you hear even/odd numbers in the target ear, vertically track an airplane graphic with the throttle, and track a similar graphic across a 2-D field with the flight stick, and then combinations of those three. You will also have to undertake 3 emergency procedures while tracking with the throttle and flight stick. For the dichotic sections, I tilted my head in the direction of the target ear to give myself a mental cue. I also wrote down the emergency procedures on my scratch paper before the section that included them, which you will have plenty of time to do. During the sections that required me to do 2 or 3 of the tests at the same time, my priorities were 1. Dichotic/Emergency Procedures, 2. Flight Stick, 3. Throttle, though I still tried to do as best as I could on all three. The set up is right-handed and bigger/heavier than one might expect, so be mentally prepared for that if you are naturally left-handed and/or have skinny forearms like me. Again, I cannot emphasize enough how important staying calm and not getting discouraged is during this subtest; if I had to give just one piece of advice for the entire ASTB, it would be that.

BI-RV: Some of the materials out there still say this is part of the ASTB, however it was not given to me and I believe it is no longer part of the larger exam.


Sorry if this was excessively long, I wanted to be comprehensive. Again, study hard, get adequate rest, be calm and resilient during the test, and take it one question/section at a time and you will be fine. This forum was a true help to me in my preparation, so I am more than happy to answer questions people might have via a direct message. Best of luck to all who are preparing for this test and undertaking the larger process of becoming a military officer
[/QUOTE

did you answer all the questions? or you did the questions until it expired?
 
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