First Attempt: 52 4,4,6
Second Attempt: 45 4,5,5
Third Attempt: Below
Back Story:
I've never taken a Physics or Math class more advanced than Algebra 2. My degree in college is in International Relations, far from the many STEM field majors I've seen apply and I've been out of school for the last 3.5 years now with little aviation knowledge so let me just tell ya.... studying for the ASTB was a struggle.
Study Journey:
The first time I took this test was the day after meeting my recruiter who legit said "come in tomorrow to take it, there was a cancellation and this test will let us know where you're at" My dumb butt agreed. I had no clue that everyone had 3 lives nor did I know what the minimums where. My recruiter said he was impressed with the 52 and to just study more aviation knowledge + everything that I saw on the test. He seemed super nonchalant about everything even though I was sitting right in front of him furious after learning that an applicant could only take this 3 times in his/her life and I had just wasted one!
The second time I took the test was about 45 days after and I studied everything that I remembered from the first exam (exponents, DRT, simple algebra, fractions, some probability, air plane parts, history and designators) I also found this website -airwarriors- but I didn't look too deeply at it. I made some flashcards on airplane parts, watched youtube videos and read the Barrons book. I studied pretty intensely for about 1 month, on and off ( 1-2 hours a day) the last 2 weeks I went hard and studied about 3-5 hours a day. I remember feeling very confident coming in for the second exam and I was expecting to get qualifying scores. Again, I was devastated with the turnout after putting in what I thought was so much effort. The second exam was completely different than what I had studied for and found on the first exam, mostly in the Math and Mechanical sections. I felt like I was taking an entirely new test because almost nothing I had studied was on there and if it was, the questions seemed to be way more complex. The aviation sections had so many more history questions, buoy questions, lighting stuff... and the mechanical section asked more about pressure, volume, work, gravity and mass problems whereas in my first attempt the Mechanical questions were mainly on pulleys, fulcrums and buoyancy and MA. Totally different from the first!!!It freaking sucked!!! My entire packet was all ready to go to be submitted but the only thing missing were my scores as I was so sure and confident that I was going to pass. Little did I know they would be even worse the second time around.
I remember going home and feeling so defeated as this test seemed impossible... The next morning I opened up two tabs, Air Warriors and Amazon. I went to this thread and went to page 1 and wrote down any helpful notes left by others and downloaded every gouge that was on here. I noticed the older threads weren't very useful because the test was slightly different back then so I did skip lol and restarted at a random page number in with posts from 2016. Many of the gouges on here are super similar but I still downloaded everything I could get my hands on and just deleted the repeated downloads off of my computer. I made a list of previous questions asked on the ASTB and wrote down all possible study topics that could appear. ( ex. log, binary, matrices, roots, complex fractions, independent vs dependent probability, arcs, sequence, perimeters, etc) I did this for the Mech & Anit section as well. I didn't want there to be a single question I couldn't at least recognize. Many people suggested different books to help them study so I bought like 4 different ones (Trivium, 2 diff GRE Math books, Word Problems workbook), bought more flashcards, a HOTAS joystick and throttle and then I also got connected with a tutor ( Kieno Thomas). I studied with Kieno for about 2 months, 3 times per week and tried to study on my own 1- 2 hours per day. The bad thing is that my workload was heavy for those months and somedays I couldn't study at all but thanks to Covid, my workload decreased and I was able to put in more study hours for about 2-3 more months after. I did end up stopping my tutoring sessions with Kieno as I plateaued with what he could offer. Truthfully, after awhile he gives you the same worksheets to work on and everything gets extremely repetitive. After him, I met a really cool guy off of this site who was also trying to bring up his test scores as he wasn't selected on his first application. We ended up studying ALOT together, meeting everyday for about 4 hours and then 3-8 hours during the last 2 weeks of our tests. We shared useful information with one another and even created "mock tests" for each other
We definitely kept each other accountable and it was really nice to be studying with someone that knew the importance of this test and was as equally invested as I was. In total, I spent about 4-5 months studying to take this exam.
During my 3rd attempt I made sure to get 8 hours of sleep the night before and I spent the last week reviewing material and not stuffing my brain with new confusing things. Had a huge healthy breakfast and dressed very comfortable on test day. Driving to the site, my nerves started kicking in but I blasted some of my favorite songs and sang to them in order to distract myself. I felt pretty confident walking into the testing room as I knew I gave it my all in studying. I immediately made myself really comfortable.... kicking off my shoes and organizing my little desk space. As soon as my recruiter gave me the green light and shut the door, I wrote down all the formulas that I could remember.... I did struggle a bit with Math as I'm super SLOW when it comes to doing them but I at least recognized every type of problem that came up and didn't panic. Reading Comprehension was tougher this time around but I just used the tips from others on here "Read OUT LOUD and enthusiastically, pretending you know absolutely nothing about the topic of the passage" The Mechanical portion seemed intermediate level with questions about spinning objects, nuclear reactors and temperature of Kelvin vs Celsius vs Fahrenheit. In UAV I answered everything within 2 seconds and didn't miss a single compass direction. I recognized many Anit questions and finished that within 10 minutes. Missed 1 number during Dichotic listening. Tracking was MEH... I was good at Vertical tracking but the one floating all over the place was still tough. Not as tough as my first 2 attempts but still tough. I messed up once on emergency procedure turning the knobs the incorrect way but once I understood my mistake, I nailed every other procedure down.
Third attempt: 54 7,7,7
Although these aren't triple 8's or 9's, I'm still really excited about my scores and I am hoping that they are enough to get me selected for SNA. If I don't get selected, it's going to HURT but I feel at peace with myself knowing that I gave it my all. My study buddy kicked butt too and he scored a 52, 8,8,7 We are both applying for the same board so now its just a waiting game in hopes that we get picked up! Cross your fingers ya'll!!
I wasn't going to do a post out of pure laziness TBH but I had to especially with all of the help this magical website has brought me.
Mini Motivational Speech:
If you are studying out there and tired... keep freaking studying. You don't want to leave the testing room thinking "I should have done this, I could have done this, If only I had spent more time on this..." Prioritize your studying for this exam, get organized and get all the resources you need in order to do well. This time and money is an investment for your future. Don't take it lightly. This information is only a speck of what we are going to have to learn in order to actually start flying. For some people it may take them 1 week of studying and are able to reach triple 8's or 9's. I have no clue how those Einstein people do it but hey good for them! For the majority of us, it will take longer but it's doable and you can pass!
Resources/Reviews/Cost:
My Purchases:
-Hotas Flight Joystick & Throttle. Loved it. Easy to install and borrowed my friends PS4 and Ace of Combat game to play it. I think this definitely helped with the tracking portion. ($179 ) Amazon Seller recently raised its prices to ($240)
-Tutoring: Kieno ($30-$50 an hour), (good for DRT, and Aviation Q's, good with beginner basic math), Edita - a student from MIT ($45 per hour) will literally know how to solve and explain any math or mechanical problem that you throw at her, she's awesome! Great for Advanced problems, especially word problems. If you need her contact info, I got you, send me a PM.
-Barron's Military Flight Aptitude Tests - ($17 new, $10 used) helped me understand basics of Aviation, fixed + rotor aircraft info. Not so helpful for Math and Mechanical but LOVED that there were so many Practice tests in the back of the book.
-Trivium - ( I bought it at $25 and now it's on Amazon for $44) Totally not worth $44. Smaller booklet, 2 practice tests compared to 6 in Barrons. Mechanical section of the test is better than Barrons and the Aviation information is helpful too but overall I'd recommend Barrons over Trivium.
-GRE Math Prep book - I bought 2 different versions, loved the "ARCO" version ($7) and hated "The Princeton Review" version and returned it ($20) The Arco version really breaks down Alg 2 problems and Geometry plus it has math practice tests. I ran through this book twice to make sure I understood every type of math problem. It has everything from DRT, WORK/TIME, EXPONENTS, INTEREST, PERCENTS and so much more!
-Algebra Word Problems Practice Workbook by Chris McMullen - ($10) I was so busy with the ARCO GRE math book that I didn't really use this and I ran out of study time. I did scam the book and it has everything from mixtures to DRT to literally any type of word problem you can possibly encounter. I can't give an accurate review but from the first 5 pages that I used, it was pretty helpful.
Flashcards, Highlighters, Notebooks and LOT'S OF STUDY SNACKS ($1 each) The Dollar Tree is where you need to be.
Many of these purchases aren't necessary as there is endless information on the web but personally, I'm a "hands on" learner and absolutely NEEDED books that I could highlight and underline. I also felt that I needed to have access to actual tutors in order to understand certain concepts that I just wasn't understanding through videos or books.
If you think you could benefit from these books and flight sim, I will be selling most of I used.
Prices:
GOOD LUCK YALL !
-Snack Attack
Second Attempt: 45 4,5,5
Third Attempt: Below
Back Story:
I've never taken a Physics or Math class more advanced than Algebra 2. My degree in college is in International Relations, far from the many STEM field majors I've seen apply and I've been out of school for the last 3.5 years now with little aviation knowledge so let me just tell ya.... studying for the ASTB was a struggle.
Study Journey:
The first time I took this test was the day after meeting my recruiter who legit said "come in tomorrow to take it, there was a cancellation and this test will let us know where you're at" My dumb butt agreed. I had no clue that everyone had 3 lives nor did I know what the minimums where. My recruiter said he was impressed with the 52 and to just study more aviation knowledge + everything that I saw on the test. He seemed super nonchalant about everything even though I was sitting right in front of him furious after learning that an applicant could only take this 3 times in his/her life and I had just wasted one!
The second time I took the test was about 45 days after and I studied everything that I remembered from the first exam (exponents, DRT, simple algebra, fractions, some probability, air plane parts, history and designators) I also found this website -airwarriors- but I didn't look too deeply at it. I made some flashcards on airplane parts, watched youtube videos and read the Barrons book. I studied pretty intensely for about 1 month, on and off ( 1-2 hours a day) the last 2 weeks I went hard and studied about 3-5 hours a day. I remember feeling very confident coming in for the second exam and I was expecting to get qualifying scores. Again, I was devastated with the turnout after putting in what I thought was so much effort. The second exam was completely different than what I had studied for and found on the first exam, mostly in the Math and Mechanical sections. I felt like I was taking an entirely new test because almost nothing I had studied was on there and if it was, the questions seemed to be way more complex. The aviation sections had so many more history questions, buoy questions, lighting stuff... and the mechanical section asked more about pressure, volume, work, gravity and mass problems whereas in my first attempt the Mechanical questions were mainly on pulleys, fulcrums and buoyancy and MA. Totally different from the first!!!It freaking sucked!!! My entire packet was all ready to go to be submitted but the only thing missing were my scores as I was so sure and confident that I was going to pass. Little did I know they would be even worse the second time around.
I remember going home and feeling so defeated as this test seemed impossible... The next morning I opened up two tabs, Air Warriors and Amazon. I went to this thread and went to page 1 and wrote down any helpful notes left by others and downloaded every gouge that was on here. I noticed the older threads weren't very useful because the test was slightly different back then so I did skip lol and restarted at a random page number in with posts from 2016. Many of the gouges on here are super similar but I still downloaded everything I could get my hands on and just deleted the repeated downloads off of my computer. I made a list of previous questions asked on the ASTB and wrote down all possible study topics that could appear. ( ex. log, binary, matrices, roots, complex fractions, independent vs dependent probability, arcs, sequence, perimeters, etc) I did this for the Mech & Anit section as well. I didn't want there to be a single question I couldn't at least recognize. Many people suggested different books to help them study so I bought like 4 different ones (Trivium, 2 diff GRE Math books, Word Problems workbook), bought more flashcards, a HOTAS joystick and throttle and then I also got connected with a tutor ( Kieno Thomas). I studied with Kieno for about 2 months, 3 times per week and tried to study on my own 1- 2 hours per day. The bad thing is that my workload was heavy for those months and somedays I couldn't study at all but thanks to Covid, my workload decreased and I was able to put in more study hours for about 2-3 more months after. I did end up stopping my tutoring sessions with Kieno as I plateaued with what he could offer. Truthfully, after awhile he gives you the same worksheets to work on and everything gets extremely repetitive. After him, I met a really cool guy off of this site who was also trying to bring up his test scores as he wasn't selected on his first application. We ended up studying ALOT together, meeting everyday for about 4 hours and then 3-8 hours during the last 2 weeks of our tests. We shared useful information with one another and even created "mock tests" for each other
We definitely kept each other accountable and it was really nice to be studying with someone that knew the importance of this test and was as equally invested as I was. In total, I spent about 4-5 months studying to take this exam.During my 3rd attempt I made sure to get 8 hours of sleep the night before and I spent the last week reviewing material and not stuffing my brain with new confusing things. Had a huge healthy breakfast and dressed very comfortable on test day. Driving to the site, my nerves started kicking in but I blasted some of my favorite songs and sang to them in order to distract myself. I felt pretty confident walking into the testing room as I knew I gave it my all in studying. I immediately made myself really comfortable.... kicking off my shoes and organizing my little desk space. As soon as my recruiter gave me the green light and shut the door, I wrote down all the formulas that I could remember.... I did struggle a bit with Math as I'm super SLOW when it comes to doing them but I at least recognized every type of problem that came up and didn't panic. Reading Comprehension was tougher this time around but I just used the tips from others on here "Read OUT LOUD and enthusiastically, pretending you know absolutely nothing about the topic of the passage" The Mechanical portion seemed intermediate level with questions about spinning objects, nuclear reactors and temperature of Kelvin vs Celsius vs Fahrenheit. In UAV I answered everything within 2 seconds and didn't miss a single compass direction. I recognized many Anit questions and finished that within 10 minutes. Missed 1 number during Dichotic listening. Tracking was MEH... I was good at Vertical tracking but the one floating all over the place was still tough. Not as tough as my first 2 attempts but still tough. I messed up once on emergency procedure turning the knobs the incorrect way but once I understood my mistake, I nailed every other procedure down.
Third attempt: 54 7,7,7
Although these aren't triple 8's or 9's, I'm still really excited about my scores and I am hoping that they are enough to get me selected for SNA. If I don't get selected, it's going to HURT but I feel at peace with myself knowing that I gave it my all. My study buddy kicked butt too and he scored a 52, 8,8,7 We are both applying for the same board so now its just a waiting game in hopes that we get picked up! Cross your fingers ya'll!!
I wasn't going to do a post out of pure laziness TBH but I had to especially with all of the help this magical website has brought me.
Mini Motivational Speech:
If you are studying out there and tired... keep freaking studying. You don't want to leave the testing room thinking "I should have done this, I could have done this, If only I had spent more time on this..." Prioritize your studying for this exam, get organized and get all the resources you need in order to do well. This time and money is an investment for your future. Don't take it lightly. This information is only a speck of what we are going to have to learn in order to actually start flying. For some people it may take them 1 week of studying and are able to reach triple 8's or 9's. I have no clue how those Einstein people do it but hey good for them! For the majority of us, it will take longer but it's doable and you can pass!
Resources/Reviews/Cost:
- You better go find Kyles gouge on here and download it. (FREE)
- Every page on here has helpful info, start backtracking on all these tabs for more gouges. (FREE)
- Youtube: Brian Mclogan, Organic Chemistry Tutor, Math and Science Channel, Kieno Thomas (FREE)
- FAA Handbook pdf (FREE) Find it Online
- Cram flashcards online - find the links on previous posts... (FREE)
My Purchases:
-Hotas Flight Joystick & Throttle. Loved it. Easy to install and borrowed my friends PS4 and Ace of Combat game to play it. I think this definitely helped with the tracking portion. ($179 ) Amazon Seller recently raised its prices to ($240)
-Tutoring: Kieno ($30-$50 an hour), (good for DRT, and Aviation Q's, good with beginner basic math), Edita - a student from MIT ($45 per hour) will literally know how to solve and explain any math or mechanical problem that you throw at her, she's awesome! Great for Advanced problems, especially word problems. If you need her contact info, I got you, send me a PM.
-Barron's Military Flight Aptitude Tests - ($17 new, $10 used) helped me understand basics of Aviation, fixed + rotor aircraft info. Not so helpful for Math and Mechanical but LOVED that there were so many Practice tests in the back of the book.
-Trivium - ( I bought it at $25 and now it's on Amazon for $44) Totally not worth $44. Smaller booklet, 2 practice tests compared to 6 in Barrons. Mechanical section of the test is better than Barrons and the Aviation information is helpful too but overall I'd recommend Barrons over Trivium.
-GRE Math Prep book - I bought 2 different versions, loved the "ARCO" version ($7) and hated "The Princeton Review" version and returned it ($20) The Arco version really breaks down Alg 2 problems and Geometry plus it has math practice tests. I ran through this book twice to make sure I understood every type of math problem. It has everything from DRT, WORK/TIME, EXPONENTS, INTEREST, PERCENTS and so much more!
-Algebra Word Problems Practice Workbook by Chris McMullen - ($10) I was so busy with the ARCO GRE math book that I didn't really use this and I ran out of study time. I did scam the book and it has everything from mixtures to DRT to literally any type of word problem you can possibly encounter. I can't give an accurate review but from the first 5 pages that I used, it was pretty helpful.
Flashcards, Highlighters, Notebooks and LOT'S OF STUDY SNACKS ($1 each) The Dollar Tree is where you need to be.
Many of these purchases aren't necessary as there is endless information on the web but personally, I'm a "hands on" learner and absolutely NEEDED books that I could highlight and underline. I also felt that I needed to have access to actual tutors in order to understand certain concepts that I just wasn't understanding through videos or books.
If you think you could benefit from these books and flight sim, I will be selling most of I used.
Prices:
- Selling Hotas Flight Sim for $120, (Excellent condition, used it in one spot of my house only and it was boxed for so long, fully functioning, no scratches) ( Costs $240 on Amazon)
- Not Selling Barrons (bad condition)
- Selling Trivium for ($6) -many passages are highlighted but the book is not dirty or ripped or anything like that, just mainly highlights, practice tests have no markings on them because I always used a different paper
- GRE Math Prep Book ( $4) ARCO version, has some Highlights here and there...
- Algebra Word Problems ($5) the first 5 pages have highlights, every other page including the cover looks new, no writing, scratches or tears
GOOD LUCK YALL !
-Snack Attack
