katate1016
Kat
I’ve been practicing with the hotas, I just recently picked it up. I’ll be taking my first and hopefully only attempt on Jan 17
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
katate1016
Kat
that makes sense, i’ve been trying to articulate which parts of the test correlate to these scores
katate1016
Kat
Hopefully, I get some really hard questions then!
Amberstrongen
New Member
Good job!
marianitapilicita
New Member
Thank you. I’m re taking my exam on the 18 Jan. I got 43 4/4/4. I did not do well on the dichotic portion as I click every time Thinking I should click when both the throttle and the joystick where on target. I feel like such a dummy.
What have you been doing to improve your dichotic score? Definitely try out the Jantzen sim but realize, it is not how the actual ASTB is.
marianitapilicita
New Member
Just make sure I don’t over click Lol. I also just bought the Hoyas from Amazon and will be practicing. Would the simulator work on an imac or it has to be a laptop. I’m pretty nervous mostly on the reading portion English is my second language. I hold a bachelors in chemical engineering. I’m hoping that my score improves so I have a chance.
ccrutchfield
Well-Known Member
Just wanted to chime in because I see a lot of peeps talking about the PFAR portion and purchasing a HOTAS to practice and using the DCS game to practice. I did not use a HOTAS, Flight sims or any of the fancy stuff to really practice (I was a broke college student working 14+ hr days) and I scored fairly well with an 8. I did use the online website that helps you practice but I just used a mouse and keyboard and only used it every once in a while. Reflecting on this portion of the test and what it is examining, I felt like these were the three categories I was challenged the most on:
1. The ability to adapt and understand that sometimes down means up
2. Hand-eye coordination coupled with reaction time
3. Multi-tasking
To practice for this, truthfully, I took a break from studying math, reading, aviation, etc, and played the game Rocket League with my friends. Weird, yes, but was this silly little free-to-play game a huge help with my coordination skills...yes. I got a cheap ps4 controller since I would play it on a computer (but you can play this game on many popular gaming systems) and would go to town playing games with my friends. For those that don't know, the game is basically car soccer but the cars have rockets on the back so you can fly. There are crazy youtube videos of people doing crazy stuff...but I wouldn't recommend going too deep into that rabbit hole. Unless you are seeking a career change to pro-gaming instead? lol
Anyways, why this is important? Well, it helped me build on those three things mentioned above. To fly these cars to hit the ball into the goal you have to understand that left means right and so on. (Cars reference anyone?) In this test, while it may not be as inverted in every axis as I'm saying with this video game, however, it still gives your brain experience in adapting from what is normal to suddenly abnormal controls/movements given to you by the test. From never using a HOTAS in a videogame or really ever before, I quickly picked up how to follow the little target on the screen and adapt for its ever-changing position. This leads me into the next category which is hand-eye coordination/reaction time. If you want to win these games in car soccer and boast to/with your friends, you'll have to get pretty fast and your body will have to be more in sync (mainly your hands-eyes). Lastly, the multi-tasking...this skill I was able to build when playing with my friends, and by myself with random people because we would always be looking around the "soccer field" for our opponents, teammates, and positions to hit the ball. When you get into the emergency procedures section, you'll be looking all over the screen where every target is changing its position, and your engine is on fire, etc. The ability to stay focused on the big picture and all the minor influencing factors and not tunnel visioning is a very useful skill and one you can build.
Just wanted to chime with this relatively inexpensive and fun tool which acted as both a study break and practice for me. It could also work for you! At the end of the day though, you'll have to figure out what works best for you, and maybe that is a HOTAS setup with a simulator game or something else. Remember that all of these are skills that you can build up, yes chadicus thadicus may have godlike reflexes that they were born with but that doesn't mean you can't get them either. Hard-work pays huge dividends.
1. The ability to adapt and understand that sometimes down means up
2. Hand-eye coordination coupled with reaction time
3. Multi-tasking
To practice for this, truthfully, I took a break from studying math, reading, aviation, etc, and played the game Rocket League with my friends. Weird, yes, but was this silly little free-to-play game a huge help with my coordination skills...yes. I got a cheap ps4 controller since I would play it on a computer (but you can play this game on many popular gaming systems) and would go to town playing games with my friends. For those that don't know, the game is basically car soccer but the cars have rockets on the back so you can fly. There are crazy youtube videos of people doing crazy stuff...but I wouldn't recommend going too deep into that rabbit hole. Unless you are seeking a career change to pro-gaming instead? lol
Anyways, why this is important? Well, it helped me build on those three things mentioned above. To fly these cars to hit the ball into the goal you have to understand that left means right and so on. (Cars reference anyone?) In this test, while it may not be as inverted in every axis as I'm saying with this video game, however, it still gives your brain experience in adapting from what is normal to suddenly abnormal controls/movements given to you by the test. From never using a HOTAS in a videogame or really ever before, I quickly picked up how to follow the little target on the screen and adapt for its ever-changing position. This leads me into the next category which is hand-eye coordination/reaction time. If you want to win these games in car soccer and boast to/with your friends, you'll have to get pretty fast and your body will have to be more in sync (mainly your hands-eyes). Lastly, the multi-tasking...this skill I was able to build when playing with my friends, and by myself with random people because we would always be looking around the "soccer field" for our opponents, teammates, and positions to hit the ball. When you get into the emergency procedures section, you'll be looking all over the screen where every target is changing its position, and your engine is on fire, etc. The ability to stay focused on the big picture and all the minor influencing factors and not tunnel visioning is a very useful skill and one you can build.
Just wanted to chime with this relatively inexpensive and fun tool which acted as both a study break and practice for me. It could also work for you! At the end of the day though, you'll have to figure out what works best for you, and maybe that is a HOTAS setup with a simulator game or something else. Remember that all of these are skills that you can build up, yes chadicus thadicus may have godlike reflexes that they were born with but that doesn't mean you can't get them either. Hard-work pays huge dividends.
Tumbleweed33
Well-Known Member
Someone made an adjustment to the Jantzen sim on Github. The adjustment makes the dichotic listening more in line with the actual test adding numbers and letters. It will get you about 80% of the way there but it is still not exactly like the test.
You can download the game then run it on your computer as a local server to achieve this. I somehow stumbled my way into making it work.
Jt11red
Member
Wanted to post my results and give a few tips, as many others have. This site helped a lot for me. Took the ASTB twice, the first was going in right after talking to a recruiter and the second was one month later.
1st attempt:
50 // 4/4/4
2nd attempt:
54 // 6/5/6
While it was not a fantastic score, I was happy with it. Applied for NFO and got picked up in November and am planned to ship out Aug 14th, 2022.
Tips I feel helped me from things I read and from taking it twice:
-Memorization for ANIT is not difficult but I would recommend starting with this portion so you can go back to refamiliarize yourself with the definitions, terms, etc... when you need a break from studying the other sections.
-Math/Mechanical portions I feel are like normal coursework in school. Study the formulas and procedures in test preps and DO PRACTICE TESTS. Gaining confidence with what you know will help greatly when you are in the room taking the real thing. Practice what you may be weakest at.
-Reading Comprehension has a huge emphasis on THE BEST ANSWER. Sometimes all of them seem like viable choices and you must use what is stated in the texts without what is implied. You can assume an answer on what is not stated and get the answer wrong. It is designed to test your attention to detail.
-NAFTI is really studied for, but I can try to help by saying be honest, yet try favor answers that lean toward teamwork and leadership. Don't BS your answers towards them though, as it also checks for inconsistency.
-PBM has two parts.
The drone portion has you orient buildings or parking lots with a compass and direction to a drones direction or path. Some people draw out a compass with the scratch paper and orient it with the drones direction to get your answer (whatever direction is pointing in front of you). this was a little cumbersome to do when it takes time to do this each time. There is an app for iOS i will plug after this section that helped greatly to make it second nature.
The second portion is the throttle, stick, hearing and procedure portion. you do one, then add to the other and so on, until all four are compiled into one and you feel like it's utter chaos and you are preforming as bad as grandpa trying to play Xbox for the first time. It is okay and you are not supposed to keep the reticles on both portions perfectly. I focused mainly on keeping the throttle on target more so than the stick. I let the stick be tracked by my peripherals but I did 2 points better when maintaining consistency with just one as opposed to trying to both at once and not managing it.
// //
-What helped me a lot was an iOS app simply called "ASTB PREP" that has what looks like an Ensign insignia. This covered each portion of the ASTB, has practice tests, chapters and the best part was the drone simulator. Use it repeatedly. The app cost $9 and was worth more than the other study books I got combined, for less money. Plus it takes up less room.
-Study and take practice tests in different areas/locations so you don't associate one location with all of your knowledge. This sounds odd but it really helped me.
-When taking the actual test, be prepared to be next to someone else taking it as well (most likely), and even with the headphones on, I was able to hear the recruiter chatting outside which was a bit distracting when trying to focus on certain parts.
-For the love of God, please be on time... for you, the recruiters and the other person taking the test. The girl I was scheduled to take the test with was over an hour late, only took the OAR and my time was damn near close to the next set of test takers scheduled to go next. Don't be that person.
Anyways, I hope this can help someone out there, as all the gouge on here helped me a lot and I appreciated hearing any info or tips from as many sources as possible. Even is some were similar, it was still nice to hears each individual experience and tips.
1st attempt:
50 // 4/4/4
2nd attempt:
54 // 6/5/6
While it was not a fantastic score, I was happy with it. Applied for NFO and got picked up in November and am planned to ship out Aug 14th, 2022.
Tips I feel helped me from things I read and from taking it twice:
-Memorization for ANIT is not difficult but I would recommend starting with this portion so you can go back to refamiliarize yourself with the definitions, terms, etc... when you need a break from studying the other sections.
-Math/Mechanical portions I feel are like normal coursework in school. Study the formulas and procedures in test preps and DO PRACTICE TESTS. Gaining confidence with what you know will help greatly when you are in the room taking the real thing. Practice what you may be weakest at.
-Reading Comprehension has a huge emphasis on THE BEST ANSWER. Sometimes all of them seem like viable choices and you must use what is stated in the texts without what is implied. You can assume an answer on what is not stated and get the answer wrong. It is designed to test your attention to detail.
-NAFTI is really studied for, but I can try to help by saying be honest, yet try favor answers that lean toward teamwork and leadership. Don't BS your answers towards them though, as it also checks for inconsistency.
-PBM has two parts.
The drone portion has you orient buildings or parking lots with a compass and direction to a drones direction or path. Some people draw out a compass with the scratch paper and orient it with the drones direction to get your answer (whatever direction is pointing in front of you). this was a little cumbersome to do when it takes time to do this each time. There is an app for iOS i will plug after this section that helped greatly to make it second nature.
The second portion is the throttle, stick, hearing and procedure portion. you do one, then add to the other and so on, until all four are compiled into one and you feel like it's utter chaos and you are preforming as bad as grandpa trying to play Xbox for the first time. It is okay and you are not supposed to keep the reticles on both portions perfectly. I focused mainly on keeping the throttle on target more so than the stick. I let the stick be tracked by my peripherals but I did 2 points better when maintaining consistency with just one as opposed to trying to both at once and not managing it.
// //
-What helped me a lot was an iOS app simply called "ASTB PREP" that has what looks like an Ensign insignia. This covered each portion of the ASTB, has practice tests, chapters and the best part was the drone simulator. Use it repeatedly. The app cost $9 and was worth more than the other study books I got combined, for less money. Plus it takes up less room.
-Study and take practice tests in different areas/locations so you don't associate one location with all of your knowledge. This sounds odd but it really helped me.
-When taking the actual test, be prepared to be next to someone else taking it as well (most likely), and even with the headphones on, I was able to hear the recruiter chatting outside which was a bit distracting when trying to focus on certain parts.
-For the love of God, please be on time... for you, the recruiters and the other person taking the test. The girl I was scheduled to take the test with was over an hour late, only took the OAR and my time was damn near close to the next set of test takers scheduled to go next. Don't be that person.
Anyways, I hope this can help someone out there, as all the gouge on here helped me a lot and I appreciated hearing any info or tips from as many sources as possible. Even is some were similar, it was still nice to hears each individual experience and tips.
Hello everyone,
Took the ASTB back in 2019, haven't submitted to a board yet since it was when I was still a sophomore in college. Was wondering how my scores look and if I should just submit next board to see what they come back with or retake first.
I did absolutely terrible on the OAR score, 36, which is just above the minimum of 35 which doesn't help me in the slightest.
As for my other scores:
AQR: 5
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 6
Will have my commercial pilot's license by graduation with no prior service. Aiming for a SNA slot more than an FO. Thanks
Took the ASTB back in 2019, haven't submitted to a board yet since it was when I was still a sophomore in college. Was wondering how my scores look and if I should just submit next board to see what they come back with or retake first.
I did absolutely terrible on the OAR score, 36, which is just above the minimum of 35 which doesn't help me in the slightest.
As for my other scores:
AQR: 5
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 6
Will have my commercial pilot's license by graduation with no prior service. Aiming for a SNA slot more than an FO. Thanks
flatspinturkeyb
69 9/9/9 GPA: b4d
I bet if you retook after graduation you could get a much better OAR and AQR!
Jt11red
Member
While they don't necessarily "look" at your OAR score, it will still be visible. Your PFAR score is well in the accepted range, lol. AQR is the minimum so you're technically good there. The test has been modified and supposedly is now a bit more difficult. The worst you could do is see what a recruiter thinks about it and send in for a package with what you have. If it gets rejected, try to retake the ASTB like you were thinking about doing anyways. They will take your most recent score, not your highest scores so if you feel it may be a gamble on getting an 8 again, first try with what you have.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
submit when able and see what happens, don't risk that 8 unless you get a no the first time around.
FloridaDad
Well-Known Member
I was told that the UAV section had a ton to do with your PFAR score which makes sense because that was my weakest part of my test and my lowest score was my PFAR. If you're wrong you're making me really nervous hahaha