Hello everyone! I’m a ROTC student with a 4.0 in engineering. Got a 9/6/9 on my first attempt, first and foremost asking to see if people think I need to retake because of the 6 (I want to go for SNA). The simulator part of the PBM did not go well for me so any thoughts on how to improve that besides buying a HOTAS would be appreciated as well.
Also, for future reference, I felt really sick after the reading section and tried to step out for a second. I got locked out and my proctor had to call the guy at headquarters so... maybe don’t do that if you can help it.
Here are my notes on the other sections:
Math:
- Special triangles (30/60/90 and 45/45/90)
- Simple interest
- Probability (simple combinatorics, dice)
- Some pretty involved long division and multiplication; just make sure you can do it pretty quickly
- Logs
- Exponents (whole numbers and decimals)
- Volume of a rectangular box
Reading:
- Boring, didn’t study for this at all but as mentioned before look out for nuances in words in terms of absolutes (should/shall/can/must/always/never)
Physics
- Fixed/moveable pulleys
- AC/DC current
- What the heat expansion of a flat object looks like (guessed)
- String tension
- Bernoulli’s principle)
- You pull on a yo-yo attached to a string. What way does it roll?
ANIT
- Temperature of carburetor icing
- Control surfaces on a plane
- How airspeed is measured
- At least three question on how a plane moves in a certain direction/about an axis
- A lot of stuff from Popeye’s gauge
- No aviation history
- I got kicked out pretty early on this
NAFTI
- I used this section to try calming down and breathing
- Also tried to stick to a few personality traits (law abiding, confident, adaptive) and not contradict my previous responses
PBM
- This section definitely ruined my score. I never played video games and thought the inverted axis might be more intuitive for me since I had no muscle memory to go off of but it was not at all. Dichotic listening was okay but it was all downhill from there. I also don’t think I did the emergency procedures correctly even though I had them written down because the screen turned red after a few seconds but I’m not sure. Not really sure what to say about this other than if you have experience with video games that might be helpful?
As far as studying the other stuff though, I started with Barron’s and then used a lot of people’s drives. Barron’s may not be as hard as the test but it’s a good review of the basics and gives you a starting point especially for the math and ANIT. I also thought the scope of the Barron’s mechanics was pretty accurate.
I then read and took notes on all of the highlighted FAA chapters from Kyle’s drive which was incredibly helpful. I cannot recommend this enough. It’s long but their explanations were very concise and helpful. Definitely take notes as you go for memory.
After that I used Kyle’s Drive, Sam’s Drive, and the Marine Gauge for practice problems. Khan Academy was good for quick reviews of topics like probability and buoyancy.
For ANIT know everything in Popeye’s Gauge (in Kyle’s drive) and do as many quizlets as you can find from this forum (especially the Cram and Proprofs ones that have been linked often). You have to know a little of everything and since questions repeat it’s also smart to have answers from the gauge memorized. I also watched some documentaries and movies (The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 were good) as a break from everything else.
Finally- make your own, PHYSICAL flash cards for everything you’re struggling to remember. I ended up with probably 400 between ANIT and mechanical and I did them first thing every morning. This was invaluable for memorizing the vast amount of stuff they expect you to know.
Overall a little disappointed. I probably wouldn’t have retaken if I’d even gotten a 7 on the PFAR but I don’t feel great about the 6.
Like I mentioned, if anyone with experience has thoughts I’d really appreciate them.