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

[hopeful96]

How did you do it? What materials did you used?

I started with the Mometrix ASTB-E Secrets Study Guide, and used wikipedia for more details on certain concepts. I also used KhanAcademy for math. After that, I used some of the resources from the Gomez and Kyle drives. I studied as much as I could, then I would do a practice test, see what I got wrong, study that again, and repeat until I felt confident. I honestly did not feel confident while taking the test, and I was really surprised when I got my score.

For the stick and throttle, I used Jantzen's simulator to prep.

what was the highest math difficulty you encountered?

My test went up to exponents, logarithms, probability and combinatorics, and velocity/time graphs.

 

[nmsmoncrieft]

Hey you all! For the UAV section I have been studying using these flash cards and the app:

https://quizlet.com/451378913/learn

and on these it only asks to identify the directions north, south, east, west/the cardinal directions. On the exam itself will I be asked to identify northwest, southwest (intercardinal/ordinal) directions? i understand the arrow/pointer itself can be offset to ordinal but overall, will the buildings to identify always be cardinal? (for example will it ask "identify the northwest building")

 

[Yobyhsj]

Hello! Been practicing with the X52 on the ASTB App for a couple of weeks now. I am always seem to be a step behind on the throttle compared to the joystick. I'd score above 30% one time, then rattle off a bunch low-mid 20s. You guys have any advice or tips/tricks to improve?

 

[SkyBronco]

Hey everyone, I took the ASTB recently and scored a 60, 9, 9, 8 this thread was super helpful so I figured I would leave a little gouge. I studied for around 2 hours a day for a month and around 6 hours a day in the days leading up to the test using mainly the TwoScoops app and the Gomez drive. I have a decent amount of flight time which I think helped me tremendously with the ANIT and PBM.

Math Section
I was pretty confident for this part since I had been averaging around 90% in the app but I felt like I got absolutely demolished. I had mostly algebra questions, probability, and some geometry. The algebra got pretty crazy, like fractions within fractions raised to a power with two variables kind of stuff. It felt like I was making an educated guess on around 1/3 of the questions and I got pretty close to running out of time.

Reading Section
This was the other section that I felt really good about coming in and felt bad about after I was done. I didn’t really study much for this because reading comprehension had always been a strength of mine but this section was crazy hard. The material you have to read is so dry and weirdly convoluted that it makes your eyes glaze over and I often had to re-read the paragraph multiple times. I would recommend using process of elimination to make this section easier.

Mechanical Section
I studied this section the hardest because of the sheer amount of stuff it seemed like they could test you on but it really wasn’t that crazy. Most of the questions were concept based and if I had to do any calculations they were pretty easy. Lots of mechanical advantage questions.

ANIT
I didn’t study much aviation material since I have a solid knowledge base there already so I spent some time studying the naval side of things. It felt like 2/3 of the test was aviation focused and the other 1/3 was nautical. Not much else to say besides that the app and the Gomez drive were great for studying for this section.

Listening Test
Pretty straightforward, make sure you carefully read the directions before you begin this or any other section. Someone here recommended turning your target ear towards the screen in case you blank and forget which ear you’re supposed to be listening to and I thought this worked well.

UAV Portion
Used the compass method for this section and was able to do it pretty quick. Missed 3 because I’m dumb. The app is excellent for practicing this section and I would recommend turning on rapid fire mode as its more like the actual test that way.

Terrain ID
Used a compass for this part as well. I would recommend trying to find a North-South or East-West line to align the compass with. As others have stated, the test is easier than the app the only thing that sucks about the test is how grainy the images can be.

Cockpit Sim
I could never get my stick to work with my laptop so I never did much practice besides a couple times on the app. The real test is definitely easier, especially the throttle control. I messed up literally every single one of the emergency procedures because I wrote them down wrong like a total moron. If I had to guess I would say that went a long way towards bringing my FOFAR down to an 8.

I was pretty shocked when I saw the scores since I figured I had done pretty poorly on the first two sections and the emergency procedures but I’m pretty psyched to have made ISEL criteria. For me I guess it’s now just a matter of waiting out my LASIK post-op and not getting any surprises at MEPS. Hope this has been helpful!

 

[matt.aguirre12]

Hello! Been practicing with the X52 on the ASTB App for a couple of weeks now. I am always seem to be a step behind on the throttle compared to the joystick. I'd score above 30% one time, then rattle off a bunch low-mid 20s. You guys have any advice or tips/tricks to improve?

What's really helped me improve is doing them one at a time (just the throttle, then just the stick) for about 2-3 minutes before trying to do both together right off the rip. Also, I would suggest help train your tracking with your eyes, there's plenty of youtube videos that help with that to include periferal tracking which will help with raising your throttle score when doing both. It's kind of why people who play video games tend to do better on that portion of the test (not always though).
Obviously this is all easier say than done, but it's worth looking into training not just your muscle memory, but your hand-eye coordination with tracking, anticipating the movement, and lowering your reaction time. Hope this helps.

 

[matt.aguirre12]

Hey you all! For the UAV section I have been studying using these flash cards and the app:

https://quizlet.com/451378913/learn

and on these it only asks to identify the directions north, south, east, west/the cardinal directions. On the exam itself will I be asked to identify northwest, southwest (intercardinal/ordinal) directions? i understand the arrow/pointer itself can be offset to ordinal but overall, will the buildings to identify always be cardinal? (for example will it ask "identify the northwest building")

I was wondering the same thing, I've been good with just N S E W reactions, but wanted to see if they do NE, SW, etc. on the test

 

[DBM]

I was wondering the same thing, I've been good with just N S E W reactions, but wanted to see if they do NE, SW, etc. on the test

I was wondering the same thing, I've been good with just N S E W reactions, but wanted to see if they do NE, SW, etc. on the test

If I remember correctly, it also includes NE, SW, etc.

 

[StrotherBrown]

Hey man. I spent 3 years in optometry school, so I have some experience with these tests. When we learned about color blind testing, the step up from the Ishihara plates, which is probably what they tested you on, would most likely be the Farnsworth 100, though it sometimes will miss mild deficiencies. In the Farnsworth, you will have four rows of round caps or squares that gradually change in hue from one color to another. They will mix up the caps within each row so that they are out of order, then it is your job to sort them into the correct order. If you wanted to give it a try before taking the test for real, this website should give you an idea of how the test works. I've also attached an instruction manual for administering and scoring the test, so you can understand it a little more if you'd like. Realistically, knowing about how the test works will probably not affect your performance on it since it is randomly sorted and it relies entirely on your innate ability to differentiate between colors. Just try to stay calm and do the best you can.

If you haven't already, I would definitely discuss with your recruiter to see if they are familiar with the tests and documentation you would need to get it reconsidered.

Best of luck brother!

P.S. If you or anyone else who sees this has any vision or optometry related questions, feel free to message me, and I'll help out however I can.

I also saw that another test was the Falant test where you have a lantern and you are shown either a green, red, or white light. Does this sound familiar to you at all?