Took the ASTB today for the first time, scored 60 7/7/7.
I’m a Physics major about to graduate in December, and I’m hoping my score is enough to offset my 2.8 GPA. Thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread — I couldn't have done it without you!
MST:
I mainly used the Gomez and Kyle drives to study. I came across questions involving exponents, fractions, probabilities, and geometry problems. One question required calculating the area of a ring-shaped track based on a given interior area and track thickness. That's mainly what I remember — I got kicked out of the section with around 12 minutes left, so pace is important.
RST:
I didn’t study this one much — I used the ASTB app and the reading sections in the Barron’s book. I mainly tried to eliminate answer choices that were clearly wrong. This section took me the longest, and I ran out of time before finishing.
MCT:
This section was mostly conceptual. I used the Kyle and Gomez drives, along with the ASTB prep app. Topics included pulleys, springs, balance/torque problems, basic physics laws, and force/work concepts. I finished with about 4 minutes to spare.
ANIT:
I have no flight experience so I was worried about this section. I started with the Barron’s book, used the Cram cards, ASTB prep app, and practice tests from Kyle and Gomez. I got questions about aircraft components, flight instruments, and basic nautical knowledge. Some I didn’t know, but I guessed and moved on. I finished in probably 5 minutes.
UAV:
Just practice with the ASTB prep app — it’s essentially the same format. Sometimes it didn’t call out the direction, and I had to look, which slowed me down a bit. I think I got a couple wrong but finished fairly quickly.
Terrain Association:
Very similar to the ASTB Prep app, maybe even a bit easier. My strategy was to identify a straight edge or reference line and use that to orient myself on the left screen. That helped a lot.
PBM:
I used an X52 and the updated Jantzen sim to practice — the actual test felt very similar. One area I lost points was during the emergency procedures: I accidentally skipped part of the instructions and didn’t know what to do at first. Luckily I had written down one of the sample procedures earlier, so I managed to go 1 out of 3 on emergencies.
The dichotic listening portion was very similar to the Jantzen sim and the prep app, though the headset audio quality wasn’t great — I had trouble telling if I was hearing “8” or “H” at times.
Anyway, that’s my little info dump. I hope it helps some of you like other posts helped me. Good luck to everyone preparing!
