• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

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

Hello everyone, took the OAR today and scored a 62. A score that I'm very happy with. I have yet to take the PBM portion, because I decided with my recruiter to take the OAR first and then merge that with the PBM later to get a full ASTB score so I can focus my entire attention on the OAR subjects, then pivot towards the simulator and ANIT to guarantee the best possible scores. This is something that you can do as well, and unless you're time critical I recommend you do to maximize your score.

Now, onto the test.

The OAR begins with a few instructional "powerpoint slides" that guide you through all the test functions and what you can expect. I suggest you take this time to write down any memorized formulas or a multiplication table, hell, even start calculating a table of perfect square and cube roots for use during the exam. If you think it'll save you time, do it during this section.

MATH
For this section, I personally received a wide variety of questions, everything from simple system of equations questions (what is x in x+4-3x=2x+6) to very complicated root and logarithm problems (log8[log10(log16(x))]=1) (root_5((64x^8)(y^16)(z^36)). I also had combinatoric probability, (How many ways can x y and z be ordered) and basic probability (What is the chance that Sam will roll a 9 if he rolls two dice once?) type questions. One exponent question (very basic fractional exponent like 32^2/5). One very long polynomial multiplication question ((2(x+4)^2)^2-4x+2(x+4) all divided by 4), as well as some percentages (Suzie spent 30% of her savings on a new car and then 10% on a speaker, how much of her savings did she spend?). My section ended off with a complicated geometry problem which I guessed on (attachment below).
geometry question.png

Overall, this section seemed harder than some of the practice material on here, maybe that is because I was performing well on it, but I will leave that up to the interpretation of the reader. I had no matrix multiplication, no DRT, no work, and almost no basic word problems akin to what you would see in the 114 Question OAR math guide. My personal suggestion to all of you is STUDY YOUR LOG RULES. My test had me simplify about 4 logarithmic equations, and ALL but one were harder than the log worksheet on either drive. The worksheets and OAR math guide are very good at setting you up for the basics of some of the problems you may encounter, but the test is adaptive, and if you perform well it WILL throw problems much harder than those on the worksheets at you.

But remember, this is just my experience with the test. Yours may be harder, or it may be easier.

READING
Boring, boring, boring, and complicated. I was prepared for the material on this section by reading hundreds of posts just like this one prior to taking the test over my month of studying. This section will give you a paragraph and 4 answer choices. 2 will be blatantly incorrect, one will be almost correct, and one will be correct. Almost all passages will be written in Navy/military jargon, and the best way I can describe it is like reading an informational brochure about some benefit or new program in an institution and being able to derive some implied meaning from it. I really don't think there's any real way to study for this, but the official NAMI ASTB practice pdf actually has some very good practice questions on it. I believe the one regarding the ORM Risk Management was actually on my test haha. It is linked below alongside my other study documents.

MECHANICAL
This section I flew by because all the material was fresh in my mind as I had dedicated the final week of my studying to it. My honest suggestion is 100% invest in the OAR tutoring app (linked below). Almost 10 of my questions came straight from that app or were some derivative of one of the questions asked. Do the MC Lesson homeworks and remember all of the answers and why that answer is true, as some of the questions asked are very similar but not 1:1 and require some thought on your end. On this section I received mostly conceptual questions, but did receive about 4 questions where I had to do some sort of math. Definitely know your formulas for Force (F=ma), Work (W=Fd) Kinetic (KE=1/2mv^2) and Potential (PE=mgh) energy, as well as how to balance and calculate the mechanical advantage for levers, inclined planes, gears, and pulleys. I personally had no questions on gears or pulleys but your test will not be the same as mine so I recommend it nonetheless.



I would once again like to thank the people of this forum for compiling their experiences and creating study material, for my score would not have been possible without your continued participation in this forum. I will be applying for BDCP SNA as soon as I have taken the PBM so I'm not in the clear yet, but the hard part is done. I hope that my post is able to help at least one person in their preparation for this exam, and if I managed a 62 with how stressed I was about this exam, you can too. If you put your mind to it, you can and will overcome.

RESOURCES USED
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top