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

[Hobblehob]

I took the ASTB about a month ago.
OAR 62
I didn't take the other parts due to turning 27 this Dec. ( so no flying for me) brother is an aviator so I'll just let that be his thing I guess. Anyways I was planning on studying for at least a month but my OR called me and had me take it 3 days after I 1st got in contact with him. I did great on the mechanical portion by just reviewing some basic principles. Pully systems, electronic circuits, levers ramp and frictional force also how fluid moves through pipes. The math portion was the hardest part but if you understand fractions and use the paper provided you will do much better. Good luck!

 

[flynavy830]

Two basic physics questions I've been thinking of, want to make sure I'm thinking of them correctly.

Ball thrown up, ball thrown down, which has more kinetic energy? Well the ball thrown up reaches a point where it's speed is 0 and then falls, gaining speed until hitting the ground with a certain amount of energy. The ball thrown down is reaching a higher speed since its going with gravity, and starting at a higher speed, so it would have more kinetic energy. Right?

Calculating distance of rocket given 3 second burst, and -3 seconds for peak. Would you utilize the simple equation where you subtract velocities and divide the acceleration?

 

[James GII]

I took the ASTB about a month ago.
OAR 62
I didn't take the other parts due to turning 27 this Dec. ( so no flying for me) brother is an aviator so I'll just let that be his thing I guess. Anyways I was planning on studying for at least a month but my OR called me and had me take it 3 days after I 1st got in contact with him. I did great on the mechanical portion by just reviewing some basic principles. Pully systems, electronic circuits, levers ramp and frictional force also how fluid moves through pipes. The math portion was the hardest part but if you understand fractions and use the paper provided you will do much better. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply and helpful insight! I believe you took the OAR (Officer Aptitude Rating), not the ASTB. The ASTB (Aviation Selection Battery) are 7 sections, so if you only took the first 3(math, reading, mechanical comp.) then it was the OAR. Glad to know that you did so well! I will update as soon as I have completed the ASTB on the 20th and answer any questions that people may have in regards to my experience with the test. Until then, I wish everyone the best of luck and I will be rooting for all of us.

 

[Ben Cranna]

First time poster, recently took the ASTB and spent a lot of time beforehand on this forum. I just wanted to make my experience known to help out others who will be taking the ASTB soon. I took it last Thursday (11/12) and finished with scores of 63 7/6/6. Happy with my scores, but there were several things I noticed about my test that many have said before me, but here is my experience and reiteration:

Math: not my strongest subject, knew that going in. the hardest problems I got IMO were extremely complex word problems, dealing with averages, percentages, etc. basically felt like they took a problem and said "ok, how many different things can we throw at them at once." The most frustrating part for me was the adaptive test layout, where you can't skip around or go back, which is how i usually operate on paper tests. So if you are someone like me, be mentally prepared to get stuck on a tough question and not be able to skip and come back to it. It was very frustrating for me spending several minutes on one question only to not find my answer in the answer bank and have to start over.

Reading comprehension: usually a stronger subject for me, didn't spend as much time studying for this one. Don't underestimate this section, there will usually be 2-3 answer options on each question that look correct. I highly recommend practicing these types of questions (I used Barron's extensively) because in doing so you will get a feel for what the ASTB considers the correct answer.

Mechanics: Took physics in high school, almost none in college so a lot of this information I needed to refresh myself on. I saw a handful of the "typical" questions we all see on ASTB practice tests (pulleys, gears, levers) but also saw several F=ma questions and a lot of just basic physics concepts (or I was just doing poorly and was getting all easy ones...) For instance, twice I got a problem involving one object hitting another one at a high speed and was asked for the force on each object during the collision. If you don't have a physics background, many on this forum swear by Khan Academy, which in retrospect I wish I had used more.

ANIT: I felt very comfortable with aviation and nautical knowledge going in, but felt like the test questions were very different than what I had practiced. Instead of basic aviation knowledge and the parts of aircraft/ships like I expected, many questions involved specific historical events that I had never seen in any practice or study book. I wish I could be more specific but examples escape me right now. My point here is that many of the questions were things that even with extensive studying I never came across. And many seemed like things that only someone already in the Navy would know.

UAV: This was the one section I really feel like I could have done much better on. Practice, practice, practice. Develop a system that works for you in quickly determining the correct parking lot. I did poorly because I felt pressured by time too much and several times selected an answer before I had gone through and determined the right one. I imagine someone would score better by selecting the right answer in 8 seconds rather than the wrong answer in 3. Give yourself time, don't feel pressured. Work as quickly as you feel confident with, feeling rushed was definitely the biggest factor in me not doing as well as I feel capable of.

Joystick test: In retrospect if I took the joystick test without, you know, the pressure of being given a score on it that will determine my future career, I would consider it fun. You're going to feel uncoordinated, you're going to get tripped up by the inverted controls, you're going to at one moment snap out of your dichotic listening test and realize you've had the joystick plane stuck in the corner for 5 seconds. Don't overthink it, concentrate on the task at hand (dichotic listening or emergency scenarios) and do the best you can tracking the aircraft. At several points you're going to feel overwhelmed and uncoordinated, just go with it and try to make it fun.

Finally just wanted to thanks to all who post on this site, in any regard. As someone who wants to join the Navy, it is extremely reassuring to see how this community goes above and beyond to help future sailors/aviators. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions about my recent experience, I'd be happy to go into detail.

 

[James GII]

Took the ASTB-E yesterday for the first time and this was my experience with it. I scored a 41 3/5/4 and was at first really discouraged but I now know what to really focus on next time I take it in February 2016 (due to the 91 day waiting period).

Friday morning, November 20th, 2015: Went to my 8am class and then left Abilene, TX to go take the ASTB-E 2 and a half hours away in Lubbock, TX. By the time I got there, I was so jittery on Advocare spark and coffee that I felt like I couldn't concentrate on one thing. Drink some coffee and eat before the test. I only ate a granola bar and had low energy but was wide awake the whole test. Learn from me. The recruiter set everything up for me and I began after carefully reading the instructions given in APEX.

Math: I have never been good at math. It has always been the most difficult subject for me because with math, like anything else you learn in life, you need a solid foundation in order to build off of new theories and ideas. Going in to the test I knew I had to re-build a solid foundation so I could learn more difficult problems and solutions. I spent a lot of my time the past 3 weeks on Khan Academy, prepping myself as best I could. Although Khan Academy helped me out incredibly with building a solid foundation to continue in to upper level math (Algebra, Logarithms, etc.) and a lot of people swear by it on this forum, I believe what I did wrong was solely relying on Khan Academy to prepare me for the math portion of the test. If you are like me and math isn't your best subject, use Khan Academy to build up a solid foundation in Algebra, Logarithms, Rate, Probability, AND THEN do everything you can to practice what you learned on increasingly difficult problems online, in the Barron's and Arcos books, and anywhere else you can practice these problems. Also the Marine gouge and OAR gouge helped me out a lot too. Also, and a lot of people say "NO" to this but it helped me out incredibly with re-learning basic math concepts, I used the Cliffnotes "Basic Math" book and went through that in about a week just reviewing non-stop. It helped me out a lot. Anyway, the math portion of the ASTB-E really isn't that bad. Just focus as best you can and practice, practice, practice all of the math subjects I listed above. I went through the math section with about 10 minutes to spare. (it gives you 40 minutes) With 10 minutes left, I wish I would have taken my time on some of the problems. Doing the questions in the allotted time is doable and for those who are worried they can't make it, you can.

Reading: For the love of all things Holy, don't underestimate this section. I did and this is what I believe killed me. The reading is so incredibly dry that it is almost un-readable. It was so difficult focusing on the paragraphs because of the randomness and difficulty of some of the paragraphs that I found myself re-reading over and over again. And then to make things worse, the answer choices all seemed correct. So not only did I not understand what I was reading, but I also thought al of the answers were correct. Practice this section! I know I am, probably more than math now to be honest with you. There are certain answers that are correct and what was recommended in another ASTB review was to practice these questions in ARCOS. I wish I had practiced these more because figuring out the correct answer would've been so much easier knowing what type of answer they wanted to be picked. If you think you are a good reader and this will be a breezy section for you (I did), I would just recommend practicing as best you can to figure out what type of answer is correct. This may sound obvious but I can't really explain it any other way than that.

Mechanical: Not too bad. I had no idea Khan Academy has a Mechanical section part to it so I will be studying that a lot these next few months. Just know basic physics and "Atrickpay"s study guide and you should be fine.

ANIT: I received a 3 in this section. I thought I was going to be fine in this section because I really enjoyed studying Nautical and Aviation knowledge but it seemed to me that the only way you could know some of the answers was if you were already in the Navy or a pilot. This section was difficult enough to where I will be studying everything I can in regards to Nautical/Aviation knowledge, Naval aircraft history since Vietnam to now, and anything else I can get my hands on.

UAV: This section was really fun. It was fun because I received a tip from a member to write the cardinal directions on the scratch sheet of paper they give you and then just turn it in to direction you are going when you are taking it. It made everything 100 times easier and I ended up just having a competition with myself to see how fast I could do it with each question. I received a 5 and I know I can do better. I messed up on 3 and got them wrong just because I lost focus for a second in between each question. Focus down and be confident.

Joystick test: Honestly, this part was fun as hell. It was quite a positive change to the whole test. I love video games and thats exactly what it felt like. It goes from following a target with the throttle, to following it with a joystick on a 2D scale, to doing both at the same time, to doing the dichotic test, then doing all three at the same time. The dichotic test was not hard and although I received a 4 on this part, I know that I did my absolute best in this section. So I have no complaints. I had quite a fun time with it and it was an incredibly fun challenge and a great way to end the test. You can't really practice for this section so do your very best and treat it as if you were actually chasing a Russian Mig and your life depended on it.

Next time around, I will be better prepared and although discouraged I was, I want this more than I want to breathe. So I quickly ended the tea party I was having with myself and am already prepping for my next go around. YEE! Message me with any questions and I will gladly answer them!

- James

 

[BPeterson93]

Took the ASTB-E yesterday for the first time and this was my experience with it. I scored a 41 3/5/4 and was at first really discouraged but I now know what to really focus on next time I take it in February 2016 (due to the 91 day waiting period).

Friday morning, November 20th, 2015: Went to my 8am class and then left Abilene, TX to go take the ASTB-E 2 and a half hours away in Lubbock, TX. By the time I got there, I was so jittery on Advocare spark and coffee that I felt like I couldn't concentrate on one thing. Drink some coffee and eat before the test. I only ate a granola bar and had low energy but was wide awake the whole test. Learn from me. The recruiter set everything up for me and I began after carefully reading the instructions given in APEX.

Math: I have never been good at math. It has always been the most difficult subject for me because with math, like anything else you learn in life, you need a solid foundation in order to build off of new theories and ideas. Going in to the test I knew I had to re-build a solid foundation so I could learn more difficult problems and solutions. I spent a lot of my time the past 3 weeks on Khan Academy, prepping myself as best I could. Although Khan Academy helped me out incredibly with building a solid foundation to continue in to upper level math (Algebra, Logarithms, etc.) and a lot of people swear by it on this forum, I believe what I did wrong was solely relying on Khan Academy to prepare me for the math portion of the test. If you are like me and math isn't your best subject, use Khan Academy to build up a solid foundation in Algebra, Logarithms, Rate, Probability, AND THEN do everything you can to practice what you learned on increasingly difficult problems online, in the Barron's and Arcos books, and anywhere else you can practice these problems. Also the Marine gouge and OAR gouge helped me out a lot too. Also, and a lot of people say "NO" to this but it helped me out incredibly with re-learning basic math concepts, I used the Cliffnotes "Basic Math" book and went through that in about a week just reviewing non-stop. It helped me out a lot. Anyway, the math portion of the ASTB-E really isn't that bad. Just focus as best you can and practice, practice, practice all of the math subjects I listed above. I went through the math section with about 10 minutes to spare. (it gives you 40 minutes) With 10 minutes left, I wish I would have taken my time on some of the problems. Doing the questions in the allotted time is doable and for those who are worried they can't make it, you can.

Reading: For the love of all things Holy, don't underestimate this section. I did and this is what I believe killed me. The reading is so incredibly dry that it is almost un-readable. It was so difficult focusing on the paragraphs because of the randomness and difficulty of some of the paragraphs that I found myself re-reading over and over again. And then to make things worse, the answer choices all seemed correct. So not only did I not understand what I was reading, but I also thought al of the answers were correct. Practice this section! I know I am, probably more than math now to be honest with you. There are certain answers that are correct and what was recommended in another ASTB review was to practice these questions in ARCOS. I wish I had practiced these more because figuring out the correct answer would've been so much easier knowing what type of answer they wanted to be picked. If you think you are a good reader and this will be a breezy section for you (I did), I would just recommend practicing as best you can to figure out what type of answer is correct. This may sound obvious but I can't really explain it any other way than that.

Mechanical: Not too bad. I had no idea Khan Academy has a Mechanical section part to it so I will be studying that a lot these next few months. Just know basic physics and "Atrickpay"s study guide and you should be fine.

ANIT: I received a 3 in this section. I thought I was going to be fine in this section because I really enjoyed studying Nautical and Aviation knowledge but it seemed to me that the only way you could know some of the answers was if you were already in the Navy or a pilot. This section was difficult enough to where I will be studying everything I can in regards to Nautical/Aviation knowledge, Naval aircraft history since Vietnam to now, and anything else I can get my hands on.

UAV: This section was really fun. It was fun because I received a tip from a member to write the cardinal directions on the scratch sheet of paper they give you and then just turn it in to direction you are going when you are taking it. It made everything 100 times easier and I ended up just having a competition with myself to see how fast I could do it with each question. I received a 5 and I know I can do better. I messed up on 3 and got them wrong just because I lost focus for a second in between each question. Focus down and be confident.

Joystick test: Honestly, this part was fun as hell. It was quite a positive change to the whole test. I love video games and thats exactly what it felt like. It goes from following a target with the throttle, to following it with a joystick on a 2D scale, to doing both at the same time, to doing the dichotic test, then doing all three at the same time. The dichotic test was not hard and although I received a 4 on this part, I know that I did my absolute best in this section. So I have no complaints. I had quite a fun time with it and it was an incredibly fun challenge and a great way to end the test. You can't really practice for this section so do your very best and treat it as if you were actually chasing a Russian Mig and your life depended on it.

Next time around, I will be better prepared and although discouraged I was, I want this more than I want to breathe. So I quickly ended the tea party I was having with myself and am already prepping for my next go around. YEE! Message me with any questions and I will gladly answer them!

- James

Your scores should improve on the 2nd go around. I had a similar situation to you with being exhausted. I had less than 2 hours of sleep in a tent (camping in the Keys before is not a good idea), woke up at 4am, went to MEPS, and then to my first ASTB-E exam. I scored 53 5,5,5.

Your mental sharpness is of key importance for those exams. Now you know what to fix, and you'll do better next time around. Good self assessment though +1.

 

[James GII]

Your scores should improve on the 2nd go around. I had a similar situation to you with being exhausted. I had less than 2 hours of sleep in a tent (camping in the Keys before is not a good idea), woke up at 4am, went to MEPS, and then to my first ASTB-E exam. I scored 53 5,5,5.

Your mental sharpness is of key importance for those exams. Now you know what to fix, and you'll do better next time around. Good self assessment though +1.

Yes sir I appreciate it! I am glad that I took it and now understand what I need to improve on. Your UAV tip is pure gold. I am already looking forward for the second time.

 

[flynavy830]

Yes sir I appreciate it! I am glad that I took it and now understand what I need to improve on. Your UAV tip is pure gold. I am already looking forward for the second time.

Just a heads up, the three scores (3,5,4) don't correlate directly with individual sections as far as I know. So your 5 might be a combination of math, UAV, and aviation questions. And your 3 might be heavily weighted on math and reading. I just don't want you to think focussing on one section in particular is the final say in one score range. There is a link somewhere to the navy overview that breaks down each section. I feel your pain though, 2.5 hour drive to a test is pretty brutal. I'm an hour away and it's still annoying.

 

[jared.j.mann]

Hey guys,

New to this forum. I am an enlisted Navy E6 stationed in Oklahoma City, OK. Spent the last ten years working on F-18's in Lemoore, CA, and Pensacola, FL. Now I am out here in OKC working on 707's. I am applied for LDO a couple times, but no luck. I wrapped up my BA in June. I found this site about a month ago, and everything I have read here has been a huge help! I appreciate everyone. I am interested in the 1520 (AMDO) program, and took my first round of ASTB on Friday. I scored a 44 4/5/3. I know it is not super great, but a 35 3/ qualifies me for the program. I used the Barron's Study guide 2nd Edition. I am going to grab the fourth edition next time around. Use it, and study up!


Math: I am really not that great at math, but this section did not seem too bad for me. I am just going to keep doing the practice exams.

Reading: It is what it is. Just study and read carefully, I did not feel like I bombed it.

Mech: I thought was going to be my strongest subject, turned into my weakest. I did not expect a lot of the formulas. I am definitely going to use Khan for next time.


UAV: I seriously need some help, I have read through this forum and all the advice. I just still cannot get a grasp of it. I used the compass idea, but seemed like half the time my compass was turned around. The west parking lot (which I thought) would be on the other side. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I got 3 out of 20ish right.

Joystick: I do not play video games, but didn't think I did terrible on this. I don't think you can really prepare for it. Does anybody have an ideas what they did to study/prepare for it?

 

[James GII]

Just a heads up, the three scores (3,5,4) don't correlate directly with individual sections as far as I know. So your 5 might be a combination of math, UAV, and aviation questions. And your 3 might be heavily weighted on math and reading. I just don't want you to think focussing on one section in particular is the final say in one score range. There is a link somewhere to the navy overview that breaks down each section. I feel your pain though, 2.5 hour drive to a test is pretty brutal. I'm an hour away and it's still annoying.

I did not know that but thank you for telling me! I wasn't planning on studying for just one section anyway but I am glad you told me regardless. Thanks for your help! And yes it is pretty brutal but will be worth it when it's all set in stone.

 

[James GII]

F

Hey guys,

New to this forum. I am an enlisted Navy E6 stationed in Oklahoma City, OK. Spent the last ten years working on F-18's in Lemoore, CA, and Pensacola, FL. Now I am out here in OKC working on 707's. I am applied for LDO a couple times, but no luck. I wrapped up my BA in June. I found this site about a month ago, and everything I have read here has been a huge help! I appreciate everyone. I am interested in the 1520 (AMDO) program, and took my first round of ASTB on Friday. I scored a 44 4/5/3. I know it is not super great, but a 35 3/ qualifies me for the program. I used the Barron's Study guide 2nd Edition. I am going to grab the fourth edition next time around. Use it, and study up!


Math: I am really not that great at math, but this section did not seem too bad for me. I am just going to keep doing the practice exams.

Reading: It is what it is. Just study and read carefully, I did not feel like I bombed it.

Mech: I thought was going to be my strongest subject, turned into my weakest. I did not expect a lot of the formulas. I am definitely going to use Khan for next time.


UAV: I seriously need some help, I have read through this forum and all the advice. I just still cannot get a grasp of it. I used the compass idea, but seemed like half the time my compass was turned around. The west parking lot (which I thought) would be on the other side. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I got 3 out of 20ish right.

Joystick: I do not play video games, but didn't think I did terrible on this. I don't think you can really prepare for it. Does anybody have an ideas what they did to study/prepare for it?

For the UAV portion, write down your cardinal directions on a scratch sheet of paper. Once this is done, make sure that when the arrow on the map shows you going in a certain direction (for instance, let's say it was pointing to the right, which would mean you were flying East) make sure to move the East cardinal direction to the front. So usually North would be at the top of your paper, but since you're flying East, move East to where North would be. And so it it asks you which way you would have to turn to go North, you can see from the scratch sheet of paper that you would need to go left. So then you would click the left box. Does that make sense? And you would do this fast during the exam, constantly turning the paper in to the direction you were traveling.

 

[ab187]

This forum has been an awesome resource. I took the ASTB-E for the first time this past Thursday and received a 67 8/7/8. All things considered I'm happy with the score and will be sending it in with my SNA package. I put in about 10 hours of preparation in total, with most of my focus being on naval and aviation facts and history. My thoughts on the test:

Math: I liked Math enough to get a minor in it so this section wasn't particularly intimidating for me. I took the adaptive test so it kept feeding me questions of increasing difficulty until the time ran out. Knowledge of logarithms and exponential rules is key to succeeding in this section. From what I saw if you do well on the practice tests then you should be fine here.

Mech: No huge surprises here. There were a lot of questions testing my knowledge of Newton's laws, mechanical advantage, work, and gas laws. I ran out of questions after 15 or so minutes. Again, if you feel comfortable with the practice tests then I think you will do fine.

Reading: Honestly this section was harder than I expected. I didn't do much preparation for this section, but the sample questions I did look over were easier than what I saw on the test. It usually came down to two possible answers that looked dang near identical until you compared them closely to the passage.

ANIT: Honestly I felt like I over prepared for some parts but underprepared for others. I was asked about the different components of an airplane as expected, but I was also caught off-guard by a few very specific questions about post-WW II aircraft and battles that I hadn't seen on the practice tests. Very fews questions on nautical terminology or FAA guidelines like I was expecting.

NATFI: Ugh. I knew what to expect so I didn't get too agitated at the frustrating choice pairs. I purposely didn't spend too much time on each question as well.

UAV: I am very glad that I prepared for this ahead of time. I probably looked like a mad man, but for each change in direction I would trace out the offset of the indicated direction from north using my finger and then use that same movement to shift the "true" direction to the indicated direction. It sounds complicated but I was able to get 43/44 correct with about a 2-second average response time.

Joystick: This section was harder than expected. It took me a few sections to get used to the inverted y-axis (pull back = up) and range of motion of the joystick. The real mind games came when I had to track two upward-moving targets such that my left hand had to push forward on the throttle while my right hand had to pull back on the joystick. I'm sure you could rig up some custom tests to prepare for this but honestly a lot of your performance will come down to your nerves at the time and the quality of the equipment (I felt at least).

With all of that being said, the most torturous part of the entire test was completing the ~100 questions on the biographic inventory before I could see my score!

 

[flynavy830]

This forum has been an awesome resource. I took the ASTB-E for the first time this past Thursday and received a 67 8/7/8. All things considered I'm happy with the score and will be sending it in with my SNA package. I put in about 10 hours of preparation in total, with most of my focus being on naval and aviation facts and history. My thoughts on the test:

Math: I liked Math enough to get a minor in it so this section wasn't particularly intimidating for me. I took the adaptive test so it kept feeding me questions of increasing difficulty until the time ran out. Knowledge of logarithms and exponential rules is key to succeeding in this section. From what I saw if you do well on the practice tests then you should be fine here.

Mech: No huge surprises here. There were a lot of questions testing my knowledge of Newton's laws, mechanical advantage, work, and gas laws. I ran out of questions after 15 or so minutes. Again, if you feel comfortable with the practice tests then I think you will do fine.

Reading: Honestly this section was harder than I expected. I didn't do much preparation for this section, but the sample questions I did look over were easier than what I saw on the test. It usually came down to two possible answers that looked dang near identical until you compared them closely to the passage.

ANIT: Honestly I felt like I over prepared for some parts but underprepared for others. I was asked about the different components of an airplane as expected, but I was also caught off-guard by a few very specific questions about post-WW II aircraft and battles that I hadn't seen on the practice tests. Very fews questions on nautical terminology or FAA guidelines like I was expecting.

NATFI: Ugh. I knew what to expect so I didn't get too agitated at the frustrating choice pairs. I purposely didn't spend too much time on each question as well.

UAV: I am very glad that I prepared for this ahead of time. I probably looked like a mad man, but for each change in direction I would trace out the offset of the indicated direction from north using my finger and then use that same movement to shift the "true" direction to the indicated direction. It sounds complicated but I was able to get 43/44 correct with about a 2-second average response time.

Joystick: This section was harder than expected. It took me a few sections to get used to the inverted y-axis (pull back = up) and range of motion of the joystick. The real mind games came when I had to track two upward-moving targets such that my left hand had to push forward on the throttle while my right hand had to pull back on the joystick. I'm sure you could rig up some custom tests to prepare for this but honestly a lot of your performance will come down to your nerves at the time and the quality of the equipment (I felt at least).

With all of that being said, the most torturous part of the entire test was completing the ~100 questions on the biographic inventory before I could see my score!

I also took my test on Thursday and the PBM kept crashing on the UAV intro screen. They said if it wouldn't work, then it's most likely system wide. This was at 1130, I guess it wasn't then!

 

[flynavy830]

Ok guys, my turn. I scored a 52 6/8/7 and I'm relieved to say the least. Let me preface by explaining how screwed up my process was. Went last week for OAR and when I got to UAV section, it kept freezing. Tried 5 more times with no luck. I came back an hour later to see if it worked itself out, no luck. Finally went back today, and same exact thing happened, froze on me. Recruiter said I would need to come back next week. Its an hour and a half away and I work full time, the stress is building, I wanted to take it NOW! I was willing to drive, whatever it takes! Luckily I was able to go across the street to the ROTC building and try it there. So I settle in, log in, click start... "sorry you cannot test since this is a different set of equipment." WHAT!? Once again, they called the APEX people for me and I had to go hangout for an hour and try again. Well luckily it finally worked and here I am. I'm going to post a nice long gouge because I certainty appreciated reading them all, instead of "hey guys you are awesome scored 70 8/8/8 bye".

I happen to have some books from a friend so I used them as much as I felt fit. Barrons 1st and 2nd edition, master the flight aptitude test, intro physics book, accepted book, GRE/GMAT book. I'll be honest, barrons, and GRE/GMAT were the best in my opinion. Don't bother with the accepted book, its poorly written and in my opinion provides no relevant preparation.

I was beyond nervous to take this test, I took the old version twice. Last score being 48 5/6/5, which I wanted to apply with but my new recruiter wanted a re-take, so I started studying for about a month. I wanted to get this done since I'm currently writing a 30 page paper for my final class and need focus. If there are tips that I encountered on here that I really felt were helpful, it would be to NOT let yourself get worked up. DO NOT let excess stress consume your mind prior to the test. Its exhausting and does nothing to help your performance. Visualize the test, visualize good scores. Visualize yourself breathing deeply, and thinking the questions through.

MATH: This section completely blew my mind. I had no more than 12 questions, I'm positive. In fact, I can probably recite all the questions I had. They were extremely easy in my opinion. I'm not saying that in a "I'm smart" way, but compared to the study material, I blazed through it. With that being said, I know I missed 1, maybe 2, and they were probably the easiest ones! Thinking too quick hurt me. I saw exponents, orders of operation, rate questions, a geometry question, and a few probability. It's a great feeling when you get a question asking how far something went in a given amount of seconds, and knowing the answer in seconds. BECAUSE YOU PREPARED AND WERE READY FOR THESE TYPES OF QUESTIONS. Get yourself in this mindset, get good at quick calculations with fractions, percents, etc. It WILL pay off. Do you want to spend another three months studying for a retake? Of course not! So take your time, and only take when you're ready!

READING: Well, since math only lasted 10 minutes this definitely screwed with my train of thought. I kept getting distracted thinking about what happened in the math section. No point in going in depth here because we all agree; its long, dry, and you need to keep your focus. Cut me off early.

MECHANICAL: I'll agree with all gouge so far, they are all on point. If you haven't read through this thread ten times and know the simple stuff, you're doing it wrong. I'm on a first name basis with some of these people and they don't even realize it. Learn how forces balance and then tuck it away. Learn distance from fulcrum questions and then lock it up. Dont do 50 practice problems on how to balance a lever, it will be common sense if you have the correct understanding. Kinetic and potential energy, once again, UNDERSTAND what these two words mean, dont just do practice problems. Fluid flow, another concept that will be common sense if you study up the right concepts! Also cut off early.

AVIATION/NAVAL: I do have flight time and I did study up on what I deemed sufficient material, but like others have mentioned, some stuff just slaps you in the face. Question of Airforce aircraft, question on who reports to who. The flight questions were easy to me, I've studied this stuff in the past. Not only can you study the aeronautical knowledge book, you might be able to study some private pilot written exam questions, I think this may help.

NATFI: Let your brain go numb and answer what you think is correct. This not the section to analyze to a T and try to game.

UAV: Honestly, I thought about trying to get super fast reaction times down but figuring out a solid method, but I couldnt find one I liked. So I utilized what many have also used, draw the cardinal directions down. Rotate so arrow is now pointing away from you. Select correct lot. I definitely missed around 5, because like others have mentioned, it gets a little chaotic and you might get flustered. I would guess my reaction times were 2-5 seconds.

Vertical tracking: On its own, its really not that bad and I felt I did well.

2d tracking: At first, the inverted controls REALLY frustrated me and I started assuming I would do terrible. I developed a feel for it rather quick, and did well chasing that little bastard around.

Listening: Well if 10 people have told you to TILT YOUR DAMN EAR then TILT YOUR DAMN EAR JR! They don't read as fast as you probably think they will, and its not that difficult. I took a breath, honed in on what ear I was to listen to, and did very well. If you come back and post your scores, and complain that you didn't understand this part I cannot feel bad for you. There are pretty clear instructions when the test begins, and it DOES NOT make you go forward. Read them, read them twice if you need to, breath 5 times, click the trigger and relax.

Vertical/2d/listening: I once again felt I did pretty well, I put a lot of focus into the 2d while listening and felt I was doing a good job. I most definitely neglected the vertical aspect except for a few quick glances.

Emergency procedures: This is the easiest section in my opinion. READ THE DIRECTIONS. READ THE DIRECTIONS. I wrote mine down but honestly didnt need them. Its pretty simple and you should know the procedure before going into the test.

FIRE: EVERYTHING DOWN THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
ENGINE: EVERYTHING UP THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
PROP: ONE neutral ONE up and hit the CLUTCH

YES, the dial is a little weird and red is "high" so just know that going in and you should be FINE. You have time for these, so move the knob and LOOK which way its going. If you start to tighten it and its going to LOW then adjust to high, adjust second knob to high, and hit the clutch. BOOM back to normal flying and wait for the next one. I nailed all three and think you can to if you read the directions and remain calm.

Overall, I'm very excited that this is over with. I can start working out harder, focus on my last class, and really relax overall. To be honest, I think I like this test better than the paper version. After all, it gave you like 30 math questions in 25 minutes and you had to answer them. Now THAT is stressful. Any more questions and I am more than happy to help.

 

[WxCPO]

Took the OAR today and scored a 54 - with which I'm happy with. I did little to no studying, this is because the opportunity presented itself rather quickly to knock out the OAR as I'm overseas and the exam is offered only once monthly.

MATH: I'm not a math genius and I spent way too much time on each problem and I didn't finish the whole section. Know how to decimate exponents and fractions together and simplify (i.e., (1+b)^1/2(x^-1)). Know the relation of the circumference of a sphere and the volume (volume equation was given). If you study basic algebra and know exponents and fractions you should do fine. Know probability, and averages.
READING COMP: I've been in the Navy for a while. Most of this section speaks like Navy instructions and then you pick which answer best describes the passage. So for me it was like I was at work. For most of you, DO NOT get stuck on trying to understand the Navy jargon (if you aren't already Navy) and just understand the relationship of the parts of the passage. Know what shall, should, may all mean in a sentence.
MECH COMP: I found this rather easy but that could be from being long in the tooth. Know the relationship of gravity (two objects drop at the same time....), know conductivity (heat transfers from what to what), know hot things expand and cold compresses (expect freezing water), know the basic relationship to fulcrums (i.e., a wrench is on a nut and you push down at point A or B - which point would require more force to...) I had zero electrical or circuit questions.

Hope this helps.