Gotem_coach007
Member
OAR tomorrow morning... Should be interesting... Thanks again for the gouge.
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
Hi bud,
I am also an NROTC mid and took my ASTB scoring a 7/7/7. I'm in the same dilemma where I am debating about a retest. Obviously I'm not an LT but a retest might not be a bad idea. I don't want to retake mine because of concern of doing worse but if math was the problem you should be good to go. Best of luck, maybe we'll run into each other in Pensacola (or God forbid Charleston).
Hey guys, so after taking the ASTB-E, there are a few pointers I followed and a few that I came up by myself in the course of studying for them. I studied for a couple of days before my ASTB and used mostly online test examples. never really got my hands on a real test but just know the general subjects and how to navigate them! I scored a OAR:77 9/9/8.
Math: Simple Highschool math. No joke, it tests on how you can navigate the problem and less on if you know formulas. Don't try to brute strength the questions! Know your shortcuts to math problems concerning area, exponents, and just simple hacks to make your life easier! REVIEW YOUR MATH AND THE TRICKS. That Is the best advice. There are no complicated formulas or super hard calculus. Just simple problems that are drawn out bigger than they really are. EX: (2^16)+(2^17)+(2^20)/(2^10) . Trying to brute strength this and do all the exponents is crazy. Instead know the rules of exponents.
Reading: Didn't remember a single thing. All I did was read the text, read the problem, go back to the text and find the part that the question is asking about. Simple cut and dry. Don't overthink your answers and try to put yourself into the author's shoes. A lot of it is asking about opinions of one party vs. the other or how they feel about a certain subject.
Mechanical: Something I did that would seem crazy is to actually imagine the apparatus in front of me. Use common sense and logic. If you saw me while I was doing the mechanical part, I was talking to myself and spinning my head, arms and fingers all over the place trying to imagine levers, pulleys, and cogs. Really put yourself into the problem or imagine it 3D. This was my own personal way to do it.
Aviation/Nautical: Straight memorizing. Know your terms!
PBM:
UAV: I always found out which way is North. From there, I would use my finger on the computer screen and point West, East, South and then finally go back to the parking lot that they were asking me about. IMAGINE THE CARDINAL DIRECTIONS ON THE SCREEN. Will make your life so much easier. I got like around 5 wrong. Once you get one wrong, It's very easy to get into this panic and continue to get the following ones wrong. Calm down and take your time on the next one and recompose yourself.
PBM: If you play video games, good. If not, prepare for fast movements and reactions. While tracking, always be prepared to move in a different direction. Hold onto the joystick lightly. Dont deathgrip it. The throttle, grip that thing like theres no tomorrow and just go up and down. Go crazy on it, it wont break. I was told they could hear the joysticks banging around like I was throwing them around the room. There's a slight delay from the time you switch directions to when it starts to switch on the screen, be careful of that. Other than that, should be all good. For the dichotic listening, I shut off the eye that corresponded to the ear I WASN'T suppose to be using. Yes I lost vision on one eye, but I was still able to track both things. Leaning in also helps.
Emergency Procedures: USE LOGIC. If there's a fire, don't turn your engine all the way up! Don't increase the oil! take each dial step by step.
Good Luck to you all. Any questions, MSG me!
Math: Simple Highschool math. No joke, it tests on how you can navigate the problem and less on if you know formulas. Don't try to brute strength the questions! Know your shortcuts to math problems concerning area, exponents, and just simple hacks to make your life easier! REVIEW YOUR MATH AND THE TRICKS. That Is the best advice. There are no complicated formulas or super hard calculus. Just simple problems that are drawn out bigger than they really are. EX: (2^16)+(2^17)+(2^20)/(2^10) . Trying to brute strength this and do all the exponents is crazy. Instead know the rules of exponents.
Reading: Didn't remember a single thing. All I did was read the text, read the problem, go back to the text and find the part that the question is asking about. Simple cut and dry. Don't overthink your answers and try to put yourself into the author's shoes. A lot of it is asking about opinions of one party vs. the other or how they feel about a certain subject.
Mechanical: Something I did that would seem crazy is to actually imagine the apparatus in front of me. Use common sense and logic. If you saw me while I was doing the mechanical part, I was talking to myself and spinning my head, arms and fingers all over the place trying to imagine levers, pulleys, and cogs. Really put yourself into the problem or imagine it 3D. This was my own personal way to do it.
Aviation/Nautical: Straight memorizing. Know your terms!
PBM:
UAV: I always found out which way is North. From there, I would use my finger on the computer screen and point West, East, South and then finally go back to the parking lot that they were asking me about. IMAGINE THE CARDINAL DIRECTIONS ON THE SCREEN. Will make your life so much easier. I got like around 5 wrong. Once you get one wrong, It's very easy to get into this panic and continue to get the following ones wrong. Calm down and take your time on the next one and recompose yourself.
PBM: If you play video games, good. If not, prepare for fast movements and reactions. While tracking, always be prepared to move in a different direction. Hold onto the joystick lightly. Dont deathgrip it. The throttle, grip that thing like theres no tomorrow and just go up and down. Go crazy on it, it wont break. I was told they could hear the joysticks banging around like I was throwing them around the room. There's a slight delay from the time you switch directions to when it starts to switch on the screen, be careful of that. Other than that, should be all good. For the dichotic listening, I shut off the eye that corresponded to the ear I WASN'T suppose to be using. Yes I lost vision on one eye, but I was still able to track both things. Leaning in also helps.
Emergency Procedures: USE LOGIC. If there's a fire, don't turn your engine all the way up! Don't increase the oil! take each dial step by step.
Good Luck to you all. Any questions, MSG me!
Gotem_coach007
Member
Took the OAR today. I got a 48. I saw a lot of questions that were in this forum. Be ready to add and subtract exponential fractions, find the answer to rate questions, probability, and most of the questions were word problems. The reading section was very dry. The mechanical comprehension portion contained hydraulic pressure and how far a piston will more with different diameters, fulcrum questions, pulley MA questions, and finding force and work.
Hello all,
New to this forum; I have been diligently reading through the majority of these threads. I can already see how this will be instrumental in my studying for the ASTB.
Recently, I have come upon the opportunity to submit a package for the FY-17 Field Accession Board that the Marine Corps is holding for current eligible fleet officers (currently an officer in the MP community). I have already started the process of putting my package together.
I believe the current website for the ASTB is outdated and there is now a wait of 90 days between tests. I have never taken the ASTB before and the package will be due in less than 90 days from now, meaning I get one shot to pass the test with the minimum score of 4/6/6 needed for my package to go forward. I hope to take the test in early May. I also plan on hiring a tutor who specializes in preparing people for the OAR portion of the test (not taking any chances). It has been over 7 years since I have taken any sort of math, and I have never taken physics (always chemistry).
I have seen varying discussion about topics and problem types seen on the test, but still little in the way of study regimens thus far that have resonated with me. Currently I work 50+ hours a week and I am pursuing my Masters degree in my spare time. Time is scarce to say the least. Any and all recommendations or tips and tricks that you may know to enhance studying efforts will certainly be welcome. Perhaps we can trade knowledge? I see that many are in the process awaiting OCS whether it be Navy or Marine Corps. I can't speak to the Navy, but certainly to the Marines. PM me if you have questions--I will answer them as best I can.
Thanks,
Nate
New to this forum; I have been diligently reading through the majority of these threads. I can already see how this will be instrumental in my studying for the ASTB.
Recently, I have come upon the opportunity to submit a package for the FY-17 Field Accession Board that the Marine Corps is holding for current eligible fleet officers (currently an officer in the MP community). I have already started the process of putting my package together.
I believe the current website for the ASTB is outdated and there is now a wait of 90 days between tests. I have never taken the ASTB before and the package will be due in less than 90 days from now, meaning I get one shot to pass the test with the minimum score of 4/6/6 needed for my package to go forward. I hope to take the test in early May. I also plan on hiring a tutor who specializes in preparing people for the OAR portion of the test (not taking any chances). It has been over 7 years since I have taken any sort of math, and I have never taken physics (always chemistry).
I have seen varying discussion about topics and problem types seen on the test, but still little in the way of study regimens thus far that have resonated with me. Currently I work 50+ hours a week and I am pursuing my Masters degree in my spare time. Time is scarce to say the least. Any and all recommendations or tips and tricks that you may know to enhance studying efforts will certainly be welcome. Perhaps we can trade knowledge? I see that many are in the process awaiting OCS whether it be Navy or Marine Corps. I can't speak to the Navy, but certainly to the Marines. PM me if you have questions--I will answer them as best I can.
Thanks,
Nate
thecrimsnchin
Active Member
Congrats dude, ASTB high score master race. You sure the mechanical section didn't start throwing you relativity questions at the end? I got a couple dealing with electrons at the speed of light and cathode ray tubes. Interesting you missed 4 UAV questions, what was your average response time?
No electrons or anything at the end. Not that I'm aware of. I avged 1.5 seconds per questions? I think after the first one i got wrong, I just kept clicking and freaking out.
Does anyone know how AFOQT scores could correlate to ASTB scores? For reference my AFOQT scores were:
Pilot: 98
Nav: 83
AA: 92
Verbal: 64
Quantitative: 98
I'll be taking the ASTB late next week. I'm an AFROTC drop due to not getting selected to continue in the program. Any help is welcomed, and I'm browsing the rest of the thread to find tips to maximize my score.
Pilot: 98
Nav: 83
AA: 92
Verbal: 64
Quantitative: 98
I'll be taking the ASTB late next week. I'm an AFROTC drop due to not getting selected to continue in the program. Any help is welcomed, and I'm browsing the rest of the thread to find tips to maximize my score.
Hello everyone,
This is my first post here and I just want to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences, study guides, opinions, remembered questions or difficulties, gouges, and encouragements. My OAR is scheduled for 14 April and I am really incredibly nervous about the math section. It has never been an area of strength for me until early in college, and even then I think back and I haven't the slightest idea how the hell I managed to get As in those courses. So everything you have all posted has been incredibly helpful to me. I peruse the files you all attached to this forum and do Khan Academy lessons for around 4 hours everyday. Just, thank you all so much for your contributions to this section of the forum. I've read every single page of this thread and I really don't think "thank you" to you all is enough.
This is my first post here and I just want to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences, study guides, opinions, remembered questions or difficulties, gouges, and encouragements. My OAR is scheduled for 14 April and I am really incredibly nervous about the math section. It has never been an area of strength for me until early in college, and even then I think back and I haven't the slightest idea how the hell I managed to get As in those courses. So everything you have all posted has been incredibly helpful to me. I peruse the files you all attached to this forum and do Khan Academy lessons for around 4 hours everyday. Just, thank you all so much for your contributions to this section of the forum. I've read every single page of this thread and I really don't think "thank you" to you all is enough.
popeye123
Active Member
Im sorry if this questions been askes before but are the formulas for geometry given to us during the test? I know they give us a handful of formulas but how about studf like midpoint formula, distances formula and surface areas of various objects?
Im looking through a GRE book right now, im a bit worried if geometry questions like this appear in the exam...
Im looking through a GRE book right now, im a bit worried if geometry questions like this appear in the exam...
(NAC)Arizona
1520/AMDO
Just checking in, took the test yesterday and got a pathetic 39, 4/6/5. As it shows I only studied a little bit in two days when I had hoped to have time to study for a month. However, taking three classes alongside an arduous work schedule. Will definitely be taking it again in June before I submit my kit in August.
Justin Palmer
New Member
I thought I wanted to be a pilot, but through research and weighing out my options, I opted out. I told my recruiter I only wanted to take the OAR portion of the exam to apply for Supply and SWO (no real preference). With that being said, I scored an exact 50 on the OAR portion of the exam (like I said before, only took OAR portion only).
MY EXPERIENCE
Math: I would say I got roughly 10-14 questions, and then the test stopped before time expired. I had maybe 2 story problems that dealt with time, distance, and mph. Lots of factoring and roots using decimals, for example: what is the cube root of .027. Was not surprised at anything that came at me, I had college algebra as well as calc 1. For the math portion of the test I studied using the GRE/GMAT Math Review 6th edition. Suggest getting due to great tips and great review. Helps with story problems and with the review will cut serious time off of solving problems.
Reading: Just like everyone else says, read all the answers and eliminate the wrong answers. Try to focus on this part and some answers will really stand out.
Mech Comp: I felt that I got the easiest questions that could have been offered. Did get some levers and pulley questions. Did not really have any mech comp questions where I had to use math. Study guides and practice tests are good enough to let you know what you need to study ect.
Overall - I studied for about a week without many distractions because I am currently on spring break. I did use Barrons practice test and the math review book above.
MY EXPERIENCE
Math: I would say I got roughly 10-14 questions, and then the test stopped before time expired. I had maybe 2 story problems that dealt with time, distance, and mph. Lots of factoring and roots using decimals, for example: what is the cube root of .027. Was not surprised at anything that came at me, I had college algebra as well as calc 1. For the math portion of the test I studied using the GRE/GMAT Math Review 6th edition. Suggest getting due to great tips and great review. Helps with story problems and with the review will cut serious time off of solving problems.
Reading: Just like everyone else says, read all the answers and eliminate the wrong answers. Try to focus on this part and some answers will really stand out.
Mech Comp: I felt that I got the easiest questions that could have been offered. Did get some levers and pulley questions. Did not really have any mech comp questions where I had to use math. Study guides and practice tests are good enough to let you know what you need to study ect.
Overall - I studied for about a week without many distractions because I am currently on spring break. I did use Barrons practice test and the math review book above.
I took the OAR this morning and got a 59. (I’m applying for Intel). I was aiming for a 60. During the test I felt like I was not doing well and was surprised I still got a 59. The clock never ran out, the sections just suddenly stopped. I guess I answered enough for the program to decide a score for the section. It’s an adaptive test, so there’s no going back once a question is answered. I only got one or two advanced math questions, no logarithms or anything like that. My math didn’t always add up, but I think I was close enough to accurately guess the right answer a few times. The verbal section started out with hard long paragraphs about navy offices and programs doing x, y, z for this and that purpose. After several of those I started getting easy ones about butterfly migration where the answer was pretty obviously stated in the paragraph. It lowered my confidence a bit, but after each one of those I got something hard again. Mechanics I did more guessing than I thought I would. If I took it again I think I could do a lot better, knowing what to expect now, but the recruiter said I had a good score. He also said that in the past everyone he’s had with that kind of score and a master’s degree has been picked up
I’ll give a bit of a breakdown of the sections and then list what I studied and gleaned from this site.
Math: The clock started at 40 minutes but the section ended after about 25 min. All numbers are real numbers. The questions were mostly word problems. 1 question on probability of a die roll. If a rectangle has perimeter of 80x and has a base 7 times the height what is the area. Two people are painting a house-one can paint a house in 4 hours, one in 6, how long does it take to do it together. If sally gets scores 73, 85, 93, the 4th score is 20 points less than 5th score which is 2/3 of the average of the first three what must she score on the 6th and 7th test to average an 85, the numbers didn’t break down cleanly, some rounding was required within the steps, I wasn’t expecting that. There were a few questions along the lines of Joe goes 25mph for 20 min, 65mph for 12 min and 45mph for 15 min, how far did Joe go? Reducing the minutes into fractions of an hour multiplied by the mph produced the answer. My hardest question was: a war starts in year x^2 and ends in the year (x+1)^2, the war lasted 29 years, what year did it start? The answers were whole numbers, no fractions. I still can’t get an answer that doesn’t have a fraction. There was a question along the lines of a jet goes 384 mph for 900 seconds, how far did it go.
Reading: The clock started at 30 minutes and I think went for about 25 min. I think it helped once I started reading the paragraph twice before going over the questions.
Mechanical
I didn’t get many questions on what I studied the most, pulleys and levers. There were only one or two questions on that. One showed a picture with a load hanging from two strands of springs, two springs on each strand. It asked what the load was on one spring. I got a questions asking about a stick being inserted or withdrawn and adding or removing electrons or neutrons to speed up a reactor. AC power is from chemical change or coil of copper around a magnet. Acceleration of a rock comparing dropping or throwing the rock down a well, a circuit diagram asking which bulbs would light up. What is the role of water in a power plant. Air is flowing over a wing which direction is force exerted. I guessed right: here’s an image to help: http://www.cap-ny153.org/Bernoulli Wing Lift.gif Force equals… and then it gave different options. If the flywheel of a space probe turns clockwise does the rest of the probe turn the same direction, not at all, the opposite direction? I guessed the opposite way, not sure what a flywheel does on a space probe.
Overall assessment of the test: Learn the basic stuff really well. I spent too much time trying to study advanced algebra, even wasted time on trig. Functions never came up, other people mentioned logarithms, so maybe still study them. I put some time into that; however, if you know exponents it is easy to learn. Still study exponents. I had one question on that. You can get a decent score without acing super hard questions.
I used Khan Academy extensively. I studied for about two months. The official website with information on the OAR includes a link to a sample test with a few questions rated by difficulty. I did a practice test in Barron’s Military Flight Aptitude Tests (copyright 2014). I was disappointed because I thought the questions in the test were too easy, but it turned out to be pretty accurate for the types of questions. I got everything from the library except for Accepted INC OAR study guide, it’s super thin. At best it gives you a bit of a warm up on math, but you need more. The reading section has large paragraphs, not at all like the test. The mechanical section gives a basic over view of Newton’s laws, Force, torque, friction, energy, power, levers, simple machines. All good things to learn but those only represents about 25% of what the test covered. I never found a good guide for studying for the physics section. It’s a physics section, not just mechanics. Early on I focused too narrowly. I crammed a bit on circuits at the end, but no need to study anything too complicated on that. Maybe somebody else on here can give a better contribution on how to study for this part. Learning Express’ Military Flight Aptitude Tests 3rd edition had some practice test, but the answer sheet had quite a few mistakes in it, the test also had conflicting diagrams with questions.
Attached is a rough copy and pasting of the last 30 pages or so on this forum (dating from a few weeks ago) with all the clues people wrote about what’s on the test along with their advice.
I’ll give a bit of a breakdown of the sections and then list what I studied and gleaned from this site.
Math: The clock started at 40 minutes but the section ended after about 25 min. All numbers are real numbers. The questions were mostly word problems. 1 question on probability of a die roll. If a rectangle has perimeter of 80x and has a base 7 times the height what is the area. Two people are painting a house-one can paint a house in 4 hours, one in 6, how long does it take to do it together. If sally gets scores 73, 85, 93, the 4th score is 20 points less than 5th score which is 2/3 of the average of the first three what must she score on the 6th and 7th test to average an 85, the numbers didn’t break down cleanly, some rounding was required within the steps, I wasn’t expecting that. There were a few questions along the lines of Joe goes 25mph for 20 min, 65mph for 12 min and 45mph for 15 min, how far did Joe go? Reducing the minutes into fractions of an hour multiplied by the mph produced the answer. My hardest question was: a war starts in year x^2 and ends in the year (x+1)^2, the war lasted 29 years, what year did it start? The answers were whole numbers, no fractions. I still can’t get an answer that doesn’t have a fraction. There was a question along the lines of a jet goes 384 mph for 900 seconds, how far did it go.
Reading: The clock started at 30 minutes and I think went for about 25 min. I think it helped once I started reading the paragraph twice before going over the questions.
Mechanical
I didn’t get many questions on what I studied the most, pulleys and levers. There were only one or two questions on that. One showed a picture with a load hanging from two strands of springs, two springs on each strand. It asked what the load was on one spring. I got a questions asking about a stick being inserted or withdrawn and adding or removing electrons or neutrons to speed up a reactor. AC power is from chemical change or coil of copper around a magnet. Acceleration of a rock comparing dropping or throwing the rock down a well, a circuit diagram asking which bulbs would light up. What is the role of water in a power plant. Air is flowing over a wing which direction is force exerted. I guessed right: here’s an image to help: http://www.cap-ny153.org/Bernoulli Wing Lift.gif Force equals… and then it gave different options. If the flywheel of a space probe turns clockwise does the rest of the probe turn the same direction, not at all, the opposite direction? I guessed the opposite way, not sure what a flywheel does on a space probe.
Overall assessment of the test: Learn the basic stuff really well. I spent too much time trying to study advanced algebra, even wasted time on trig. Functions never came up, other people mentioned logarithms, so maybe still study them. I put some time into that; however, if you know exponents it is easy to learn. Still study exponents. I had one question on that. You can get a decent score without acing super hard questions.
I used Khan Academy extensively. I studied for about two months. The official website with information on the OAR includes a link to a sample test with a few questions rated by difficulty. I did a practice test in Barron’s Military Flight Aptitude Tests (copyright 2014). I was disappointed because I thought the questions in the test were too easy, but it turned out to be pretty accurate for the types of questions. I got everything from the library except for Accepted INC OAR study guide, it’s super thin. At best it gives you a bit of a warm up on math, but you need more. The reading section has large paragraphs, not at all like the test. The mechanical section gives a basic over view of Newton’s laws, Force, torque, friction, energy, power, levers, simple machines. All good things to learn but those only represents about 25% of what the test covered. I never found a good guide for studying for the physics section. It’s a physics section, not just mechanics. Early on I focused too narrowly. I crammed a bit on circuits at the end, but no need to study anything too complicated on that. Maybe somebody else on here can give a better contribution on how to study for this part. Learning Express’ Military Flight Aptitude Tests 3rd edition had some practice test, but the answer sheet had quite a few mistakes in it, the test also had conflicting diagrams with questions.
Attached is a rough copy and pasting of the last 30 pages or so on this forum (dating from a few weeks ago) with all the clues people wrote about what’s on the test along with their advice.
popeye123
Active Member
this is a copy paste from a discussion i had with another member. this is my experience from the first time i took the test.
the math had a few interest problems, word problems involving rate, distance and time. also study probability involving dices. the geometry involved two formulas regarding circumference. (the formula was -4/3 or something, not the usual C=2piR or A=piR^2)
Mechanics
- the question depicted a picture of three balloons and asked which one was under more pressure
- another question asked what happens to the heat/cold when your hand touches a street pole
- know the leiden frost effect (a guy sprinkles tab water on his hand and dipps his hand into molten lava)
- buoyancy (it asked if an ice cube floats in the water, is the water dense or the ice cube dense? and why?)
- know why a wrecking ball takes longer to swing (i think the answer was the longer the rope is)
- know basic electricity theory
- know the bernouli theory
for the mechanics part i didn't have enough time to finish it, please be careful at this part, i think it has about 20 questions or more but we're given only 15 minutes. it also didn't have too much math involved, it primarily focused on the concept of physics. i think i finished about half the mechanics but i only had one or two questions regarding pulleys and gears.
the math had a few interest problems, word problems involving rate, distance and time. also study probability involving dices. the geometry involved two formulas regarding circumference. (the formula was -4/3 or something, not the usual C=2piR or A=piR^2)
Mechanics
- the question depicted a picture of three balloons and asked which one was under more pressure
- another question asked what happens to the heat/cold when your hand touches a street pole
- know the leiden frost effect (a guy sprinkles tab water on his hand and dipps his hand into molten lava)
- buoyancy (it asked if an ice cube floats in the water, is the water dense or the ice cube dense? and why?)
- know why a wrecking ball takes longer to swing (i think the answer was the longer the rope is)
- know basic electricity theory
- know the bernouli theory
for the mechanics part i didn't have enough time to finish it, please be careful at this part, i think it has about 20 questions or more but we're given only 15 minutes. it also didn't have too much math involved, it primarily focused on the concept of physics. i think i finished about half the mechanics but i only had one or two questions regarding pulleys and gears.
I just figured out the problem. It wasn't so hard after all. Of course I feel dumb now. I added 1 instead of multiplied while working out (x+1)^2 (the answer was 196, can't remember what answer I chose. It might have been the right one because I was looking for something that was an obvious square.