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

[Ronin88]

Just finished taking my OAR a few hours ago! I feel like I did fairly well, I got a 54 which is higher than average and competitive, this combined with my GPA and previous experience will hopefully be enough to get me selected for OCS and the IW program, but we will see. If anyone could point me in the direction of where I might be able to find some statistical information on selection rates that would be greatly appreciated!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Air Warriors community, I have spent a good amount of time on here, both learning and laughing. I found the gouge on this site to be extremely helpful and easy to understand. I do wish I scored a bit higher but considering I only had a little less than two weeks to study for it I am still pretty stoked. I know I definitely did not get the highest score but if any of you have any questions at all please ask and I will do my best to answer and help you out!

V/R

CTR3

 

[LuckyMcFly]

Just finished taking my OAR a few hours ago! I feel like I did fairly well, I got a 54 which is higher than average and competitive, this combined with my GPA and previous experience will hopefully be enough to get me selected for OCS and the IW program, but we will see. If anyone could point me in the direction of where I might be able to find some statistical information on selection rates that would be greatly appreciated!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Air Warriors community, I have spent a good amount of time on here, both learning and laughing. I found the gouge on this site to be extremely helpful and easy to understand. I do wish I scored a bit higher but considering I only had a little less than two weeks to study for it I am still pretty stoked. I know I definitely did not get the highest score but if any of you have any questions at all please ask and I will do my best to answer and help you out!

V/R

CTR3

The IWC recently started a Facebook group and they post some stats from their OCS accession boards. They posted their stats from the December Board and from the most recent March Board. Those give you the highs, lows and averages. Its not a complete picture but it helps give you an idea based upon the specific designators.

 

[Ronin88]

The IWC recently started a Facebook group and they post some stats from their OCS accession boards. They posted their stats from the December Board and from the most recent March Board. Those give you the highs, lows and averages. Its not a complete picture but it helps give you an idea based upon the specific designators.

This is awesome thank you, looks like I am extremely competitive GPA wise and still in the running with my OAR. It also looks like already being a part of the community might give me a leg up as they seem to take CTs fairly frequently. That being said with these numbers maybe I should apply for IP 1820 as well. Thank you again

V/R

CTR3

 

[exNavyOffRec]

This is awesome thank you, looks like I am extremely competitive GPA wise and still in the running with my OAR. It also looks like already being a part of the community might give me a leg up as they seem to take CTs fairly frequently. That being said with these numbers maybe I should apply for IP 1820 as well. Thank you again

V/R

CTR3

What I found is generally a person with a high GPA scores high on the OAR, so when you see the average GPA is high for IWC it makes sense the OAR would be high as well, there will of course be the ones that don't follow the norm but those happen.

 

[GlassBanger]

I have little idea of what I am talking about, but what I do know is that in December the OAR average for 1830 was 60 with the lowest being 46 and in March the average was 62 and the low was 57. Similarly they take individuals with lower GPA's, my understanding is that they will look at the whole package and decide based upon you as a summation of your parts.

That being said, it is my understanding that if you submit for the next IWC board and you are not selected, you can submit a reconsideration if you substantially improve your package (e.g. you retake the OAR and your score goes up). You never know until you submit, just remember Intel is competitive and no one is guaranteed or for sure.

At the end of the day, I would try to not let one aspect of your application define you or the package you submit to the board.

Thank you, Lucky. I appreciate that response and the fact that I can resubmit is a comfort. I just have really high personal standards so when I don't meet them, internally it seems all doom and gloom lol. Life goes on.

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to chime in and give thanks for the wealth of information, study guides, and tips that you all have provided to the site. I'm considering scheduling my second attempt at the test pretty soon but can't get over the thought that I may not score as well as I think I might. I apologize in advance for the lengthy post and understand if you disregard it for that reason.

The irony is I've seen people mention how long they've been studying for the test and I've been studying/reviewing everything I can find relating to the test for going on a little over 4 months now. The long time duration being due to work/life just causing me to plan everything accordingly. However, I scored rather poorly last time I took it (in the mid to high 30's) while I was still in school and hadn't studied for longer than a few days. But I'm just curious as to whether anyone could provide assurance or guidance as to how I'll know if I'm ready or not.

I just took the Peterson's ASTB practice test but I should critique/mention for those that haven't taken it that the test isn't adaptive nor does it cut you off for completing a certain amount of questions correct as a lot of people in the forum have stated occurs on the real test. Also, some of the questions on it I never came across in any of the study guides I've found, as well as some of the questions such as those involving word problems; forming equations giving wrong steps to the solution but leading to one of the answers they provided. Continuing on, I scored a 27% (14/30 answered) on the math, a 96% (27/27 answered) on the reading comprehension, and a 37% (18/30 answered) on the mechanical section and didn't get to finish the math section or the mechanical section as you can clearly see.

Ideally I wanted to score significantly better on the math section seeing as how I've spent a majority of my time reviewing that and the mechanical section with no time spent on the reading conprehension section. For those that have taken the test already or have taken the practice test. Is this a preview of how I'll do on the actual test or am I worrying for nothing?

Furthermore, my 4+ month studying materials include: the helpful gouge and study guides from the site, my Microsoft OneNotes full of various things relating to topics people have mentioned being on the test, the ARCO 6th edition GRE/GMAT math review book which I've completed in its entirety, khan academy, and anything people have mentioned they came across on the test in relation to the math and mechanics sections that I've either found on a study guide on the site or gone out of my way to find the answer to.

Honestly, at this point I would settle for a 50 lol, since I'm tired of studying for the damn thing. If I could be of any help to those looking for answers to questions they may have feel free to let me know seeing as how much notes I have, lol.

 

[GlassBanger]

Jakefromstatefarm,

I studied for around 3 months, using the same materials as you. Let me tell you, the Peterson's practice test if it's the one I think it is, is absolute garbage. I did not encounter one thing on the OAR portion of that test in my actual test when I took it (but then again, it is different for everyone). It was significantly harder/more difficult than the actual OAR, which I guess some would say is a benefit of studying it, but it was also riddled with mathematical errors (confirmed by my engineer S.O. as he tried to help and got angry at it for being wrong lol). But I also used Barron's 4th Edition and the Peterson's 8th and 9th edition books in addition to Khan Academy and *ALL* the gouges posted here.. and it seemed to help as I almost got a 50 and the minimum OAR scores are well met with that score for Intel, SWO, and Supply (just aren't necessarily competitive without something special in your kit). I did not study reading comprehension either, just math and about a day on mechanical. The reading comprehension was incredibly simple and dry Naval scenarios and information for me.

I personally get the feeling that you're at the point where you're psyching yourself out about it because it holds a significant amount of weight for our kits. I don't think anyone can really aid you in determining if you are ready or not, but I do believe if you feel you've done all you can to prepare, especially given that you've now had much more time to truly dedicate to studying, then you should go for it. I for one, knowing the struggle of hating math and sucking at it, am rooting for you.

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

Jakefromstatefarm,

I studied for around 3 months, using the same materials as you. Let me tell you, the Peterson's practice test if it's the one I think it is, is absolute garbage. I did not encounter one thing on the OAR portion of that test in my actual test when I took it (but then again, it is different for everyone). It was significantly harder/more difficult than the actual OAR, which I guess some would say is a benefit of studying it, but it was also riddled with mathematical errors (confirmed by my engineer S.O. as he tried to help and got angry at it for being wrong lol). But I also used Barron's 4th Edition and the Peterson's 8th and 9th edition books in addition to Khan Academy and *ALL* the gouges posted here.. and it seemed to help as I almost got a 50 and the minimum OAR scores are well met with that score for Intel, SWO, and Supply (just aren't necessarily competitive without something special in your kit). I did not study reading comprehension either, just math and about a day on mechanical. The reading comprehension was incredibly simple and dry Naval scenarios and information for me.

I personally get the feeling that you're at the point where you're psyching yourself out about it because it holds a significant amount of weight for our kits. I don't think anyone can really aid you in determining if you are ready or not, but I do believe if you feel you've done all you can to prepare, especially given that you've now had much more time to truly dedicate to studying, then you should go for it. I for one, knowing the struggle of hating math and sucking at it, am rooting for you.

Thank you for that heads up on the Peterson's practice test. I knew I wasn't THAT bad at math considering the amount of questions I was getting wrong, lol. I don't want you to feel obligated to answer anything related specifically to your test experience since you never specifically stated what you scored on the OAR portion. However, you stated that you only studied for about a day on mechanical and you almost got a 50. So I was curious as to whether or not you believe your score suffered due to that as well as the math section? When I said I had been studying for 4+ months that included math as well as mechanical, but it mainly depends on the type of math for me. For example, I've always been good at algebra and decent at geometry and probability, but have suffered when it came to word problems as I'm sure most people do. In regards to your statement that I may be psyching myself out, I feel you hit it on the head when you said about it holding such a significant amount of weight. But I also feel that way due to the fact you can only take it three times in your life and I've already wasted one attempt, lol. I'm just glad someone's on the same boat as me with despising math and sucking at it, although it's the "conceptual math" word problems that I tend to waste time and get stuck on. Thank you for the support btw, hopefully I'm simply over thinking it.

 

[GlassBanger]

Thank you for that heads up on the Peterson's practice test. I knew I wasn't THAT bad at math considering the amount of questions I was getting wrong, lol. I don't want you to feel obligated to answer anything related specifically to your test experience since you never specifically stated what you scored on the OAR portion. However, you stated that you only studied for about a day on mechanical and you almost got a 50. So I was curious as to whether or not you believe your score suffered due to that as well as the math section? When I said I had been studying for 4+ months that included math as well as mechanical, but it mainly depends on the type of math for me. For example, I've always been good at algebra and decent at geometry and probability, but have suffered when it came to word problems as I'm sure most people do. In regards to your statement that I may be psyching myself out, I feel you hit it on the head when you said about it holding such a significant amount of weight. But I also feel that way due to the fact you can only take it three times in your life and I've already wasted one attempt, lol. I'm just glad someone's on the same boat as me with despising math and sucking at it, although it's the "conceptual math" word problems that I tend to waste time and get stuck on. Thank you for the support btw, hopefully I'm simply over thinking it.

Honestly, I don't think my score suffered at all from either my mechanical or reading comprehension portions. I only spent a day on mechanical because I just didn't need to spend anymore time there, I just needed a refresher. A lot of it I just understood the basic concept and could work from there, some by process of elimination on answers that made absolutely no sense, and the rest because I'd gotten my engineer S.O. I mentioned before to help with the few on the practice tests that perplexed me. I looked absolutely ridiculous taking the mechanical portion because I was gesturing out directions of water flow, piping, air, etc. and using my hands to lay out a visual for some scenarios listed. I studied for around 3 months simply because math is a significant weakness for me; I have excelled in language and writing but math has always given me trouble. So minus the day for mechanical, the entire study time was spent on math. I started at the very basic foundations in Khan Academy and worked thoroughly through them all. I have always found fractions, decimals, and long division to be the single most significant pain in my ass so Khan definitely helped.

I truly believe it was the math that got me. For reference though because you do seem so worried about your own next attempt, my true score was a 47. I sincerely believe that there are many more people in the same boat as us that either weren't told of Air Warriors or just don't post. Without a doubt. (it can be very intimidating I think for new users to see all these people with scores in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s to post their 40s or lower.)

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

Honestly, I don't think my score suffered at all from either my mechanical or reading comprehension portions. I only spent a day on mechanical because I just didn't need to spend anymore time there, I just needed a refresher. A lot of it I just understood the basic concept and could work from there, some by process of elimination on answers that made absolutely no sense, and the rest because I'd gotten my engineer S.O. I mentioned before to help with the few on the practice tests that perplexed me. I looked absolutely ridiculous taking the mechanical portion because I was gesturing out directions of water flow, piping, air, etc. and using my hands to lay out a visual for some scenarios listed. I studied for around 3 months simply because math is a significant weakness for me; I have excelled in language and writing but math has always given me trouble. So minus the day for mechanical, the entire study time was spent on math. I started at the very basic foundations in Khan Academy and worked thoroughly through them all. I have always found fractions, decimals, and long division to be the single most significant pain in my ass so Khan definitely helped.

I truly believe it was the math that got me. For reference though because you do seem so worried about your own next attempt, my true score was a 47. I sincerely believe that there are many more people in the same boat as us that either weren't told of Air Warriors or just don't post. Without a doubt. (it can be very intimidating I think for new users to see all these people with scores in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s to post their 40s or lower.)

I use to be right there with you in terms of fractions and decimals before I started using Khan Academy, so I know exactly what you mean. But in the air warriors gouge and in the study guides shared, it seems the majority of the difficult math problems would involve solving word problems which include various types such as solving for %acids, rates, %averages, work, or things like that where you have to keep track of variables, set up the equation correctly, and keep units in order. What types of questions in the math section did/do you struggle with when you scored a 47?

 

[GlassBanger]

I use to be right there with you in terms of fractions and decimals before I started using Khan Academy, so I know exactly what you mean. But in the air warriors gouge and in the study guides shared, it seems the majority of the difficult math problems would involve solving word problems which include various types such as solving for %acids, rates, %averages, work, or things like that where you have to keep track of variables, set up the equation correctly, and keep units in order. What types of questions in the math section did/do you struggle with when you scored a 47?

I luckily only got a handful of word problems and I was able to answer questions until my time ran out. I struggled mostly with solving for x in a fraction or solving for x in a fraction when there is also an x^2 on the other side of the =. In perspective, not entirely difficult stuff, but mostly stuff where it's easy to brain fart and miss a sign or a number and screw it up from there. There were a lot of probability and rate questions for me, very few questions involving shapes (I didn't even need the drop down menu of formulas because they didn't give me any of those questions), exponents, exponents with variables in them, acid %'s, square roots, and pay rate calculations as well as interest and ratios. I immediately asked my proctor to schedule me a retest, but if you saw my post above they insisted it wasn't necessary so I'm going to submit with my 47 and then if I am not chosen, improve my package by doing better.

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

I luckily only got a handful of word problems and I was able to answer questions until my time ran out. I struggled mostly with solving for x in a fraction or solving for x in a fraction when there is also an x^2 on the other side of the =. In perspective, not entirely difficult stuff, but mostly stuff where it's easy to brain fart and miss a sign or a number and screw it up from there. There were a lot of probability and rate questions for me, very few questions involving shapes (I didn't even need the drop down menu of formulas because they didn't give me any of those questions), exponents, exponents with variables in them, acid %'s, square roots, and pay rate calculations as well as interest and ratios. I immediately asked my proctor to schedule me a retest, but if you saw my post above they insisted it wasn't necessary so I'm going to submit with my 47 and then if I am not chosen, improve my package by doing better.

I was curious for the rate problems that you got, what exactly did you have to solve for? I know the shortcuts for solving overtaking and collision rate problems given the rates and distances or times. But for the round trip questions did they ask you round trip questions like those on Khan Academy's (Rate problems 2) examples where you're given the speed and rate and you have to find the average speed for the entire trip or were they questions more along the lines of asking at what rate the person would have to travel on the return trip in order to average the speed they give for the entire trip? Also, I was curious as to the probability type questions you saw. I know in the past couple of pages people stated that they got lots of probabilities dealing with dice but never mentioned what kinds of probability questions they were. Realistically given the time constraint and the fact you have to do calculations by hand are the probabilities simple (independent) or are they rather complex (dependent) where it would be ideal to physically draw out all of the possibilities? I also assume the questions dealing with shapes all relate to geometry because I distinctly remember a question involving the crust of a pizza but I don't remember exactly what the question asked. Knowing now that you simply find the area of the pizza as well as the area of whatever the inside of the pizza contains and taking their difference seems so much easier than back when I went in blind. I see a lot of people mentioning exponents as well, but was curious as to whether they ask algebra as complicated as nested fractions involving fractions within fractions with exponents and square roots including things like ((16x)^3/4 with 16x within a root) or if I wasted my time learning that. If it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, could you provide an example of what you mean by exponents with variables in them? Like (10^x+1 = 100 where x would be 1) is that what you mean? I even went as far teaching myself binary because someone else said they got a question on it. But thanks for the heads up on the pay rate calculations, interest and ratios tip. I don't think I reviewed any of that since no one in past pages stated they had questions relating to those topics unless they're simple and no one felt the need to bring them up. I apologize for all of the questions but I just wanted a brief overview of the types of questions you got so I know if the types I'm studying are even relevant to what I will see going into the test.

 

[GlassBanger]

I was curious for the rate problems that you got, what exactly did you have to solve for? I know the shortcuts for solving overtaking and collision rate problems given the rates and distances or times. But for the round trip questions did they ask you round trip questions like those on Khan Academy's (Rate problems 2) examples where you're given the speed and rate and you have to find the average speed for the entire trip or were they questions more along the lines of asking at what rate the person would have to travel on the return trip in order to average the speed they give for the entire trip? Also, I was curious as to the probability type questions you saw. I know in the past couple of pages people stated that they got lots of probabilities dealing with dice but never mentioned what kinds of probability questions they were. Realistically given the time constraint and the fact you have to do calculations by hand are the probabilities simple (independent) or are they rather complex (dependent) where it would be ideal to physically draw out all of the possibilities? I also assume the questions dealing with shapes all relate to geometry because I distinctly remember a question involving the crust of a pizza but I don't remember exactly what the question asked. Knowing now that you simply find the area of the pizza as well as the area of whatever the inside of the pizza contains and taking their difference seems so much easier than back when I went in blind. I see a lot of people mentioning exponents as well, but was curious as to whether they ask algebra as complicated as nested fractions involving fractions within fractions with exponents and square roots including things like ((16x)^3/4 with 16x within a root) or if I wasted my time learning that. If it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, could you provide an example of what you mean by exponents with variables in them? Like (10^x+1 = 100 where x would be 1) is that what you mean? I even went as far teaching myself binary because someone else said they got a question on it. But thanks for the heads up on the pay rate calculations, interest and ratios tip. I don't think I reviewed any of that since no one in past pages stated they had questions relating to those topics unless they're simple and no one felt the need to bring them up. I apologize for all of the questions but I just wanted a brief overview of the types of questions you got so I know if the types I'm studying are even relevant to what I will see going into the test.

Yes to both of those rate problems, haha you answered the question for me there. Okay so the probability questions were exclusively with dice for my test; one question I can remember is what is the probability of rolling an even number on two, 6-sided die, rolled twice. Correct on the shapes, it is geometry but I only encountered one circle, one triangle, and a cylinder question on my test. But I didn't need those formula drop downs because I remembered from Khan and my study books (volume, area, circumference divided by diameter=pi etc.). So for exponents you are pretty much spot on about the exponent question in that form for example: "if 2^x-4= 4, what is x?". I got one problem as complicated as your listed exponent and square root combined one, I think because I began doing well, but I got it incorrect because the next question was incredibly easy lol. So definitely remember if you're getting difficult questions, you're doing well. I haven't seen any binary in a gouge posted here (I probably overlooked it), and there wasn't any in my study books by Barrons or Peterson's, but thankfully I didn't need it as there weren't any problems pertaining to that in my exam. I don't have a problem at all with your questions, I just wish I could remember more to share with you, and to solve at home for my own peace of mind. But alas, my scratch paper was thrown out and I was so nervous I didn't remember many details when I left the recruiting office; they immediately started my paperwork and fingerprints after my exam, interfering with my ability to file it into my long term memory lol

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

Yes to both of those rate problems, haha you answered the question for me there. Okay so the probability questions were exclusively with dice for my test; one question I can remember is what is the probability of rolling an even number on two, 6-sided die, rolled twice. Correct on the shapes, it is geometry but I only encountered one circle, one triangle, and a cylinder question on my test. But I didn't need those formula drop downs because I remembered from Khan and my study books (volume, area, circumference divided by diameter=pi etc.). So for exponents you are pretty much spot on about the exponent question in that form for example: "if 2^x-4= 4, what is x?". I got one problem as complicated as your listed exponent and square root combined one, I think because I began doing well, but I got it incorrect because the next question was incredibly easy lol. So definitely remember if you're getting difficult questions, you're doing well. I haven't seen any binary in a gouge posted here (I probably overlooked it), and there wasn't any in my study books by Barrons or Peterson's, but thankfully I didn't need it as there weren't any problems pertaining to that in my exam. I don't have a problem at all with your questions, I just wish I could remember more to share with you, and to solve at home for my own peace of mind. But alas, my scratch paper was thrown out and I was so nervous I didn't remember many details when I left the recruiting office; they immediately started my paperwork and fingerprints after my exam, interfering with my ability to file it into my long term memory lol

Lol, it's all good at least you stored some of the information from the test in your long term memory. But for that dice probability question you mentioned is the answer 1/4? I always draw a blank when doing probabilities as to whether or not you're supposed to add the probabilities together or multiple them. I think with independent situations you multiple them and with dependent ones you just add them reducing the fraction by the number of chances you're removing from the situation.

 

[GlassBanger]

Lol, it's all good at least you stored some of the information from the test in your long term memory. But for that dice probability question you mentioned is the answer 1/4? I always draw a blank when doing probabilities as to whether or not you're supposed to add the probabilities together or multiple them. I think with independent situations you multiple them and with dependent ones you just add them reducing the fraction by the number of chances you're removing from the situation.

Remembering I'm not stellar at math, I actually got 1/2. Each die presents a probability of an even roll at 3/6. If rolled twice, each die represents a probability of 6/12. So two die are 12/24=1/2. I'm on my phone right now, but if you can, I distinctly remember Khan Academy actually has a video on this you could look up and watch. There are also additional questions by people on the video comments.

EDIT: I actually got up off the couch to open my laptop and find this for you (haha it was bugging me I couldn't remember if I got it right or wrong). Here you go: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pr...ty/independent_events/v/events-and-outcomes-2

The video itself sucked for me in terms of aiding in understanding, but the comments helped so much.