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

smk007

Member
Hi Everyone! Took my first ASTB earlier today and got a 54 6/7/6. I am pretty happy with my scores, granted that I felt, while doing the test, the scores would've been worse. But now looking back on it feel I could have done better. Go figure. Little background, I am a female, 22 years old and a former college athlete. My priority is applying for Pilot/NFO and would also love to try for Intel, but given my BS in Business Admin with a 3.0 GPA, it is not likely (Trust me, I am realistic and not getting my hopes up). I studied for about 6 weeks, averaging 2-3 hrs a day probably. My recruiter was excited with my scores for Pilot, and encouraged me to even try for the February board, however, this means my application package would need to be finished by December 10th. I have decided to wait for the next board though, in order to get a competitive package put together and not to rush.
Anyways, I want to thank everyone on this thread for their contributions. All of the gouge on this thread had been very helpful in preparing me for what content to expect and lots of helpful tips when it came to the hands on portion. I would like to pass on what I got from the test and any tips I have or what I used to prepare...

MATH:
This section wasn't too difficult for me, but I am biased. I've always had a thing for math and enjoy it. I did not get any log questions. Couple probability questions, exponents, fractions, basic algebra and word problems. Here are some from what I remember: -ex1- 32^3/5 -ex2- sq root 3 + sq root 27 -ex3- Probability of drawing a heart card from deck and rolling a 2 or higher on die -ex4- War started in year x^2 and ended year (x+1)^2, and lasted 29 years. What year did the war END? -ex5- 2/9 of harvest is apples, 4/9 is oranges, how many more oranges need to be planted to equal 2.5 tons of the harvest?-- There was also a problem with a box that had a cylinder in it. Find the ratio of the area of the box to the leftover space outside the cylinder. Other than that there was solving for x, multiplying fractions, some division and a few long "complex" problems involving multiplication/adding with [ and } brackets. I got kicked at the very end I believe. Run through a few practice worksheets, and the study guides posted here on this thread.
READING:
Like everyone has said, very dry. It can drag on but just try to stay focused and pay attention to what the paragraph is saying. It helped me to eliminate the wrong answers then reread the information over again. The wording will get tricky, but the correct answer is ONLY what is from what is provided. Ran out of time here I think.
MECHANICAL:
This section wasn't too challenging, but I had two years of AP Physics in high school so the concepts were not new to me. Most of it is common sense, but be careful to understand the concepts cause some questions can be tricky. I used the Barron's Mech Comp Book to refresh my memory, as well as the Barron's Military Flight Aptitude Book. The comprehensive study guide posted a few pages back also helped as well. Some questions I remember: - If brick and feather are dropped from the same height, and the same time, which will hit the ground first? -Which graph represents the velocity/time relationship when shooting an arrow into the air? Answer choices showed vel on y-axis and time on x-axis.
-Something about an AC Generator and how it works or something? answer choices had coil in a magnetic cylinder, something else or chemical reaction between electric nodes (?) Sorry, can't remember exactly. -a pulley with force on one end (shown with longer string) and on other side was a 5kg wt. Which side had more tension. -formula for power -1500kg car moving at 18 m/s hits stationary 4000kg truck, which exerts greatest force. - weight formula (finding weight of object on mars given mass and velocity) -angular velocity took up about 3 questions so know what that is- energy transfer- had a couple spring and centripetal force questions. No gears, electric currents, batteries or levers.
NATFI:
Wow. Frustrating to say the least! Haha. There will be plenty that you probably feel you aren't like or would never do. Just select the one that you instinctively lean towards. Don't overthink it.
ANIT:
I was nervous for this portion, as I don't have much aviation/nautical background other than flying a Cessna for an hour intro flight and going to a couple air shows when I was little. The gouge on this thread helped me a bunch as well as the books I mentioned. I had read through some sections of the Pilot Handbook as well to get a more in depth idea of the concepts. Again from what I remember: -what does the beam measure on the ship? -draft of the ship? -first dive bomber?
-first combat jet? -couple questions on wing vortices (what causes them) -what causes plan to "lean" -VASI provides visual of what? -what is a bulkhead? -lowest deck on the ship -which type of wing flap is NOT a flap? -which type of helicopter is an MH-## (don't remember the number) -CVBG (relating to size) -How much fuel should aircraft have? Destination + ## minutes -VFR with ## compass heading -No questions on weather, airports, lights, or jerseys. I got kicked from this section I believe.
UAV:
Going into this portion I was a little nervous, and I worked myself up over it. It was not too bad. I didn't plan on using the compass trick because when practicing it was easier to mentally flip the compass. But I actually ended up using it. I missed 2 I think, and averaged between 1-3 sec and maybe two with 4 sec. Overall, practicing the flashcards posted here helped getting the rhythm down and to get a visual of the test. (yellow arrow w/ red target)
DICHOTIC LISTENING:
This section was pretty easy. My headphones worked really well and were really loud. I also noticed and I'm not sure if it's the same voice for everyone, but the left and right ear voice were different tones. It helped me in recognizing the numbers in the correct target ear. Left clutch button for odd numbers and right trigger on control stick for even numbers. I may have missed 2 here, and that was because I zoned out at one point. So pay attention the WHOLE time, unlike me. Leaning to the target ear also helped.
PBM:
Well. Everything I read was true about this part. Very overwhelming! The vertical tracking wasn't tooooo bad, but the throttle is difficult to get adjusted to. The further up/down it goes, the quicker it moves. The control stick was hard to adjust to, specifically the inverted axis. I would suggest practicing video games, if you play them, with the inverted controls to get used to that feel. I had grown up playing video games and currently play XBOX, but I don't feel that type of controller helped at all as far as the type of control used for this portion. If you have a flight simulator, more power to you! Anyways, all three portions put together was an absolute mess. I worked up a sweat! Haha the only advice I can give is do your best, and have fun with it. Laugh, relax, and track as best you can. The listening is the easiest part, so try to nail that part of it. The emergency portion was easy, DEFINITELY write the emergency procedures down and place them in front of you for reference. Make sure your dial settings are set to the middle before you start. And don't forget to press the clutch button after each procedure.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I wanted to be thorough since these posts helped me out a TON. I am hoping this can at least be helpful to some. For reference and studying, I used the Barron's books, bought the ARCO but didn't use it much, and the Pilot Handbook was great, but can be overloaded for the test. However, I would suggest reading the sections mentioned anyways, if you have the time. Other than that, what helped the most was the gouge from this thread, as well as the study guides and flashcards. Just study, and then study more. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to help out or gain some new advice/knowledge!

Thanks again to everyone!! Best of luck to all taking the ASTB/OAR, and to those in application processes!!!
 

bramirez44

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, i'm going to keep this as short as I can. I took my ASTB-E for the first time yesterday (2018/11/16) and scored 53/6/8/7. I am going to apply for Pilot/NFO. I studied for about a month and a half. My job allowed me to study while I had down time which helped a lot. I thought I'd do a little better on the OAR portion but it is what it is. I'm happy with that for my first time around. I used the Barron's military flight aptitude test book and gouge from this forum to study. I can't thank you all enough for the information provided on this page! My recruiter is pretty confident he can get me in as a pilot for the Feb boards. I know it depends on who I'm up against and the rest of my package but I'm ready for whatever happens!

I'm not going to go through each section in much detail but I'll try my best.

MATH:
It was definitely harder than the math problems in the Barrons book. I didn't make it to log's or matrices but I could definitely tell when I got an answer right and the difficulty increased. KEEP PRACTICING. That's all I can say. Do as many math problems as you can get your hands on before the test.

Reading:
Pretty straight forward. I think this section is what redeemed my OAR score. Just read the passage as fast as you can while retaining the information and use process of elimination. The passage is the whole world. Don't assume anything. If it's not stated in the passage, it's not true.

Mechanical:
This section was fun. My BA is in Media Production but have extensive knowledge on mechanics and how things work. This section has the potential to give some pretty difficult questions but I think the questions in the Barrons book are a little harder if not the same as the test.

NATFI:
At times I felt like I was answering every single question wrong! Like the test says, even if one is SLIGHTLY more true, pick that one. Example was something like,
A) I sometimes get angry when stressed.
B) I rarely proofread my work before turning it in.
These have absolutely nothing to do with each other but you have to pick one! lol

ANIT:
Read as much as you can and try to retain as much information as possible before the test. Know everything you can possible think of about the navy and aviation. As much as I studied, there were still questions in there that I had no idea how to answer. Only a couple questions on there were fact's that the Barrons book had. The rest that I knew I found out about on this forum (I read almost every page) and watching documentaries on youtube and reading navy books.

UAV:
Use the notecards provided on the forum and watch the video on how to use the cheat sheet compass. I got 2 wrong and averaged about 2-3 seconds per answer. The notecards with the satellite view is more accurate with what you'll find on the test. Something that surprised me was the voice in the headphones asked you to pick the north, south, east, west, parking lot instead of reading everything on screen like the notecards. Does that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't!

DICHOTIC LISTENING:
This part was pretty easy for me. View smk007's post above mine for good tips and tricks.

PBM:
Everyone pretty much hit the nail on the head when describing this section. The first time i had to use the joystick, i bet if it gave me a grade i would have gotten 10% it's nothing like flying a simulator. I probably spent a good 20-30 hours within my two-ish months of studying using a simulator and I still felt like a child learning to use a crayon... Your left hand (throttle hand) is focused on a 2d airplane on the left of the screen while your right hand is focused on a DIFFERENT 2d airplane bouncing around randomly on the rest of the screen. Doing them by themselves isn't TERRIBLE but put them together and all hell breaks loose haha. Oddly enough though, once they added in the dichotic listening and had to manage both airplanes at the same time, I did pretty well. Weird how that works.

If you're still reading this post, thank you! And thank you to EVERYONE who has posted on this forum. I will keep you all posted on what the boards look like for me in February and hope I meet some of you at OCS one day! Best of luck to everyone here!
 

StevenBlue18

Multi Life
Does anyone have an idea on which sections weigh the most for NFO? I know that they all play a factor into the final score, but I'm curious on which sections weigh more in particular. This question may have been asked before, but for some reason I can't come across it and I'm taking my test for the third time on Monday.
OAR,AQR, and PFAR if I recall correctly. Just use search bar that’s a useful tool on here.
 

StevenBlue18

Multi Life
Per https://www.usnavy.vt.edu/documents/astboverview.pdf:

The following general guidance is offered to assist examinees in preparing for an ASTB test or retest.
  • Academic Qualifications Rating (AQR): This score is affected by performance on all subtests, but the strongest influence is made by the Math Skills Test.
  • Pilot Flight Aptitude Rating (PFAR): This score is affected by performance on all subtests, but the greatest contribution is made by the Aviation & Nautical Info and Spatial Apperception Tests.
  • Flight Officer Flight Aptitude Rating (FOFAR): This score is affected by performance on all subtests, but the strongest influence is made by the Math Skills Test.
  • Officer Aptitude Rating (OAR): This score is affected by performance on the first three subtests, Math Skills, Reading Comprehension, and Mechanical Comprehension.
Previously stated in this thread.
 

Stephem

Member
I took the OAR test for the 2nd time last week and got a 56. I studied for about six weeks this time a couple of hours a day. My 1st score was 42 with only two weeks of studying.

MST: I saw a few question about probability like if you are a black jack player in Vegas and you are the first one to draw a card what is the probability that you get a King? I can't remember the other questions but I got some system of equations, a few DRTs, some word problem, probabilities, and hard fractions. It has been a year since I took my 1st one, I forgot that you have to hover on the timer icon to see your time. I thought I was running out of time. I kind of rushed myself on the last couple of questions. I am pretty sure I did the worst here and it also affected my phase on the RST. I felt like most of the questions I got was hard but I did not get any Logarithms or Matrix.

Keep in mind also that most books tell you that you only have 25 minutes for this test but its actually 40 minutes. The books are probably still based on the older version of the test. I am pretty sure that I did not used up my whole 40 minutes.

RST: Like everyone here says, its just reading a passage and picking the most right answer. Some are like seven sentences long some are only a few. I am guessing I get wrong answer whenever the question became easy. I saw a few question about Mt Everest and a bunch about the Navy. Like everyone here say, the right answer is gonna be coming from the passage try not to bring in any outside information. It was kind of hard for me as I am active duty Navy so I got a lot of information that is in my mind about the topic that is not in the passage but were in the choices. I did not get to answer three questions, I ran out of time.

MCT: I think this is where I made money. The questions are pretty straight forward. There was only two questions where I have to do any calculations. I had a question about first class lever, how much force is needed to balance a beam when you have two objects on one side and they are this far from the fulcrum how much force is needed on the other end. Another was the height of an object when it gets thrown up in the air and it drop within so many second. I also got a couple of questions about angular momentum, formula for work, levers, pendulum. I cant remember the rest of them but this section was the easiest for me. I was surprised not get any pulley or gear questions. I finished this one with three minutes to spare.

I feel like I could have gotten a better score if I did not rushed my self on the math portion which also affected my reading test. I thought I have failed because of how I did in Math but the result showed up and I am happy with what I got. I used Khan Academy and a lot of YouTube videos to refresh on basic math, Barron book, Petersons and most importantly the gouges from this thread. Just be aware that some of the gouges here may contain wrong information and contradict each other, just do your own research if you see them. Someone here also mention about bring an earplug on the test. I brought ear muffs just in case and that really helped out. I took my test in a room of six other test takers that were making all kinds of noises and I think they were doing some maintenance next door. It was just loud and destructing the whole time.
 

Bruce_Almighty

Well-Known Member
I posted earlier about taking the ASTB for the second time. I was lucky enough to nail this test on my third and final time. My first set of scores were a 37, 4,7,4. I took the test a second time with a 40, 4,5,4. Taking the test a final time I was able to score 45, 6,8,6. Huge shoutout to CHOPS_avn for the help. I will tell you guys I am not the best person at math. I recommend giving it a go for a third if you are on the edge. It was a huge gamble on my part but I wanted to apply for pilot really bad.
MATH
I used Learning Express Officer candidate book, Barron's flight guide, and 2018 ASTB guide. I can not stress enough these books are inadequate for anyone with math struggles. The file of 114 math questions was absolutely essential. I know for a shadow of a doubt that doing these problems over and over again helped me get better scores. I can not stress enough, doing these problems will help you. The ASTB personal study guide and the gouges were really helpful.
Reading
Questions were straightforward, many had questions that 2-3 of the answers made no sense or little words went against the paragraph. Fairly simple and straightforward.
Mechanical
I used a few items to study for this section. My main studying came from the ASTB Mechanical flashcards. They helped out a lot and the bulk of my questions came from this.
https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=astb-mechanical-comprehension-test
I will recommend another book that people have not read. My major was aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle. This book I am attaching below covers math as well, Physic's/Mechanical, and electrical theory. A lot of mechanical questions that are on the ASTB came from this book. Covering, the formulas for work, newtons laws, mechanical advantage, leverage, and other principles. The book has a huge section of the electrical theory that you can draw from. I had a question like, what registers ohms? This book should help below.
ANIT
I am a pilot so this stuff came really easy to me. Study the Gleim pilots guide to help give you a base or use the gouges. I had similar questions on this test.
UAV
Honestly, pilot came back into play again. I did fairly well from my flying on a regular basis. The UAV videos helped some but this stuff came naturally to me. My bulk of missed answers came from the questions where you were coming from the northwest and headed southeast for example. For some reason, the arrow pointing northwest or northeast was easy for me but I struggled on the arrow pointing southeast or southwest. Flight simulators can help a lot with this. It's kind of like looking at a runway.
PBM
I won't go into detail because a lot of people have done this already. My best recommendation for you all is, using a flight sim. If you can spare the expense ACE COMBAT 6 FIRES of LIBERATION on XBOX 360. I purchased the game years ago and play it religiously. XBOX 360 has a joystick and throttle that you can buy for ACE COMBAT 6. Just google ACE COMBAT 6 joystick and throttle. From someone that got an 8 on PBM, buy a stick and throttle. From personal experience, I did not have the stick and throttle for my ACE COMBAT video game on my previous two attempts. Believe me, using that stick and throttle for a combat simulator such as ACE COMBAT made my reaction time much quicker and inverted controls were natural to me. I constantly went for gun kills instead of missile kills which helped me track targets better. Gun kills used a targeting reticle and it paid off. There was a complete difference in my skills going from a XBOX controller to the Joystick. It was a complete game changer and worth the expense.
Listening test was really just reactions and honestly being a pilot helped. Constantly listening for numbers from atc regarding the tail number and others was the edge for me.
Emergency Scenarios
Right down the scenarios like everyone says. I wrote down in huge letters each scenario. I wrote the direction and area of the throttles in large letters. On each scenario, I included the task, control, percentage and direction of control for the percentage. Writing down in large letters almost filling up the page helped tremendously.
My OAR score is the only thing I worry about but I am really satisfied with my ASTB scores especially pilot. I am applying for the February pilot, well see how it goes. If there's any questions regarding pilot items I am happy to help for the test. That is my area of expertise and degree lol. Good luck to everyone else applying.


images
 

prestonaz

Active Member
Went from a 48 OAR to a 57 OAR. Just took the test about two hours ago. I am quite happy with my score and after talking to a few outside sources as well as my recruiter, I believe this score will qualify me for SWO. I'd love to hear your thoughts on 57 SWO with solid LORs.

My GPA is a 3.5 in History, and I also have a Political Thought and Leadership certificate, not that it really helps with the Navy per say.

So here's the deal with the test:

Math
I studied very hard for this portion, and it is undoubtedly the reason my score boosted. Some questions I had:

sq rt 216

Homework is worth 10%, 4 Exams are worth 20%, and the final exam is worth 30%. Exams were 78, 80, and 83, and X, the homework 65. The 4th exam was 5/6 times the average of the first three, and the final was 10 points less than the 4th exam. What is the Final?

a log question structured like this: log base 8 (4-x)=2. Find X -- I forget the exact numbers.

There is 90,000 cubic units of human pee and poo. the height of the cylinder storage is 25, and the diameter is 10. How many cylinders are necessary to store all the poop.

There is a brick wall 3 feet, by 12 feet, by 6 feet. Each brick is 3 inches, by 6 inches, by 6 inches. How many bricks are needed to fill the wall

Solve for x
x^3+x^2+x-1=y+1
y=x^2+x-1 Cannot remember exact numbers

There is a track field with an area of 2500 sq. feet. the track surrounding the the area is 8 feet wide. Find the Surface area.

Reading Comprehension
Nothing new under the sun. Literally went until the very last second, like started a new question with six seconds left. Royally pissed me off.

Mechanical Comprehension
I am not qualified to help anybody with mechanical questions. I have never taken physics, and studied this the least. That being said, I had fundamental questions. Nothing to high brow. Some questions I got were:

You are swinging a brick around by a string vertically. Where is the most tension in the string?

250 pounds is 2 feet away from the fulcrum, 40 pounds is X feet away from the fulcrum. Find the distance.

The air in a vacuum (picture looks like an hour glass) has the highest velocity at which point?

There is an ideal constant gas. The temperature does not change, but the pressure changes 3 fold. What happens to the volume?

There is a pulley attached to the ceiling, with a weight attached to one end. Where is the most tension in the pulley?

There are two mice spinning on a record player. One is closer to the center, the other is farther on the record. Which one has a faster velocity?

You have a ball that is dropped off of a cliff, and one that is tossed off a cliff at the same time. Which one hits the ground first?

And that's what I can remember right now!

Some words of wisdom, if anyone cares to listen.

Start on page 200 and work your way up to page 304. There were so many questions that I worked on within this forum, and it most definitely helped me improve my score, especially in Math.

If you can, take two days off for yourself before your test. Treat it like an event, because it is. This decides your future. I wish I had two days to myself prior. I was working on 3 hours of sleep when I took the test because I was so restless the night of, I kept on reading the mechanical comprehension study guides over and over again. Don't do what I did!

This forum is the most useful gouge you can find. Nothing beats it. Y'all are wonderful.

God Bless,

Prestonaz
 

Scimitarze

Automated Member
Homework is worth 10%, 4 Exams are worth 20%, and the final exam is worth 30%. Exams were 78, 80, and 83, and X, the homework 65. The 4th exam was 5/6 times the average of the first three, and the final was 10 points less than the 4th exam. What is the Final?

Am I overthinking this, or are the grade weights completely irrelevant in this problem? These and probability questions are my absoute weakness.
 

StevenBlue18

Multi Life
Am I overthinking this, or are the grade weights completely irrelevant in this problem? These and probability questions are my absoute weakness.
Haven’t really solved it but it would seem even mentioning homework or the % of total that all them add to is irrelevant. Doesn’t even mention a final total. But might be just missing some details. He is giving you an idea of what to expect so it still helps. :)
 

Scimitarze

Automated Member
Haven’t really solved it but it would seem even mentioning homework or the % of total that all them add to is irrelevant. Doesn’t even mention a final total. But might be just missing some details. He is giving you an idea of what to expect so it still helps. :)

Will do. Still have to rehit the weighted problems on a worksheet then.
 

prestonaz

Active Member
Haven’t really solved it but it would seem even mentioning homework or the % of total that all them add to is irrelevant. Doesn’t even mention a final total. But might be just missing some details. He is giving you an idea of what to expect so it still helps. :)
The weights of the grade are relevant. No details are missing. The final is worth 10 points less than the 4th exam.

The 4th exam is 5/6th the average of the first three. The final exam is worth 30%.All the information necessary to find the final exam is there
 

prestonaz

Active Member
Went from a 48 OAR to a 57 OAR. Just took the test about two hours ago. I am quite happy with my score and after talking to a few outside sources as well as my recruiter, I believe this score will qualify me for SWO. I'd love to hear your thoughts on 57 SWO with solid LORs.

My GPA is a 3.5 in History, and I also have a Political Thought and Leadership certificate, not that it really helps with the Navy per say.

So here's the deal with the test:

Math
I studied very hard for this portion, and it is undoubtedly the reason my score boosted. Some questions I had:

sq rt 216

Homework is worth 10%, 4 Exams are worth 20%, and the final exam is worth 30%. Exams were 78, 80, and 83, and X, the homework 65. The 4th exam was 5/6 times the average of the first three, and the final was 10 points less than the 4th exam. What is the Final?

a log question structured like this: log base 8 (4-x)=2. Find X -- I forget the exact numbers.

There is 90,000 cubic units of human pee and poo. the height of the cylinder storage is 25, and the diameter is 10. How many cylinders are necessary to store all the poop.

There is a brick wall 3 feet, by 12 feet, by 6 feet. Each brick is 3 inches, by 6 inches, by 6 inches. How many bricks are needed to fill the wall

Solve for x
x^3+x^2+x-1=y+1
y=x^2+x-1 Cannot remember exact numbers

There is a track field with an area of 2500 sq. feet. the track surrounding the the area is 8 feet wide. Find the Surface area.

Reading Comprehension
Nothing new under the sun. Literally went until the very last second, like started a new question with six seconds left. Royally pissed me off.

Mechanical Comprehension
I am not qualified to help anybody with mechanical questions. I have never taken physics, and studied this the least. That being said, I had fundamental questions. Nothing to high brow. Some questions I got were:

You are swinging a brick around by a string vertically. Where is the most tension in the string?

250 pounds is 2 feet away from the fulcrum, 40 pounds is X feet away from the fulcrum. Find the distance.

The air in a vacuum (picture looks like an hour glass) has the highest velocity at which point?

There is an ideal constant gas. The temperature does not change, but the pressure changes 3 fold. What happens to the volume?

There is a pulley attached to the ceiling, with a weight attached to one end. Where is the most tension in the pulley?

There are two mice spinning on a record player. One is closer to the center, the other is farther on the record. Which one has a faster velocity?

You have a ball that is dropped off of a cliff, and one that is tossed off a cliff at the same time. Which one hits the ground first?

And that's what I can remember right now!

Some words of wisdom, if anyone cares to listen.

Start on page 200 and work your way up to page 304. There were so many questions that I worked on within this forum, and it most definitely helped me improve my score, especially in Math.

If you can, take two days off for yourself before your test. Treat it like an event, because it is. This decides your future. I wish I had two days to myself prior. I was working on 3 hours of sleep when I took the test because I was so restless the night of, I kept on reading the mechanical comprehension study guides over and over again. Don't do what I did!

This forum is the most useful gouge you can find. Nothing beats it. Y'all are wonderful.

God Bless,

Prestonaz
EDIT: The Final is worth 10% of the Grade. Sorry. Long Question.
 
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