Hello, AirWarriors. Long time lurker and honorary first-time poster. Today I took the ASTB and scored
56 7/8/7 which is above what I expected! I am very proud of this score because I worked very hard to know this material forward and backwards. You can do the same!!! I studied for two months total. At least one day a week I spent all day studying (8-10 hours) as well as every night after work. I work full time, workout, and am a socially normal person : ) for the most part. Here’s one of my mottos: work as hard as you can to be confident in your abilities when it is time to test. That goes for any test: academics, running a race, presentations at work, etc. Alrighty here goes my ASTB debrief:
Studying:
Get a notebook for every section of the test to keep yourself organized. If there is a concept you are struggling with: practice, sleep for a full night, repeat. Resources: Read through EVERY page of AW starting back to 200. Barron’s Military Flight Textbook. GRE math problems. Khan Academy. Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Check your local library for this and other aviation practice test booklets. YouTube channel about everything aviation: Captain Joe. Attached are resources from fellow AirWarriors.
Test Day:
The APEX system was not working when I arrived to the recruiting center!!!! Miraculously it started working a couple hours later. My recruiter said they often fix server issues such as these within a couple hours. That being said: bring snacks and earbuds to keep your brain astb-ready in case this happens to you. Every portion of the test had a time limit and I completed as many questions as possible. I was never “kicked out” at random times.
Math Portion: Timed 40 minutes (?)
Here’s the deal. I am TERRIBLE at math, but hit this one of out the park. How? “Work your weaknesses.” I devoted a great amount of time to focusing on these concepts and stressed myself to be overly prepared on test day. The below appeared on my test:
--Simplifying complex fractions
--Exponents and square roots
--Solve for nth number in a series
--Find the average test score: what is needed on the 6th and 7th tests if Johnny wants an 82 average in his class, and he scored x y z on the first three tests, scored 2/3 of the average of those three tests plus 20 on the 4th test, and made 9/10 of the 4th test on the 5th test?
--Probability: if a pair of dice is rolled and a playing card is selected, what are the odds of rolling a value that adds to 8, and the odds of you selecting a heart?
--Man hours
--D=RT
--No logs. No matrices. No geometry.
Reading: Timed 40 minutes (?)
Very boring. Yikes! No passages about aviation or anything interesting. I about lost it during this section. Read aloud to yourself to stay focused.
Mechanical: Timed 20 minutes (?)
--Density and pressure
--Pascal’s principle
--Bernouilli’s Principle
--Which temperature is greatest: values in Celsius, Fahrenheit & Kelvin. Know the conversion formula.
--Newton’s Laws and outer space
--Balance weight on a seesaw
--No pulleys! Note: a stationary pulley = MA of 1. Movable pulley = MA of 2.
--DC vs. AC batteries/generators. No pictures of circuit systems.
--Gears
--Elastic energy is increased in a stretched and compressed spring
--Acceleration of two objects toward the ground is the same because gravity is 9.8 m/sec^2 on ALL objects.
--Football player kicks ball in the Center of Gravity. How does the ball respond in the air?
--Isothermal energy: itt remains constant.
PBM/Flight Portion
ANIT: 15 Minutes
The section could cover anything and everything, so do your best with AW posts as a guide. Rent or purchase a Pilot’s textbook and study the chapters on flight instruments, flight controls, principles of flight, and airport operations, or navigate the attached Navy Airman Guide.
--Primary control systems
--TBF Avenger was the primary torpedo during WWII
--Parts of a ship
--Aviation squadron designations
--VFR: 0 to 179 degrees is odd thousands + 500. 180 to 359 is even thousands + 500.
--Forces in banking flight
--The AIM aeronautical manual contains content on ATC procedures
--If altitude increases, speed of sound decreases
--Weight of gasoline
UAV
Watch the YouTube video and practice until it is muscle memory. During the test, you will be given the heading on a spatial image. The parking lot you are to select will be given audibly. You will select the correct answer by moving the mouse pad and selecting the image. This section was more difficult than expected. I held my compass (draw the compass) in my left hand and navigated selection with my right hand. I missed 4 and averaged 2.5ish seconds. Did about 20 selections. Could have done better and nerves caught me.
BIRV
There are no good answers. Just do your best. Here is a humorous example of a difficult question that has no right answer:
- I like to start rumors about my coworkers.
- I steal from my deaf neighbor.
Throttle & Stick
- Throttle and stick: I felt terrible during this portion. Didn’t line up the plane and crosshairs much. I thought “Well, this is it. Looks like I’ll be back in 31 days. My dreams are over!” Well, I scored a 7/8/7 so obviously I did well! Be confident in yourself. You are not garbage. The test is intentionally difficult. Here’s how to practice: buy a HOTAS or practice with a friend’s. Practice with an inverted Y axis. Free game to download and play: War Thunder.
- Dichotic listening: do not get trigger happy like I did. Made a couple of mistakes by working too fast. There is a free phone application called “iDichotic” that will help you prepare for the listening portion layout, but frankly the app way more difficult than the actual test.
- Dichotic listening, throttle and stick: I did surprising well during this portion. Focus on listening #1!
- Emergency Procedures: write them down!!! There are three total. Do them accurately. The exact procedures are a few AW pages back.
DONE DONE AND DONE. Study hard and have confidence in your abilities. Take it from someone who works twice as hard because I am twice as slow at learning difficult concepts: You can do this.
ASTB
56 7/8/7
Applying: SNA
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