Academics

[mskelt16]

I have recently decided to chase my dream and pursue a career in aviation. I will be taking the ASTB in the next month or so, but I do have some concerns going into all of this. I am a business major currently in my senior year of college with a 3.34 GPA. I have not taken a math or physics class in about 3-4 years. I am not terrible at these subjects but they are no where near my strong point. I have began studying for the ASTB and I will be getting practice books as well as reading tips on this site. I will do as much as in my power to prepare. My main concern is that if I even get accepted into flight school/OCS and pursue this career, I will be struggling to keep up with the others that have more of a math and science background. My recruiter told me that the last two aviation applicants were both engineering majors and I assume they both had really high GPA's. I will bust my butt to do my best on everything, but I feel that math and science backgrounds will excel more which sometimes discourages me.

 

[Recovering LSO]

I took Calc II three times. I learned a) it's important to go class b) it's important to do the homework and c) it's important to find the right study group. Those three things served me much better throughout flight school than anything that had to do with integrals. Also, I took Calc based Physics twice and relearned the same three lessons.

Study for the ASTB. Study for the ASTB. Study for the ASTB. Learning about moment arms might help you understand why the S-3 had such a tall vertical stab, but learning how to learn, how to study, and how to work together with a team to accomplish both of those goals will pay greater dividends. Your 3.34 GPA is respectable (actually it's damn impressive considering my own), and the college degree associated with the GPA demonstrates your ability to learn new material. Now take that experience and focus it toward the ASTB.

 

[flynavy830]

I have recently decided to chase my dream and pursue a career in aviation. I will be taking the ASTB in the next month or so, but I do have some concerns going into all of this. I am a business major currently in my senior year of college with a 3.34 GPA. I have not taken a math or physics class in about 3-4 years. I am not terrible at these subjects but they are no where near my strong point. I have began studying for the ASTB and I will be getting practice books as well as reading tips on this site. I will do as much as in my power to prepare. My main concern is that if I even get accepted into flight school/OCS and pursue this career, I will be struggling to keep up with the others that have more of a math and science background. My recruiter told me that the last two aviation applicants were both engineering majors and I assume they both had really high GPA's. I will bust my butt to do my best on everything, but I feel that math and science backgrounds will excel more which sometimes discourages me.

You are already doubting yourself, before even taking the damn test!! Read through the ENTIRE ASTB thread, and prepare to be amazed. There are PLENTY of people with non tech degrees who have described similar situations. "last math class was shapes and sizes in 3rd grade, I'm so nervous!" next week they come back "Scored 60 8/8/8/ so I guess I did alright". Seriously, read through that entire thread and have a little faith in yourself. With that being said, I have a thread posted below yours offering something like 5 books and some printouts for the ASTB. Pay shipping and they are yours.

 

[mb1685]

I obviously can't comment on actual flight school proficiency since I'm just an applicant, but the ASTB is supposed to be able to theoretically determine (roughly) whether you have the mental aptitude to do well in flight school, and that includes some math and physics. I haven't taken a math class since College Algebra in 2007 and didn't even take high school physics, and I managed to pull off a 60 9/9/8 on my first try. Study the concepts diligently and you'll do fine.

 

[mskelt16]

You are already doubting yourself, before even taking the damn test!! Read through the ENTIRE ASTB thread, and prepare to be amazed. There are PLENTY of people with non tech degrees who have described similar situations. "last math class was shapes and sizes in 3rd grade, I'm so nervous!" next week they come back "Scored 60 8/8/8/ so I guess I did alright". Seriously, read through that entire thread and have a little faith in yourself. With that being said, I have a thread posted below yours offering something like 5 books and some printouts for the ASTB. Pay shipping and they are yours.

Those books do sound helpful. Ill take them if nobody else has taken them yet.

 

[mskelt16]

I obviously can't comment on actual flight school proficiency since I'm just an applicant, but the ASTB is supposed to be able to theoretically determine (roughly) whether you have the mental aptitude to do well in flight school, and that includes some math and physics. I haven't taken a math class since College Algebra in 2007 and didn't even take high school physics, and I managed to pull off a 60 9/9/8 on my first try. Study the concepts diligently and you'll do fine.

How much time did you give yourself to study? I plan on taking it in about a month but I don't want to rush into it as well