Beating the ASTB

[AllenAzali]

I took the ASTB but did not score high enough to apply for the pilot program? Does anybody have any sample questions from the ASTB? The ARCO Books were Ok, but is there anything else I can do to get a better score...some help in the Mechanics section would help too, thanks!

 

[Raptor2216]

I have to disagree on some points with you mrw. You in fact do not need a PPL to pass any section of the exam. All you need are is the ARCO ASTB book. I studied that book for about 4 weeks and did great on the exam the very first time. Also, is the mechanical stuff really that hard? I don't think it is. It's simply a matter of focusing on your goal and giving it some time and effort.

So, what i'm implying here is that you should go and get the ARCO ASTB book from the book store or online and study it good. It really is not that hard, just don't over stress anything. Relax and study and once you have the knowledge, take the practice exams for as long as it takes you to finish the exam within the allocated time. It's easy stuff man, should be a piece of cake.

 

[Raptor2216]

To be honest with you there, I would imagine that deviation is a real problem when you are in level flight. Keep in mind that I dont hold a PPL, and that particular question was not asked on my ASTB exam. I don't remember aviation related questions such as the ones you posted that were on the exam. One thing I do remember is that they coverd a lot of unnecessary stuff in the ARCO books I studied, but I went over them anyway.

Also, if you are not good with mechanical comprehension stuff(i.e. mechanical advantage factor when using a ramp, mechanical advantage of a pully, mechanical advantage of a lever...and so on), definately review that section. I'm sure you know what I am talking about having since you have seen the exam. By the way, exactlly which part did you do poorly on? See ya.

 

[AllenAzali]

When I took the test I was able to continue on to the second part, the parts that I didnt do well on was the gear thing they had two gears and they wanted to know how the rotations in the first gear would affect the rotations in the second. There were like 30 something teeth and I was thinking should I really go and count all these teeth in the gear? Whoever took the test before sure did because I saw there were pencil points in each teeth where he counted off. Stuff like that took alot of my time. Also I remember anothe question where there were two pistons on 8 inches wide, the other 4 inches wide. The two pistons were connected on the bottom with a hydrolic hose. The question asked if someone pushed down an inch on the 4 in piston how far will the piston move up on the 8 inch wide piston? One other question that took alot of my time was something to the effect of two ships move in separate directions at about 60 degrees. Then it gives the speed of the two ships and then it asks in one hour later how far apart are the ships. These questions arent too difficult but for someone who majors in Urban Planning with no math classes. I have to draw up a diagram and do the calculations by hand, sometimes counting my fingers. In my case time was the crucial killer, but hey if the test is out there somewhere it might help me to beat time by already knowing how to tackle the questions.

 

[Paul Burke]

The gear and piston questions are all basic machine things. How quick you can establish the end result being the directional motion and how much force is being acted upon the area. The test had a lot of things that are actually directly relative to the fleet. Remember the valve questions and filling up the buckets with water? Well, when maintainence is being performed on ship water systems, a lot of different valves have to be checked to make sure that the flow of water is directed properly otherwise serious injury, damage to the system, etc. could easily occur.

The hydraulic and electrical questions are probably more relative to aircrew because you will be engaged in many conversations with maintainence control concerning aircraft discrepancies.

 

[Raptor2216]

Yea man, that is mechanical comprehension. The one with the gears isn't that tought, you just need some practice and it jus so happens that the ARCO books give you plenty of practice on that. They also explain it very well. As far as counting the teeth goes, you shouldn't have to do it. They should give the number of teeth. If you have trouble with with the gear direction part then here is an easy way to think of it. But first let me just say that those problems are designed to be quick. So, if it starts to take you a while to figure each one out just skip it and go to the next one. You will benifit from this method in the long run.

Now, about the gear stuff. Let's say you have a gear turning clockwise at some rate. Then if you connect another gear to it, it must turn in the opposite direction or counter clockwise. The problems in the ASTB don't contain moe than 5-6 gears at most, so think method will work. They do tell you the direction on atleast one of the gears in all the problem so just apply this fact. The gear connected to the gear witht he given direction is turning in the opposite direction.

As far as the hydraulic press is concerned, it is just a simple mechanical advantage problem. These types of problems are also covered in the ARCO books. Anyway, the formula for mechanical advantage is,
(A2/A1) which is equal to (D1/D2) where A1=area of the smaller cylinder and A2=area of bigger cylinder and D1=vertical distance moved by the smaller cylinder and D2=vertical distance moved by bigger cylinder. So, in your case the smaller cylinder was 4in and the bigger one was 8in. Therefore, the mechanical advantage is
(8/4)=2. So, there is a mechanical advantage of 2. The easier way to see how this applies to your question is to do some basic algebra.

We know that:

(D1/D2)=(A2/A1)

we also know that D1=4, A1=(3.14)(4),
A2=(3.14)(8). Now just plug this into the equation and you should get (2)" or two inches.

The quick way to do it is to realize that one cylinder is twice as big as the other cylinder, so the fraction (A2/A1) must equal 2, whcih is again the mechanical advantage. Just take that 2 and divide the distance that the smaller cylinder moved and you have your answer of 2inches. I hope I didn't confuse you there, but if you have any other questions then feel free to ask.

 

[Grunt]

I love this topic. I am studying for my ASTB now (assuming the Navy will figure out my situation) and need all the help I can get.


Mike the Grunt

 

[Paul Burke]

Same boat here Pap. I got a 54 and just thought out the problems. I think I used the pythagorean theorum on the distance between ships question.

 

[Mahler]

exactally

James



Edited by - mahler on 02/04/2002 19:11:13

 

[Paul Burke]

It does. I don't remember if it was a right angle or not on the test but with 4 choices to pick from it is a really easy way to narrow down the likely answer.

 

[AllenAzali]

Here is the website for any of you who want the "notorious" Marines Study Guide...if the site is down I'll e-mail it to you.

http://www.geocities.com/seadog138/

 

[Raptor2216]

If you guy's need any ehlp at all, just ask. I will try to help as much as I can.

 

[spidrwmn]

Hey guys! I am getting ready to retake the test, and was wondering if anyone could give me a few suggestions on the following:

Did any one get the form where the math section was mostly word problems? If so, what kind of graphs were on it (ie: slope, midpoint, distance, etc)?

Also, any suggestions on the spatial section? I can do the ones in the ARCO book, but the actual ASTB questions looked a lot different.

I got a 40 last time (because of the math - its been a long time since I took geometery) and I'd like to get at least a 50 something this time. Thanks!

- spider

 

[Grunt]

What's different about the spacial apperception questions on the real test vs the ARCO book?



Mike the Grunt

 

[Paul Burke]

The pictures are not as crisp in the ARCO books as they are on the test. You also have more to choose from on the test. Good Luck!