How much time to study for ATSB?

[Hopeful Hoya]

Hey guys,

I was thinking of taking the ATSB in late April/early May since I only have 4 classes and 3 finals this semester.

I was just curious if I spent about an hour a day for the next month studying, if that would be enough time to get a decent score? I'm coming from a non-technical background BTW so my mechanical knowledge is pretty weak.

Those of you who got 8s/9s how much time did you spend studying?

 

[uncdude33]

Well there isn't much you can do to study for the aviation portion of the ASTB (the practical portion anyways, the aviation information section is probably one of the best areas to focus your studies in, especially if you do not have an aviation background). I imagine being an International Economics major at Georgetown you are a fairly good test taker, and probably pretty squared away as far as math and reading comprehension are concerned. For the mechanical section simply become intimate with the basics of physics. Simple machines (i.e. pullies, gears, ramps) and an absolutely elementary understanding of ohm's laws should be sufficient, unless you plan on putting in a bunch of time to know the answers to even obscure mechanical questions. I did not study at all when I took the test and scored 62 8/7/8. I'm not trying to tell you not to study, simply don't let your schoolwork suffer by focusing on this test. Also, with your timeline for the rest of your package, I imagine the reason you are hoping to take the exam soon is to give you time to take it again if you don't do well? Are you getting LASIK or PRK done? Feel free to PM me. Good luck with the test and school.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Thanks man!

Fair enough. Main reason I want to take it now is I actually have a lot of free time, and I know this summer/next semester will be a lot busier so I'd rather get it out of the way now. Plus like you said it gives me the opportunity to take it again should I do poorly.

Glad to hear that you did ok without much studying. I figured it shouldn't be anything too bad like the LSAT or GMAT but I haven't taken a standardized test in 4+ years so I'm probably a bit rusty.

And they recommended LASIK for me based off my eyes, and so I'm going to be having it done in about a month and a half once I'm done with finals.

 

[uncdude33]

The only thing I would suggest is if you haven't dealt with Logs or Matrices in a while you may want to go to purplemath.com and get a little refresher. (I hope that is kosher mods, I don't get anything from the site, but it is a great way to get barney style explanations for all sorts of math)

 

[jpham89]

If you don't have any projects that might take up a lot of time, I wouldn't risk it at the dispense of your GPA. I noticed that you're getting LASIK in May, perhaps you can wait during your recovery and 6 month waiting time to review then? At least this is what I am going to do from April-3 to October-3 (and I will have graduated and be working as an EMT/research associate). You would have more time, if there are no other commitments, over the summer to focus on the ASTB-E.

I suggest this because I am a biology major that is overwhelmed with the GRE, a senior thesis, graduate school applications, grades etc. I wouldn't want anyone else to ever be in my position.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Yeah that sounds like a load, I can see why you want to wait. For me I really don't have much major work left this semester until finals, and this summer will be much busier for me because I'll be interning in NYC working ~12 hour days, so I'd rather just get it out of the way now since I will not have much time to study over the summer.

 

[MemphisBell]

I used the 6 month wait time after lasik to study for the test. I work full time, so I would study for a couple of hours every night for about 2 months. Standardized test aren't my strongpoint so I knew I needed to put that kind of time into it but it definitely paid off in my case.