jbombs, that is an incredibly ridiculous reason to get pushed back. I'm dreading something like that happening to me, and for some reason, I feel like it will.
Salty, I have some greats ideas (my opinion) to help you with the ASTB. #1, there is a great gouge somewhere on this website, just search for it, which judging by the books you're using I think you already have. The Barron and Arco book are GREAT for preparing you for the reading, math, and physics, even though they have a lot of things that I didn't see anywhere on my ASTB (a bunch of random definitions and some types of math problems come to mind). As for the aviation, THOROUGHLY read the FAA handbook. You can find it online for free. If you read it, and put effort into outlining each chapter, then going back and studying that later, you will blow the aviation info out of the water. I started to do that, and then just skimmed over the rest of the book. The parts I outlined I nailed, the parts of skimmed over, I recognized on the test but didn't read them enough to know what the correct answers were. I have noticed people that get 9/9/9 almost always have PPLs and/or a lot of flight experience, so they have already covered that stuff in depth. Also, make sure you read up on nautical terms, nautical operations, and all the parts of a boat. Oh yeah, and as for the spatial apperception, when I took the test I wasted the first 5 minutes freaking out because it looked totally different than the books. Don't do that. Expect Barrons to just give you a little taste and point you in the right direction. If you really want to nail it, try going up on a few flights with an instructor, or even purchasing a flight simulator for your PC/game console. I know it sounds silly, but it can only help. Doing all that, with maximal effort, I think can really boost your scores. I got a 65 8/7/7, but if I don't get accepted this first time, I will probably go back and do all the things I just said and retake the test. Hope that helps.
