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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)

LSHD4

New Member
Ive lurked for a while in preparation for the ASTB and I wanted to thank all for the help and guidance. Scored 57 7/6/7 today first attempt. Happy with those scores but I want SNA so not making the cut for I-SEL is a bummer. I think I will still put in for pilot though.

Main takeaway is that it was actually way easier than I was expecting. I think the main part that set me back was the Stick and Throttle as I have been using a mouse and keyboard to train... Since it was so easy I actually thought I was doing horrible due to the adaptive nature of the test LOL.

Thanks again to all for the help!
Good scores! While it's still fresh on your mind, what kind of concepts are were in the math and mechanical?
 

cpaq

New Member
Good scores! While it's still fresh on your mind, what kind of concepts are were in the math and mechanical?
Math: Some probability, some exponents, some super long expressions that you have to simplify. not a lot of word problems. No logs or matrices. There was one about a cube root which I had to think about for a second but it wasn’t bad. Honestly nothing that I would consider “hard” a lot of the questions from Kyle and Gomez drives had me thinking the math was gonna be a lot harder. (I know it’s different for everyone though so I wouldn’t skip studying those)

MCT: WAYYY easier than I expected. Mostly conceptual questions. Things like “At which point in this tube is the pressure lowest” There was maybe one question I had to calculate something and it was just finding the weight on one side of a lever I’m pretty sure.

Reading: Just do your best honestly, I didn’t study at all for it lol.

ANIT: almost 95% Aviation related concepts. Definitely read the FAA handbook.

PBM: I missed 2 UAV which was a bummer but my times were under 1.5 for all of them. I prob also missed a couple terrain ident but I struggle with that in general. If I had nailed those my 6 may have been a 7. Who knows, def try to ace that part.

I studied about 1.5 months a little bit each day. So it wasn’t easy naturally but spending the time studying made it seem pretty easy.
 

FloridaExport

New Member
Wonder if anybody has some advice for the PBM portion of the test. I just got the x52 and started practicing finding it a bit difficult to track the throttle while trying to keep the joystick on target. Just really want to know what is the most important for this section, read some places where they say dichotic listening is most important but thats all from a couple years back. Any info is much appreciated.
 

ChillBeast69

Well-Known Member
Wonder if anybody has some advice for the PBM portion of the test. I just got the x52 and started practicing finding it a bit difficult to track the throttle while trying to keep the joystick on target. Just really want to know what is the most important for this section, read some places where they say dichotic listening is most important but thats all from a couple years back. Any info is much appreciated.
Yea I would focus on the dichotic over being perfectly accurate in my opinion.
 

joetting21

NFO Select
Wonder if anybody has some advice for the PBM portion of the test. I just got the x52 and started practicing finding it a bit difficult to track the throttle while trying to keep the joystick on target. Just really want to know what is the most important for this section, read some places where they say dichotic listening is most important but thats all from a couple years back. Any info is much appreciated.
Just practice every day. I used to do just throttle tracking, just stick tracking, then both at the same time every night in that order for at least 30 mins. If you can get under 150 on hard you’ll be just fine. I will say the test is a lot easier and smoother than jantzen so just keep practicing and you’ll be good. Agree that it’s more important to get the dichotic listening and emergency procedures right during that than to continue tracking
 

FloridaExport

New Member
Thats for confirming
Just practice every day. I used to do just throttle tracking, just stick tracking, then both at the same time every night in that order for at least 30 mins. If you can get under 150 on hard you’ll be just fine. I will say the test is a lot easier and smoother than jantzen so just keep practicing and you’ll be good. Agree that it’s more important to get the dichotic listening and emergency procedures right during that than to continue tracking
Thanks for confirming. Took your advice and started stick then rudder then stick and rudder and definitely starting to feel more confident. Stick alone im averaging between 120-140 and akimbo with rudder im around 145-165 stick and 220 on rudder. Cant seem to get dichotic listening to work though, my headphones wont separate the sound for each ear.
 

Lighting_II

New Member
Hello guys,

For some context here are my scores and I am aiming for pilot.
OAR 52
AQR 7
PFAR 9
FOFAR 8

So I know that my scores qualify me for immediate selection but there is a chance that I might have to go though regular selection because my undergraduate GPA was not the best. But my graduate GPA is much better. So I was wondering do you think there is hope I will get selected with these test scores?
 
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gonstop26

New Member
Hello guys,

For some context here are my scores and I am aiming for pilot.
OAR 52
AQR 7
PFAR 9
FOFAR 8

So I know that my scores qualify me for immediate selection but there is a chance that I might have to go though regular selection because my undergraduate GPA was not the best. But my graduate GPA is much better. So I was wondering do you think there is hope I will get selected with these test scores?
What's your gpa?
 

Dom0220

New Member
Hello guys,

For some context here are my scores and I am aiming for pilot.
OAR 52
AQR 7
PFAR 9
FOFAR 8

So I know that my scores qualify me for immediate selection but there is a chance that I might have to go though regular selection because my undergraduate GPA was not the best. But my graduate GPA is much better. So I was wondering do you think there is hope I will get selected with these test scores?
Congrats on the superb scores. generally curious how was the physics portion of the test, and what did you see? Any advice for this section and the test in general?
Thanks
 

spalclark3

New Member
Just practice every day. I used to do just throttle tracking, just stick tracking, then both at the same time every night in that order for at least 30 mins. If you can get under 150 on hard you’ll be just fine. I will say the test is a lot easier and smoother than jantzen so just keep practicing and you’ll be good. Agree that it’s more important to get the dichotic listening and emergency procedures right during that than to continue tracking
Did you use the ASTB App? If you did what would be the settings most accurate towards the real test?
 

joetting21

NFO Select
Did you use the ASTB App? If you did what would be the settings most accurate towards the real test?
I used ASTB Prep app mainly for the UAV and terrain identification portion. It’s worth every penny to practice those imo. For PBM, there’s a free sim online callled jantzen. It’s been linked hundreds of times in these threads or you can just google it. The actual test settings are probably like a little past halfway on the difficulty slider. Maybe like 3 notches off from the hardest setting. But I recommend practicing on harder, it’ll be so much easier when you actually take the test
 
OAR: 67
AQR: 8
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 8

Major: Marine Engineering with C.G. 3rd Asst. Engineer’s License, NROTC, SUNY Maritime Academy, Commissioning Jan 2027
GPA: 3.69
Goal: SNA

Wanted to say thank you to the forum and pay it forward, this was my first attempt and I pretty much learned everything from Airwarriors. I apologize if I’m echoing other posts but these type posts helped me get out of my head so here’s what I know:

MATH: 40 min
I got kicked out of this after like 18 or so questions, the hardest it got was simple probabilities. I did four years of Mathaletes in high school and am a statistics tutor for my college so I’ll admit on this section, I had the upper hand. I still did a bunch of practice problems! The closest practice test was probably Peterson’s Books (the 75 question one), you can find free ones in both Kyle and Gomez. I got a lot of cubed roots, ‘pair of dice’ probabilities (good practice probability problems in Kyle’s Math Section), exponent rules, one factoring question, one matrix multiplication, and one ‘rate of painting a house’ question (Literally the question I got). A lot of these type questions can be found on YouTube and Khan Academy.

Gomez's ASTB Test Prep Package
Kyle's ASTB Study Kit 2019

READING: 30 min
I am very bad at reading and also didn’t spend too much time studying this. There’s only 30 minutes and I ran out of time after only answering 17 questions. I think there’s probably 20. Knowing definitions of words probably will not help, this section is really just reading super dry NAVADMIN and ROD sections and then discerning what the meaning or focus is of the passage. I would probably advise the same as most of the other posts here – reading aloud helps.

MECH: 15 min? I think?
Once again, a lot of these concepts are already in my head because of my major but what I would suggest, especially if you are a ROTC/Naval Academy Officer Candidate, take the ASTB after you take both physics classes. If that isn’t an option then other posts recommend Organic Chemistry Tutor on YouTube. In this portion, I didn’t really have many questions requiring calculations, most were theoretical. Watch the YouTube pulley/Snatch block video! There’s only a certain amount of subjects they’ll ask questions about so just do the practice test questions. Pulleys, gears, incline planes, basic Ohm’s law, torque/levers.

Why Snatch Blocks are AWESOME (How Pulleys Work) - Smarter Every Day 228

ANIT: 15 min
I don’t have any flight training or a PL but I do go to a maritime academy so the only advantage I have is knowing the parts of a ship. I didn’t have any history questions but one of my friends did a couple days before about which bombs were dropped in WWII. I pretty much used a Barron’s book that I borrowed from the ROTC unit, the ASTB Prep TwoScoops app, and Gomez/Kyle Drives. The 400 Cram flashcards were also a good last minute study tool. Know the weight/density of fuel and how much fuel to drop, know load factor and p-factor, know when tendency to stall increases and parts of an airplane. The hardest questions for me probably would have been easy if I had read the FAA handbook but the hardest I got was how many minutes of extra fuel to carry if using VFR at night time and what system in the engine causes the spark to ignite the fuel.

https://www.cram.com/flashcards/astb-aviation-nautical-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163


PBM:
Buy the Hotas. Buy the Prep App. Use the Jantzen Sim. I bought the Hotas for around $140 and realized later I should’ve looked on Ebay first.

Hotas on Amazon

I downloaded AntiMicro to map the keyboard controls to the Joysticks following this YouTube tutorial and the following link to download the software.

Tutorial:
Link I Used: https://github.com/AntiMicroX/antimicrox/releases/tag/3.5.1
Jantzen Sim: https://jomo1-1.github.io/ASTB-remade/

Read around from other posts to set dead zones to 3000 when mapping and practice Jantzen Sim on Hard mode. I am not a video gamer so this was a learning curve. This was the most valuable advice and knowing how the Hotas work and felt before the test was so, so valuable. The lowest I ever scored averaging 190s with hard mode and I did fine on this portion. Use the leaning trick for DLT, especially because it changes ears multiple times during the test and gets pretty hectic. What also helped was someone advised to repeat the letters and numbers in the target ear, I practiced this beforehand with the Prep App just to make sure I knew what to expect. Made even and odd labels which also helped. On the actual test, I missed one on only DLT and one on DLT + S&T.

Useful diagram from past post: Notes- ASTB PBM Setup.pdf
I don’t think there is a time limit for the calibration so take your time to write down everything on spare scratch paper beforehand.

I did the Prep App whenever I had free time and probably did about 5 hours of studying for the last 10 days before the test. I was averaging 20-25% on the Rear Cockpit Simulator, 95% on Terrain with 15 sec, and 20/20s with 2.2 seconds on UAV. The compass trick worked for me and I would connect my mouse to my iPad with an adapter just to practice using the mouse to click. On the actual test I felt super confident for Terrain ID and got 100% on UAV with 2 sec avg.

Links To Good Reddit Posts:


Note:
I planned on taking the test at the end of Feb. about four months ago as an inventory but have heard horror stories of people getting straight 3s off of not studying so I decided I would do the best I possibly could on the first attempt. Worked pretty well for me because I read so many posts from Airwarriors 1,001 Questions that I knew pretty well what to expect going in. I printed out the premade study guides from the drives and read them like gouges whenever I could. Bring snacks. Take advantage of the breaks. Read more airwarriors. Be confident. Study until you feel like it’s too easy.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Very long post
If it ended before the allotted time that would mean the system identified the highest level questions you would get right. In your case that was a good thing as you did very good on the test. I wouldn't refer to it as kicking you out as that gives the impression the system had an error.
 

itsderekk

New Member
First attempt at ASTB! (around 2.5 weeks of prep)

SCORES
OAR - 53
AQR- 8
PFAR - 9
FOFAR - 7

Huge thank you to everyone on this forum for providing; guidance, resources, advice, and direction! (especially @GoBoilers25 )!
Study Materials: Kyle's Drive, Gomez Drive, (can be found by searching on this thread), and (a majority of the time) ASTB Prep App! I didn't need much more outside of that!

OVERVIEW

MATH:
Combined work problems, log problems, systems of equations, general computation, probability, matrices, geometry were all prominent staples during the math section for me. It is important to be 100% on top of exponent rules, log rules, and be able to do simple computations quickly/accurately. Utilizing the ASTB (@TwoScoops) app, there should be no surprises.

MECHANICAL: As mentioned before, it is very much theory based.there were maybe 1-2 questions where I was asked to calculate something, but a majority of the questions were of the sense "something at this (weight/force/speed/mass) is affecting another thing, what will happen?" Having a solid understanding of basic mechanical principles and how they relate to one another is going to serve you well!

READING: It's been said before, but this stuff is extremely dry. I never studied for the reading because I knew the test was different from online tests. One thing that took me by surprise is that there were no questions; the reading section was more of the format (insert long paragraph), select the answer that could best summarize and touch on the main points stated in the above paragraph. Reading aloud to yourself helps significantly with this section. I wouldn't spend too much time actually utilizing practice tests for this section.

ANIT: I got more questions aimed towards aviation than Naval knowledge, but it's good to know both sides. I didn't study for this section much as I got my degree in Flight, but knowing the naval information on the ASTP Prep app saved my ass for the few naval questions I got. For people new to aviation, read the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge! Not only will you need to know it for the test, but it will serve you well far into your career if you're pursuing this job.

NAFTI: Just hang in there and truthfully answer everything, although neither or both answer may apply to you.

PBT: Use ASTP prep and buy the Logitech X-52! Huge help on this portion of the test! On the ASTB Prep app, I was scoring 35-40% consistently, 90%ish for the DLT @ 0.5 Sec intervals, (if you want a baseline to reference). The emergency section glitched out on me and didn't tell me the emergency procedures for the test, so I didn't have the exact ones in front of me. The terrain and UAV sections looked different, but the concept was the exact same as those found on the ASTB Prep app. During the real test, I thought the throttle/stick was a lot more sensitive than the ASTB Prep app, but other than that I could confidently say it helped me out in preparation.

Once again thank you to everyone on this forum, there is a lot of good information in here. If you are confused on something either reach out to me or take a minute to browse through this forum. Everyone seems to be here to support one another, and the test results people get while participating on this forum prove it!

Reach out to me with any questions, (assuming MEPS goes good) I am looking forward to meeting you guys/gals either at OCS or Pensacola!

Hello, is it possible to use the Logitech x52 for the ASTB App on your phone, or how would that work
 

watercup

New Member
OAR: 60
AQR: 8
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 9

First time taking, felt like I was prepared and calm during the test. Honestly not much to add from another posts. I used the ASTB prep app, Gomez Drive, Kyle Drive, and watched any YouTube video to help further understand concepts. Best piece of advice I have is to show up early to your test time to calm your nerves. Best 20 minutes of use I felt like was showing up early. Helped me calm my nerves and I went in with confidence.

I know my scores qualify for I-SEL, but unfortunately I was an idiot did marijuana around ten times in the past. That will be the only waiver I need, since I have 3.98 GPA. Does any know my chances at getting selected with the drug usage?
 
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