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

[OperationChungus]

HEY GUYS! I passed my OAR for SWO! waiting for next board. I got a 45! I found out today that last week they lowered the score for SWO to 40 from my recruiter. However I do have good LORs for my score and he said that 45 is taken for SWO pretty well. So now is the waiting gameee!!!

Congrats! I’m happy that you improved OAR score!

 

[Jmack2019]

Hi Everyone! I would like to thank you everyone on this forum for all the help, support and positivity! I took the OAR my first time today and I, personally, don't feel too thrilled about my score, it isn't the worst by any means! I received a 45 on the OAR. I studied only for about 2.5 weeks and went through everything I could find here. If you would like the study material I used, please let me know and I'd be very happy to help/give you the study material.
Quick rundown of my experience:

Math: All algebra. I did not as good as I wanted to and it showed. I had a scientific notation question in the very start, which I didn't study for. But other than that, I had basic probability, D=RT and a few geometry questions.

Reading: Not too bad. A few dry sections, but not bad.

Mechanical: Very conceptual and more Potential Energy questions then I would have thought. I had only 1 Bernoulli's principal question. And a few AC questions.

I hope I'm competitive enough. But I won't be surprised to find out I need to take it again.

My background:
3.55 B.A in Energy Policy and Management
Going for either SWO or Supply Corp

Thank everyone again for everything!

 

[Jmack2019]

HEY GUYS! I passed my OAR for SWO! waiting for next board. I got a 45! I found out today that last week they lowered the score for SWO to 40 from my recruiter. However I do have good LORs for my score and he said that 45 is taken for SWO pretty well. So now is the waiting gameee!!!

Math: mine was mostly algebra, no logs, one subtle geometry question, two distance rate problems.
Reading: Mine was various... some longer passages some short, only a few were hard to read and understand the rest were pretty interesting. What helped me was use scratch paper and write out each choices probability of being right and wrong due to passage facts...
Mechanical: MORE CONCEPTS THAN ANYTHING! Two seesaw questions on how much weight a child should be, and where the fulcrum should be, a couple of volume questions on hot air balloons, a few conceptual electrical questions.
Other than that thats it.. gouge helped a lot, Barrons book on mechanical and flight tests is worth the read I believe those books have very specific definitions and explanations.

Congratulations gabriellehale on your score too! I appreciate your positivity and energy! I hope everything goes well for you too and that you get accepted! Best of luck!

 

[gabriellehale]

Congrats! I’m happy that you improved OAR score!

THANKKKKSS!!

 

[gabriellehale]

Congratulations gabriellehale on your score too! I appreciate your positivity and energy! I hope everything goes well for you too and that you get accepted! Best of luck!

Thanks!! Best of luck to you and your endeavors too!

 

[nfoles18]

Hey y'all, it's been said 1,001 times but I definitely appreciate all the help preparing for this exam. Took my ASTB for the first time today and felt like it was a team effort in there. Felt like I nailed the ANIT and Mechanical based on the gouge alone. Math actually caught me off guard a bit, and I made some simple mistakes that I wish I could take back. It's definitely true what everybody says about it being tougher than any practice exams, and the gouge was less useful here. My advice would be to take half a second to think before you click on the answer; early on in the section I remember thinking "Hey the answer's C" and then clicking A because I was moving too fast. Didn't do that again. Overall, I had more luck than I didn't and landed a 7/7/7, which I think is where I'm happy to leave it without risking a retest (only have time for one more).

Don't have much to add to the gouge here, if I saw an ANIT question I recognized on I pulled the trigger pretty quickly. Got the OIF tanker (Hornet) and first deep bomb escort (P-51 Mustang). One that I do remember was "What supplies the spark necessary for combustion in a jet engine?" and I said compression. One of the options for it was something like Magnetus and that threw me off enough to think it could be right. That whole section went super fast.

As for the PBM, I didn't use the compass trick and got three wrong with times ranging from 1.3-2.4s. I think we all stress about the rest of the PBM portion way more than we should, especially when the key is just to keep your cool. I've heard folks complain about the setup a lot, so I was expecting the throttle/joystick/headset to be much harder to use than they were. The vertical axis flip was tougher than I thought at first, but by the time everything was combined I actually felt like I had gotten the hang of it a lot more. I just followed most of the tips everybody has given, focus on the 2-D tracker with the vertical tracker in your periphery, lean into your target ear (which changes quite a few times mid test, but odd and even stay constant), stay calm and know that everybody thinks they're doing worse than they are. The emergency procedures were less intimidating than they sound, but I noticed myself slacking on the tracking when they got called and didn't correct it until the last one. When I was normally holding the throttle, my thumb would be positioned on the "Clutch" button that you used to terminate each procedure, which on the outside edges of it served as one of the dials you have to adjust. Instead during this evolution, I placed my thumb on the other dial to start off with, so that I wouldn't have to move from the clutch dial to the other dial and then back to the clutch. Hadn't seen anybody else make note of that.

Good luck guys!

 

[OzymandiusCat]

Hey everyone,
Took the ASTB yesterday. Got a 48 on the OAR, and 6/8/8. I’m please with these scores but wish I had done a bit better on the OAR. Nevertheless, I don’t plan on retaking. Overview of my experience is below:

Math:
I had very simple questions (rules of exponents, finding angles of a triangle, two distance=rate x time questions). Math has never been my strong suit and I think this is what really held my score back. I was cut off with about 5 minutes left.

Reading:
This section is exactly what you expect. Very boring passages with minor details that you must pick up on. Don’t make assumptions from the passages and only select an answer based on the information given. Some suggest reading the questions before reading the actual passage but I just rushed through this section. I’m sure that method will work for some people.

Mechanics:
I didn’t have to make any complex calculations during this section. I was asked about balancing a lever (ex: if a 10 lbs weight is placed 5 feet from the fulcrum how much weight would need to be placed 2 feet from the fulcrum to balance it out). Something like that. Most of the questions revolves around mechanical advantage. I had two questions about electricity and currents. Something along the lines of “if a wire is wrapped around a screw x amount of times and produces 1.25 amps, how much would it produce if removed and placed in a straight line.” One pulley question about how much tension was on a specific section of the pulley.

Traits:
I read advice on here that your selections should try to follow the navy core values (honor, courage, commitment). I tried to stick with that but I did notice that halfway through I was selecting conflicting choices. Obviously nobody knows how this is calculated but I would recommend staying as consistent as possible with your answers.

ANIT:
I was asked about first a/c to escort bombers into enemy territory, first supersonic a/c, what the draft and beam of a ship were. Also what the highest deck on a ship is. That’s all I remember for now.

UAV:
Please do yourselves a favor and look up the compass trick video and practice it. I watched the video a few times before taking the test and it helped tremendously. I think I averaged 1.5-2.5 response time with 1 incorrect selection due to a misclick. This section flies by and you get into the rhythm as it goes on.

Dichotic listening:
I tried leaning towards the target ear for this portion. I think it helped a little but I kept getting tripped up when initially switching between ears. I’m sure I had about 2 or 3 incorrect choices. For me left was odd and right was even.

Simulator:
This was definitely the most stressful for me because I didn’t know what to expect. The video online about this section definitely helps but once you’re in the seat with your hands on the stick and throttle you kinda get tunnel vision. Make sure you read the instruction before hand. Then read them again. Focus during the practice portions and treat it as if it was the real thing. Take a breath and don’t beat yourself up during it. This is meant to be difficult. I think I kept my stick and throttle on target (green) for maybe a combined 10 seconds. Yeah...it’s tough. Just give it your best and don’t start giving up half way through. There was plenty of times when I moved the stick in the wrong direction and felt stupid but you just have to bounce back from those mistakes. I actually found it easier once the dichotic listening was introduced along with the tracking because it helped me focus on something else and then the tracking came naturally. When you get to the emergency procedures portion make sure you write the steps down and keep them in front of you. There’s only three steps for each emergency and there’s three different scenarios. Once the scenario happened I put all my attention to resolving it and then resumed tracking. This method seemed to work well and I resolved each scenario within 4ish seconds of it popping up.

Overall, just take a breath and try to remain calm. There will be portions where you start thinking you didn’t study enough but you just have to power through it. You’ll never be able to cover all the information so just do the best with what you’ve got. Utilize the allotted breaks and take a breather. It’s over before you even know it.

 

[glamontagne713]

Hello all!

I wanted to share that I took the OAR (only the OAR) on July 11th and scored a 61. I turned 26 two days later; my bachelor's is in theatre and english (GPA: 3.87), and I'm currently working on my master's in liberal arts (GPA so far: 3.92). I'm looking at Intel. My recruiter told me I wouldn't need to retest -- and thank goodness! No, actually, thank this forum and the study books and websites that reminded me of the physics and math I hadn't touched since high school.

Practice: I studied for about a month, the first couple weeks only an hour/day, the weeks leading up to the test three to eight hours/day (depending on if I had work as well). OperationChungus posted on July 2nd all the files I pored over to study. I also used the PDFs of the 2013 Peterson's and the 2017 one. (You should probably just download every attachment in this thread.) I practiced exponents/logs/probability with a Schaum's College Algebra Guide. Barron's Mechanical is very basic -- great for complete novice like me, but you must supplement it with gouges after familiarizing yourself. Also studied with Mometrix Test Secrets and Test Prep Officer Candidate Tests (this one was better). Remember you can also practice with relevant parts of both the AFOQT and the ASVAB! Googled "practice problems [with certain subject area, like "rate of work" or "probability"]" for extra training.

Test Itself: Slight review in the morning so the first math problem on the first subtest isn't the first time my brain had been activated. Computer was in a storage closet, and by "computer" I mean a mouse connected to a laptop which was connected to a larger monitor. Recruiter logs you in -- SO BRING YOUR ID. A sort of tutorial begins the entire test and then each subtest (math, reading, mech) as well. These tutorials are timed, but they can give you three to six minutes to pause, breath, stretch, pray, etc. Scratch paper and pencils and pens provided; recruiter will confiscate all scratch paper used after you're done. Only once did I wish I had brought ear plugs as I could hear some loud laughter through the walls, but otherwise I lucked out with the noise and comfort level. The entire test maybe took me 45 minutes.

Math: My first question was 3^2 + 3^4 =? I was too antsy, and I quickly answered 3^6 without thinking. (This is why I recommend a light review beforehand so you don't jump out of the gates firing on no cylinders like me.) You can toggle on some math formulas for this entire subtest, but they only cover area and volume, not probability or rates of work or even D=rt. There was a question or questions on:

• simple average of four temperatures
• average of seven different test scores, three given, fourth twenty points higher than a fraction of the the first three's average, the fifth 10/9 the fourth, what would he need to average on the sixth and seventh to average 82 for all seven tests?
• ∛(x-1)=2∛(x+8). Find x.
• Probability of two teams winning on the same day, then probability of A team given, what was B?
• Probability of rolling an 8 with a pair of dice
• A catch-up D=rt problem where a man runs 8mph, half hour later woman runs 12mph, how long until she catches up?
• Simplifying fractional or negative exponents, logarithms
• Few more probability problems
• Cylinder in box, ratio of empty space to box's volume

I was sent to the next subtest after fifteenish questions (before time ran out), surprising since I thought I was doing terribly because at least three times my target answer I had worked to on the scratch paper was not an option listed and at least twice I frankly did not know how to attempt to answer the question. Reading on this forum that testtakers sent to the next subtest early was a good sign, I actually felt better with the abrupt change.

Reading: Half the passages were taken from military memos and half were more interesting passages on history, biology, or technology. You're only given a passage and four answer choices -- the ONLY question for this whole subtest was mentioned in the tutorial and that was to pick which of the answer choices can be inferred from the passage, assuming the passage was true. Sometimes the best answer felt like a summary of the paragraph; more often it seemed to be a differently worded restatement of a few sentences found in the passage. Once or maybe twice did I feel that the best answer was a statement not found in the passage but what would necessarily follow from it (aka an inference, what the directions originally asked for). Here's an example from my test which I'll paraphrase:

Monarch butterflies in the winter migrate south. If they end up in Mexico, they've migrated from the Eastern US; if they've migrated to California, they've come from the Western U.S.​

​

The best answer choice, to me, read something like "In the summer, monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to the Eastern US." Also, watch for "will/shall" vs. "should." The answer choice must match the passage's condition of verbs. You can usually narrow the answers down to two, if not one. Don't dawdle; make a decision and move on. It might be good, as others have suggested, to familiarize yourself with Naval policies in advance, but I swear I had a passage in which the best answer choice was "The Navy does not pay for postgraduate education." This made me hesitate because I have had active lieutenants in my master's program getting financial support from the Navy to be there -- but maybe this is why directions included "assuming the passage is true"? I got sent to the next subtest before time ran out, but with only two to three minutes left to go. I was kicked out of the math subtest much earlier, so I thought I was decelerating, so to speak.

Mechanical: So the recruiter at the very beginning had told me to come get him if there were any technical difficulties with the software, which seemed likely after trying more than once to open APEX. This whole test had run smoothly until I clicked out of the tutorial which started this subtest. A blank screen appeared where the question boxes usually do, but the A B C D buttons appeared and the timer had started. I said to myself I am not going to retake this test because of a damn computer glitch! I kept clicking and dragging my mouse over the empty area until finally it popped up. Whew, okay. Only three answer choices here, unlike the four for math and four or five for reading. I only required scratch paper for one problem which had me calculate the weight of an object on Mars. Other questions/problems included:

• circuit -- which bulbs would light?
• drawing of five wires connecting at center point with two arrows pointing into the center and three pointing away from it, the two pointing in had "/1" and "/2" by them respectively, three pointing out had "/3," "/4," and "/5" by them respectively, did the circuit have more/less/same amount of current flowing in as out?
• two questions back to back, one pull/one push an object with a constant force, what's going to remain constant over time: A, acceleration; B, velocity; C, both?
• movable pulley -- pulling up how many feet of force
• gear/belt-pulley -- direction and fastest rotation
• water goes faster in narrower area
• cam and contacts -- what's the rpm?
• spring has most elastic energy at what point?
• where will object rebound to after being spring shot?
• one cannonball shot and one dropped from the same height will hit the ground at the same time
• At 1 degree Celsius, does sound travel slower through air or water? (no clue)
• Two series springs (each with two springs connected) each holding up half of a 10lb weight, if each spring is labeled 1 through 4 respectively [to hell with Strunk and White, I love using "respectively"], what is the tension in spring 2: A, 20lb; B, 5lb; C, 2.5lb?
• NO TOOL QUESTIONS

Definitely my fastest section, didn't use my whole time allotted. The last question I answered sent me straight away to a page which told me my score.

I hope this helps y'all as much as all the people before helped me. Overall, I think my nerves got the better of me a little, and I was surprised at my score. For other guys and gals out there without a math/science/engineering background, my last word of advice is to make the studying of these subjects fun for you. I read the stories behind famous experiments and scientists (dipping into Asimov's The History of Physics) as well as tried to apply any mechanical fact I learned to a real life situation that impacted my well-being.

Thank y'all again, and good luck!

 

[jacottone]

Hey everyone,
I'm sorry I can't post my own success story on here, but I feel like it still may be helpful to some. I took the ASTB for the second (and last) time yesterday. I'll do my best to tell my whole experience.

My first score was a 45 4/5/4
My second attempt yesterday gave me a 51 5/5/5

Personal: I am an NROTC student graduating in December with a B.A. in Political Science. My avg. GPA right now is a 3.1. I'm not the best academically, but I still try my best. I picked up a college program commissioning track last August, but I haven't received much instruction on how to actually go about pursuing different commissioning tracks, such as aviation or subs etc. I asked about this, and was told that I "Don't need to worry about it until later". The result was that I didn't learn about taking the ASTB until much later and probably should have started earlier, much much earlier. The learning lesson here is that you must be your own advocate in order to achieve your goal.
Nevertheless, My first attempt at the test was this past March. I went into the test blind, but with the knowledge that the test was apparently easy, and I should not have a problem. This is what I was told at least.

Test 1: Unfortunately, the test was a train wreck. I zipped past the math, reading and mechanical sections, focusing on time rather than the actual questions. I got really stressed taking the test and think this played a factor. I did not know anything about the UAV parking lot section, and had to figure it out as I went along. I got like 4-6 questions wrong averaging 4 sections to get an answer right. For the listening and joystick/throttle portion, I read the instructions multiple times, but didn't actually understand what was going on. before it knew it, the test was over and I got my score. I was disappointed, but now optimistic that I now know what I need to do in order to do better, and after an Aviation Cruise this past summer, I was determined to get a better score to qualify for SNFO

I exhausted every resource to prepare for my second test. I sought out my other classmates that did well on the test. They pointed me to this forum and downloaded every available resource. I bought the Barron's book from the local Barns & Noble and started to study relentlessly; for about 2-3 hours a day (avg anyway) for a month. I went through math question types, and memorized methods on how to solve them, such as averages, probability, DRT, percentages, and more. I read through reading passages, and read more books to get better at reading, and I studied basic physics for the mechanical portion. For the aviation/nautical knowledge, I studied a great deal from the comprehensive flashcards I found here (not sure where I got them from). For the spatial portion, I didn't do too much, as I knew there wasn't really much I can to other than "git gud". For UAV, I used the proprofs flash cards, which helped a lot. The night before test day, I was pumped because I thought I was ready. There wasn't a math question I couldn't solve, and there wasn't a parking lot I couldn't identify.

Test 2: I promised myself I wouldn't stress out on the test. I needed to be focused and alert. However, there was no controlling myself when I started to panic on the math portion.
AQR: Almost every single question on the math section was a question that I never in my life seen before. I cant remember what they were exactly, but a few had something with sequences and proportions of different 3D shapes. I really started to lose it when I got an easy average question, but none of the methods I normally used to solve it, could wield one of the answer choices. I ended up getting kicked out due to the time expiring for the portion. The same thing happened with the mechanical portion, but at least this portion was consistent with what I studied.

After the AQR I had a break. I tried to calm myself down. My heart rate was really high, it felt the same as if I was on a training run. I took deep breaths, and drank water, but nothing helped. After 8-10 minutes I got back into the test.

The NAFTI Portion, I tried something different, instead of choosing what most described me, I chose based on which one was definitely not like me, and chose the one that was not that. All the answer choices try to make you look bad, so it was better to not choose the answer that was absolutely never like you.

For the ANIT portion, like math, I mostly got questions that I've never seen before. The flash cards I've been using were completely worthless. There were even questions that if i never went on an aviation cruise, I would have never been able to answer. I started to stress out even more at this section. But I was able to answer every question.

For the UAV I knew exactly what to do. I drew a compass and was prepared, but there was a problem: My hands were literally shaking. I got most questions correct, but miss clicked 4 of them due to not being able to hold the mouse properly. This may seem like a really stupid excuse, but its what ended up happening.

For the Simulation portion, I just did my best, even in my current state. My only complaint was that for emergency procedures, I wrote down what they were, and followed them to the tee, but wouldn't register in the actual test. It confused me, In order to get "systems acting normally" I had to adjust the knobs to positions that weren't even on the list. for example. For one procedure, you'd turn them all to "0" and press a button, another you'd turn everything to "100" while the last one, one knob is at "50 the other is at "100".
Well, in order to get a procedure correct, I had to turn one to 100 and one to 0. It was weird.

I was devastated that I only did incrementally better than my first attempt, going in blind with no knowledge of the test whatsoever, and logistically, I do not have enough time for a third attempt, as I will have to submit my commissioning paperwork before that time. At the end of the exam, my adviser didn't seem too happy with me, but tried to reassure me that he'd send in the score anyway because "anything can happen". However, realistically, I'm fully expecting not to get picked up for SNFO with these scores. To be completely honest, I am more upset that I didn't do well on the test itself, rather than not being able to get selected. I know I did the best I could studying, and that's all I can ask for I guess.

I will refuse to be upset over this, because I still have the privilege of commissioning in the Navy as an officer. I've seen too many people have really sour attitudes because they didn't get what they wanted. I will look forward, and see what its store for me in the future, and maybe I'm not barred from aviation completely, we'll just have to wait and see.

Studying and taking the ASTB was interestingly enough a wild journey that I did learn a lot from. Here are some of my key takeaways:

1. Be your own advocate: I waited too long for someone to give me instruction. If you want something, you have to go out of your way to get it done. Do research, bother who you have to, get it done.
2. Get things done early: in conjunction with the first, do not wait to get tasks done. The more you wait, the harder it will be
3. Always be prepared for curveballs: While studying, I made the poor assumption that I've seen everything that there is for the ASTB. I unfortunately learned this the hard way.
4. KEEP CALM WHILE TAKING THE TEST: Self explanatory , but please don't have a hyperventilating episode while taking the test, its just a test. You're not defusing a bomb.

Although its not a success story I still hope I can repay the favor and help someone out. This forum was incredibly helpful.
I also kind of threw this post together, so if anyone has any questions about my test, or wants a clarifications, let me know.

Thanks everyone, hope to see you in the fleet!

 

[Beardog768]

Hey everyone,
I'm sorry I can't post my own success story on here, but I feel like it still may be helpful to some. I took the ASTB for the second (and last) time yesterday. I'll do my best to tell my whole experience.

My first score was a 45 4/5/4
My second attempt yesterday gave me a 51 5/5/5

Personal: I am an NROTC student graduating in December with a B.A. in Political Science. My avg. GPA right now is a 3.1. I'm not the best academically, but I still try my best. I picked up a college program commissioning track last August, but I haven't received much instruction on how to actually go about pursuing different commissioning tracks, such as aviation or subs etc. I asked about this, and was told that I "Don't need to worry about it until later". The result was that I didn't learn about taking the ASTB until much later and probably should have started earlier, much much earlier. The learning lesson here is that you must be your own advocate in order to achieve your goal.
Nevertheless, My first attempt at the test was this past March. I went into the test blind, but with the knowledge that the test was apparently easy, and I should not have a problem. This is what I was told at least.

Test 1: Unfortunately, the test was a train wreck. I zipped past the math, reading and mechanical sections, focusing on time rather than the actual questions. I got really stressed taking the test and think this played a factor. I did not know anything about the UAV parking lot section, and had to figure it out as I went along. I got like 4-6 questions wrong averaging 4 sections to get an answer right. For the listening and joystick/throttle portion, I read the instructions multiple times, but didn't actually understand what was going on. before it knew it, the test was over and I got my score. I was disappointed, but now optimistic that I now know what I need to do in order to do better, and after an Aviation Cruise this past summer, I was determined to get a better score to qualify for SNFO

I exhausted every resource to prepare for my second test. I sought out my other classmates that did well on the test. They pointed me to this forum and downloaded every available resource. I bought the Barron's book from the local Barns & Noble and started to study relentlessly; for about 2-3 hours a day (avg anyway) for a month. I went through math question types, and memorized methods on how to solve them, such as averages, probability, DRT, percentages, and more. I read through reading passages, and read more books to get better at reading, and I studied basic physics for the mechanical portion. For the aviation/nautical knowledge, I studied a great deal from the comprehensive flashcards I found here (not sure where I got them from). For the spatial portion, I didn't do too much, as I knew there wasn't really much I can to other than "git gud". For UAV, I used the proprofs flash cards, which helped a lot. The night before test day, I was pumped because I thought I was ready. There wasn't a math question I couldn't solve, and there wasn't a parking lot I couldn't identify.

Test 2: I promised myself I wouldn't stress out on the test. I needed to be focused and alert. However, there was no controlling myself when I started to panic on the math portion.
AQR: Almost every single question on the math section was a question that I never in my life seen before. I cant remember what they were exactly, but a few had something with sequences and proportions of different 3D shapes. I really started to lose it when I got an easy average question, but none of the methods I normally used to solve it, could wield one of the answer choices. I ended up getting kicked out due to the time expiring for the portion. The same thing happened with the mechanical portion, but at least this portion was consistent with what I studied.

After the AQR I had a break. I tried to calm myself down. My heart rate was really high, it felt the same as if I was on a training run. I took deep breaths, and drank water, but nothing helped. After 8-10 minutes I got back into the test.

The NAFTI Portion, I tried something different, instead of choosing what most described me, I chose based on which one was definitely not like me, and chose the one that was not that. All the answer choices try to make you look bad, so it was better to not choose the answer that was absolutely never like you.

For the ANIT portion, like math, I mostly got questions that I've never seen before. The flash cards I've been using were completely worthless. There were even questions that if i never went on an aviation cruise, I would have never been able to answer. I started to stress out even more at this section. But I was able to answer every question.

For the UAV I knew exactly what to do. I drew a compass and was prepared, but there was a problem: My hands were literally shaking. I got most questions correct, but miss clicked 4 of them due to not being able to hold the mouse properly. This may seem like a really stupid excuse, but its what ended up happening.

For the Simulation portion, I just did my best, even in my current state. My only complaint was that for emergency procedures, I wrote down what they were, and followed them to the tee, but wouldn't register in the actual test. It confused me, In order to get "systems acting normally" I had to adjust the knobs to positions that weren't even on the list. for example. For one procedure, you'd turn them all to "0" and press a button, another you'd turn everything to "100" while the last one, one knob is at "50 the other is at "100".
Well, in order to get a procedure correct, I had to turn one to 100 and one to 0. It was weird.

I was devastated that I only did incrementally better than my first attempt, going in blind with no knowledge of the test whatsoever, and logistically, I do not have enough time for a third attempt, as I will have to submit my commissioning paperwork before that time. At the end of the exam, my adviser didn't seem too happy with me, but tried to reassure me that he'd send in the score anyway because "anything can happen". However, realistically, I'm fully expecting not to get picked up for SNFO with these scores. To be completely honest, I am more upset that I didn't do well on the test itself, rather than not being able to get selected. I know I did the best I could studying, and that's all I can ask for I guess.

I will refuse to be upset over this, because I still have the privilege of commissioning in the Navy as an officer. I've seen too many people have really sour attitudes because they didn't get what they wanted. I will look forward, and see what its store for me in the future, and maybe I'm not barred from aviation completely, we'll just have to wait and see.

Studying and taking the ASTB was interestingly enough a wild journey that I did learn a lot from. Here are some of my key takeaways:

1. Be your own advocate: I waited too long for someone to give me instruction. If you want something, you have to go out of your way to get it done. Do research, bother who you have to, get it done.
2. Get things done early: in conjunction with the first, do not wait to get tasks done. The more you wait, the harder it will be
3. Always be prepared for curveballs: While studying, I made the poor assumption that I've seen everything that there is for the ASTB. I unfortunately learned this the hard way.
4. KEEP CALM WHILE TAKING THE TEST: Self explanatory , but please don't have a hyperventilating episode while taking the test, its just a test. You're not defusing a bomb.

Although its not a success story I still hope I can repay the favor and help someone out. This forum was incredibly helpful.
I also kind of threw this post together, so if anyone has any questions about my test, or wants a clarifications, let me know.

Thanks everyone, hope to see you in the fleet!

Nice improvement, but didn’t you need at least a 6 on the Fofar to be eligible for NFO?

 

[jacottone]

Nice improvement, but didn’t you need at least a 6 on the Fofar to be eligible for NFO?

That's what the paperwork said, but my adviser said he'd submit anyway. I don't know why, but its going through despite the score.

 

[NCCGT]

Hello,
First time poster just looking for any feedback on improving my package before submitting (Oct 18) for the December 2019 board. Just took the OAR today btw.

I am applying for CW and Intel (might consider SWO-IW if not picked up first time). I realize Intel is a long shot.

Prior Enlisted (CTI2, honorable discharge July 2015, 5 years 10 months of service)
Evals: EP or MP
PRT Scores: Excellent and above
Last DLPT 2+/2+
Age: 32
International MBA, University of South Carolina, 3.7 GPA (Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics)
MS Sports Administration, AMU, 4.0 GPA
BS Sport Science, University of Kansas, 2.7 GPA
AA Russian Language, DLI, 3.5 GPA
OAR 52
ASVAB 93
Working on setting up LORs and Interviews with former CTR colleague who is now LT (Crypto)
LOR: (Hopefully) Vice Admiral (CW) along with another O-6 or O-5 and maybe more if needed

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Kyrios_]

Hey everyone, so I had recently took the ASTB-E for the first time and I did not do too well upon the AQR, I got a 2. Does anyone know any good math study guides, workbooks, or even just some tips to help boost my score. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[OperationChungus]

Hey everyone, so I had recently took the ASTB-E for the first time and I did not do too well upon the AQR, I got a 2. Does anyone know any good math study guides, workbooks, or even just some tips to help boost my score. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Go back through this thread and gather all of the gouge you can find. Learn how to do the problems and ones like it because the gouge is an amalgamation of all the questions previous test takers were able to remember. Here are the files I used. Good luck.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hey everyone, so I had recently took the ASTB-E for the first time and I did not do too well upon the AQR, I got a 2. Does anyone know any good math study guides, workbooks, or even just some tips to help boost my score. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

How was your PFAR and FOFAR?