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

Alex Wells

New Member
Congrats Alex! Please share which version (Paper or Computer) and your experiences.

I had mine on the computer and I believe it was form 5. Had the 1950's bomber question and a few others that I remembered seeing in the post as being on form 5. The math was much easier than I was expecting, and being a mechanical engineer the mechanical comp was very easy. I think i got docked the most for reading comprehension. I swear there were a few that didn't have a correct answer as I read them over about 4 or five times each.

The aviation sections were for the most part pretty easy, and I was able to go over each problem at least twice which helped me catch a few mistakes. However, the final supplemental section had 5 or 6 that I just didn't know.

I tend to remember things very well when studying short term, especially when it comes to multiple choice. These kinds of tests just click for me.
 

djguernsey

Pro-Rec SNA - OCS Class Date 27 May 2012
I had mine on the computer and I believe it was form 5. Had the 1950's bomber question and a few others that I remembered seeing in the post as being on form 5. The math was much easier than I was expecting, and being a mechanical engineer the mechanical comp was very easy. I think i got docked the most for reading comprehension. I swear there were a few that didn't have a correct answer as I read them over about 4 or five times each.

The aviation sections were for the most part pretty easy, and I was able to go over each problem at least twice which helped me catch a few mistakes. However, the final supplemental section had 5 or 6 that I just didn't know.

I tend to remember things very well when studying short term, especially when it comes to multiple choice. These kinds of tests just click for me.

congrats on those killer scores! I'm very similar in that short term studying helps me with these kinds of tests. The next question will be what sort of prep materials did you use. That is a common theme in this thread.
 

Alex Wells

New Member
congrats on those killer scores! I'm very similar in that short term studying helps me with these kinds of tests. The next question will be what sort of prep materials did you use. That is a common theme in this thread.

I used the same material everyone else suggests on here. Barron's, atrickpay's study guide, FAA handbook. atrickpay's guide was for sure the most important I believe. I lot questions on the test were right from those sheets. However, everyone else seems to think the FAA handbook is crucial. I personally do not believe it was that big of an asset. Also looking through this thread was very helpful. There are useful hints to quite a few questions that I had on my test throughout this thread.
 

TAMR

is MIDNIGHT
pilot
None
Hey guys, two questions came up today from Atrickpay's guide:

"By increasing the length of the lever arm, the effort is increased enabling a valve to blow off at a higher pressure. Move the weight further away to do this.
Think of the picture from the practice exams.. Lever left causes less effort and lets valve blow up at lower pressure. Lots of L's!"

"To find an rpm necessary:
· take number of rods on the wheel, divide that from the needed contacts per minute. (ex. twice per second = 120 contacts per minute. 10 projection rods on wheel. 120/10=12. must rotate at 12 rpm."

I'm not sure what either of these are referring to, could someone explain this to me? The second one I understand the application for but I don't understand the device I guess.
 

BleedGreen

Well-Known Member
pilot
Ray-Ban,
These two points are referencing questions from the ARCO book.
Atrickpay's study guide, for the most part, is a more thorough explanation of the questions asked on the practice tests from the ARCO book. I found it beneficial to review the practice test first and then read through the study guide so I knew what he is referring to.
 

TAMR

is MIDNIGHT
pilot
None
Ray-Ban,
These two points are referencing questions from the ARCO book.
Atrickpay's study guide, for the most part, is a more thorough explanation of the questions asked on the practice tests from the ARCO book. I found it beneficial to review the practice test first and then read through the study guide so I knew what he is referring to.

Hm, hope I have the right document then. It's entitled "ASTB_Personal_Study_Guide.doc", correct?
 

BleedGreen

Well-Known Member
pilot
Yeah that is the same title as mine, do you have the right ARCO book?...I was referring to the 7th edition so I can't say if it works for the earlier editions or not.
 

TAMR

is MIDNIGHT
pilot
None
Yeah that is the same title as mine, do you have the right ARCO book?...I was referring to the 7th edition so I can't say if it works for the earlier editions or not.

Eh I found a copy online so I'm not even sure the version, but I used Barrons for most of my studying. Taking the ASTB tomorrow, wish me luck!
 

TAMR

is MIDNIGHT
pilot
None
I took the paper version (form 4) and so I don't have my grades yet, but thought it went fairly well. The math sections were the hardest for me, especially the supplemental section's math. Here are my notes below:

Math:
As has been said before, no high-level concepts here, but the atrickpay's study guide probably helped the most. The Barron's book I thought was pretty helpful as well

Reading:
Admittedly I probably didn't study for this as much as I could have but I still feel like I did well. I was pressed for time towards the end so I had to spend a bit less time on the last few questions than needed but otherwise I'd say the Barron's guide was also useful for this section. Some of the paragraphs were only two sentences, some were 5-6.

Mechanical:
This is another section that the atrickpay's guide helped me study for. I also used various resources online to help understand basic concepts. On my form there were questions very similar (even identical) to what was found on that guide. With only three multiple-choice answers per question, I found it fairly easy to weed out obviously wrong answers.

Spatial:
This section I probably found the easiest for me. The two different bank angles (all else equal) were depicted on extremes to help you discern. I played a lot of flight sim when I was younger so I'm sure that helped. When I started to think about what I was seeing (i.e okay I see more ground on this side so it must be this) I actual got screwed up, so I just went with intuition from my flight experience. I finished with several minutes left, and was able to go back and check my answers.

Aviation & Nautical:
This section was another easier one for me with my flight experience. There were probably 5 nautical questions asked, and the rest were aviation-related. The aviation portion of the atrickpay's guide was very useful for this section. I finished with quite a bit of time left so I again went and verified my answers. Be sure you study the space program history. There was a question on it that I know now I got wrong.

Supplemental:
This section I found the hardest. It was 100 percent math and the questions required much more time than the first math section to do. I ran out of time and had to bubble in the answer to 4 of the questions at random. Time is critical on this one and you have to realize when you are spending to much time on a problem and move on!


If I end up having to take it a second time, 99% of my studying will occur in the atrickpay's guide. When I say there were identical questions on this form, I'm not lying! Because of this I would get excited when I saw questions I knew from that guide, but also curse at myself for not paying closer attention to the one's I should have known that came up.
 

wyo

New Member
Just took the ASTB 8/8/8 62, from what I've read GPA is more important than high ASTB scores so I was wondering does the selection board take into account academic majors? I'm an mechanical engineering major with a 3.6 as of now but it will most likely go down since I padded the shit out of it by being an education major for 2 years. Since engineering GPA is generally .5 - 1.0 lower than other majors does the selection board take this into account?
 

TAMR

is MIDNIGHT
pilot
None
Just took the ASTB 8/8/8 62, from what I've read GPA is more important than high ASTB scores so I was wondering does the selection board take into account academic majors? I'm an mechanical engineering major with a 3.6 as of now but it will most likely go down since I padded the shit out of it by being an education major for 2 years. Since engineering GPA is generally .5 - 1.0 lower than other majors does the selection board take this into account?

As others have said. There isn't one single thing that is vastly more important than all others. It's very much the "whole person" concept. Personally, I've heard a good ASTB (such as yours) definitely helps recoup a low GPA, but there isn't one single factor that will vastly set you apart. I have heard that they obviously weigh an engineering major and an underwater basket-weaving major definitely, but I don't think there is anyone here that can really give you a definitive answer. Good luck.
 
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