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

I took the ASTB for the first time this afternoon and I got "infamous" Version 4 this morning and scored 6/6/6 55. Despite my scores, overall I didn't feel it was as difficult as I was making it out to be. I was really nervous but once I got started it didn't seem so bad. I studied for a little over a week and I am not too happy with my scores. Even though I passed, they probably aren't competitive. That being said, I'm going to go ahead and apply for the next board because I don't have enough time to retake the exam and the next board isn't until June of 2013. Hopefully they will look at the "whole person" concept. If not, all of you who scored better have a bigger chance.

Here is my breakdown:
Math: This was the section I was most nervous about because time is off the essence and when practicing I would always take more than a minute per question. The math in the exam was much easier than Barron's or Arco however. There were only a few word problems and more basic algebra problems.

Reading Comp: This section was also much easier than the practice exams. The passages and paragraphs weren't nearly as long and I finished with plenty of time to go back and check. Sometimes it gets tricky though because some of the answers may all seem right. There is not much studying you can do here. Just read I guess.

Mech: Again, I was worried about this section too but it was easier than the study guides. There was stuff on MA, pulleys, gears, pressure. What I recommend for pressure is the equation pv=nrT. The study books are good on the information needed for this section.

Spatial App: I think this is the section were I got bent over and the reason my scores weren't as good as I wanted them to be. It was by far the most challenging for me. None of the study guides were even close. They only helped on the technique but even then it was difficult. The bank angles are more extreme and pictures aren't as clear. Some of them the plane wasn't heading straight to sea, straight to land, or down the coastline but rather at an angle of any of the three. I really wasn't expecting that. Lastly, there were 35 questions on this section. Not 30!!

Aviation Info: I didn't really study much because I have recently been taking some flight lessons (30 hours) and as far as it goes, Barron's has a good section on it. Know basic principles of flight, controls and surfaces and what they do, instruments. A little bit of weather too. Like density altitude and clouds. I didn't get many questions on nautical stuff.

Aviation Supp: This section was completely aviation knowledge. No math, no reading, no Spatial app, no Mech, just aviation info. The one weird question on here was what fluid does a purple pipe have on a carrier? I guessed fuel because of the "grapes" but I never saw that anywhere.

There are my two cents on the exam. If I get a "non-select" I will retake it and hopefully do better with another version.

To study, I used everything on this site. Atrick's study guide is very helpful. A lot of that info was on the exam. I used Barron's Book and Arco. I personally liked Barron's book better. You can get mostly everything for free. Just search around the web and in this site.

I hope this helps someone and if you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck to everyone who will be taking the exam soon!
 
Just got my results after waiting over a month to get them. 6/6/6 53. Not as great as I wanted. I would prefer to go NAVY but marines looks like the better choice then trying a retake.

I studied all the practice exams on this site along with the barrons book. If you go though all 80+ pages and read what everyone has to say you really get a lot of information.

Thanks to everyone who posted.
 
John McClane said:
so the general consensus is that form 4 is the hardest?
Click to expand...

That's what they say. I went in there hoping I didn't get Form 4 and sure enough I got it. But to be honest, it wasn't all that difficult. I think what brought down my score was the Spatial App part. Just go in there and do your best and don't get off to a bad start if you get form 4 because in your mind you are already believing it's harder. That in it of itself will indeed make it more challenging than it needs to.
 
I just took Form 3 of the ASTB and scored 6/6/6 54. I'm hoping a Master's in Political Science (3.8 GPA) and being prior Navy enlisted (SK3) helps add to the overall approach they take when considering candidates. I will be applying for SNA/SFO/SWO. I used all the study guides on this forum. Math and Mechanical were easier than expected. The spatial perception was harder than the study guides. The study guides don't completely prepare you for the Aeronautical Information and Supplemental parts, but it definitely is a start.
 
Took Form 5 today: 7/8/7 59

I used all the gouge in this forum along with the ARCO and Barron'sstudy guides.
I have been studying casually for a month and then really hit it hard the last week. I searched through as many threads that I could on this site related to the ASTB. I can't count how many hours I spent sifting through random threads here just find any hints or tips for the test.

Math: Every problem I had was covered in either the ARCO or Barrons book however the problems were a little simpler on the actual test. I also picked up a GRE Math Review book to help me understand the concepts a little better. This was by far my worst subject and required the most studying. If you want to feel more comfortable with any problem I would recommend this.
http://www.amazon.com/GRE-GMAT-Math...473&sr=8-1&keywords=petersons+gre+math+review
and this website
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Reading: Easier than the study guide. I had more than 5 minutes to go over any questions I had doubts on.
Mechanical: About the same difficulty as the Barrons and ARCO. Only two or three questions that were not covered in any of the gouge
Spatial: I was worried about this section because of the horror stories you read about on here but it wasn't that bad. If you understand how to do the problems in the study guides then you should have no problem here. The angles are new but nothing to difficult. I had enough time at the end to go over every problem twice so time is on your side for this one. The link below shows the best pictures to compare what are used on the ASTB
http://acetheastb.com/spatial-apperception
Aviation: A lot from the pilot's handbook along with some basic nautical terms. If you read the handbook (at least the important sections) this section should be fairly easy. As for the Naval/Aviation history study the gouge available and you should do just fine. I didn't have a single question in this section that wasn't answered on this website. I included an index page that covers the relevant sections for the ASTB. I found it on here a while back so I am not trying to take credit for whoever originally shared it.


Supplemental: This section felt like an extension of the aviation portion, no math, reading, mechanical, or spatial questions.

The best piece of advice I can give anyone who is to near there test date is to not blow it out of proportion, its just a test. Relax, if you bomb it, give it another shot. Sleep well the night before and keep the studying the day prior to a minimum. I took most of yesterday off from studying to let my mind take a break and I feel it helped big time.

Hope this helps
Good luck!
 

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I've been a lurker on this site for the past few months and just wanted to thank everyone who contributed gouge on this forum. I took form 3 a few weeks ago and go a 70 9/8/8. All I can say to anyone about to take the test is read this entire thread and every single piece of gouge on this forum.
 
Took the ASTB today for the first time and scored 8/8/8/60. Pleasantly surprised by the triple 8's. Happy with the 60 on the OAR, but was hoping for a little bit higher. The two toughest sections for me were the mechanical comprehension and the aviation supplemental test. The MC contained many easy questions, but also questions that were tougher than the questions found in the study materials I used. I found the AST to range from easy to hard as well since I basically studied everything on aviation in one month after talking to the recruiter and realizing I had a little bit more time to study before actually taking the exam. The other sections were about the same or easier than the study materials I used which include the ARCO Officer Candidate Test and Military Flight Aptitude books, Navy Gouge, Marine Gouge, NASA Aerodynamics for beginners, Patrick's study guide, Barron's mechanical and spatial book, the FAA Handbook (2008), and Arco's GRE/GMAT Math Review. I also learned a little bit from Udacity.com's Physics 101, which I used as a refresher.

I'll still be using the site in the future, but I want to thank all of the members here for their help and support in preparing for this exam. I haven't posted much, but I read a lot. If it wasn't for this site, I do not think I would have scored as high as I did. Thank you.

For reference in case anybody wants to know:
I took form 4
My GPA is 3.72 from The University of Georgia and my major was Management Information Systems (Business)
 
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