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

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Hello everyone! I'm brand new to the site and discovered it when I was trying to pool resources to study for the ASTB-E. I'm trying to figure out if my scores are competitive. I just took the exam yesterday and received my scores today. I would appreciate any help! (Also, sorry for any mistakes! First time posting.)

Background: I work as a high school teacher. I was a cadet in the Army JROTC (4 yrs) and I now actively volunteer as an adult at my school's JROTC program as a chaperone/volunteer/mentor.
Age: 25
Degrees: B.A. English (3.5 GPA) and M.A. Linguistics (3.9 GPA)
OAR: 52
AQR/PFAR/FOFAR: 6/5/7
Choices: Pilot/NFO/SWO (My recruitor told me that my score isn't competitive for pilot but I'd still figured I'd apply and I'm happy with either pilot or NFO. I wanted to apply for both. I don't think I'm competitive for SWO but I figured I'd still aim for it.)
LOR: 1 administrator/supervisor (employer), 2 from O-5 (Army); one of the O-5 is the head of Army JROTC affairs for the entirety of my school district.

SWO can only be your first or second choice.

 

[CHOPS_avn]

Just took the ASTB yesterday and figured I'd post about it since this thread was the most helpful resource for finding info and study material. Thanks to everyone who went before and spent their time building this thread up! Sorry in advance but this is gonna be super long. Hope this helps:

Score: 73 9/9/9

I've taken the SIFT (army's version) so I knew what to expect for some of it. I also have a flexible work schedule so I took off a little over two weeks to do nothing but study, I'd highly recommend it if possible but realize not everyone can. I was a poli sci major in college and hadn't taken math or physics since high school so I had to relearn everything. I also have my PPL but haven't flown in about 4 years.

I purchased three study guides (from Aegis group, Trivium, and Test prep books) but I didn't find them very helpful in terms of actually explaining concepts. I used them more for their practice problems and showing what the concepts were, then going on YouTube and watching Khan Academy (for math and mechanics) and Pilot Training System (for Aviation). Pilot training systems goes through the entire FAA PHAK, not in as much detail, but most likely enough to get the basics. I'm a really slow reader so this method helped me a lot. I did use the books for nautical information because I knew absolutely nothing about it when I started studying. Other than that practice tests and repetition were what I did most, lots of flash cards are on proprofs, cram, and quizlet for each subject. All the material I used i either mention or found in this thread, but I can put together a full list if anyone wants it.

MATH:
The math questions I had started out simple then quickly got extremely complex, not really in terms of the concepts, but the amount of numbers being used to find the solution. For one I remember multiplying a 7 digit number by a 4 digit number as the final step. Most of the concepts covered in the study guides were used. My test ended after 25 mins with a logarithm problem so I'm guessing that's roughly as hard as it will get. I'd recommend finding the types of problems you will face and youtubing the methods for solving them if you don't understand them, then just make sure you understand the procedure for each. Long division, multiplication, addition and subtraction are the bedrock of everything so make sure you try to get as fast as you can while staying accurate with high digit numbers and decimals.

READING:
This was definitely my worst area, I ran out of time but I think I got around 15-17 before it clocked out. A lot of study guides give you a paragraph, then a specific question, then answers. This format is only the paragraph, then four statements. Sometimes the paragraphs were only a 3 line sentence, some were 10. Additionally the answer statements can be up to 3 lines long for some, so reading the answers before and looking for it in the paragraph doesn't always work. The topics were primarily about navy procedure and some stuff about science, either way it was extremely boring and dry. Don't really have a way to study for this, but knowing what to expect always helps.

MECHANICS:
This one was kinda all over the place for me, at the end the questions got really complex and the last one was a circuit with multiple batteries, a magnetic coil (or whatever that's actually called), and an X-ray thing. There was a decent amount of math and actual calculation using formulas but it was mostly conceptual. I'd go through any books, guides, or flash cards to find the concepts, then look them up if you need further help. I used Khan Academy, but there's plenty of good ones.

ANIT:
The books did a pretty good job of covering basic nautical terms, the pilot training system videos and the FAA PHAK definitely cover the general Aviation concepts well. Make sure to know the shirt colors of the airmen on carriers and the history of aviation and naval aviation and specific aircraft types, the navy airmen guide covered a lot of this. This subtest booted me out after 5 mins at about 15 questions. Most questions are very straight forward and expected, but some are very random. Ones that stuck out were which type of dive bomber the USN purchased before Midway, and something about a commander (not a famous one you'd recognize) testing a nose tow something or other in 1963 and what capability was being developed. I'm sure my previous aviation experience was extremely helpful, but I also studied this subject the most and I'm sure this subject is what can be improved upon the most by studying.

TRAIT INVENTORY:
Don't try to game it, just answer.

PBMB:
UAV: pretty straightforward, click the parking lot as fast as you can. I got one wrong but averaged about 2 seconds. The screen gives you the heading, the headphones give you the target. I used these to practice (https://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/cardshow.php?title=_36014).
I tried the compass method before, but I did better without it.

Dichotic listening: I probably went overboard and practiced this by using the voice memos function on my iPhone, recording a computer saying strings of numbers and letters, then playing different strings through different headphones and responding. I think it helped but it was probably overkill. Just for clarity it's always one target ear at a time only, characters are said at exactly the same time and volume. Throttle is odd, trigger was even the entire time (at least for me).

VTT: pretty straight forward, track the plane up and down.

ATT: also straight forward. I read that study about this test, and from what I recalled it was like aiming in any shooter video game where forward was up and back was down. It's like an actual stick on a plane, forward is down, back is up, left and right are the same.

ATT/VTT: straight forward, but unbelievably difficult. The hardest part for me was pushing forward on the stick and going down, then forward on the throttle and going up. That was difficult to get used to but just do the best you can. I did play a good amount of COD in my study breaks, I figured you're tracking a moving target with a reticle so it may help. No idea if it did.

MTT: I didn't think this was as hard as I anticipated. It was much harder initially getting used to controlling both reticles than it was to incorporate listening. Listening was definitely the easier of the three tasks. Also, 100% overkill again, I played COD while listening to the character strings in different ears and responded (squeezing the non playing fingers). It's unbelievably difficult and I think it may have actually helped at multitasking given this was actually easier than the previous test since I was already starting to get used to the multiple trackers, but maybe that's just me. Still totally overkill.

EST: When you are calibrating the controls write down which direction is 100% and which is 0% for each knob. It gives you time to memorize the procedures, make sure to write them down. For me I did it in terms of full left/right, or full forward/back. Once you write them down, practice them before moving on. I didn't physically move the knobs, but visualized and motioned like going full forward/back and full left/right until I felt comfortable. Also try to have them centered after each scenario, it's important during one of them that the top knob stays centered, so that's one less control to move if it's already there.

Sorry again for how crazy long this post is, hopefully it helps.

Hey man, I'm about to take the ASTB in a few weeks. Can you please post the full list of study materials?

 

[peppergunner]

Hey man, I'm about to take the ASTB in a few weeks. Can you please post the full list of study materials?

Dude he literally just wrote out the full study guide and listed all of his study materials.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Hey man, I'm about to take the ASTB in a few weeks. Can you please post the full list of study materials?

Or you can simply search the forums and fully read his post to find your answer. You’re a prospective naval officer... take the initiative.

 

[kultureschok]

SWO can only be your first or second choice.

Thanks for the reply! I'll make sure to put SWO as my second choice with NFO as first (pilot is a no-go with a score of 5 from what I've gathered here). Hopefully my GPA for my master's and my score for NFO can make me competitive.

 

[chinky187]

I'm confused. How exactly do the controls work? Left and right are left and right? Pushing the joystick forward is nose down, pulling the joystick back is nose up? Or am I misunderstanding this?

its 2D so up is down and down is up

 

[NinerZeroSeven]

Hey all!

I am applying for the USMC OCC 230 Selection Board. Can you guys take a look at my credentials? Let me know your thoughts!

Age: 23
B.A.: 2.68 Education Science
M.A.: 3.75 Organizational Leadership
OAR Score: 46
ASTB 5/8/5

NCAA D1 Soccer Player
CIF Swimming State Finalist
JR. ROTC (Group Commander)
NCAA All-American

What are you scoring on PFT's?

 

[codyselec]

What's up all just took my ASTB, not half bad scores.

54 6/8/7

Lots of great study materials on here, thanks to everyone who supplied information!

 

[erik1993]

Took my ASTB on Monday and scored a 55 5/6/6... I studied for about a week. I want to take it again 31 days but my recruiter says I shouldn't worry about it and that I have a good shot at getting in. With these scores and a 2.85 GPA in Finance I am not feeling confident at all in being selected as pilot. Should I not take it again and just submit my packet or study for another couple of months in order to get a 70 on the OAR and apply again?

 

[Fifrein]

Took my ASTB on Monday and scored a 55 5/6/6... I studied for about a week. I want to take it again 31 days but my recruiter says I shouldn't worry about it and that I have a good shot at getting in. With these scores and a 2.85 GPA in Finance I am not feeling confident at all in being selected as pilot. Should I not take it again and just submit my packet or study for another couple of months in order to get a 70 on the OAR and apply again?

You only get 3 tries, so it's worth being careful about your second and third attempts. That said, from what I've seen here the scores are a bit low. I couldn't tell you your chances of getting in, as I'm still waiting for my own packet to be approved, but do what you think is best. It basically comes down to whether you want to wait a month, take your chances with the test again, and start from there, or go through months or years of process now and risk being rejected for a quicker result.

 

[peppergunner]

You only get 3 tries, so it's worth being careful about your second and third attempts. That said, from what I've seen here the scores are a bit low. I couldn't tell you your chances of getting in, as I'm still waiting for my own packet to be approved, but do what you think is best. It basically comes down to whether you want to wait a month, take your chances with the test again, and start from there, or go through months or years of process now and risk being rejected for a quicker result.

According to this, Erik seems pretty competitive for anything outside of Aviation with those scores. Just the GPA is weighing things down. Maybe look for something that is more leadership-focused that you can nail with good LoRs and PS. Im sure your recruiter can help you.

 

[aribjc]

Took my ASTB on Monday and scored a 55 5/6/6... I studied for about a week. I want to take it again 31 days but my recruiter says I shouldn't worry about it and that I have a good shot at getting in. With these scores and a 2.85 GPA in Finance I am not feeling confident at all in being selected as pilot. Should I not take it again and just submit my packet or study for another couple of months in order to get a 70 on the OAR and apply again?

I would take it again if I were you, I doubt your score would go down much. We have almost the same gpa and If I wasn't already submitted to a board I would retake mine. I got a 7/6/7 but I'm not super confident in those scores since they raised the minimum to a 5/6/6. Just study every day for an hour or something and play some battlefield with your controls inverted and I'll bet you'll crush it next go around.

 

[GoNavy2018P]

Hello! This is my first post ever, so bear with me...

I am a recent college graduate with a 3.96 GPA. I am looking to apply for the Navy SWO August Board. I took the OAR last Friday and got a 46. For study, I used the study guide that was on here and Khanacademy.com. I was unsure how the test went for me. Math seemed to be my strong section, although it did seem to end way earlier than I expected it to. I pretty much know my strong points and areas where I need to improve in math for next time. I was surprised to find that I believe I struggled on Reading Comprehension as it seemed liked the questions steadily got easier rather than more difficult. Again, it was hard to tell. Many times, it seemed like the wording was extremely tricky and made it difficult to choose which answer best fit. Mechanical went better than expect considering I've never had a true college physics course except for a couple of weeks in Physical Science; however, the Mechanical part was definitely a weak point. I found myself guessing on the answer more than I wanted, but was often forced to. It seemed like what I studied helped me to be able to make educated guesses but did not help me know concepts enough to be confident in my answers. I used the study guide as a way to look for specific topics that I needed to improve on (or attempt to learn on my own in the mechanical portion). To learn or improve, I used the videos on Khan Academy and YouTube.

I am looking to take the OAR a second time to raise my score at least to a 50 to make myself more competitive if possible. I am open to buy a test prep book this time around. I have read in the forum that Barron's ASTB books, the Trivium OAR Study Guide, and "The Complete ASTB Study Guide" are all good resources to use. I am only taking the OAR portion of the ASTB. Out of these three, does anyone know which one would be better just for the OAR? Are there other books or resources online that anyone has found that are better? Any recommendations would be appreciated. I am only asking because each book is roughly $30. I am also open to any sort of study recommendations. I also found the online Trivium website (https://www.triviumtestprep.com/oar-online-resources) that has flash cards and such, and I plan on using that this time around.

Thank you and Good Luck to all!

Go Navy!

 

[Michael_J_Caboose]

Hello! This is my first post ever, so bear with me...

I am a recent college graduate with a 3.96 GPA. I am looking to apply for the Navy SWO August Board. I took the OAR last Friday and got a 46. For study, I used the study guide that was on here and Khanacademy.com. I was unsure how the test went for me. Math seemed to be my strong section, although it did seem to end way earlier than I expected it to. I pretty much know my strong points and areas where I need to improve in math for next time. I was surprised to find that I believe I struggled on Reading Comprehension as it seemed liked the questions steadily got easier rather than more difficult. Again, it was hard to tell. Many times, it seemed like the wording was extremely tricky and made it difficult to choose which answer best fit. Mechanical went better than expect considering I've never had a true college physics course except for a couple of weeks in Physical Science; however, the Mechanical part was definitely a weak point. I found myself guessing on the answer more than I wanted, but was often forced to. It seemed like what I studied helped me to be able to make educated guesses but did not help me know concepts enough to be confident in my answers. I used the study guide as a way to look for specific topics that I needed to improve on (or attempt to learn on my own in the mechanical portion). To learn or improve, I used the videos on Khan Academy and YouTube.

I am looking to take the OAR a second time to raise my score at least to a 50 to make myself more competitive if possible. I am open to buy a test prep book this time around. I have read in the forum that Barron's ASTB books, the Trivium OAR Study Guide, and "The Complete ASTB Study Guide" are all good resources to use. I am only taking the OAR portion of the ASTB. Out of these three, does anyone know which one would be better just for the OAR? Are there other books or resources online that anyone has found that are better? Any recommendations would be appreciated. I am only asking because each book is roughly $30. I am also open to any sort of study recommendations. I also found the online Trivium website (https://www.triviumtestprep.com/oar-online-resources) that has flash cards and such, and I plan on using that this time around.

Thank you and Good Luck to all!

Go Navy!

If you live in the DC area, I'd be willing to pass my Barron's book off to you. I bought it to study for the OAR and the AFOQT (Air Force). I had very little time to study between a newborn, work, and a full time schedule, but I managed to get a 50. I also used a free GRE prep app that has questions of the day pertaining to math and reading. It was just a simple 5 or 10 minute thing I did first thing in the morning to get my brain going.

 

[Tjvogel14]

Hello! This is my first post ever, so bear with me...

I am a recent college graduate with a 3.96 GPA. I am looking to apply for the Navy SWO August Board. I took the OAR last Friday and got a 46. For study, I used the study guide that was on here and Khanacademy.com. I was unsure how the test went for me. Math seemed to be my strong section, although it did seem to end way earlier than I expected it to. I pretty much know my strong points and areas where I need to improve in math for next time. I was surprised to find that I believe I struggled on Reading Comprehension as it seemed liked the questions steadily got easier rather than more difficult. Again, it was hard to tell. Many times, it seemed like the wording was extremely tricky and made it difficult to choose which answer best fit. Mechanical went better than expect considering I've never had a true college physics course except for a couple of weeks in Physical Science; however, the Mechanical part was definitely a weak point. I found myself guessing on the answer more than I wanted, but was often forced to. It seemed like what I studied helped me to be able to make educated guesses but did not help me know concepts enough to be confident in my answers. I used the study guide as a way to look for specific topics that I needed to improve on (or attempt to learn on my own in the mechanical portion). To learn or improve, I used the videos on Khan Academy and YouTube.

I am looking to take the OAR a second time to raise my score at least to a 50 to make myself more competitive if possible. I am open to buy a test prep book this time around. I have read in the forum that Barron's ASTB books, the Trivium OAR Study Guide, and "The Complete ASTB Study Guide" are all good resources to use. I am only taking the OAR portion of the ASTB. Out of these three, does anyone know which one would be better just for the OAR? Are there other books or resources online that anyone has found that are better? Any recommendations would be appreciated. I am only asking because each book is roughly $30. I am also open to any sort of study recommendations. I also found the online Trivium website (https://www.triviumtestprep.com/oar-online-resources) that has flash cards and such, and I plan on using that this time around.

Thank you and Good Luck to all!

Go Navy!

Don't bother with "The Complete ASTB Study Guide". I find it to be very relaxed in comparison to actual test questions. I bought it looked through it once and haven't picked it up again. I definitely recommend Barron's as it has loads of valuable information. I would also recommend taking a look through "Peterson's Master the Military Flight Aptitude Tests" (PDF can be found online) which has plenty of good material as well. My absolute best advice, however, would be to go back to pages ~259 &~281 and check out what some of the guys who scored above a 70 had to say. They have great insight and study tips. One of them even posted some material regarding the OAR along with an MST study guide that you may find useful. Best of luck to you.