Hi Everyone! Took my first ASTB earlier today and got a 54 6/7/6. I am pretty happy with my scores, granted that I felt, while doing the test, the scores would've been worse. But now looking back on it feel I could have done better. Go figure. Little background, I am a female, 22 years old and a former college athlete. My priority is applying for Pilot/NFO and would also love to try for Intel, but given my BS in Business Admin with a 3.0 GPA, it is not likely (Trust me, I am realistic and not getting my hopes up). I studied for about 6 weeks, averaging 2-3 hrs a day probably. My recruiter was excited with my scores for Pilot, and encouraged me to even try for the February board, however, this means my application package would need to be finished by December 10th. I have decided to wait for the next board though, in order to get a competitive package put together and not to rush.
Anyways, I want to thank everyone on this thread for their contributions. All of the gouge on this thread had been very helpful in preparing me for what content to expect and lots of helpful tips when it came to the hands on portion. I would like to pass on what I got from the test and any tips I have or what I used to prepare...
MATH:
This section wasn't too difficult for me, but I am biased. I've always had a thing for math and enjoy it. I did not get any log questions. Couple probability questions, exponents, fractions, basic algebra and word problems. Here are some from what I remember: -ex1- 32^3/5 -ex2- sq root 3 + sq root 27 -ex3- Probability of drawing a heart card from deck and rolling a 2 or higher on die -ex4- War started in year x^2 and ended year (x+1)^2, and lasted 29 years. What year did the war END? -ex5- 2/9 of harvest is apples, 4/9 is oranges, how many more oranges need to be planted to equal 2.5 tons of the harvest?-- There was also a problem with a box that had a cylinder in it. Find the ratio of the area of the box to the leftover space outside the cylinder. Other than that there was solving for x, multiplying fractions, some division and a few long "complex" problems involving multiplication/adding with [ and } brackets. I got kicked at the very end I believe. Run through a few practice worksheets, and the study guides posted here on this thread.
READING:
Like everyone has said, very dry. It can drag on but just try to stay focused and pay attention to what the paragraph is saying. It helped me to eliminate the wrong answers then reread the information over again. The wording will get tricky, but the correct answer is ONLY what is from what is provided. Ran out of time here I think.
MECHANICAL:
This section wasn't too challenging, but I had two years of AP Physics in high school so the concepts were not new to me. Most of it is common sense, but be careful to understand the concepts cause some questions can be tricky. I used the Barron's Mech Comp Book to refresh my memory, as well as the Barron's Military Flight Aptitude Book. The comprehensive study guide posted a few pages back also helped as well. Some questions I remember: - If brick and feather are dropped from the same height, and the same time, which will hit the ground first? -Which graph represents the velocity/time relationship when shooting an arrow into the air? Answer choices showed vel on y-axis and time on x-axis.
-Something about an AC Generator and how it works or something? answer choices had coil in a magnetic cylinder, something else or chemical reaction between electric nodes (?) Sorry, can't remember exactly. -a pulley with force on one end (shown with longer string) and on other side was a 5kg wt. Which side had more tension. -formula for power -1500kg car moving at 18 m/s hits stationary 4000kg truck, which exerts greatest force. - weight formula (finding weight of object on mars given mass and velocity) -angular velocity took up about 3 questions so know what that is- energy transfer- had a couple spring and centripetal force questions. No gears, electric currents, batteries or levers.
NATFI:
Wow. Frustrating to say the least! Haha. There will be plenty that you probably feel you aren't like or would never do. Just select the one that you instinctively lean towards. Don't overthink it.
ANIT:
I was nervous for this portion, as I don't have much aviation/nautical background other than flying a Cessna for an hour intro flight and going to a couple air shows when I was little. The gouge on this thread helped me a bunch as well as the books I mentioned. I had read through some sections of the Pilot Handbook as well to get a more in depth idea of the concepts. Again from what I remember: -what does the beam measure on the ship? -draft of the ship? -first dive bomber?
-first combat jet? -couple questions on wing vortices (what causes them) -what causes plan to "lean" -VASI provides visual of what? -what is a bulkhead? -lowest deck on the ship -which type of wing flap is NOT a flap? -which type of helicopter is an MH-## (don't remember the number) -CVBG (relating to size) -How much fuel should aircraft have? Destination + ## minutes -VFR with ## compass heading -No questions on weather, airports, lights, or jerseys. I got kicked from this section I believe.
UAV:
Going into this portion I was a little nervous, and I worked myself up over it. It was not too bad. I didn't plan on using the compass trick because when practicing it was easier to mentally flip the compass. But I actually ended up using it. I missed 2 I think, and averaged between 1-3 sec and maybe two with 4 sec. Overall, practicing the flashcards posted here helped getting the rhythm down and to get a visual of the test. (yellow arrow w/ red target)
DICHOTIC LISTENING:
This section was pretty easy. My headphones worked really well and were really loud. I also noticed and I'm not sure if it's the same voice for everyone, but the left and right ear voice were different tones. It helped me in recognizing the numbers in the correct target ear. Left clutch button for odd numbers and right trigger on control stick for even numbers. I may have missed 2 here, and that was because I zoned out at one point. So pay attention the WHOLE time, unlike me. Leaning to the target ear also helped.
PBM:
Well. Everything I read was true about this part. Very overwhelming! The vertical tracking wasn't tooooo bad, but the throttle is difficult to get adjusted to. The further up/down it goes, the quicker it moves. The control stick was hard to adjust to, specifically the inverted axis. I would suggest practicing video games, if you play them, with the inverted controls to get used to that feel. I had grown up playing video games and currently play XBOX, but I don't feel that type of controller helped at all as far as the type of control used for this portion. If you have a flight simulator, more power to you! Anyways, all three portions put together was an absolute mess. I worked up a sweat! Haha the only advice I can give is do your best, and have fun with it. Laugh, relax, and track as best you can. The listening is the easiest part, so try to nail that part of it. The emergency portion was easy, DEFINITELY write the emergency procedures down and place them in front of you for reference. Make sure your dial settings are set to the middle before you start. And don't forget to press the clutch button after each procedure.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I wanted to be thorough since these posts helped me out a TON. I am hoping this can at least be helpful to some. For reference and studying, I used the Barron's books, bought the ARCO but didn't use it much, and the Pilot Handbook was great, but can be overloaded for the test. However, I would suggest reading the sections mentioned anyways, if you have the time. Other than that, what helped the most was the gouge from this thread, as well as the study guides and flashcards. Just study, and then study more. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to help out or gain some new advice/knowledge!
Thanks again to everyone!! Best of luck to all taking the ASTB/OAR, and to those in application processes!!!
