Hey guys, last Friday I took the ASTB. I scored a
9/8/8 68.
My first attempt, I got a 7/5/6 58. This wasn't passing, since the Marines need a 6 on the PFAR. It wasn't a bad score but the standards are there for the Marines.
This thread has been extremely helpful in terms of knowing what material to expect. I want to share my mistakes and successes in terms of test taking in general.
Here is a list of my mistakes the first time, and how I fixed them the second time.
Too much caffeine on test day, not enough sleep the night before.
I was talking to a candidate who graduated OCS with an aviation contract and he said he took a 5 hour energy before the PBM. I took that to the extreme and had a 5 hour shot in the morning and a medium coffee before/during the ASTB. However, I wasn’t energized. I became anxious, especially during the PBM. This led me to mess up the emergency procedures and be too aggressive with the controls. In addition, I was so wired that I made some stupid mistakes on the math section.
The second attempt, I made sure to get 8 hours of sleep the night before. I pushed back all my other school assignments and prioritized sleep. I only had my standard cup of coffee that morning. I came into the test energized but not overly wired.
Thinking I “didn’t need to study for” certain sections.
I scored highly on my SAT back in high school and was confident I could do well on similar math and reading questions. I am a mathematics major so I thought that the math section would be easy. That I just needed to focus on the mechanical section and ANIT. That’s what some other people from my school were saying and they passed. NOPE. There were a ton of word problems that were hard to comprehend at first, and they got the best of me. The reading section was also dry as hell with a ton of navy specific material, so that was hard to get through.
It didn’t help that I am a math major and I had barely done any hardcore reading for the last 2 years. I bought the recent Barrons military flight aptitude test book, with the SIFT and AFOQT included in that book. I did math and reading practice sections from those tests as well as from the ASTB practice tests.
I also used the the
Barron’s GMAT math workbook to get additional practice with complicated algebra problems and word problems. For word problems, know the mixture problems, distance/rate/time, and “work done” problems especially well. I thought the GMAT math was MUCH closer to what’s on the ASTB than what was in the ASTB practice tests I used.
Rushing the test. Do NOT rush.
I was more careful on the math section and paid attention to what the problem was asking for. For the reading, I read the entire passage carefully and did not gloss over it like I did with the SAT way back. There’s
no way around reading the entire passage, since there will always be 2 answers that seem correct, but you’ll know which one is better if you really read the passage. Also, there is only one formal break. However, make sure to practice enough so that you get done with each section with 3-5 minutes left. The first attempt I just moved onto the next section.
The second time, I used this time to get up and stretch, do a few pushups, and refocus. This mental break was crucial, since the test was 2+ hours. During the PBM I did the exact same thing. I took time between each section, reading the instructions carefully. Make sure you do that since if you don’t know the procedures well enough it will affect your score. Before dichotic listening I really made sure my headphones were on the right way. There will be a practice section before the real scored section for each of the PBM tests. I took a 30 sec break between the practice section and real deal section to regroup, stand up, stretch, etc. And for the UAV section, everyone says that response time matters more. However, my responses were around 1-2 seconds during my first attempt and I got a lot more wrong. During the second attempt I responded in 3+ seconds on some but I only got 1 wrong, and I scored much higher on the PFAR. There is no rush. Your score matters, not how quickly you did it. Remember to breathe and stretch between sections. Remember to breathe during sections and relax.
Putting too much pressure on myself.
Often I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a perfect score, max the PFT, etc. but this will work against you in the ASTB. The first time I took it I felt I had something to prove to the OSOs, that I needed to get a 9/9/9 80 or else. I know the competitive nature of the pilot selection process so that wound me up more.
However, after the first attempt I sat down with my OSO to discuss ground contract options, in case the ASTB just wasn’t going to work out. It turned out that there were a lot of ground MOS’s that I would love to take, so the ASTB was not a do or die test for me. Going into the second attempt, I just made sure to do my best and to work smartly. To stay present. I honestly didn’t expect to pass going in, but I wanted to give it a try anyways to not miss any opportunities.
Being relaxed helped me perform much better - especially on the PBM. In fact, I started to have fun with the PBM when we moved to the emergency procedures section.
For the PBM I got familiar with vertical tracking but wasn't as good with the joystick. I remember struggling a ton with it, so for the vertical tracking + aircraft tracking and vertical tracking + aircraft tracking + dichotic listening test I concentrated on getting the vertical tracking and listening only. So
win some lose some- they say you need to do everything, but just focus on what you can get. I'm pretty sure I neglected the joystick by the end.
Fixating too much on the ASTB and school and letting my fitness take the backseat.
Normally it’s alright to put fitness on the back burner for regular school finals, but it’s not that way with the ASTB. I am a USMC candidate so my PFT is crucial to my selection. I studied hardcore for the first attempt and mistakenly stopped running and got a sh*t run time.
This time around, I designated some hours of the to ASTB review, but other than that, I didn’t think of the ASTB at all. I also stepped up my running - I was running at least 30 mins every day with a lot of speed work. I did at least 25-30 miles a week, just putting in the volume. I love weightlifting, but I knew I should get good at running.
I would pack my running shoes in my backpack wherever I went. I’d leave my backpack in my locked TA office and go for a run in the middle of the school day. I’d run right after doing a practice test for the ASTB. Ended up running a 19:50 on a 3 mile to a 20:36 5k, even while studying for the ASTB and midterms.
So here’s the summary:
- First attempt: anxious, overcaffeinated, too much negative pressure, fixated and desperate, tested hard.
- Second attempt: motivated but positive, well rounded studying and life, well-rested and moderately caffeinated, knew I had options, not rushed, tested smart.
I think needing to take the test twice was a blessing in disguise, since I was familiar with the testing environment and format.
I’ll put in any additional tips if you guys want!
