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

Scimitarze

Automated Member
Ahh, thank you, I see it now. I was originally picturing the block as the fulcrum and was confused to as why it wouldn't be lifted higher.
The block is the fulcrum, sorry. I didn't see that they named the load "brick." I cant really it explain it in depth well, but I like to visualize wedging rocks out of the ground with a pole.
 

AndrewH1919

Member
Hey everyone just took the ASTB for the second time yesterday and got a 50 5/7/6. I waited almost a year to retake which I think hurt my chances but still increased my OAR by 1 and PFAR by 1 as well. I’m a senior this year and will be finishing up in May.

Hope my score is enough for approval by the March or April board. Don’t think they are anything spectacular but if anyone has any questions about it feel free to let me know.
 

ENWaite

Active Member
Just took the OAR for the second time today. My first exam I got a 42 with a few days of preparation before. I scored a 51 on my second attempt with about a week of serious preparation. I studied for roughly a month and a half, at least 10 hours a week. I didn't have more time to study due to winter intersession classes and then my Spring semester beginning as well. I am going for SWO/Supply and Logistics. What do y'all think my chances are of getting SWO with a score of 51 and a GPA of 3.0 in Finance? Thanks in advance.
 

Jmack2019

Member
Just took the OAR for the second time today. My first exam I got a 42 with a few days of preparation before. I scored a 51 on my second attempt with about a week of serious preparation. I studied for roughly a month and a half, at least 10 hours a week. I didn't have more time to study due to winter intersession classes and then my Spring semester beginning as well. I am going for SWO/Supply and Logistics. What do y'all think my chances are of getting SWO with a score of 51 and a GPA of 3.0 in Finance? Thanks in advance.
Hi ENWaite,
I am new here! But I have been reading through this forum for the past few months. From what I have read and seen; anything at or above a 50 for the OAR, is competitive. I, too am going for SWO or Supply. I am bound to take the OAR on 22nd of February. Anyways, again, I think you should be fine. Best of luck and congratulations on your score! I am aiming to get a 54.

I do have a question, that I have searched for on this forum and could not find; maybe I did not look hard enough, but what is the penalty for not finishing a section and is it worse than guessing a wrong answer? I have been practicing for about a little over a month now and I still cannot seem to finish all the questions in time for the mech and math section. Any suggestions? Thank you!
 

AndrewH1919

Member
In my experience in taking the test twice now, I discovered that some of the sections will finish before the time is up. I’m not really sure why that happens or what it means but specifically the math sections always seems to do that for me.
 

Prometheus_

Member
Hi all,

I took the ASTB for my first time on Jan 30 and got 55 7/8/8. My GPA is 3.56.

I truly believe I was able to get that score because of this thread. I studied for about three weeks not including a day or two going through every post starting on about page 200. I bought Barron's, Peterson's, the FAA hand book (didn't read) as well as two GRE math books. I also used the main study guides that are posted on this thread. I thought I was doing bad on the OAR portion and I turned out fine. Don't psych yourself out.

Math: Let me start by saying I SUCK AT MATH. I basically had to teach myself the fundamentals of Algebra 1 and 2. As far as problems I received, I got some simple geometry then got a matrix multiplication problem followed by a couple harder weighted average questions that took me longer than I would have liked to solve. I took my time and if I had to guess, I made the best attempt I could to make it an educated guess. I also got the perfect number question and had the question about binary/base 4 as my last question. It kicked me out with about 15 minutes left I believe. I did as many math problems as I could get my hands on. The math OAR guide floating around here was essential to my success. I probably did hundreds of math problems to drill into my head how to go about solving certain types of problems.

Reading: I got a mix between military and science related paragraphs. Just read through it twice and then look at the answer choices. Kicked me out with a few minutes left I believe.

Mechanical: Basic physics. I had questions regarding levers, pulleys, MA, gravity and velocity. Wasn't difficult I just don't have a lot of experience with physics. Kicked me out with a couple of minutes left.

Aviation/Nautical: Got a few difficult questions which I guess is good. I also got questions about the control surfaces and what they do as well as a couple questions about WWII aircraft. I was only in this section for maybe 5 minutes before it kicked me out.

UAV: Practice with the flashcards as well as during the test when it lets you. I went over the practice questions maybe 10 times before I took the actual one. I didn't miss any and averaged around ~1.5s.

NATFI: Answer truthfully. No way to game it.

Dichotic: Lean your head and you will be fine.

Tracking: The dead zone is hard to get used to so just do your best. I bought a joystick and played video games inverted to build some muscle memory. I used the joystick to play a game called aim hero (on steam $5) to get used to quickly moving the joystick around. I also played a lot of War thunder. As far as doing all the tracking together I prioritized the joystick and listening. There were times where I completely forgot about the throttle and realized it was just sitting at the top or bottom.

Emergency Procedure: I failed one of them even though I had it written down.

To everyone on here, Thank you! I really couldn't have done it without all of the fantastic gouges, tips and study guides.
 

Jmack2019

Member
Hi all,

I took the ASTB for my first time on Jan 30 and got 55 7/8/8. My GPA is 3.56.

I truly believe I was able to get that score because of this thread. I studied for about three weeks not including a day or two going through every post starting on about page 200. I bought Barron's, Peterson's, the FAA hand book (didn't read) as well as two GRE math books. I also used the main study guides that are posted on this thread. I thought I was doing bad on the OAR portion and I turned out fine. Don't psych yourself out.

Math: Let me start by saying I SUCK AT MATH. I basically had to teach myself the fundamentals of Algebra 1 and 2. As far as problems I received, I got some simple geometry then got a matrix multiplication problem followed by a couple harder weighted average questions that took me longer than I would have liked to solve. I took my time and if I had to guess, I made the best attempt I could to make it an educated guess. I also got the perfect number question and had the question about binary/base 4 as my last question. It kicked me out with about 15 minutes left I believe. I did as many math problems as I could get my hands on. The math OAR guide floating around here was essential to my success. I probably did hundreds of math problems to drill into my head how to go about solving certain types of problems.

Reading: I got a mix between military and science related paragraphs. Just read through it twice and then look at the answer choices. Kicked me out with a few minutes left I believe.

Mechanical: Basic physics. I had questions regarding levers, pulleys, MA, gravity and velocity. Wasn't difficult I just don't have a lot of experience with physics. Kicked me out with a couple of minutes left.

Aviation/Nautical: Got a few difficult questions which I guess is good. I also got questions about the control surfaces and what they do as well as a couple questions about WWII aircraft. I was only in this section for maybe 5 minutes before it kicked me out.

UAV: Practice with the flashcards as well as during the test when it lets you. I went over the practice questions maybe 10 times before I took the actual one. I didn't miss any and averaged around ~1.5s.

NATFI: Answer truthfully. No way to game it.

Dichotic: Lean your head and you will be fine.

Tracking: The dead zone is hard to get used to so just do your best. I bought a joystick and played video games inverted to build some muscle memory. I used the joystick to play a game called aim hero (on steam $5) to get used to quickly moving the joystick around. I also played a lot of War thunder. As far as doing all the tracking together I prioritized the joystick and listening. There were times where I completely forgot about the throttle and realized it was just sitting at the top or bottom.

Emergency Procedure: I failed one of them even though I had it written down.

To everyone on here, Thank you! I really couldn't have done it without all of the fantastic gouges, tips and study guides.
That is an awesome score and GPA. Congratulations! And thank you for posting your experience! That really was, I think what I needed as like motivation! I am not a math or physics person, however, I must agree that the math and mech study guides that can be found here are very helpful! I have just been psyching myself out it seems. Ok. Thank you again for sharing your experience!
 

Prometheus_

Member
That is an awesome score and GPA. Congratulations! And thank you for posting your experience! That really was, I think what I needed as like motivation! I am not a math or physics person, however, I must agree that the math and mech study guides that can be found here are very helpful! I have just been psyching myself out it seems. Ok. Thank you again for sharing your experience!

No problem! If you have any specific questions just shoot me a message. I'd be more than happy to help.
 

TheMessinger

New Member
I took the ASTB for my first time on Jan 15 and got 64 8/7/7. My GPA is 3.52 in Aerospace Engineering at PSU.

I wasn't originally going to write a post but I thought about how much this forum helped me and figured I'd give back.

So my recruiter said the test was easy and that I didn't need to study which was probably not the best advice. I started studying a week before, downloading and reading as many sample tests, guides, and tips as possible. I did not buy any books and only used the very helpful resources on this forum(I'll attach some files I used). Something that I have not seen recommended a lot on this forum is majoring in Aerospace Engineering pretty much sets you up for this test. I'm currently a junior and most of the stuff I have learned up until this point directly correlated to what was on the ASTB. Because of my major, all I needed to do was brush up on simpler math and physics material, take some practice reading tests, and memorize as much naval history and boat parts as possible. I'm going to try and keep my section reviews brief because a lot of it would just be repeating what other people have said.

MATH:
-Do as many practice problems as you can get your hands on in this forum.
-I made some dumb mistakes in this section because I was too hyped up about the test and rushed it(take your time and get the right answers).

READING:
-Do any practice tests you can and read through the passages like your life depends on it. It's really easy to get distracted so stay focused and pick the answer choice you feel is best represented.

MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION:
-For an engineering major the physics is pretty basic.
-Read every physics guide you can download and do the practice tests.
-This section is all memorizing and applying concepts.

ANIT:
-There is a good 400+ flashcard set in this forum that I used. Download the cram app and go through those before you go to bed each night.
(https://www.cram.com/flashcards/astb-aviation-nautical-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163)
-Luckily one of my teachers gave a 4 part aviation history lecture that also covered airplane parts(THIS WAS A MASSIVE HELP) I really wish everyone taking the test had access to this flight history/parts lecture.
-Know boat parts and slang names, airplane parts and military aircraft names, and do as much research as you can.

UAV:
-Use the flashcards.
-I knew how to do the compass trick but I had an easier time mentally flipping the compass to orient to the corresponding UAV direction.
-Something that threw me off a little was that all the flashcards have the UAV travelling at 45 degree angles. The test does not. There will be many different angles of approach.
-I went for speed and sacrificed some correct answers. I missed 3 or 4 but was selecting the choice before the audio was even done playing.

PBM:
-Write everything down you think you'll need and do your best.
-The only real advice I can give is left and right on the joystick is left and right, up and down are opposite(moving the joystick up moves your target down). I visualized a target moving and did the corresponding hand movement to follow it for a solid hour to "practice" for this section.

DICHOTIC LISTENING:
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzWfRpyVQ18

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES:
-RED MEANS HIGH & YELLOW MEANS LOW
-I messed this part up so bad because I didn't know the fact mentioned above.
-Don't think I did one right emergency procedure.
-Write the procedures down.

Again, just collect as much information as possible and actually read and take notes(a lot of notes). I remember things better if I write them down pen to paper so I have pages of as much material as I could get down in a week. I can not emphasize enough how close my college work was with this test. I'm not saying that aerospace engineering is the only way to do well but the correlation between my major work and this test was a huge help. When you don't want to study, think about why you are there and keep on grinding. Some people have success with studying for 20 mins and then taking a 5 min break over and over again. I did this here and there but I thought I should recommend it because it's proven to help with retention of material. Force yourself to study until your head hurts and it will all get easier as you get more exposure(College taught me this). I told the recruiters during my break mid-test that I messed up a lot and started to mentally prepare myself to take the test again before I even finished the one I was on. Just because you think you did bad doesn't mean you should count yourself out of the fight. Hopefully this was helpful. I chose to not go into depth because most of the past longer posts are straight gold. Read and take notes on as many things as you can get from this forum. The resources I collected into the link below were really helpful for me. Good luck to anyone preparing to take the ASTB and feel free to message me with any additional questions.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-Pm5swQ2xkrH_Kj3mrtUE4RBEg80YZzY
 

zjohn

Member
Figured I would post my experience here. I took the ASTB yesterday, Wednesday 2/6. Thanks to all who post & help each other out.

Scored a 61; 7/7/6
Civil Engineering GPA: 2.98

There's plenty of other posts that are much more detailed than anything I would put together, so read those if you want a breakdown of each portion. I'll give my brief opinions & my mindset for the test. I find reading stuff like this just as helpful as the detailed study guides & flash cards links. So maybe it helps someone.

For the OAR-Math portion of the test, I was my own worst enemy. I definitely overthought questions & didn't work at a quick enough pace. The questions are not numbered as you work through. Different than doing a practice test when you can see where you're at. Mentally, this affected me more than I thought it would. After doing math for 30mins... I lost track and had no idea whether I completed 15, 20, or 30 problems. This got in my head.. especially when the timer ran out on me. On the flip-side, I finished the reading & mechanical well within the time limits. Quick note, my exam loved convoluted weighted averages problems, the type you finish reading and go "...wait what?".

The reading was almost worse than the personality questionnaire! I was 50/50 on so many of the questions. I didn't study for this at all, or had a test like this since the SAT though. The fact that I thought I bombed the math portion definitely distracted me from doing better on this section.

The mechanical was simple. Pretty much all conceptual / mental math type questions. Breezed through this.

The ANIT was ridiculous. I was actually a little annoyed by it.. Being decent at physics, I was confident in my understanding of lift, drag, etc. I looked over a few study guides about the parts of a plan and nautical information like the whole port/starboard, red/green type of thing. However, ANIT experience was VERY trivia based. "What WWII aircraft was the first to..." type of questions. Guessed a lot here, I'd be surprised if I hit 50%.

Personality questionnaire was total BS, as others have said. I have no idea how they can tell the type of person I am from that... but it must mean something to someone, so whatever. Just click your way through.

I had a very poor experience with the PBM. After I completed a section, and before moving on to the next.. my computer would crash. I would have to go find the admin, restart my computer each time. The servers went down, he had to call the IT guy; it was a huge pain. I basically had ~30min wait times between each section while he rebooted my computer. My entire exam time was almost 5hrs because of this.

I would recommend studying for the spatial apperception without the compass trick. I basically did the compass thing.. but with my hands, not a piece of paper. It seems speed is the key here, and doing my weird thing with my hand definitely makes it hard to get good times. I thought I was relatively quick.. 3-4 seconds each. I think I had 2 goofs that I really just clicked the wrong parking lot because I was rushing to get the best time. Again, this is different than the practice flashcards you do. I was mentally thinking the answer while doing the flash cards.. during the test you have to go back to the mouse & click. Doesn't seem like much, but definitely adds to your time. Plus its just another thing to do and think about. I couldn't imagine fumbling with a piece of paper and then jumping for the mouse to click my answer.

If I could go back and do the tracking / listening portion again, I am so confident I would get much better scores. The computer crashing between each section kept getting me out of focus. Instead of progressing through how the test was designed... I felt like I was at square one each time I started a new section. Since my computer kept crashing... I had to go through the calibration screen like a hundred times. I used this to mess around with the flightstick. Just know that when you're calibrating, the controls are NOT inverted. But you can get a feel of how fast the reticle moves. I didn't think I would have much of a problem with inverted controls, but I struggled. Maybe it's not having surrounding scenery to associate with that makes it difficult, I don't know. I truly felt I was fighting myself the whole time. Honestly as it progressed and added the listening & emergency procedures, I felt it got easier. I could like "tune-out" and just let myself do it. Actually found it fun towards the end.

I took a pretty relaxed approach to the test. I probably studied for 4 nights? Read all sorts of posts from here while procrastinating at work and such. I'm sure this is reflected in my scores.. I know with a little more effort I would hit higher. But hey I made my bed, I'll sleep in it.

I did two nights of practice tests & a little youtubing to brush up on those pre-calc type of things. Then I did two nights of studying for the ANIT & spatial apperception. I figured I'm not finalizing my application till April, so I have time for a second test. Why not take it & see where I struggle to focus on those areas?

Just don't psyche yourself out. Anyone who has any type of technical degree has done math & physics way beyond the realm of this test. Its really about dusting the cobwebs off some of the more basic stuff. I let how I performed on the math section get in my head. But just keep pushing, worrying about your score isn't going to help it get any better. Same with the PBM... I thought I was tanking it. While waiting for the results, I was already giving myself the pep-talk to not freak if I see 45; 5/5/5. I was pleasantly surprised to see how my scores ended up.

Talking with the folks at the NRD office, I'm going to submit with these scores. They seemed confident, certainly more than I am. There's some competitive scores/gpa's around here. Like everyone, I sure wish I could go back & turn in a few more homeworks to get my GPA above a 3.0. I am very confident I can hit higher scores, so they said to apply & see if I make it. Re-testing with higher marks is sound reasoning for resubmitting. No need to take the gamble before even applying once.

My approach certainly wasn't the best. Another week of studying and a working computer would have me feeling more confident right about now.. but don't over-do it. Get out there, give it a shot, & make it happen.

Cheers, hope to meet some of you along the way.
Zach
 
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Hello everyone!
I just came across this forum about 2 days ago. I'm scheduled to take the OAR on the 2/21 and I'm nervous as hell. I graduated from college with a 3.0 with a BS in MIS... 10 years ago. Most of my career has been in the finance sector where I am a System Admin. I have an opportunity to join in under IT so I have been studying to the best of my ability for a few months now. I've ordered the 5 LB GRE book, OAR Secrets Study Guide from Mometrix, ASTB Study Guide 2018, and I have the Master The ASVAB (23rd Ed) books along with other testing sites like Trivium Test Prep, Peterson's Practice, and Khan Academy or ASVAB android apps.

I feel like the Reading Comprehension in the GRE is overkill compared to everything else I have been reading. Would others agree?
I know Math is Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis... but do the math problems lean word based or straight computation?
As far as Mechanical, it is looking like I'm lacking here up until I hit circuits/current/voltage/etc. Are these questions with pictures or is a lot of it written out for computation?
Can I take blank paper and pencil with me?

Many thanks in advance! This site is fantastic so far!
 

Jmack2019

Member
Hello everyone!
I just came across this forum about 2 days ago. I'm scheduled to take the OAR on the 2/21 and I'm nervous as hell. I graduated from college with a 3.0 with a BS in MIS... 10 years ago. Most of my career has been in the finance sector where I am a System Admin. I have an opportunity to join in under IT so I have been studying to the best of my ability for a few months now. I've ordered the 5 LB GRE book, OAR Secrets Study Guide from Mometrix, ASTB Study Guide 2018, and I have the Master The ASVAB (23rd Ed) books along with other testing sites like Trivium Test Prep, Peterson's Practice, and Khan Academy or ASVAB android apps.

I feel like the Reading Comprehension in the GRE is overkill compared to everything else I have been reading. Would others agree?
I know Math is Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis... but do the math problems lean word based or straight computation?
As far as Mechanical, it is looking like I'm lacking here up until I hit circuits/current/voltage/etc. Are these questions with pictures or is a lot of it written out for computation?
Can I take blank paper and pencil with me?

Many thanks in advance! This site is fantastic so far!
Hi Bumbles! First and foremost, welcome to this forum! To the point, Math is more word heavy as you will see in the numerous practice tests and also in the previous posts here. You don't bring anything with you to the test, there is a website that tells you everything you need to know about the test, like what to bring and not to bring. I've heard also that the ASTB and OAR are similar to the GRE, maybe even harder.
I wish you the best of luck and if you wouldn't mind, please tell me how it goes, I take the OAR a day after you
 

Jmack2019

Member
Hello everyone!
I just came across this forum about 2 days ago. I'm scheduled to take the OAR on the 2/21 and I'm nervous as hell. I graduated from college with a 3.0 with a BS in MIS... 10 years ago. Most of my career has been in the finance sector where I am a System Admin. I have an opportunity to join in under IT so I have been studying to the best of my ability for a few months now. I've ordered the 5 LB GRE book, OAR Secrets Study Guide from Mometrix, ASTB Study Guide 2018, and I have the Master The ASVAB (23rd Ed) books along with other testing sites like Trivium Test Prep, Peterson's Practice, and Khan Academy or ASVAB android apps.

I feel like the Reading Comprehension in the GRE is overkill compared to everything else I have been reading. Would others agree?
I know Math is Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis... but do the math problems lean word based or straight computation?
As far as Mechanical, it is looking like I'm lacking here up until I hit circuits/current/voltage/etc. Are these questions with pictures or is a lot of it written out for computation?
Can I take blank paper and pencil with me?

Many thanks in advance! This site is fantastic so far!
The website is easy to find, just Google OAR Navy test. It's like the second Google link or so. Also, again you can find it actually looking through this forum. This forum has a lot of really really great material. Good luck!
 

Scimitarze

Automated Member
Hello everyone!
I just came across this forum about 2 days ago. I'm scheduled to take the OAR on the 2/21 and I'm nervous as hell. I graduated from college with a 3.0 with a BS in MIS... 10 years ago. Most of my career has been in the finance sector where I am a System Admin. I have an opportunity to join in under IT so I have been studying to the best of my ability for a few months now. I've ordered the 5 LB GRE book, OAR Secrets Study Guide from Mometrix, ASTB Study Guide 2018, and I have the Master The ASVAB (23rd Ed) books along with other testing sites like Trivium Test Prep, Peterson's Practice, and Khan Academy or ASVAB android apps.

I feel like the Reading Comprehension in the GRE is overkill compared to everything else I have been reading. Would others agree?
I know Math is Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis... but do the math problems lean word based or straight computation?
As far as Mechanical, it is looking like I'm lacking here up until I hit circuits/current/voltage/etc. Are these questions with pictures or is a lot of it written out for computation?
Can I take blank paper and pencil with me?

Many thanks in advance! This site is fantastic so far!
I definitely got more word problems than straight "solve for x" type of problems.
 
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