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

[juliannnt]

I just wanted to extend my thanks to everyone on this forum for all the help they've provided. After a couple weeks of hard studying managed to come out with:

OAR: 57
AQR: 6
PFAR: 8
FOFAR: 7

Was assured by everyone at the office my scores were good enough and to not retest so I'll submit with those.
I want to highlight something for everyone that is super worried about the test:

On the first day of my test I had 13 systems crashes, and had to redo an entire section on the test. My moral was SO shot, that when I went in today to finish the test, I was already preparing for the second attempt because I had completely written this one off. I mean it when I say I could have sworn I failed this shit. Ran out of time in reading and math sections, and didn't feel confident in any answer ever. So I went in to just finish it off so I could move onto the next one. Turns out I ended up doing okay. Do not count yourself out before crossing the finish line - I learned that lesson today. Can't say what a relief it is to not have to take this thing again. My one piece of advice if you're unsure about how you will do is just study...and study....and study some more, until your head hurts. I graduated nearly 4 years ago, and had to reteach myself everything math wise, on top of learning physics, and all the nautical/aviation stuff, and I hadn't taken any classes like that since freshman year.. With only a couple weeks to study, and running a business with an average of 14-16 hour work days, I was able to do it. Didn't sleep much, but I did it. Believe me, you can do it.. If anyone else is in a similar situation, keep pushing, and keep your eyes on the prize, don't give up.

Info on the particular sections is the same as what's been said before. Nothing new there. The whole test is designed to make you feel like an idiot. Below you can find a drop box link with all the material I used to study. Hope it helps! Thanks again everyone

Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

 

[ArtieB44]

Hello all,

First time poster here! I have taken the ASTB twice now and I'm about to take it for the third time and I'm super nervous about it, but I have been putting it off for the longest time and now its time to just do it! I have been studying for the last few months, still nervous on math and mechanical portion. My first test going in blind was a 40 4/5/5 and those were the minimums AT THE TIME and when i submitted for the July board last year the PA at the time and 1420b i was good but the PA changed while my package was already to NRC and they kicked it back because the board had not conviened yet so i no longer qualified. Total bummer... Took it a second time and got 45 4/6/6. Instant gut punch. So no here i am studying everyday and hoping i can raise that score. Going thru the thread you guys and girls have posted some good stuff that i am taking as gospel at this point.

Age: 27
B.S. Criminology 3.10 gpa
8yrs current active duty Naval Aircrewman
NATOPS Instructor
CRM Facilitator
Pretty much just a dude trying to stay aviation either SNA/SNFO

 

[jeffersjack]

I've been lurking around these parts for the past couple of months in preparation of my exam. I took it today and got 66 9/9/8. I'm not going to repeat anything that has already been said, but I feel that I have a few important things to make note of:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MATH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT TO STUDY! It is taken into account for your OAR and it is heavily weighted in both your AQR and FOFAR. That's a huge portion of your scores. I'm very surprised that I never saw this point made on this forum, although I only read about 1/3 of the pages. I'm a math major, so my background pretty much carried me through this test. Study everything you see in the math gouges and know it well. I saw at least one of every type of math problem I can think of. More bold explanation marks to emphasize this part: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE NATFI IS NOT USED FOR ANY OF YOUR SCORES. At least, according to everything I've read, I haven't found what section it's used for. Since it doesn't seem to be used for a score, don't stress about your answers. Just answer honestly and use this section as a long break.

UAV NO LONGER GIVES YOU UNLIMITED PRACTICE. I got eight practice problems and it threw me into the real thing.
I didn't draw the compass. I would put my cursor where north would be if the arrow were pointing north. Assume the arrow is pointing south-east, and tells you to choose the north parking lot. That is two lots counter-clockwise from where the cursor currently is. Count "1... 2..." to the left, and you're there. Get used to this method and you can do it faster in your head than you could with a compass. I didn't miss any here and averaged 1.5-2 seconds.

ASK YOUR RECRUITER WHERE THE NEAREST POSSIBLE TESTING CENTER IS. Maybe this is obvious to you, but I didn't want to begin my military career by annoyingly questioning my recruiting officer, so I figured if there was a closer testing site, he'd have told me. That's how I ended up driving three hours to Atlanta when I could have driven one hour to Montgomery, and didn't find out it was an option until after my test.

BRING EARPLUGS. My testing center decided to have a whole-ass promotion ceremony outside of my door, so I'm very happy to have brought a pair.

THROTTLE & STICK. People have mentioned that it's inverted, but haven't covered it in enough detail. Maybe my test was just messed up, but be prepared:

• Push the throttle forward and the 1-dimensional cross-hairs go upwards.
• Push the stick forward and the 2-dimensional cross-hairs go down.

Unless you've had a corpus callosotomy, you will not be comfortable doing this, so get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I was seemingly incompetent at this but still got an 8. It's supposed to make you feel like an infant, so just have fun with it.

I don't have any advice that hasn't been given in the past pages. This site has been my most valuable resource.

Annoying side story: During the listening portion, my headphones were playing both letters/numbers in each ear.
i.e. If left said "A" and right said "8", both came out of each speaker at the same time, so I had absolutely no way to distinguish any difference. At first I thought I was auditorily handicapped, but I told those in charge, and after two hours they got it fixed and the PBM section became much easier. Thus, my 2.5-hour test became a 5-hour test.

 

[TF7325]

I've been lurking around these parts for the past couple of months in preparation of my exam. I took it today and got 66 9/9/8. I'm not going to repeat anything that has already been said, but I feel that I have a few important things to make note of:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MATH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT TO STUDY! It is taken into account for your OAR and it is heavily weighted in both your AQR and FOFAR. That's a huge portion of your scores. I'm very surprised that I never saw this point made on this forum, although I only read about 1/3 of the pages. I'm a math major, so my background pretty much carried me through this test. Study everything you see in the math gouges and know it well. I saw at least one of every type of math problem I can think of. More bold explanation marks to emphasize this part: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE NATFI IS NOT USED FOR ANY OF YOUR SCORES. At least, according to everything I've read, I haven't found what section it's used for. Since it doesn't seem to be used for a score, don't stress about your answers. Just answer honestly and use this section as a long break.

UAV NO LONGER GIVES YOU UNLIMITED PRACTICE. I got eight practice problems and it threw me into the real thing.
I didn't draw the compass. I would put my cursor where north would be if the arrow were pointing north. Assume the arrow is pointing south-east, and tells you to choose the north parking lot. That is two lots counter-clockwise from where the cursor currently is. Count "1... 2..." to the left, and you're there. Get used to this method and you can do it faster in your head than you could with a compass. I didn't miss any here and averaged 1.5-2 seconds.

ASK YOUR RECRUITER WHERE THE NEAREST POSSIBLE TESTING CENTER IS. Maybe this is obvious to you, but I didn't want to begin my military career by annoyingly questioning my recruiting officer, so I figured if there was a closer testing site, he'd have told me. That's how I ended up driving three hours to Atlanta when I could have driven one hour to Montgomery, and didn't find out it was an option until after my test.

BRING EARPLUGS. My testing center decided to have a whole-ass promotion ceremony outside of my door, so I'm very happy to have brought a pair.

THROTTLE & STICK. People have mentioned that it's inverted, but haven't covered it in enough detail. Maybe my test was just messed up, but be prepared:

• Push the throttle forward and the 1-dimensional cross-hairs go upwards.
• Push the stick forward and the 2-dimensional cross-hairs go down.

Unless your hand-eye coordination is immaculate, you will not be comfortable doing this, so get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I was seemingly incompetent at this but still got an 8. It's supposed to make you feel like an infant, so just have fun with it.

I don't have any advice that hasn't been given in the past pages. This site has been my most valuable resource.

Annoying side story: During the listening portion, my headphones were playing both letters/numbers in each ear.
i.e. If left said "A" and right said "8", both came out of each speaker at the same time, so I had absolutely no way to distinguish any difference. At first I thought I was auditorily handicapped, but I told those in charge, and after two hours they got it fixed and the PBM section became much easier. Thus, my 2.5-hour test became a 5-hour test.

The UAV portion still does give you unlimited practice. The math portion has been mentioned to be important for both the OAR and AQR. There are numerous different ways to navigate the UAV portion. I believe the NAFTI factors into the pilot/ fofar scores, but I’m not sure. Anyways, congrats on your scores man. To which community are you applying?

 

[jeffersjack]

The UAV portion still does give you unlimited practice. The math portion has been mentioned to be important for both the OAR and AQR. There are numerous different ways to navigate the UAV portion. I believe the NAFTI factors into the pilot/ fofar scores, but I’m not sure. Anyways, congrats on your scores man. To which community are you applying?

Thank you! I'm applying for SNA.
I trust that you're right on everything else you said, but in my test, I was given eight chances. It even said 1/8, 2/8, ... the whole time, and directly after clicking the final parking lot, it sent me into the real thing. Maybe it's a new update. Maybe that's just how the test goes in Atlanta. Who knows?

 

[TF7325]

Thank you! I'm applying for SNA.
I trust that you're right on everything else you said, but in my test, I was given eight chances. It even said 1/8, 2/8, ... the whole time, and directly after clicking the final parking lot, it sent me into the real thing. Maybe it's a new update. Maybe that's just how the test goes in Atlanta. Who knows?

You had to hit the back button after the final parking lot, otherwise if you don’t it sends you into the test.

 

[jeffersjack]

You had to hit the back button after the final parking lot, otherwise if you don’t it sends you into the test.

Ohhhhh. I'm a damn fool.

 

[RMV]

Took ASTB today
Oar: 53 6/7/6

Not the best, but i'm not the brightest bulb.

I do not believe you need 9's, relax and take the test when you are prepared.

Math: Got blindsided. This is hard to prepare for. Don't skip it though. It was over in 25 min, the test got me quick.

Reading: Required lots of caffeine for me. Hard question, easy, easy, hard, easy. - I toed the line for the whole duration.

Mech: Saw lots of very similar questions to what I studied. - Moved too fast, take time to reason.

- My reading and mech probably salvaged my score. However, study math.

ANIT- piece of cake. Read through the resources I will link, From Black n Gold

PBM - Read the instructions - focused on what I could get... Dichotic and vertical tracking. Lean toward target ear. Write down knobs and procedures. I even wrote down even and odd number to reference. Write it down.

TF7325 - Use his UAV trick. Write out all possible options.

Black N Gold - https://www.airwarriors.com/communi...our-questions-here.28348/page-302#post-923986

Use those resources for Mech and Anit.

Ear plugs required.

Lots of scratch paper.

Strategic caffeine and supplements.

Cheers

I used Kieno Thomas tutoring. It was helpful.

 

[TF7325]

Took ASTB today
Oar: 53 6/7/6

Not the best, but i'm not the brightest bulb.

I do not believe you need 9's, relax and take the test when you are prepared.

Math: Got blindsided. This is hard to prepare for. Don't skip it though. It was over in 25 min, the test got me quick.

Reading: Required lots of caffeine for me. Hard question, easy, easy, hard, easy. - I toed the line for the whole duration.

Mech: Saw lots of very similar questions to what I studied. - Moved too fast, take time to reason.

- My reading and mech probably salvaged my score. However, study math.

ANIT- piece of cake. Read through the resources I will link, From Black n Gold

PBM - Read the instructions - focused on what I could get... Dichotic and vertical tracking. Lean toward target ear. Write down knobs and procedures. I even wrote down even and odd number to reference. Write it down.

TF7325 - Use his UAV trick. Write out all possible options.

Black N Gold - https://www.airwarriors.com/communi...our-questions-here.28348/page-302#post-923986

Use those resources for Mech and Anit.

Ear plugs required.

Lots of scratch paper.

Strategic caffeine and supplements.

Cheers

I used Kieno Thomas tutoring. It was helpful.

Hey Congrats!! Are you submitting for the May board? And great gouge by the way, your scores are definitely on par for a pro rec Y.

 

[RMV]

Hey Congrats!! Are you submitting for the May board? And great gouge by the way, your scores are definitely on par for a pro rec Y.

Thanks you helped out major for the UAV. I'm not sure when i'm going to submit yet.

 

[RMV]

One thing to consider.

Take the GRE while you are studied up for the ASTB. You may use it in your career.

 

[ArtieB44]

Hello all,

First time poster here! I have taken the ASTB twice now and I'm about to take it for the third time and I'm super nervous about it, but I have been putting it off for the longest time and now its time to just do it! I have been studying for the last few months, still nervous on math and mechanical portion. My first test going in blind was a 40 4/5/5 and those were the minimums AT THE TIME and when i submitted for the July board last year the PA at the time and 1420b i was good but the PA changed while my package was already to NRC and they kicked it back because the board had not conviened yet so i no longer qualified. Total bummer... Took it a second time and got 45 4/6/6. Instant gut punch. So no here i am studying everyday and hoping i can raise that score. Going thru the thread you guys and girls have posted some good stuff that i am taking as gospel at this point.

Age: 27
B.S. Criminology 3.10 gpa
8yrs current active duty Naval Aircrewman
NATOPS Instructor
CRM Facilitator
Pretty much just a dude trying to stay aviation either SNA/SNFO

Well took it today for the third time and still a no go 45 4/7/7... so good luck to you future aviators!

 

[Rahul Gupta]

Well took it today for the third time and still a no go 45 4/7/7... so good luck to you future aviators!

What do you mean by "no go"? If you do not apply or go forward with your scores then you guarantee yourself a "no go". Let me give you some insight, if I may...
Firstly, you have improved every-time that you've taken this test which is to your favor by a total of 4 points (4/5/5 to 4/7/7) which aint too shabby (actually is an amazing thing so CONGRATS). You definitely got the 7's in your favor, now the 4 may seem a lil daunting to you - and maybe the board for that matter, BUT, it is definitely not unlikely for you to get an SNA pick, assuming you've got other things tied down. Worst case you get NFO, which is still great! If I were you I'd apply, bc (a) that was the last time you could take the test, and (b) your scores really are not that bad, i'd say you did pretty well overall. Keep your head up and aim high (AF motto not intended)!

 

[browntown]

What do you mean by "no go"? If you do not apply or go forward with your scores then you guarantee yourself a "no go". Let me give you some insight, if I may...
Firstly, you have improved every-time that you've taken this test which is to your favor by a total of 4 points (4/5/5 to 4/7/7) which aint too shabby (actually is an amazing thing so CONGRATS). You definitely got the 7's in your favor, now the 4 may seem a lil daunting to you - and maybe the board for that matter, BUT, it is definitely not unlikely for you to get an SNA pick, assuming you've got other things tied down. Worst case you get NFO, which is still great! If I were you I'd apply, bc (a) that was the last time you could take the test, and (b) your scores really are not that bad, i'd say you did pretty well overall. Keep your head up and aim high (AF motto not intended)!

He unfortunately can’t apply for SNA or NFO because they both have a minimum AQR score (the 4) of 5.

 

[Rahul Gupta]

He unfortunately can’t apply for SNA or NFO because they both have a minimum AQR score (the 4) of 5.

You are right. Well, in that case... I still say do not give up @ArtieB44 Here's something to consider...
I'm assuming that you are going OCS route. If your really intent on flying, have you also considered the Air Force. Don't get me wrong, if you are keen with going Navy then by all means, Go Navy! That said, if flying is something you really want, think about taking the AFOQT and applying to OTS. Of course this is your choice, but it is something to consider since it is a completely diff. test from the ASTB (not by material tested but by format). I'm not sure but you should also check what the Coast Guard's min's are in case you meet those (they also use the astb). Remember, there is always more than one way and one route to achieve your goals and an officer is an officer regardless of branch or commission source.