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

BDavis11

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Bet, I will start looking right now. And man it’s crazy right? Have you started your package yet?
yes i have. just did my flight physical about a week ago and waiting for those results to come back. my next step is to retake the astb and set up my appraisals.
 

EFCepeda

Member
What kind of factoring problems/D=RT problems did you see?



Distance Rate Time problems are like anything from the google drive. They are about the same in terms of question type and difficulty.
For factoring, they threw this one big problem at me. It was like a 10 step simplifying problem. Squared expressions of X times cubed expressions of X, all divided by some factorable expression of X. It's been over a month since I took the exam so it's hard to remember exactly. I used IXL but for factoring it didn't come close to that. I think because I messed that up it kicked me out and didn't give me other kinds of math.
 

Duffman

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
Just took the ASTB for the first time, and my scores were a 50 5-7-7

My recruiter said that these scores are good enough to get selected and suggested that I shouldn't retake it.

Some advice that I will share with you guys is to study as much as you can and be confident in your ability. Personally during the test I was doubting myself because it seemed like most of the questions I didn't understand, but with studying the right material I ended up making educated guess's on what the right answer could possibly be. Try to remain positive while you're taking the exam because you're most likely doing better than what you actually think. Even I was surprised with the score I received.

Study Materials That I Used:

Books: Barron's military flight aptitude test, and the Trivium test prep ASTB 2020-2021 book
If you're new to this site and just now starting fresh I would recommend getting those books, because they give you a good start on developing the fundamentals that you'll need for this exam.

Websites: Also a good starting point is getting a subscription with UGO prep. I paid for their premium study guide for the ASTB. In that website they give you a lot of practice questions that are similar to the exam. If you don't understand the questions, they provide a detailed explanation on how to solve that particular problem which really helped me out.

Lastly, USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT. USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT. USE IT. TRUST ME. The link is at the bottom of the post. This study kit alone can make you prepared enough to pass this exam. USE IT.

Math:

For my exam I got a lot of Log and probability questions. I didn't get any DRT problems or factoring problems. Also had some geometry and percentage problems. If I could of studied more for this exam it would have definitely been on the probability questions. In Kyles Study Kit, in the math section, there are worksheets with DRT problems and Probability problems. Go there and make sure you have a clear understanding on how to solve those questions. I maybe answered 20 questions before it kicked me out. Most likely because I didn't get those probability questions right.

Reading:

This section is very tricky. They will throw in answers that are actually correct, but you have the choose the one that is directly related with the passage. This section is very boring, but don't lose your focus and continue to push through.

Mechanical:

Simple machines were very common on this section. Got a couple questions with 1st class levers and their MA. Also had some pulley, piston, gears, inclined plane, and circuit questions. If you study enough you will have a good idea on what the answer could possibly be without fully understanding the question. I would also recommended to USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT for this section.

Aviation and Nautical Information:

Study everything and anything that you can get your hands on for this section. Know everything that makes up a plane and boat. Know that Chuck Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier, and know the history of certain planes. I didn't do so well on this section, but apparently I did good enough to pass.

For the rest of the information go through this forum. Know how to effectively be able to do the UAV with the compass trick, and know what to expect for the Stick and Throttle section. Other than that I wish you all the best of luck on this exam. Remember to stay confident and focused throughout this regardless of the situation, because like I said before... YOU'RE MOST LIKELY DOING BETTER THAN YOU THINK. YOU GOT THIS.

Oh and don't forget,

USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT.
 
Last edited:

gspock

New Member
What kinds of geometry questions
Just took the ASTB for the first time, and my scores were a 50 5-7-7

My recruiter said that these scores are good enough to get selected and suggested that I shouldn't retake it.

Some advice that I will share with you guys is to study as much as you can and be confident in your ability. Personally during the test I was doubting myself because it seemed like most of the questions I didn't understand, but with studying the right material I ended up making educated guess's on what the right answer could possibly be. Try to remain positive while you're taking the exam because you're most likely doing better than what you actually think. Even I was surprised with the score I received.

Study Materials That I Used:

Books: Barron's military flight aptitude test, and the Trivium test prep ASTB 2020-2021 book
If you're new to this site and just now starting fresh I would recommend getting those books, because they give you a good start on developing the fundamentals that you'll need for this exam.

Websites: Also a good starting point is getting a subscription with UGO prep. I paid for their premium study guide for the ASTB. In that website they give you a lot of practice questions that are similar to the exam. If you don't understand the questions, they provide a detailed explanation on how to solve that particular problem which really helped me out.

Lastly, USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT. USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT. USE IT. TRUST ME. The link is at the bottom of the post. This study kit alone can make you prepared enough to pass this exam. USE IT.

Math:

For my exam I got a lot of Log and probability questions. I didn't get any DRT problems or factoring problems. Also had some geometry and percentage problems. If I could of studied more for this exam it would have definitely been on the probability questions. In Kyles Study Kit, in the math section, there are worksheets with DRT problems and Probability problems. Go there and make sure you have a clear understanding on how to solve those questions. I maybe answered 20 questions before it kicked me out. Most likely because I didn't get those probability questions right.

Reading:

This section is very tricky. They will throw in answers that are actually correct, but you have the choose the one that is directly related with the passage. This section is very boring, but don't lose your focus and continue to push through.

Mechanical:

Simple machines were very common on this section. Got a couple questions with 1st class levers and their MA. Also had some pulley, piston, gears, inclined plane, and circuit questions. If you study enough you will have a good idea on what the answer could possibly be without fully understanding the question. I would also recommended to USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT for this section.

Aviation and Nautical Information:

Study everything and anything that you can get your hands on for this section. Know everything that makes up a plane and boat. Know that Chuck Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier, and know the history of certain planes. I didn't do so well on this section, but apparently I did good enough to pass.

For the rest of the information go through this forum. Know how to effectively be able to do the UAV with the compass trick, and know what to expect for the Stick and Throttle section. Other than that I wish you all the best of luck on this exam. Remember to stay confident and focused throughout this regardless of the situation, because like I said before... YOU'RE MOST LIKELY DOING BETTER THAN YOU THINK. YOU GOT THIS.

Oh and don't forget,

USE KYLES ASTB STUDY KIT.
What kind of geometry questions did you see?
 

Duffman

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
What kinds of geometry questions

What kind of geometry questions did you see?
All I remember was, if the perimeter of a square is 40 inches but the width of the square was shortened 2 inches to make a rectangle. What is the area? My first guess was to multiply 10x8 to get the area of a rectangle but 80 wasn’t the answer. So I ended up adding the 2 inches to the length because the question didn’t say the perimeter changed. So I multiplied 12x8 and 96 was one of the answers on the exam. So that was my best guess, not sure if it’s correct or not. If you want to study learn the areas and volumes for certain shapes. I studied for squares, rectangles, triangles, circles (also the circumference), cubes, and spheres.
 

gspock

New Member
All I remember was, if the perimeter of a square is 40 inches but the width of the square was shortened 2 inches to make a rectangle. What is the area? My first guess was to multiply 10x8 to get the area of a rectangle but 80 wasn’t the answer. So I ended up adding the 2 inches to the length because the question didn’t say the perimeter changed. So I multiplied 12x8 and 96 was one of the answers on the exam. So that was my best guess, not sure if it’s correct or not. If you want to study learn the areas and volumes for certain shapes. I studied for squares, rectangles, triangles, circles (also the circumference), cubes, and spheres.
Thanks! I will deff look over those different types of geometry problems!
 

mrj8

vdubtc
Long time lurker, and just wanted to pass along some gouge.



Recently took the ASTB and scored a 55 7/7/6. While these aren't amazing scores I am very happy with the outcome.



MST

This is the portion that I studied for the most. I didn't have a good grip on Algebra since It has been some years since college and I did Calc 1-3 and that is not really applicable to the basic algebra concepts. I primarily used khan academy and an open-source Algebra class. There are lots of guides with examples and practice problems that really solidified the concepts in my mind. (will link below)

The math section started out with simplifying sqrt(216) then it went to an averages problem. Ive seen it on the forum before. It was the one where if the average of two scores is .6 higher than 27.5 what must the score on two test be... then it went in to matrices multiplication and then a log. It got hard very fast. I got a question asking which function had an absolute minima ( I guessed c which was a X^3- something..). I got the averages question about the 7 tests where you were given scores 1,2,3 and test 4 was (2/3 the average of the first three tests) and test five was 12% less than test 4. What must be scored on 6 and 7 to score and average of 87. 7 + 8 in Base 4 (options were 15, 23, 21 or 22) I guessed 21 and moved on. Got the series question regarding 2v2, v2 and asking what the tenth # in the sequence was (32 since 2^1/2*10 = 2^10/2 = 2^5 = 32) got a radical expression one where it was not able to solve so you had to use the quadratic formula. Got an extremely long order of operations question and Im sure that I got it wrong because afterwords I got an easy root simplification problem then got kicked out.



RCT

This was extremely painful, boring and dry. I constantly read source documents and pubs in the Navy so I am slightly familiar with military verbiage. I couldn't tell if this was adaptive or not, they were all just very in depth long passages that mostly asked you to infer some piece of information from the passage. They started out relatively easy and asked a question regarding a piece of information clearly delineated in the text, but towards the end I was definitely making inferences. This subtest went the entire duration.



MCT

I was expecting a lot more physics or kinematics but I got a mixed bag of random questions. First question asked when Superconductivity occurs (Near extreme cold (yes), extreme hot or normal temperatures). Next was when is the speed of sound fastest in water, air or metal (I accidentally clicked water but its definitely fastest in metal [was so mad at myself lol]). Was given an electrical diagram where like 5 or 6 resisters converge into a single point and point A was before the resistor and point b was after the resistor (asking if the current was greater at point A or B). I was given a 2-D acceleration problem where a ball was thrown up and outward and it was asking to compare two different points (A and B) A was as the ball was going up (pos y direction) and B was as the ball was going down (still positive y direction but negative) I said that it was the same so I think that I might have gotten this one wrong. Got the question asking about a hot air ballon as it ascends in the atmosphere and what you must do in order to keep the volume constant ( air must be let out). I was given a picture of an aircraft doing a loop and asked at which point the G forces were the strongest. Similarly I was given a question about which design of a rollercoaster would be best for riders, there were 3 options a standard circle, a vertically oriented oval design and a horizontally elongated oval design I chose the third option. There was a teeter totter question with girl A on one side at a weigh of 40kg and two girls on the other side. One at 60kgx 1 meter away and another 60kg girl sitting behind her at a distance of 1.5 meters (did 40*x = 60(1)+60(1.5) = 3.75 meters. Got a question about a bar sticking out of a wall with a load at the end of it. Got a question asking what type of stress the bar was experiencing ( the options were tension, sheer and I dont remember the third because it didn't seem correct at all) went with sheer stress but that might have been wrong. Next was a string attached to a spring that was at the ceiling, attached was a load that was then routed up to a fixed pulley asking how it affected the force required to lift the load (doesn't have any effect). A got a belt question asking the relative speeds of 2 different driver wheels. If a satellite was in order and then altitude was. changed to a lower orbit would its acceleration increase, decrease or stay the same (decreased). Asked about an Ice skater and what happens to the angular momentum when she tucks her arms in ( conserved doesn't change).



ANIT

Control surfaces, Who the CAG reports to (options were super CAG, admiral, Co and XO. I accidentally put admiral but he reports to the CVN CO). Blue shirt on the flight deck and what their job is. Radar absorbing material on fighter jets ( options were absorbing tiles, aircraft aluminum and the other two were so outrages I dont remember) went with the absorbing tiles but didn't know if that was 100% correct. Asked what 7600 correlated to (lost comms). Bomber used around midway (Grumman Avenger). CVBG ( options were large, medium, small carrier battle group) went with large. I am not a pilot and got the random question of what is the required reserve fuel for night VFR ( options were 45, 60 90 or 120) 45 seemed reasonable and I looked it up afterwards and turned out to correct. Modifications made to CVNs with the introduction of the F-14 (larger steam catapults). What is planform, load factor and how it affects stall speed. What does frost do to affect take off speed. What control surface affects pitch. What is the AIM (IFR procedures).Im sure there were a few more but that's all I can remember.



This is really all I have to report. Good Luck
 

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rayg36

New Member
A question I remember from OAR.

According to the 1990 Census, the population of the United States was 2.49 x 10^8. The cost of taking the census in 1990 was 2.6 x 10^9 dollars. How much did the census cost per person in the United States?

anyone know how to solve?
 

haka

Well-Known Member
None
A question I remember from OAR.

According to the 1990 Census, the population of the United States was 2.49 x 10^8. The cost of taking the census in 1990 was 2.6 x 10^9 dollars. How much did the census cost per person in the United States?

anyone know how to solve?

Check out Khan Academy for Scientific Notation and Powers of Ten.

2.49 x 10^8 = 249,000,000. You move the decimal eight places to the right. So for 2.6 x 10^9, you'll be moving the decimal place nine places to the right to get 2,600,000,000. They want your answer in Dollars per Person. The "per" just means divided by. So Dollars/Person = 2600000000/249000000. Calculate for 10.44.

Alternatively, you can get both numbers to be x 10^8 to make this a little simpler. If they're both being multiplied by the same amount, you can cross those values out. To change 2.6 x 10^9 to be multiplied by 10^8 without changing the value, you'll move the decimal place one to the right. The multiplication factor is getting smaller, so we need to make the number bigger. 2.6 x 10^9 = 26 x 10^8.
Now we're back to Dollars/Person so 26/2.49 =10.44
 
Does anyone know how to make sense of these two diagrams? I don't understand why pulleys of the same size would rotate at different speeds. How is that possible? In the first diagram, if pulley 4 rotates faster than pulley five, wouldn't the belt eventually snap?27487
27487
 
Math section:
Its stupid important, and take your time! I think I ran out of time, APEX was acting slow and weird. However, I just cared about answering the question at hand to the best of my ability and trying not to guess, because right answers outweigh wrong answers. I put that theory to the test. Math equates to OAR and your AQR. I did get a binary question, and it was weird. Binary of 2 is 0010 or something which is 2x1 + 2x0. What is binary of 4 for (7 +8) or something like that. Answer choices were 15, 21,23,33. Yeah I guessed (when in doubt C it out).

Didn't notice anyone answer this question so I figured I'd explain it. Based off of the answer choices, I think it's asking for 7 + 8 to be converted to base-4. Here's how you do it.

7 + 8 = 15

Take 15 and repeatedly divide it and successive quotients by 4 (the base we're converting to):

15/4: quotient = 3, remainder = 3

Now we divide the quotient by the base:

3/4: quotient = 0 (we can stop now), remainder = 3

Lastly, write down the remainders IN THE REVERSE ORDER IN WHICH YOU CALCULATED THEM: 33 is the answer.

__

I'll do another example from base-10 to binary cause I've seen some other posters mention the test asking about binary.

9+4 to binary (aka base-2):

9+4 = 13

13/2: quotient = 6, remainder = 1
6/2: quotient = 3, remainder = 0
3/2: quotient = 1, remainder = 1
1/2: quotient = 0, remainder = 1

Remainders in reverse order are the answer: 1101

We can confirm the answer by converting the binary back to decimal (base-10). We do this by going from right to left and multiplying the digit by 2^i where i is the index starting at 0 and increasing by 1 with each new digit.

1 x 2^0 + 0 x 2^2 + 1 x 2^2 + 1 x 2^3 = 1 + 0 + 4 + 8 = 13, which is what we started with, so we know we did it right.

We can also do the same with our answer of 33 before. Convert it back to base 10 and if we get 15 then we know we converted correctly:

3 x 4^0 + 3 x 4^1 = 3 + 12 = 15




The same logic applies to all conversions between bases and you can even convert between odd bases, not just from and to base-10 which is what we're used to. Hexadecimal is common but probably not on the test so I think this is enough for this site.
 
Can someone also please explain this to me? It's from Kyle's guide. It says that A need less force to pull the weight but my understanding is that case B has a mechanical advantage of 2 but case A has a mechanical advantage of 1. Am I wrong or is the answer in the file incorrect?
 

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Sorry for the flood of posts but I think this answer should be 10ft instead of 15ft. Sorry again if these are errors that have been pointed out before. If they're not errors please correct me!
 

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user24

New Member
Hey everyone,

I’ve been using AW to study for the last few weeks. I recently took the ASTB and feel obligated to share my scores and advice given how useful AW has been to me. I scored a 64 9/9/9. I’m really happy with the scores and was pleasantly surprised.

My background: I have about 350 hours of single-engine flight time and a commercial pilot’s license. I don’t play video games and didn’t play any games to prepare for the ASTB.

General resources used: Barron book (only the astb test section, and astb pertinent study sections), Marine gouge, AW (about 50-60 pages back), OAR math guide by Miro, practice problems in the ARCO GRE math book, Kyle’s drive, and briefly the FAA’s publications (FARAIM, PHAK).

AW, Kyle’s, and the FAA pubs were king for me. AW has a ton of resources and I HIGHLY recommend people go back at least 50 pages…also use the search bar!!

Math: Volume, surface area, work problems, exponents and roots, DRT, venn diagram probability, combinatorics. Kicked out with about 5 min left. Heed the previous AW posts on exam questions!!!!!!

Reading: It’s really dry, y’all. But I pretended that I was highly interested in each paragraph. I wrote down A-D and crossed out answer choices as I eliminated them. I read it to myself out loud multiple times and made sure that whatever choice I went with came directly from the reading. Took the whole time.

Mechanical: My weakest section. Circuits, springs, ideal gas laws, kinematics (velocity and acc), pulleys, no levers, no calculations. Whole time, 15 min?

ANIT: My strongest section because of my flying history. The test went DEEP on flying, such as VFR rules and aerodynamics. I hoped it was because I was doing well. Some Naval history that is already floating around and boat parts, no aircraft parts or axes. Kicked out with about 3 min left.

UAV: I really struggled during the practice on exam day with this as the cards I had used had the compass arrow. I had to adjust quickly but then again one can practice as much as needed for this section on test day. I practiced a ton on test day haha. I used the compass trick and missed one. So mad but I’ll take it.

PBM: As chaotic as previously stated many times in previous posts. Knowing this actually helped me immensely. I knew my suck was most likely normal. This calmed me down. Those damn aircraft are quick buggers. I tried to lead it to where I thought it was going and also was as smooth as I could be while doing it. I think the combined dichotic listening section was easier for me sense I’ve flown in dense airspace and have had to fly while communicating with air traffic control. I leaned when I could towards the ear, but actually felt capable of flying and listening, luckily. The letters/numbers are not spoken that quickly. The throttle that was used to track the side aircraft had some stops at the most extreme ends of the control (all the way up and all the way down). I tried to avoid these zones as it wouldn’t move for a few seconds if I went extreme up/down. I tried to instead catch the fella on his descent back down and ascent back up. Again, it is awfully hard, but just do your best and relax.

Emergencies: Write them down of course, but I got my first emergency and the first required item was already in place, so I just skipped over to item 2 and clutch…it didn’t register. So, I quickly went through it again and it cleared! Be prepared for weird stuff like this.

Good luck, y’all. Take your time to become as prepared as you can. Bring a snack and some water. Thank you to everyone who previously posted. You all helped me tremendously. Tailwinds.
 
Hey everyone,

I’ve been using AW to study for the last few weeks. I recently took the ASTB and feel obligated to share my scores and advice given how useful AW has been to me. I scored a 64 9/9/9. I’m really happy with the scores and was pleasantly surprised.

My background: I have about 350 hours of single-engine flight time and a commercial pilot’s license. I don’t play video games and didn’t play any games to prepare for the ASTB.

General resources used: Barron book (only the astb test section, and astb pertinent study sections), Marine gouge, AW (about 50-60 pages back), OAR math guide by Miro, practice problems in the ARCO GRE math book, Kyle’s drive, and briefly the FAA’s publications (FARAIM, PHAK).

AW, Kyle’s, and the FAA pubs were king for me. AW has a ton of resources and I HIGHLY recommend people go back at least 50 pages…also use the search bar!!

Math: Volume, surface area, work problems, exponents and roots, DRT, venn diagram probability, combinatorics. Kicked out with about 5 min left. Heed the previous AW posts on exam questions!!!!!!

Reading: It’s really dry, y’all. But I pretended that I was highly interested in each paragraph. I wrote down A-D and crossed out answer choices as I eliminated them. I read it to myself out loud multiple times and made sure that whatever choice I went with came directly from the reading. Took the whole time.

Mechanical: My weakest section. Circuits, springs, ideal gas laws, kinematics (velocity and acc), pulleys, no levers, no calculations. Whole time, 15 min?

ANIT: My strongest section because of my flying history. The test went DEEP on flying, such as VFR rules and aerodynamics. I hoped it was because I was doing well. Some Naval history that is already floating around and boat parts, no aircraft parts or axes. Kicked out with about 3 min left.

UAV: I really struggled during the practice on exam day with this as the cards I had used had the compass arrow. I had to adjust quickly but then again one can practice as much as needed for this section on test day. I practiced a ton on test day haha. I used the compass trick and missed one. So mad but I’ll take it.

PBM: As chaotic as previously stated many times in previous posts. Knowing this actually helped me immensely. I knew my suck was most likely normal. This calmed me down. Those damn aircraft are quick buggers. I tried to lead it to where I thought it was going and also was as smooth as I could be while doing it. I think the combined dichotic listening section was easier for me sense I’ve flown in dense airspace and have had to fly while communicating with air traffic control. I leaned when I could towards the ear, but actually felt capable of flying and listening, luckily. The letters/numbers are not spoken that quickly. The throttle that was used to track the side aircraft had some stops at the most extreme ends of the control (all the way up and all the way down). I tried to avoid these zones as it wouldn’t move for a few seconds if I went extreme up/down. I tried to instead catch the fella on his descent back down and ascent back up. Again, it is awfully hard, but just do your best and relax.

Emergencies: Write them down of course, but I got my first emergency and the first required item was already in place, so I just skipped over to item 2 and clutch…it didn’t register. So, I quickly went through it again and it cleared! Be prepared for weird stuff like this.

Good luck, y’all. Take your time to become as prepared as you can. Bring a snack and some water. Thank you to everyone who previously posted. You all helped me tremendously. Tailwinds.
You’re a beast!. Regarding VFR rules did they ask you for specific rules? Or just what it was? Also did they give you equation like surface area on the math portion? Also what do you mean that the UAV practice used arrows and the test did not? Did you use the UAV compass trick and still struggle?
 
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