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

[elariosa95]

Where can we find jantzen's, and what is it exactly?

Jantzen’s ASTB PBM simulator is a program that lets you simulate the throttle and stick portion of the ASTB. It can be found here:

FREE ASTB Simulator Program (For the Performance Based Measures section)

Hello Everyone! A buddy of mine and I realized there was no real way to train for the "throttle and stick" portion of the ASTB, so we decided to change that. I'm a computer science major at USNA and I felt like I should use what I know for something useful, so I made a trainer anyone can use...

www.airwarriors.com

You’ll need a throttle and stick to connect to your computer to use it. The one that most recruiting stations use is the Logitech X52, so I’d recommend that

 

[Oldsawbonez]

Jantzen’s ASTB PBM simulator is a program that lets you simulate the throttle and stick portion of the ASTB. It can be found here:

FREE ASTB Simulator Program (For the Performance Based Measures section)

Hello Everyone! A buddy of mine and I realized there was no real way to train for the "throttle and stick" portion of the ASTB, so we decided to change that. I'm a computer science major at USNA and I felt like I should use what I know for something useful, so I made a trainer anyone can use...

www.airwarriors.com

You’ll need a throttle and stick to connect to your computer to use it. The one that most recruiting stations use is the Logitech X52, so I’d recommend that

Thanks!

 

[Oldsawbonez]

Might be a stupid question but does anyone know of a good program to practice PBM with a joystick? The Jantzen's simulator is a great start but i would really like to practice with what will be used in the test.

 

[gtownjake]

Might be a stupid question but does anyone know of a good program to practice PBM with a joystick? The Jantzen's simulator is a great start but i would really like to practice with what will be used in the test.

Jantzens is THE one you need to use with the X52 hotas. Nothing else will compare to the real thing as well as Jantzens does. Matter of fact, I didn't even use an X52 to practice, just mouse and keyboard on the Jantzen sim to get my brain in the right state of mind and I got an 8 PFAR. Another thing that helps is reversing Y axis controls on video games.

Edit: Had I used an X52 to practice I definitely would have got a 9 PFAR (in retrospect). While practicing I went through the trouble of binding/syncing an old PS3 stick and throttle to my PC, which gave be a little bit of help.

 

[BurnedCash55]

I have a question I have been looking at math and I have ran into 2 things i understand most of the people on this forum has Learned PEMDAS, when I took my test the 2nd time I had Recived something like 2[23-3^{11-1*3(2-1)}] Some really lengthy and fairly complicated stuff but when i took my 2nd shot i got the same 44 oar and I went home to serch up BODMAS, one if the key differences is that B BRACKETS O ORDER (expo and square roots DIVISION BEFORE MULTIPLICATION, add then subtract where as PEMDAS Para EXPO but here we have MULTIPLICATION THEN DIVISION. would anyone recommend sticking to one order of operation vs another or did I just study things that wont be needed, Thank you all!

 

[markgonz]

I understand why your recruiter said that. Mine felt bad a little bit. But now left it up to me to continue looking for more information. I also used the Peterson OAR test prep as well.

Haha, the recruiter shouldn't have given you that study guide lol.

 

[BurnedCash55]

I understand why your recruiter said that. Mine felt bad a little bit. But now left it up to me to continue looking for more information. I also used the Peterson OAR test prep as well.

yeah this is a very simple thing to be honest good to practice the problems but you should have more material I hope some of this helps, know arithmetic, algebra, every backend in geometry, and some time to complete, as well as, Distance rate Time, I am in a study group online if you want to join we have member sharing their strengths and weakness we have been making some progress. I copied the formulas from this website its not pretty but I can give you the link https://www.effortlessmath.com/math-topics/astb-math-formulas/

 

[flyer4life2020]

That's correct, there's no sim section for the SIFT. It's been over a year since I've taken the ASVAB and SIFT so I'm struggling to remember any specifics, but the SIFT is noticeably more difficult (which I measure by how many questions I guessed). The mechanical comprehension section on the ASTB, for example, asked some unexpected questions about different types of kinetic energy, which I never even thought to study. More so than anything else, I found the ASTB slightly more difficult to study for because of the variety of questions asked. In other words, the questioned asked on the SIFT (and especially the ASVAB) were a lot more predictable and thus I could study them easier. I had to spend the majority of the time learning about helicopter aerodynamics, but I could answer just about every aviation question confidently. I had to guess more questions on the ANIT even with additional studying and flight hours.

If you think it would be helpful, I can give you my scores more each test and explain a bit about how I studied for them, but I think it's a stretch to draw any major conclusions by directly comparing them. More than anything else, I learned how to study and take a standardized test again in a military environment.

Hey, man, thanks for that, "but the SIFT is noticeably more difficult (which I measure by how many questions I guessed)" yeah I was curious if it was harder or easier than astb. What scores influence the sift the most if you recall? I know the ASVAB is mainly the GT (of 110+) which I'm assuming is only relevant for math, mechanical, and maybe one other. I wasn't expecting to sift to be harder though which is good to know, but considering it only two attempts maybe. If you can I'd love a breakdown of what you studied, how you did it, what you used, and your scores. Plus whatever tips you got, I know you said it's been a minute since you took it but whatever you got I'm sure would be valuable. I took the astb recently too, so some of it is still fresh which hopefully helps this test.

 

[Average Monke]

Hey, man, thanks for that, "but the SIFT is noticeably more difficult (which I measure by how many questions I guessed)" yeah I was curious if it was harder or easier than astb. What scores influence the sift the most if you recall? I know the ASVAB is mainly the GT (of 110+) which I'm assuming is only relevant for math, mechanical, and maybe one other. I wasn't expecting to sift to be harder though which is good to know, but considering it only two attempts maybe. If you can I'd love a breakdown of what you studied, how you did it, what you used, and your scores. Plus whatever tips you got, I know you said it's been a minute since you took it but whatever you got I'm sure would be valuable. I took the astb recently too, so some of it is still fresh which hopefully helps this test.

Sorry I had a brain fart when writing that. I meant the ASTB is harder than the SIFT. I don't have any information on how each section is weighted on the SIFT.

Scores:

ASVAB: 97
- 3 days of studying
- basic review of mental math and physics

SIFT: 72
- 2 weeks of studying
- bought SIFT practice test book and made sure I was able to answer every question
- lots of helicopter aerodynamics using this legend: https://www.youtube.com/@helicopterlessonsin10minut10

ASTB (1st take): 54 7/7/7
- 1 month of studying
- used similar strategy to SIFT with practice test book
- supplemented with more math and mechanical comprehension questions from Kyle's drive
- did NOT use compass trick

ASTB (2nd take): 63 8/8/7
- about 2.5 weeks of studying (10 months after the first take)
- primarily used Gomez's drive and random problems posted on this forum
- heavily leaned on this YouTube channel for math: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOrganicChemistryTutor
- used compass trick (would recommend practicing it before test)
- had additional experience from taking a ground school and some seat time in a friend's RV6 and Globe Swift
- overall, felt like I could improve my scores a little bit more (especially the PBM), but I'm happy and will be submitted my next packet with those 8s

AFOQT: TBD

 

[Anthony2000]

Sorry I had a brain fart when writing that. I meant the ASTB is harder than the SIFT. I don't have any information on how each section is weighted on the SIFT.

Scores:

ASVAB: 97
- 3 days of studying
- basic review of mental math and physics

SIFT: 72
- 2 weeks of studying
- bought SIFT practice test book and made sure I was able to answer every question
- lots of helicopter aerodynamics using this legend: https://www.youtube.com/@helicopterlessonsin10minut10

ASTB (1st take): 54 7/7/7
- 1 month of studying
- used similar strategy to SIFT with practice test book
- supplemented with more math and mechanical comprehension questions from Kyle's drive
- did NOT use compass trick

ASTB (2nd take): 63 8/8/7
- about 2.5 weeks of studying (10 months after the first take)
- primarily used Gomez's drive and random problems posted on this forum
- heavily leaned on this YouTube channel for math: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOrganicChemistryTutor
- used compass trick (would recommend practicing it before test)
- had additional experience from taking a ground school and some seat time in a friend's RV6 and Globe Swift
- overall, felt like I could improve my scores a little bit more (especially the PBM), but I'm happy and will be submitted my next packet with those 8s

AFOQT: TBD

Did you take the SIFT for practice? I was thinking about just taking the SIFT for practice... Did they need anything filled out on your end to take it or did you just ask to come in and take it?

 

[Average Monke]

Did you take the SIFT for practice? I was thinking about just taking the SIFT for practice... Did they need anything filled out on your end to take it or did you just ask to come in and take it?

No, it was definitely not just for practice. At the time, I was going to do WOFT as I thought it was easiest and only realistic chance at becoming a military aviator. Clearly I realized there are more options as I’m now here, but I would probably already be in flight school if I stayed on the WOFT path.

 

[flyer4life2020]

No, it was definitely not just for practice. At the time, I was going to do WOFT as I thought it was easiest and only realistic chance at becoming a military aviator. Clearly I realized there are more options as I’m now here, but I would probably already be in flight school if I stayed on the WOFT path.

Thanks for that write-up. Also yeah for me these delays are quite annoying, to say the least. I took my Navy astb already, but considering going commission officer guard route seems like the sweet spot I feel. Hence why I'm considering taking army and usaf tests too, however, the Navy is the only branch I'd consider going AD.

 

[averagebronwie8]

Jantzen’s ASTB PBM simulator is a program that lets you simulate the throttle and stick portion of the ASTB. It can be found here:

FREE ASTB Simulator Program (For the Performance Based Measures section)

Hello Everyone! A buddy of mine and I realized there was no real way to train for the "throttle and stick" portion of the ASTB, so we decided to change that. I'm a computer science major at USNA and I felt like I should use what I know for something useful, so I made a trainer anyone can use...

www.airwarriors.com

You’ll need a throttle and stick to connect to your computer to use it. The one that most recruiting stations use is the Logitech X52, so I’d recommend that

Does Jantzen's support throttle and stick? Going to order the X52 if so.

 

[gtownjake]

Does Jantzen's support throttle and stick? Going to order the X52 if so.

There’s some write ups on how to connect it. I may be wrong but I believe you have to get a program to bind controls of HOTAS to the respective keys in the sim.

But yes, it will work.

 

[tanon]

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread. Especially the guys who made the simulator.
(https://jantzenx.github.io/ASTB/)

Scores:
OAR 66
AQR 8
PFAR 6
FOFAR 7

Applying for SNA in June, fingers crossed!