More theory, but make sure you know at least the basic formulas. Voltage, Newtons 2nd, etc.
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1,001 questions about the ASTB (post your scores & ask your questions here!)
- Thread starter edato
- Start date
For which part? I only used pencil for the UAV
nicksmitty220
New Member
I don’t use any trick for the uav. Some person told me to use a pencil for the terrain Identification section. I seriously cannot find a consistent method for it.
Do you need help? I did very well on the practice and the test. Hit me with a DM.
Maldruin
New Member
Hi all! Took the test yesterday and got a 57 6/5/5, wanted to write down initial thoughts and get some feedback on what I could improve for next time, as I’m really unsure where to begin. For context, I’m looking to go in as a Naval Aviator and I’m an Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic Major with a 2.85 GPA.
Math
This section definitely felt the easiest. Lots of algebra and geometry questions (equations provided), some harder probability questions. Know the number of cards in a deck of cards. Nothing that the Barton’s study book or ASTB Prep App didn’t cover.
Reading
Not hard, but was definitely some of the most dry reading I have ever done. I’ve heard this advice elsewhere on here, but try and pretend like each passage is the most fascinating read you’ve ever done. It helped a lot.
Mechanical
This is where I feel like I had the hardest time. Know how Mechanical Advantage works, and be able to solve for how much energy is needed to take advantage of each type of machine (Pulley, Slope, Gears, etc). Know basic concepts like water pressure, Newton’s Law, Ohm’s Law.
ANIT
This was overall fine, but also feel like my score here suffered. Was asked a lot of questions about ships, Aircraft Carriers in particular. Make sure you know where the bridge is on each type of Navy ship, and what it is called. Know Navy/Aviation History.
NAFTI
Just answer this as honestly as possible. 99 questions takes a while to get through, but just get through it.
PBM
UAV section is everything that the ASTB Prep app said it’d be. I’d recommend taking the headphones off for this part, it is definitely distracting and you instinctively want to wait to hear what direction the voice says before answering. Just take it off and you’ll improve your reaction time drastically.
Terrain Identification was alright, it was definitely as hard if not harder than the ASTB Prep App. I know this is where I lost a lot of points, hitting this section hard for review.
The Dichotic Listening went well, think I missed one throughout the entire test. Remember to lean your ear in the direction the voice says. And the direction WILL change several times during each part of the test. I didn’t anticipate this and it threw me off at first, but just remember to keep an ear out for the side shift.
The HOTAS tracking portion I honestly felt hurt me the most here. I’m not exactly sure if the program really does weigh your time on target or how jerky/smooth you are differently, but I was on target less than I wanted to be and was jerking the controls more than necessary. Take the practice time before each phase of these to calm down and take smooth, precise movements towards the reticules.
Emergency Procedures is a piece of cake so long as you write down the instructions on a scratch piece of paper beforehand.
Overall, disappointed in my scores. Taking it again in a month, but I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on what to study for? My OAR is decent, which tells me the Math, Reading, and Mechanical went relatively well. Should I focus more on the ANIT and PBMs this month leading up to the retake? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Math
This section definitely felt the easiest. Lots of algebra and geometry questions (equations provided), some harder probability questions. Know the number of cards in a deck of cards. Nothing that the Barton’s study book or ASTB Prep App didn’t cover.
Reading
Not hard, but was definitely some of the most dry reading I have ever done. I’ve heard this advice elsewhere on here, but try and pretend like each passage is the most fascinating read you’ve ever done. It helped a lot.
Mechanical
This is where I feel like I had the hardest time. Know how Mechanical Advantage works, and be able to solve for how much energy is needed to take advantage of each type of machine (Pulley, Slope, Gears, etc). Know basic concepts like water pressure, Newton’s Law, Ohm’s Law.
ANIT
This was overall fine, but also feel like my score here suffered. Was asked a lot of questions about ships, Aircraft Carriers in particular. Make sure you know where the bridge is on each type of Navy ship, and what it is called. Know Navy/Aviation History.
NAFTI
Just answer this as honestly as possible. 99 questions takes a while to get through, but just get through it.
PBM
UAV section is everything that the ASTB Prep app said it’d be. I’d recommend taking the headphones off for this part, it is definitely distracting and you instinctively want to wait to hear what direction the voice says before answering. Just take it off and you’ll improve your reaction time drastically.
Terrain Identification was alright, it was definitely as hard if not harder than the ASTB Prep App. I know this is where I lost a lot of points, hitting this section hard for review.
The Dichotic Listening went well, think I missed one throughout the entire test. Remember to lean your ear in the direction the voice says. And the direction WILL change several times during each part of the test. I didn’t anticipate this and it threw me off at first, but just remember to keep an ear out for the side shift.
The HOTAS tracking portion I honestly felt hurt me the most here. I’m not exactly sure if the program really does weigh your time on target or how jerky/smooth you are differently, but I was on target less than I wanted to be and was jerking the controls more than necessary. Take the practice time before each phase of these to calm down and take smooth, precise movements towards the reticules.
Emergency Procedures is a piece of cake so long as you write down the instructions on a scratch piece of paper beforehand.
Overall, disappointed in my scores. Taking it again in a month, but I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on what to study for? My OAR is decent, which tells me the Math, Reading, and Mechanical went relatively well. Should I focus more on the ANIT and PBMs this month leading up to the retake? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Definitely just start grinding the simulator and the ANIT stuff. If you master those two your PFAR willl go up drastically and that's what they really want to see for SNA. Like you said, your OAR is solid, you probably just got hurt by the PBM and ANIT stuff. Get a joystick and throttle and use them with the sim on the hardest difficulty, the actual test will feel a lot easier if you do that.
Did you not have any Terrain Identification?
Maldruin
New Member
Good call out, I did - and I think that went rather poorly for me as well. Prior to the test, I was scoring around 10/20 on the ASTB Prep App here. Definitely somewhere I can improve as well, just added my experience with it to my prior post as well
Okay thanks for the info. Was there a timer on the terrain ID part like there is in the app?
Hey man look for the post I made on this thread yesterday I got some good study resources there
Maldruin
New Member
Thank you so much, I just saved these for review. Going into it the second time, did you feel more prepared than the first time going in? What helped bring up your score the most between the first and second test, if you could guess?
Just going through the math and mechanical info in those drives was very helpful to me for the OAR but the ASTB app was incredibly helpful with terrain ID and just getting a better understanding of the other performance based things, the app is well worth the $25 just to practice for the performance based stuff. I felt more confident the second time because I knew what to expect and I prepared extensively using the study material and app.
Hello all! I took the ASTB yesterday for the first time and scored the following: 57 7/6/8. I will leave some of my thoughts below. Feel free to either respond to this message or DM me if you have any specific questions.
Math
I definitely rushed through this section. I operated under the belief that there were ~20 questions that I had to answer in 35 minutes. I think I finished up 15-20 minutes early, which was definitely a mistake on my part. KNOW PROBABILITY! I'd say that probability was probably 20-25% of my test, which I wish I would've studied more for.
Reading
Not much to say for this portion, read the passage until you understand it and move through somewhat efficiently.
Mechanical
I was most worried for this part, but was pretty relieved after taking it. I didn't actually think I was going to get questions as simple as equations such as "what is work?" with the answer being "force times distance," but I did. I think I had 3 or 4 questions that were simple definitions. I think I had maybe 1 or 2 mechanical advantage, but that's definitely still good stuff to know. Lots of basic physics problems, one that I remember seeing is along the lines of: one person shoots a bullet horizontally and another person drops a bullet at the same time. Which hits the ground first? Understand how pressure affects objects such as balloons high in the atmosphere. Understand relationship between gas, volume, pressure, etc. I think I had 3 or 4 problems asking which portion does velocity move the fastest in which was dependent on the size of the pipe opening. Definitely try multiple practice exams as I believe it is the best way to study for these things.
ANIT
This one is pretty difficult to study for, but I think I really over studied. I didn't have any history on mine, more conceptual questions than anything. Know how pressure and density change throughout the atmosphere. This probably goes without saying, but know how planes generate lift and what parts of a plane control what.
UAV
Exactly like the ASTB prep app (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!). My advice is to practice this until you can average ~1.5-2 secs. I didn't use the paper compass trick but still went perfect throughout this section. The way I learned how to do this section was to look at the building it wanted me to target (ie, North) then to look at my UAV orientation and to figure out which way it should turn to go in the direction of the building. Again, feel free to DM me if you'd like some more clarification.
Terrain ID
Identical to the app, I think it was probably 5 seconds longer on the test. My advice for this is to find a northern reference point on the minimap (ie two points that when connected point exactly north) and then to trace it over to the big map and get the direction.
Tracking/Listening
Use the jantzen simulator and practice dichotic listening on the app. Throughout the test, the "target ear" will switch ears so be ready to switch which ear the headphones are on throughout the test based on the target ear.
Emergency Procedures
Write down before hand and try to be familiar with them. Not a difficult part.
Final Thoughts/Recognition: I forget the user who made the ASTB Prep App but they are seriously a saving grace and I credit them for a lot of my success. GET THE APP. I also created a flashcard set that's a little less glitchy than the cram flashcards here: ANIT FLASHCARDS. I found Gomez's ASTB Gouge to be extremely helpful. Happy studying, and as I said before feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Math
I definitely rushed through this section. I operated under the belief that there were ~20 questions that I had to answer in 35 minutes. I think I finished up 15-20 minutes early, which was definitely a mistake on my part. KNOW PROBABILITY! I'd say that probability was probably 20-25% of my test, which I wish I would've studied more for.
Reading
Not much to say for this portion, read the passage until you understand it and move through somewhat efficiently.
Mechanical
I was most worried for this part, but was pretty relieved after taking it. I didn't actually think I was going to get questions as simple as equations such as "what is work?" with the answer being "force times distance," but I did. I think I had 3 or 4 questions that were simple definitions. I think I had maybe 1 or 2 mechanical advantage, but that's definitely still good stuff to know. Lots of basic physics problems, one that I remember seeing is along the lines of: one person shoots a bullet horizontally and another person drops a bullet at the same time. Which hits the ground first? Understand how pressure affects objects such as balloons high in the atmosphere. Understand relationship between gas, volume, pressure, etc. I think I had 3 or 4 problems asking which portion does velocity move the fastest in which was dependent on the size of the pipe opening. Definitely try multiple practice exams as I believe it is the best way to study for these things.
ANIT
This one is pretty difficult to study for, but I think I really over studied. I didn't have any history on mine, more conceptual questions than anything. Know how pressure and density change throughout the atmosphere. This probably goes without saying, but know how planes generate lift and what parts of a plane control what.
UAV
Exactly like the ASTB prep app (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!). My advice is to practice this until you can average ~1.5-2 secs. I didn't use the paper compass trick but still went perfect throughout this section. The way I learned how to do this section was to look at the building it wanted me to target (ie, North) then to look at my UAV orientation and to figure out which way it should turn to go in the direction of the building. Again, feel free to DM me if you'd like some more clarification.
Terrain ID
Identical to the app, I think it was probably 5 seconds longer on the test. My advice for this is to find a northern reference point on the minimap (ie two points that when connected point exactly north) and then to trace it over to the big map and get the direction.
Tracking/Listening
Use the jantzen simulator and practice dichotic listening on the app. Throughout the test, the "target ear" will switch ears so be ready to switch which ear the headphones are on throughout the test based on the target ear.
Emergency Procedures
Write down before hand and try to be familiar with them. Not a difficult part.
Final Thoughts/Recognition: I forget the user who made the ASTB Prep App but they are seriously a saving grace and I credit them for a lot of my success. GET THE APP. I also created a flashcard set that's a little less glitchy than the cram flashcards here: ANIT FLASHCARDS. I found Gomez's ASTB Gouge to be extremely helpful. Happy studying, and as I said before feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
bryandreis
New Member
Greetings everyone!
Currently, I'm collaborating with a Marine Corps officer recruiter to assemble my OCS package. However, to enhance my prospects of securing a pilot slot, I'm keen on applying to the Navy too. How should I proceed with submitting my application for SNA/OCS in the Navy? Do I need to engage with a Navy officer recruiter, or is there a specific destination where I can send my package?
Currently, I'm collaborating with a Marine Corps officer recruiter to assemble my OCS package. However, to enhance my prospects of securing a pilot slot, I'm keen on applying to the Navy too. How should I proceed with submitting my application for SNA/OCS in the Navy? Do I need to engage with a Navy officer recruiter, or is there a specific destination where I can send my package?