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

[twobecrazy]

Just took the test the other day and scored 9/9/9 64, then went in for my MEPS physical and got my eyes checked at 20/20, then proceeded to completely flunk the depth perception test. So long SNA, fingers crossed for an NFO spot now! As for the computer issues, I had something similar to Jlil41, I swear the thing began to bog down at points.

hmbeagle, why can't you still go SNA? I have read people flunk the depth perception test at MEPS then they take a different version and are G2G. You will probably have to go through a civilian doctor and have him sign something saying your depth perception is good. I would look into it if I was you unless you know for a fact that your depth perception is jacked up or you are completely happy with NFO and just want to get going. Do a quick search and you can see what others had to do to get passed on the depth percetion. Good Luck!

 

[rn87]

Well I'm going to take my exam tomorrow morning and just curious if theres any last minute information from anyone besides the usual relax and stay calm..haha. One question is that I have seen a numerous amount of different types of reading comprehension questions and am curious as to what others encountered with this section. For instance long passages with 3-4 questions relating to one passage or was there a passage per question, etc?? any feedback would be great..Thanks

 

[hmbeagle]

Jlil41, my OR sent me a list of links, but there's nothing there that you won't find on this site. Honestly, once I had a feel for the concepts that would be tested I went to wikipedia and just started reading, everything on there is pretty thorough.

Twobecrazy, thanks for the advice. I just saw an optometrist and passed the depth perception test, but my OR said not to count on the waiver getting through. It sounds like a lot of people struggle with the MEPS test though, so maybe I'll be ok. SNA or SNFO, I just want to get up in the air (though SNA is definitely my first choice).

Rn87, I don't know what the other forms are like but my reading section was entirely short paragraphs (<5 sentences) with just a single question per paragraph. It seemed pretty simple, definitely easier than either the LSAT or SAT.

 

[nativeofsandieg]

I got a question for yall if your up for it. I have been scratching my head on this one for a while.

#9 From the ARCO Flight Aptitude Book.

If (X-Y)² = 40 and X² + Y² = 60, then XY =

 

[hmbeagle]

Hey native, don't get hung up trying to solve for X or Y. The answer is 10, ad the solution looks like this:

(X-Y)^2 = 40 expands to X^2 - 2XY + Y^2 = 40

since you already know that X^2 + Y^2 = 60, then you can subtract and find that 2XY = 20

dividing both sides by 2 yields XY = 10. Sorry about the exponent signs, I'm typing on my phone and don't know how to superscript. Hope that helps.

 

[rn87]

Im glad this question was asked because im taking the test tomorrow and this is one I have trouble with too. Can anybody explain how (x-y)^2=40 expands into x^2-2xy+y^2.. I have just thought that (x-y)^2 was simply the same as x^2-y^2 so if anybody could explain this it would be great.. Thank you

 

[twobecrazy]

Im glad this question was asked because im taking the test tomorrow and this is one I have trouble with too. Can anybody explain how (x-y)^2=40 expands into x^2-2xy+y^2.. I have just thought that (x-y)^2 was simply the same as x^2-y^2 so if anybody could explain this it would be great.. Thank you

Remember FOIL... First Outer Inner Last... Basically (X-Y)^2 is the same as (X-Y)(X-Y)... Thus First... X*X = X^2.... Outer X*-Y = -XY... Inner -Y*X = -XY... Last -Y*-Y = Y^2....
So now your equation looks like X^2 -XY -XY +Y^2 which is the same thing as X^2 - 2XY + Y^2

 

[rn87]

Thank you that helps so much and makes me feel so dumb at the same time..haha..Much appreciated though

 

[nugget61]

Im glad this question was asked because im taking the test tomorrow and this is one I have trouble with too. Can anybody explain how (x-y)^2=40 expands into x^2-2xy+y^2.. I have just thought that (x-y)^2 was simply the same as x^2-y^2 so if anybody could explain this it would be great.. Thank you

Two's right but to save you time (since you'll be squeezed for it anyway). When it's something squared such as your (x-y)^2 it will always be variable1 squared +/- (+ if the original equation was plus, - if it was minus) 2*variable1*variable2 + variable2 squared.

(2x+3y)^2 = 4x^2+12xy+9y^2 (2x-3y)^2 = 4x^2-12xy+9y^2

(I thought my words were confusing so I wanted to give an example)

 

[nativeofsandieg]

Ah I got it now.... Love those ah ha moments...

(X-Y)²= 40

(X-Y)(X-Y) = 40.

Which Turns into X² - XY - XY + Y² = 40

X² + Y² = 2XY + 40

Since X² + Y² = 60, You can now set both equations to equal each other, and solve. Good shit! thanks a bunch guys.

 

[rn87]

Just got back and scored 7/8/8 56 on Form 4. Thought I would do better but cant do anything about it now. As for anyone that is still preparing for it read gstapes12 post on page 46 of this thread for some good insight. As for my opinion, with the exception of about 3 problems the math was a breeze. The reading section had one short paragraph per question so time wasn't really a factor with that either, however the difficulty of the passages as well as the answer choices are much more difficult than in the ARCO or Barrons test preps. The Mechanical portion I thought I was going to be just fine with since in both the ARCO and Barrons test prep I missed maybe 2 on each practice test. To my dismay I ended up only getting one question with a simple pulley setup and the rest were ones that I had never seen anything like in any of the test preps so I suggest maybe doing some more research outside of the test prep books since it is a possibility that you wont get questions that are even similar. As for the rest of the test I agree with some of the previous posts that the spacial apperception is pretty easy although very grainy pictures and slow loading of pictures didn't help. Thats it for now but if anyone has any questions send me a message and I would be more than happy to help if I can. After all the help of others on this site helped me a ton.

 

[usmcgirlhopeful]

Took from 3 last Friday. Got a 46, 5 7 5. Really thought I would do better especially on the last section. Has anyone else taken form 3 and struggled with the last section? Dang… one more point on the last section and I would have at least got the minimum for the marines and maybe got the ball rolling for the flight physical because everyone on this site talks about the long wait time. Planning on retaking. Anyone have any advice….
Thanks

 

[machodiesel]

How to know when you are ready?

I have used the search function which have brought me here to ask this question:

I am aware that nobody knows the mathematical formula for how scores on the astb are comprised. With that being said, I have been taking plenty of practice tests to get ready for the ASTB. What percentage would you say is safe? Perfection is the goal but so far my strategy has been study for a subtest, take the practice test, and if scored over 80% (military myth of 80 is gravy) move on to the next section and if not, restudy current section. Is this a safe strategy or do you believe that 80% on practice tests is still too low for marine corp standards?

 

[twobecrazy]

I have used the search function which have brought me here to ask this question:

I am aware that nobody knows the mathematical formula for how scores on the astb are comprised. With that being said, I have been taking plenty of practice tests to get ready for the ASTB. What percentage would you say is safe? Perfection is the goal but so far my strategy has been study for a subtest, take the practice test, and if scored over 80% (military myth of 80 is gravy) move on to the next section and if not, restudy current section. Is this a safe strategy or do you believe that 80% on practice tests is still too low for marine corp standards?

It is either on this site or usnavyocs.com that has an excel program that will compute your scores and give you an idea of what you would receive. However, be advised that it can only give you an idea because the actual ASTB is scored against other test takers. The excel version is only going to compute your score after you input the score in the appropriate field then what I would recommend is taking at least a point off of your AQR, PFAR, FOFAR then take about 5 points off your OAR and that would give you a better understanding of where you sit. Continue using the search function on both sites as this is how I came across this spreadsheet!

 

[sarahscott_88]

What is the deal with calculators and the ASTB? Is everything done on the computer and they expect you to be able to do the mechanical sections without a calculator? I want to be studying efficiently...