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

[GoBoilers25]

I just finished taking the ASTB for the first time and got a score of

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

I was talking to my recruiter who said this is a good score and I wouldn’t need to take it again. But I was wondering if it would be worth while to try and bump my scores up more since I went in there never using a joystick simulator and I know I struggled on the reading comprehension and I had a few miss clicks on the listing portion and terrain identification and UAV.

I would do the immediate selection program but unfortunately I have metal and plates in my mouth from a broken jaw 7 years ago and said I would need a waiver

Send it. The last 3 boards had 95%+ acceptance rates and you are way above the average applicant.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I just finished taking the ASTB for the first time and got a score of

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

I was talking to my recruiter who said this is a good score and I wouldn’t need to take it again. But I was wondering if it would be worth while to try and bump my scores up more since I went in there never using a joystick simulator and I know I struggled on the reading comprehension and I had a few miss clicks on the listening portion and terrain identification and UAV.

I would do the immediate selection program but unfortunately I have metal and plates in my mouth from a broken jaw 7 years ago and said I would need a waiver

Medical waivers don't matter for ISEL

 

[KV1]

I had taken my OAR yesterday and gotten a 42.

My takeaway:

Math was my saving grace. That was the only section that I completed. They asked a lot simplify questions, about areas, radius, degrees of triangles etc.

Reading was sooo dry. It was so early in the morning and I had to go back and keep re-reading the passage. 90% of it had to do with the military’s COC, policies, implementing policies and a lot of spouse and child abuse passages. Which was weird in my opinion. Ran out of time.

Mechanics was interesting to say the least. They asked a lot of questions about torque, surface area, wattage in a typical home, pressure, gravity pull. Again, a lot of torque questions, which I didn’t even know what it was. No idea about any of it. I can honestly say that I knew the answer to 3 questions confidently 🥴. Ran out of time.

I will be studying to retake it after the 31 days are up.

 

[jsnchwen]

Gomez and Kyle drive and this forum should be all you need. It got me a 73 9/9/9. Good luck and study hard.

I'm seeing some comments saying that these two drives are slightly outdated.

How do you feel about the difficulty of the problems in these two drives compared to the test?

Thanks!

 

[Joseph_silver3]

Hello all!

I am getting ready to take my ASTB next week.
I was wondering if anyone could remember if they got any formals on the math section or if the questions were pretty straight forward? How was the mechanical section, was it more conceptual or math based? Also for the ANIT section, I have been using the Cram flash cards and the flash cards in the ASTB app to study and was wondering how in-depth they go on the test!

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dann359]

Hello all!

I am getting ready to take my ASTB next week.
I was wondering if anyone could remember if they got any formals on the math section or if the questions were pretty straight forward? How was the mechanical section, was it more conceptual or math based? Also for the ANIT section, I have been using the Cram flash cards and the flash cards in the ASTB app to study and was wondering how in-depth they go on the test!

Thanks for the help!

I just took mine yesterday and they don’t give you any formals but a few questions I had to deal with was.

*simple solve for X
*which fraction is smallest
*find area of a cylinder in a square box and what’s the left over space
*two questions about Logs
*two distance question one was two converging trains and one leaves after another
*given radius of a clock hand and how far did it travel form 2:00 to 6:00
*two probability questions one about if a team won .40 amount of the time and team a and b would win .15 find probability of team b winning on any day.
*one question about adding two numbers to the 1/2 power
*find area of a rectangle given perimeter and base is 7 times the height

The question for me were pretty straightforward but I felt like I only did around 15 questions before it bumped me to the next section. But the question get harder as you go if you are doing well.

 

[Fireatwill83]

Just had service selection. ASTB 8,8,6. I'm a mechanical engineering major with 3.48 GPA and was 3rd in my class. Had 1390 as first choice, 1370 as second. Got sub drafted even though I didn't have surface nucular or sub nucular on my preference sheet. 2nd in my class also got sub drafted

 

[KV1]

Hello all!

I am getting ready to take my ASTB next week.
I was wondering if anyone could remember if they got any formals on the math section or if the questions were pretty straight forward? How was the mechanical section, was it more conceptual or math based? Also for the ANIT section, I have been using the Cram flash cards and the flash cards in the ASTB app to study and was wondering how in-depth they go on the test!

Thanks for the help!

Yes, they did give “formulas”, but it was not really that helpful. It was like what Pi was, formulas for the area of 3 shapes and that’s it. (I had taken the OAR portion 2 days ago)

I would definitely say remember how to simplify fractions with exponents. Ex. X^3+2x^4-y^2/4x-X^3-X^2 know how to find the blank degree of a triangle. Also, PEMDAS!!! Apparently, different parts of the country were taught different ways of learning PEMDAS. Like the viral answer for 8÷2(2+2)=? Some were getting 16 and others were getting 1 based on how they were taught PEMDAS.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Just had service selection. ASTB 8,8,6. I'm a mechanical engineering major with 3.48 GPA and was 3rd in my class. Had 1390 as first choice, 1370 as second. Got sub drafted even though I didn't have surface nucular or sub nucular on my preference sheet. 2nd in my class also got sub drafted

Submarines are the planes of the ocean, does that help? I am sorry you didn't get your first choice.

 

[kittyclash16]

I just took my first ASTB today and got a 46 6/8/8. I'm an aeronautical science major and a flight instructor with 3.4 GPA. I'm considering a retake. But I want to give an overview on what are some things that helped me to prepare for this ASTB. Huge THANK YOU for this thread and the people who took their own time to put up study materials on google drive. I read some reddit threads as well and found out about the ASTB app. I recommend to anyone taking the test to get the app. cost $20 but to me this was worth it. It also has the flight simulator games that you can practice over and over again until you no longer suck. lol

On your test, you will be given pens and scratch paper, but no calculator.

Math
- I used Gomez's Drive (test with answers worksheets), Barrons, Mometrix, and the ASTB app on App Store.
Most questions were algebra for me and some geometry. I even saw one exact question on one of Gomez's worksheet. There were limited formulas given on the right side. Those formulas like the volume of a triangle. (note that not all formulas are there so just try to memorize most of it)

Gomez Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IxIizps2bu2ljw1bYjFPajWv8RYvLWyv
Barrons and Mometrix I bought on amazon.

Reading
-The Barron's book has some questions about the definition of certain words, but that was not the case in the test. I didn’t study much for this test; I only completed one test on my ASTB phone app. Just be careful not to pick specific words that are not part of the paragraph or that were not mentioned at all.

Mechanical
- I used Gomez's drive, Barrons, mometrix. This test was easier than what I expected. the Practice questions on the Barrons book comes close to it.


15 MINUTE BREAK

Aviation/Nautical
- This one was the easiest for me, but I still had to study since I didn’t want to rely on what I already knew. I was not familiar with Navy history or ship terms, so I used this set of flashcards: https://www.cram.com/flashcards/astb-aviation-nautical-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163. I also referred to Barron's, Mometrix, and Gomez. For those of you who are non-aviation students, I suggest using Dallas's Drive, as he has highlighted the table of contents from the PHAK (Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge). I didn’t use his Drive because I had limited time, but it has a lot of materials that will help you on your test if you're not familiar with aviation.

Dallas Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_XTzkX8F81ipJ6s5kqqurL6X6h-28mOi

Trait
-I won't waste your time or mine on what has already been written by many people about this.

Sim (I USED THE ASTB APP on my phone for this)

- The first one was the UAV simulator. There's a YouTube video about it:

. End of story. Master those concepts and play the simulator game on the app.

- Dichotic Listening is all available on the app. Use headphones or AirPods and practice as much as you can. As you progress, you can adjust the difficulty level.

- The Rear Cockpit Simulator is tough. As someone in this thread said, 'You're going to feel like you suck, but approach it with the attitude that you can do it. Shoot down that target without giving up, and be aggressive.' If you have some time, it might really help to buy the actual controls online and return them after you’re done with the test. I personally should have done that.

- Terrain ID was another tough one for me. I practiced using the app, but I kept getting it wrong. Watching a video helped, and you can find it here:

Honestly, if you feel like you're doing poorly, you’re probably going to be alright. Just trust in your preparation. Good luck to everyone out there! I want to share that one of my top strategies for staying calm before the test was to pray, as it really helped me find peace and clarity. Whether you have similar practices or develop your own way to stay grounded, remember to believe in yourself and your abilities. You've got this!

 

[jsnchwen]

I just got done taking the ASTB for the first time this morning and I was more or less feeling the same as you are. I scored a 62 OAR and 8/9/8 for the PBM portion thanks to all the study material in the Gomez drive (some of the material is a bit dated as mentioned by NKMess), the ASTB Prep App, and the most recent version of the original Jantzen simulator.

The mechanical portion was essentially all conceptual and hardly any calculations other than multiplying two numbers for one or two questions which was pretty relieving as it didn't seem as difficult. That being said, I felt like I was least prepared for this part of the test and I even ran out of time because I completely let the timer slip my mind. If you're having a hard time understanding the concept, I would recommend going over each lesson in the ASTB Prep app as this would probably give you a decent amount of base knowledge. As long as you have a basic understanding of the mechanical concepts and do okay on the reading and math, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I do want to stress the importance of practicing for the PBM section which the ASTB App is great for, specifically the UAV and terrain identification parts. The Jantzen simulator helped a ton with the rest.

First off, congratulations on your score.

What exactly do you mean by the info in the Gomez drive being dated?

Is the actual test difficulty much higher or is the actual test asking questions that aren't covered in the drive?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I just took my first ASTB today and got a 46 6/8/8. I'm an aeronautical science major and a flight instructor with 3.4 GPA. I'm considering a retake. But I want to give an overview on what are some things that helped me to prepare for this ASTB. Huge THANK YOU for this thread and the people who took their own time to put up study materials on google drive. I read some reddit threads as well and found out about the ASTB app. I recommend to anyone taking the test to get the app. cost $20 but to me this was worth it. It also has the flight simulator games that you can practice over and over again until you no longer suck. lol

On your test, you will be given pens and scratch paper, but no calculator.

Math
- I used Gomez's Drive (test with answers worksheets), Barrons, Mometrix, and the ASTB app on App Store.
Most questions were algebra for me and some geometry. I even saw one exact question on one of Gomez's worksheet. There were limited formulas given on the right side. Those formulas like the volume of a triangle. (note that not all formulas are there so just try to memorize most of it)

Gomez Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IxIizps2bu2ljw1bYjFPajWv8RYvLWyv
Barrons and Mometrix I bought on amazon.

Reading
-The Barron's book has some questions about the definition of certain words, but that was not the case in the test. I didn’t study much for this test; I only completed one test on my ASTB phone app. Just be careful not to pick specific words that are not part of the paragraph or that were not mentioned at all.

Mechanical
- I used Gomez's drive, Barrons, mometrix. This test was easier than what I expected. the Practice questions on the Barrons book comes close to it.


15 MINUTE BREAK

Aviation/Nautical
- This one was the easiest for me, but I still had to study since I didn’t want to rely on what I already knew. I was not familiar with Navy history or ship terms, so I used this set of flashcards: https://www.cram.com/flashcards/astb-aviation-nautical-information-test-anit-comprehensive-4718163. I also referred to Barron's, Mometrix, and Gomez. For those of you who are non-aviation students, I suggest using Dallas's Drive, as he has highlighted the table of contents from the PHAK (Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge). I didn’t use his Drive because I had limited time, but it has a lot of materials that will help you on your test if you're not familiar with aviation.

Dallas Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_XTzkX8F81ipJ6s5kqqurL6X6h-28mOi

Trait
-I won't waste your time or mine on what has already been written by many people about this.

Sim (I USED THE ASTB APP on my phone for this)

- The first one was the UAV simulator. There's a YouTube video about it:

. End of story. Master those concepts and play the simulator game on the app.

- Dichotic Listening is all available on the app. Use headphones or AirPods and practice as much as you can. As you progress, you can adjust the difficulty level.

- The Rear Cockpit Simulator is tough. As someone in this thread said, 'You're going to feel like you suck, but approach it with the attitude that you can do it. Shoot down that target without giving up, and be aggressive.' If you have some time, it might really help to buy the actual controls online and return them after you’re done with the test. I personally should have done that.

- Terrain ID was another tough one for me. I practiced using the app, but I kept getting it wrong. Watching a video helped, and you can find it here:

Honestly, if you feel like you're doing poorly, you’re probably going to be alright. Just trust in your preparation. Good luck to everyone out there! I want to share that one of my top strategies for staying calm before the test was to pray, as it really helped me find peace and clarity. Whether you have similar practices or develop your own way to stay grounded, remember to believe in yourself and your abilities. You've got this!

Unless you are trying for ISEL you have a great PFAR and FOFAR.

 

[josiebloom]

I had taken my OAR yesterday and gotten a 42.

My takeaway:

Math was my saving grace. That was the only section that I completed. They asked a lot simplify questions, about areas, radius, degrees of triangles etc.

Reading was sooo dry. It was so early in the morning and I had to go back and keep re-reading the passage. 90% of it had to do with the military’s COC, policies, implementing policies and a lot of spouse and child abuse passages. Which was weird in my opinion. Ran out of time.

Mechanics was interesting to say the least. They asked a lot of questions about torque, surface area, wattage in a typical home, pressure, gravity pull. Again, a lot of torque questions, which I didn’t even know what it was. No idea about any of it. I can honestly say that I knew the answer to 3 questions confidently 🥴. Ran out of time.

I will be studying to retake it after the 31 days are up.

I took the OAR yesterday! I scored a little lower than I would've liked (46) but I'm feeling better now that I know how the test functions. I thought the abuse questions were really weird too. I had the same experience with mech, it felt kinda different than the prep I did so that was irritating but now I know.

Did you also take the digitized one? I think my score would've been significantly better if it told you what question you were on or how many were left instead of just having a timer with no real way to know. I finished math with like 20 minutes left because I did what it said to skip a question if you were going to spend too much time on it but then I finished too quickly.

 

[FreddiePham]

How much does the mechanical comprehension part impact the AQR, PFAR, and FOFAR scores on the ASTB? I use the ASTB prep app and consistently scored 80-100% on the mech comp practice test. However, I could only get 20/30 on the practice tests in Gomez drive and that kinda worries me a bit.

 

[NKMess]

How much does the mechanical comprehension part impact the AQR, PFAR, and FOFAR scores on the ASTB? I use the ASTB prep app and consistently scored 80-100% on the mech comp practice test. However, I could only get 20/30 on the practice tests in Gomez drive and that kinda worries me a bit.

It doesn't, mech comprehension applies to your OAR score. I was scoring in the 70s-90s in the app for mech and math and got a 55 on my OAR when I did the test. Like the others said, mech comp was a lot more conceptual than it was applied formulas as it is on the app. I found myself encountering some concepts I was not familiar with. I guess that's all to say don't exactly stress about unfamiliar concepts but to focus on the ANIT and PBM sections.