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

[marathonman]

New guy here with a couple questions. I tried reading through all 51 pages of this thread but hopefully someone can give me some quick answers.

I'm applying to OCS with surface warfare or intelligence in mind. I plan on taking the ASTB in May. Should I only take the OAR portion of the test or should I take the entire thing? Would one direction benefit me more or would it matter for OCS? I was an English major in college back east so mechanics and mathematics are definitely things I need to brush up on.

Also, what are considered 'fair' 'good' and 'excellent' scores for applying for OCS? If anyone helps me out I'll send them a picture of my girlfriend. Thanks.

 

[jtmedli]

New guy here with a couple questions. I tried reading through all 51 pages of this thread but hopefully someone can give me some quick answers.

I'm applying to OCS with surface warfare or intelligence in mind. I plan on taking the ASTB in May. Should I only take the OAR portion of the test or should I take the entire thing? Would one direction benefit me more or would it matter for OCS? I was an English major in college back east so mechanics and mathematics are definitely things I need to brush up on.

Also, what are considered 'fair' 'good' and 'excellent' scores for applying for OCS? If anyone helps me out I'll send them a picture of my girlfriend. Thanks.

I would take the whole thing if I were you. Just in case you change your mind and wanna apply for SNA/NFO or something else later on. You wouldn't have to retake that way and the extra sections aren't the hard ones. Math, verbal, mechanics are the deal-breakers for most.

Fair 4's, 5's 40's OAR
Good 5's, 6's 50's OAR
Excellent 7-8-9 range 60+ OAR

It's hard to say what fair/good/excellent is as the test is scored very mysteriously (to me). The higher, the better though. Anything over 6's or 50+ OAR is proly considered an excellent score.

 

[marathonman]

I would take the whole thing if I were you. Just in case you change your mind and wanna apply for SNA/NFO or something else later on. You wouldn't have to retake that way and the extra sections aren't the hard ones. Math, verbal, mechanics are the deal-breakers for most.

Fair 4's, 5's 40's OAR
Good 5's, 6's 50's OAR
Excellent 7-8-9 range 60+ OAR

It's hard to say what fair/good/excellent is as the test is scored very mysteriously (to me). The higher, the better though. Anything over 6's or 50+ OAR is proly considered an excellent score.

Thanks, I was thinking of taking the entire thing anyways. I don't plan on changing my field focus, and frankly I was thinking of taking just the OAR portion because at the end of the day it's less material to be responsible for. But I'll take the entire thing, hopefully I do well enough and can find material to go over those extra sections (wherever that is).

 

[nickman730]

SNA select

I was in the March board for BDCP SNA.
Recruiter just called, and I was selected. He said it was the most competitive group he has seen.
18/m Soph. University of Memphis
3.5 engineering
8/8/9 63
1390 SAT
LOR:
Judge/ long time friend
DIVI athletic director/ long time friend
Superintendent of Education-Principal/ coach neighbor and long time friend
0-5 Navy instructor pilot/ friend

 

[flyman3456]

I was in the March board for BDCP SNA.
Recruiter just called, and I was selected. He said it was the most competitive group he has seen.
18/m Soph. University of Memphis
3.5 engineering
8/8/9 63
1390 SAT
LOR:
Judge/ long time friend
DIVI athletic director/ long time friend
Superintendent of Education-Principal/ coach neighbor and long time friend
0-5 Navy instructor pilot/ friend

Why did you post this here?

 

[AlexSmart]

Why did you post this here?

Probably to give you a ballpark estimate of the people they are picking for SNA.

jtmedli, I think you're scale is about right. The scoring of the ASTB is a little mysterious (at least how they score out of 80 for the OAR).

 

[nickman730]

What Alexsmart said is why I posted here. If had not been selected I would have posted also. The only reason to try and make a good score is to be competitive. I've seen a lot of "is my score good enough" questions so I wanted to post stats.

 

[nativeofsandieg]

Test is tomorrow, been studying for a while but now studying the mile wide inch deep method.

Just a last minute question, but do I have to memorize this boat naming section? CG - Guided Missle Cruiser, CA - Gun Cruiser, etc. etc.

 

[jlil41]

couldn't hurt......I didn't have anything about the ships really but I did have some questions about what type of aircraft would be better for a ground attack? etc...

 

[NewJersey]

I just took the ASTB this past friday and scored a 6/6/6 44. I am going to Marine Corps OCS this July. Question: Should I retake the ASTB at some point and try to get a better score, or is a passing score sufficient? Currently the USMC guarantees a flight contract to those who complete OCS and score a minimum 4/6/6 on the exam. My main question is, should I try to get better scores for the sake of competition when I finally arrive at Pensacola, and will having relatively low scores effect my status at any point during flight school? Thanks

 

[srvitali]

7/8/8 56 NROTC
3.0 Mechanical Engineering
1360 SAT

Trying to go SNA but worried about getting picked up for Nuke as well. Anybody with a similar problem?

 

[nativeofsandieg]

Just got out of the test, took Form 5. Me and and other guy shared the same sentiments about it.

Math wasn't any more difficult than anything you see around here, but the time constraints killed me. Had to guess on about 5 of them. Mechanics asked some unusual questions as well. Everything else seemed pretty easy and straight forward. Now the very very long wait of scores to come in...

 

[jlil41]

Just got out of the test, took Form 5. Me and and other guy shared the same sentiments about it.

Math wasn't any more difficult than anything you see around here, but the time constraints killed me. Had to guess on about 5 of them. Mechanics asked some unusual questions as well. Everything else seemed pretty easy and straight forward. Now the very very long wait of scores to come in...

I am guessing that you took the written version? On test 5 what was your last section like?

 

[SantaC]

Hi all. I just got my scores back, 7/7/7 58, and I want to know how good/bad they are. I took it without studying, and have no idea how they're scored, so I'm a bit freaked out by the seemingly low numbers. Thanks!

 

[nativeofsandieg]

It was a mix of mostly reading, some nautical/aviation, math and mechanical. But I would say the majority was about 10 reading problems, which I thought were slightly more complicated than the practice versions found on here and in the Peterson's.