Alright here's my write up from my second attempt at the ASTB last week!
I improved from a 65 7/6/7 to a 64 8/7/8 which fell slightly short of my ideal goal of all 8's but did hit my minimum goal of a 7 PFAR.
I kid you not when I say that just about everything that could've gone wrong with this attempt went wrong. I showed up at 9:00 (about an hour drive) for a 9:30 test slot. The day before, some IT work had been done at the recruiters office and it seemed like nothing was working correctly. The girl that was supposed to take her test before me finally started her test close to 10 AM... 30 minutes after mine was supposed to start, and I had to wait until she was done before I could take mine. This should've been a sign of things to come to me.
Around 12:45ish, I finally was about to sit down and start my test after nearly 4 hours of waiting.
During the OAR section the internet connection (and the computer in general) was extremely sluggish to load questions. This wasn't a huge issue but it was more foreshadowing of what would happen later during the PBM section.
Math: I struggled the most with this section during my first attempt and once again it was quite difficult, but I was much much more prepared than the previous time. Kyle's Guide and Gomez's Guide are great study resources that I wholeheartedly recommend, but to be honest the math test in the actual ASTB is significantly harder than the hardest parts of any practice test I found anywhere on this forum. I got a few questions involving LOG and a good amount involving radical and exponential equations. These are what absolutely sunk me last attempt and I was much more prepared this time. Don't assume that the insanely difficult questions on the practice exams are the hardest you'll see or, like I did on my first attempt, assume that they're harder than the real exam because people on the forum that scored low on the OAR said they didn't see anything like that. This test is adaptive, so the better you do, the harder and harder it will get until they find a way to break you. I assume that's what happened with me, because the test ended at 21 questions with a good amount of time left on the clock which likely meant it had established my level of competence in math. Also had a few questions involving odds and percentages (cumulative especially). For the second test in a row, I didn't receive any work word problems which was a bit frustrating as I had been told to expect these and practice them a ton. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be as prepared as possible in as many categories as possible. There are a few questions I believe I got right not because I actually solved them, but because I knew enough about the concepts to eliminate all but one or two answers.
Mechanical: This section went really quickly for me. There were a few questions about balancing lever systems that involved math. For the most part, if you know your Newtonian physics you should be fine. There was a question about the volume of water as it's turning into steam that I was unsure of (does the volume increase, decrease, or stay the same).
Reading: This section is mind numbingly boring and dry, and I'm pretty sure they write these things to be as confusing as possible. I don't have much advice here because I feel like you either have reading comprehension at this point in life or you don't. I didn't study at all for this section frankly. I found it easier the first attempt, but I think that may because I was feeling fatigued from the long wait this time around. Just take your time, read and re-read slowly, and eliminate options one by one. On every single question, even the hardest ones, you should be able to easily eliminate two of the options. Once you've done that, think about which of your 2 remaining options is 100% true based on the text, not based on what is likely true or by using inferences from outside the text. Be as obnoxiously literal as possible.
ANIT: I spent an absurd amount of time memorizing historical dates, people, ships, and aircraft using the cram flashcards and the flashcards in the ASTB prep app. Unfortunately, for the second test in a row, I didn't receive a single question regarding history whatsoever. I also only received one question regarding airport operations. That being said... these flashcards are still incredibly valuable! Despite becoming an expert on nearly 400 flashcards and reading the FAA manual, I was still asked 4 or 5 questions that I hadn't encountered before. I believe I got at least 3 if not more of those correct, simply because I was so familiar with the surrounding information that I was able to eliminate answers and make an educated guess based on the 1 or 2 options that weren't certainly incorrect. You have no idea what you're going to be asked, so familiarize yourself with as much information as possible. And don't forget that some of the questions may be nautical as well, this is the navy not the air force.
NATFI: This section absolutely sucks and is way too long (especially with a sketchy internet connection). You're going to be here a while, so take a deep breath and select one of the two options. You're going to be constantly asked to choose between two very unflattering options that both don't sound like something you'd do/be like over and over again. For example, do you have angry outbursts when you're angry, or do you not admit your mistakes when there will be consequences? Neither of those sound like you? Tough luck just pick one haha. Frankly I'm not sure what they even use this for or how it figures into your test scores so don't sweat it too much, relax, and just get through it and move on.
PBM: This is where everything went to absolute hell during my test. During the check at the beginning everything was working correctly. The stick and throttle calibrated just fine and the headphones were working perfectly. Specific subsections below.
UAV: USE THE PAPER COMPASS TRICK!!!!!! I didn't use it my first time around because I was so confident in how I was doing in practice. I decided to take advantage of the small amount of time you gain by not using the compass trick and it backfired spectacularly. I was perfect for the last 3 weeks leading up to my first attempt, and I ended up missing about 5 questions during the actual test. It's JUST different enough to throw you off and the added pressure of this being the real deal will change the way you feel. This time, I was absolutely perfect until during one question, the screen flashed, and the audio didn't play through my headphones. I suddenly had to take a wild guess and, of course, was incorrect. This is the only one I missed and I was FURIOUS about it. I also began to panic a little because I felt that I had to ace this section 100%. After the section ended I IMMEDIATELY got up and notified my recruiter what happened. He said that he would email someone and to finish the test. He's a rookie recruiter, so I understand why he thought that was the correct course of action but let me tell you guys right now that it is not the correct course of action. I listened, and moved on the next section.
HOTAS: So I moved on the HOTAS section and started with the dichotic listening section. During the practice portion, once again, no audio was playing on the headphones. I then did something REALLY stupid, and ended up starting the actual test section trying to figure out what was going on. It started, with no audio, and I immediately ran out again to my recruiter and let him know what was happening. He followed me back into the testing room and I put the headphones back on... still no audio. The, at the last minute, the audio cut back in all of the sudden for the last 10 or so seconds. At this point I was in a full on panic mode, thinking I would have to continue studying for another month and retake the test for a 3rd and final time all because the hardware/software was screwing up. Once again my recruiter told me to finish the test and that he'd send an email.
Overall the flying sections went as expected, although I was definitely not in a good headspace because of the situation. A few pieces of advice: Use the simulator posted on the forums here and set it up to work with a joystick. Practice this every night. My wife would run flashcards with me while I did the simulator to practice the multitasking of listening while flying. A few differences though: First, the joystick used on the actual ASTB is super loose and has very low tension. It has to be moved a long way to do anything and that was very different from the joystick I practiced on. It also doesn't give much feedback as to how far you've moved it tension wise. It just feels like it's not connected to anything. Also, if you have a high refresh rate gaming monitor like I do, it may not be best to practice on that. The monitor in the office was crappy enough that I could actually feel a difference in the reactiveness of the crosshair due to frame rate and responsiveness. The target also is rather jagged in it's movement when you're used to something of higher quality. I would recommend literally lowering the framerate on your monitor to like, 24 hz when you practice.
Once I got to the section where you put flying and listening together, everything fell apart again. The headphones did not work at all and my recruiter was able to confirm that this time. At this point I really was freaking out and I insisted that he call somebody. Guys, if any of this stuff happens to you, THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO! He called down to whatever office is in charge of testing, and they went in and reset both of the listening sections. We then confirmed that the equipment was working MULTIPLE times, and I was able to redo those sections. Thank God I insisted on us calling because if I had completed the test and he sent an email, this may have not been possible. If something isn't right with your test... STOP AND DO NOT CONTINUE UNTIL IT IS FIXED! As far as advice for this section, focus on listening over flying (but obviously do both) and lean your head into the ear you're supposed to be listening to.
For the emergency procedures section, write everything down and fix the problems as quickly as you can while still focusing on your flying. In regards to the entire HOTAS section, don't get flustered if the flying becomes insanely difficult and you can't keep up, the test is designed to find your breaking point and unless you're top 5% good it will find a way to break you. Just do your best, stay calm, and focus.
At this point my test was done and I was stressed out, certain I did poorly due to everything that happened, and still freaking out. So when I saw that 8/7/8 on the screen, you can imagine how much relief flooded over me. I still wonder if I could've done even better had things not messed up several times and thrown off my focus, but there's not much use in fixating on that. Moral of my story is, if something isn't right, don't continue until it's fixed. I probably should've put my foot down on redoing the UAV section as well, but I didn't and I to God that one missed question wouldn't have been the difference between a 7 and an 8. It probably wouldn't have, but I'll never know. Props to my recruiter as well for getting things fixed in the end. This was the first time this had ever happened to him and he ended up being late to pick up his kids from school because of this whole ordeal.
Feel free to message me with any questions and good luck guys! Stay calm when taking your test, and trust that your studies have prepared you even for unexpected questions.
