ASTB-E/APEX 4 Experience -DEC 2013

[Mo_Avi]

Hey a

Hey Great Gouge @Jordan Lo . I really appreciate it I'm going to retake the exam soon and this really helps. I have a question for you regarding the ANIT section. I remember the question about how much fuel to dump and I still have no idea how to go about answering that question? Would you be able to explain how to do that? Also through research Ive seen that AvGas weight can vary. Some places say its 7.1 Ive also seen 8.0? How did you determine this.
My last question for you is about the emergency scenario. Did the knobs on the throttle work for you, allow you. I just remember my screen going red, and that was the only way I knew something was wrong? What were you paying attention to to figure out that you had to do something to fix either the engine fire, engine malfunction, propeller malfunction?
Much appreciated! and best of luck.
-Mo

lso regarding the Log questions. Were they straight forward or were they natural log questions. Ln. Because I know they don't allow calculators.
The question you spoke about Log_5 3=(x-4) would translate to 5^(x-4)=3. This can't be solved without natural logs. I couldn't event work this to get the bases the same. How do you solve that one?
Thanks again
Mo

 

[Brian Eugene Park]

Background: Joint Major in Mathematics-Economics
Applying for: Supply/Surface Warfare
OAR: 63

Materials: ASTB Study Guide, Arco GRE/GMAT Review, Master Officer Candidate Tests by Peterson's, Officer Candidate for Dummies, OAR Study Guide by Accepted, Inc

I just took OAR today at the Air Reserve Base in Riverside. I would like to thank Airwarrior Community for helpful info and tips. It is honor to share my experience here too. The major issue I had was solving problems in time. When I was doing the practice exams, I often found myself running out of time. So I focused on minimizing time waste. I think on the top left side of interface they show you how many problems you solved. But I was fanatically going over problems without noticing it.

Math - I had two logarithm question , binary question, matrix multiplication problem, probability question, 3-4 geometric question (I can be wrong), and I believe rest were on arithmetic and algebra. I had some questions with ridiculously large numbers. On one of the probability question, they asked to find the total possible combination of plate numbers you can generate with combination of alphabet letters and numerical numbers. The strategy I employed was whenever I encounter problem with large numbers, I gave myself little time to analyze/calculate some numbers. I worked further when I am REALLY sure that I can get the answer in reasonable time. I think I did not come across any word problems such as time work required.

For mathematics section I think Acro GRE/GMAT review was best material to get myself prepared.

Reading - Most articles were not as long as the ones you see on the materials I used above. I had no vocabulary questionnaires.

Mechanical - Came across G force questions, pulley questions, electrical question (one of them asked to identify what certain symbol represents a electrical component. For example: a resistor) hydraulic/pressure question. I think Officer Candidate Tests for Dummies provide great electrical/mechanical review. Flashcards you find online are helpful but they tend to have error here and there. Marine Aviation Guidebook Supplement was extremely helpful. You will find it floating around somewhere in this post. I think it is by far the most well organized material I came across.

Overall - Do not panic. When I panic I tend to go over same phrase/problem over and over again. So for me it was better to move on and start fresh. Some questions may look familiar to your study material but most likely you will end up bumping into questions/terminologies you are not familiar with. Good luck with you all!

 

[Dougo]

Greetings,

I am new to Air Warriors, and must say I am truly thankful for all the great info that’s available. I am active duty Air Force, and talk about full circle in life… I am seeking SNA slot in the Navy. Soon to take the ASTB-E, and I cannot mention how hard I have been studying for this test. Hopefully I have a successful outcome, and get picked up! Any more advice on the UAV portion of the test? I have been viewing the posts on the thread but a bit more meat would be great. Thank you ahead of time!


V/r,

Dougo

 

[Christopher Svidesskis]

Greetings,

I am new to Air Warriors, and must say I am truly thankful for all the great info that’s available. I am active duty Air Force, and talk about full circle in life… I am seeking SNA slot in the Navy. Soon to take the ASTB-E, and I cannot mention how hard I have been studying for this test. Hopefully I have a successful outcome, and get picked up! Any more advice on the UAV portion of the test? I have been viewing the posts on the thread but a bit more meat would be great. Thank you ahead of time!


V/r,

Dougo

Dougo--

What worked best for me is a method mentioned by another candidate on another thread. He mentioned counting with 'clicks. Check out the PDF that I attached "Parking Lot Targeting_Reasoning". I also attached all of the other resources that I used to practice for the UAV.

Here is a link for online flash cards that I got from another thread:
http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014

--Candidate Svidesskis

 

[flynavy830]

Ok guys, took the OAR yesterday, the server was acting up so I couldn't get the PBM done. ARGGG!!!! Have to wait until Tuesday, I'm nervous but excited. The OAR was worrying me the most, and I will touch up on that more with a complete gouge post once I'm done. I've read through every single thread, probably 4 times now. My plan for the UAV is to use paper and draw the directions, then rotate and answer. This has been utilized by quite a few people here, I can't seem to find a better way so this is what I'm going with unless I find something better. I'm also trying to prepare for the emergency procedures, because I know the knobs can be confusing. Something like RED is high power? Hope to update this soon with a positive experience.

 

[flynavy830]

Ok guys, my turn. I scored a 52 6/8/7 and I'm relieved to say the least. Let me preface by explaining how screwed up my process was. Went last week for OAR and when I got to UAV section, it kept freezing. Tried 5 more times with no luck. I came back an hour later to see if it worked itself out, no luck. Finally went back today, and same exact thing happened, froze on me. Recruiter said I would need to come back next week. Its an hour and a half away and I work full time, the stress is building, I wanted to take it NOW! I was willing to drive, whatever it takes! Luckily I was able to go across the street to the ROTC building and try it there. So I settle in, log in, click start... "sorry you cannot test since this is a different set of equipment." WHAT!? Once again, they called the APEX people for me and I had to go hangout for an hour and try again. Well luckily it finally worked and here I am. I'm going to post a nice long gouge because I certainty appreciated reading them all, instead of "hey guys you are awesome scored 70 8/8/8 bye".

I happen to have some books from a friend so I used them as much as I felt fit. Barrons 1st and 2nd edition, master the flight aptitude test, intro physics book, accepted book, GRE/GMAT book. I'll be honest, barrons, and GRE/GMAT were the best in my opinion. Don't bother with the accepted book, its poorly written and in my opinion provides no relevant preparation.

I was beyond nervous to take this test, I took the old version twice. Last score being 48 5/6/5, which I wanted to apply with but my new recruiter wanted a re-take, so I started studying for about a month. I wanted to get this done since I'm currently writing a 30 page paper for my final class and need focus. If there are tips that I encountered on here that I really felt were helpful, it would be to NOT let yourself get worked up. DO NOT let excess stress consume your mind prior to the test. Its exhausting and does nothing to help your performance. Visualize the test, visualize good scores. Visualize yourself breathing deeply, and thinking the questions through.

MATH: This section completely blew my mind. I had no more than 12 questions, I'm positive. In fact, I can probably recite all the questions I had. They were extremely easy in my opinion. I'm not saying that in a "I'm smart" way, but compared to the study material, I blazed through it. With that being said, I know I missed 1, maybe 2, and they were probably the easiest ones! Thinking too quick hurt me. I saw exponents, orders of operation, rate questions, a geometry question, and a few probability. It's a great feeling when you get a question asking how far something went in a given amount of seconds, and knowing the answer in seconds. BECAUSE YOU PREPARED AND WERE READY FOR THESE TYPES OF QUESTIONS. Get yourself in this mindset, get good at quick calculations with fractions, percents, etc. It WILL pay off. Do you want to spend another three months studying for a retake? Of course not! So take your time, and only take when you're ready!

READING: Well, since math only lasted 10 minutes this definitely screwed with my train of thought. I kept getting distracted thinking about what happened in the math section. No point in going in depth here because we all agree; its long, dry, and you need to keep your focus. Cut me off early.

MECHANICAL: I'll agree with all gouge so far, they are all on point. If you haven't read through this thread ten times and know the simple stuff, you're doing it wrong. I'm on a first name basis with some of these people and they don't even realize it. Learn how forces balance and then tuck it away. Learn distance from fulcrum questions and then lock it up. Dont do 50 practice problems on how to balance a lever, it will be common sense if you have the correct understanding. Kinetic and potential energy, once again, UNDERSTAND what these two words mean, dont just do practice problems. Fluid flow, another concept that will be common sense if you study up the right concepts! Also cut off early.

AVIATION/NAVAL: I do have flight time and I did study up on what I deemed sufficient material, but like others have mentioned, some stuff just slaps you in the face. Question of Airforce aircraft, question on who reports to who. The flight questions were easy to me, I've studied this stuff in the past. Not only can you study the aeronautical knowledge book, you might be able to study some private pilot written exam questions, I think this may help.

NATFI: Let your brain go numb and answer what you think is correct. This not the section to analyze to a T and try to game.

UAV: Honestly, I thought about trying to get super fast reaction times down but figuring out a solid method, but I couldnt find one I liked. So I utilized what many have also used, draw the cardinal directions down. Rotate so arrow is now pointing away from you. Select correct lot. I definitely missed around 5, because like others have mentioned, it gets a little chaotic and you might get flustered. I would guess my reaction times were 2-5 seconds.

Vertical tracking: On its own, its really not that bad and I felt I did well.

2d tracking: At first, the inverted controls REALLY frustrated me and I started assuming I would do terrible. I developed a feel for it rather quick, and did well chasing that little bastard around.

Listening: Well if 10 people have told you to TILT YOUR DAMN EAR then TILT YOUR DAMN EAR JR! They don't read as fast as you probably think they will, and its not that difficult. I took a breath, honed in on what ear I was to listen to, and did very well. If you come back and post your scores, and complain that you didn't understand this part I cannot feel bad for you. There are pretty clear instructions when the test begins, and it DOES NOT make you go forward. Read them, read them twice if you need to, breath 5 times, click the trigger and relax.

Vertical/2d/listening: I once again felt I did pretty well, I put a lot of focus into the 2d while listening and felt I was doing a good job. I most definitely neglected the vertical aspect except for a few quick glances.

Emergency procedures: This is the easiest section in my opinion. READ THE DIRECTIONS. READ THE DIRECTIONS. I wrote mine down but honestly didnt need them. Its pretty simple and you should know the procedure before going into the test.

FIRE: EVERYTHING DOWN THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
ENGINE: EVERYTHING UP THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
PROP: ONE neutral ONE up and hit the CLUTCH

YES, the dial is a little weird and red is "high" so just know that going in and you should be FINE. You have time for these, so move the knob and LOOK which way its going. If you start to tighten it and its going to LOW then adjust to high, adjust second knob to high, and hit the clutch. BOOM back to normal flying and wait for the next one. I nailed all three and think you can to if you read the directions and remain calm.

Overall, I'm very excited that this is over with. I can start working out harder, focus on my last class, and really relax overall. To be honest, I think I like this test better than the paper version. After all, it gave you like 30 math questions in 25 minutes and you had to answer them. Now THAT is stressful. Any more questions and I am more than happy to help.

 

[mrdjod]

Hi everybody,


So Just wanna start off by thanking everyone who contributed to this little part of the internet. When I set the date for my ASTB and finally committed to studying, my first thought was,

“Oh shit. What do I study?”

But from going through this thread and others, I picked up a lot of useful advice that was actually applicable for me.

Results: 57

6/6/7

Materials used: Air Warriors Gouge, Baron’s Military Aptitude Test, Peterson’s Master the Officer Candidate 9th edition, ARCO 7th edition, Online Flash Cards, The two floating study guides around here,

In terms of my experience, I showed up half an hour early, test scheduled at 0900. I wanted to settle my nerves and give myself time to breathe before going in. Starting a test stressed is a recipe for disaster. After my proctor set everything up, he let me go at it. You have to navigate a short questionnaire asking basic questions about yourself before getting to the meat and potatoes of it all. OH, and if you’re working full time and request a “Sick day” just know the whole process tok about 3.5 hours.

MATH:

This section was very interesting. While the material I used certainly prepared me for it, there was some stuff that I didn’t put a lot of time preparing for. I cut my teeth on rate problems, work solved, etc, but I had a couple of curve balls. One was, if you throw three darts at a calendar showing 31 days, what’s the probability of getting 3 different days? Another were percentage average problems. (Test A weighs 10%, Test B weighs 20%, Test C weights 10 points less than Test B, you get a final grade of X, what was your test C score).

I ended up having to guess on a couple of questions, due to wanting to finish through, and having it adapt. On the other hand, I guess I was doing well, because the questions did become difficult. (Log problem, Matrix multiplication problem, which of the following equations has an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM). No counting in binary.

READING: What everyone says is true. Most of the time is comes down to two options, and you really have to pull form the context to get the right saying. Just take your time, pace out your reading and you’ll be fine.

MECHANICS: Hahahaha. What the hell? The gouge did an ok job preparing me for this, but honestly some of this stuff is you know it or you don’t. The most complex question I had revolved around lever calculations. There was also this diagram where they were asking you what the device measured (Change in Air pressure? Change in Spring Length?) I’d say half the questions were easy from the study guide, the next 10 were stuff you kinda had to use your intuition for, and there were 5 I think I guessed on.

BREAK: This part is optional, I stood up, stretched, went to the bathroom. It was good to dis engage from academic rigor and get ready for an ass kicking.

ANIT: This part. What the hell. There’s so much material about naval and aviation history AND facts. One of my questions was which of these first escorted bombers into enemy territory. I’d say again,half the questions were from study guides, slash material I used to prepare. The other half…. Good luck. I honestly wouldn’t stress too much about this. You could prepare for months cramming in Aviator and Naval History, but some of the stuff just slaps you in the face.

UAV: This part was fun. I practiced about 5 times before actually starting the test. I think I got 43/48 unfortunately (I had a lot of difficulty reading the South West and South East heading.) If you breathe, draw a compass, and reset after that, you should be able to get your responses between 2-3 seconds. Please know that there’s no real break between each UAV screen. Once you click, there’s a half second, and you have to answer the next one. When you practice, keep this kind of pace in mind.

Joystick Shenanigans: Let me preface this again by saying I have 0 experience flying, and 0 experience playing flight simulators. Even if I did, that shit was hard.

You listen to a bunch of stuff in your head phones. You focus on one Ear at a time. If it’s an even number, you click, if it’s an odd number you push. LEAN INTO THE DIRECTION OF THE EAR THEY SPECIFY. This helps you identify the correct number you’re listening for. And also, make sure your headphones are on the right way (left headphone on left ear, right on right)

a) You track an airplane moving vertically up and down a screen with an onscreen cursor which can change speed at any time. You use a throttle for this. Your throttle is non responsive most of the time, so you over shoot or under shoot have the time. Give it some patience and you’ll eventually get it. This this is not intuitive or readable at all.

b) You then track an airplane in a 3d plane. FUN. No, literally, this was one of the hardest parts of the test. I had a lot of difficulty trying to coordinate diving and going left or right, or rising and riding left or right.

c) You get to do both at the same time… Not much I can say except good luck. Maybe you’re a whiz at coordinating multiple things, but this was difficult. Not much to prep fo.

d) THEN, you get to do ALL OF THE ABOVE. Again, good luck. Lean into the correct ear, and track those buggers down.

e) After all of that, you get to return to tracking two planes, with emergency procedures. Write the procedures down. You should definitely be able to get them.

After that, you get to complete a BI-RIV (just looks at your history, asks questions about stuff you did, i.e. sports, clubs, competitions, conventions, etc)

And you’re done!


I’m submitting my packet ASAP. I just need to get MEPS over with, and I can have this in. If anyone’s interested, I’m applying for Intel and NFO. Hopefully things go the way they go, but if not, what can you do? I’m not sure if retaking this is necessary, and I’m hoping things work out the way they want to.

If you have any feedback on my scores, or want to comment about the experience, please let me know. You guys did so much helping me get ready, I want to do the same for ya’ll.

Go Bruins

mrdjod

 

[David Patterson]

Howdy!

My test results were 66 9/9/8

This thread helped me out immensely in preparing for the astb-e, so my first suggestion to anyone reading this is to go through every page of this thread to find study resources and anything else you should study.

I prepared for the exam using Peterson's 8th Edition, the TBAS UAV flashcards on proprofs.com, study guides from my recruiter/this thread/google, this thread, and google/khan academy. I studied for 2-3 hours a day for about 2 weeks up until a couple days before the exam when I discovered this thread then I crammed a little more.

My experience of the test will be pretty short because most of the information needed can be found in previous posts.

Math

This part of the exam was what I focused on most, especially after discovering this thread. Most sample exams and study guides floating around will not prepare you for this part of the exam. My exam consisted of various solve the equation/solve for x type problems, so know order of operations and factoring. My test had logs so make sure you know how eliminate them from an equation and the rules for simplifying logs in equations. Fractional exponents were on my test as well and came with huge numbers for hand calculations, so practice hand calculations with large numbers, so you can go quickly come test time. Weighted average problem was on it also. My test had some probability but not too much. It had the question about the 3 darts and the calendar, but I still have no clue how to solve it, so I just guessed. I did not have the matrix multiplication or the binary question, but that doesn't mean it won't be on your test. I tried to work through the problems as fast as possible without losing accuracy. The longest I spent on one problem was about 5 mins. The test cut me off with 15 minutes to spare.

Reading

Felt like I didn't do real well on this part because the exam seemed to go back and forth between difficult and easy paragraphs. My only suggestion is practice dry reading comprehension, by reading dull things then maybe summarizing it? Though my only preparation was using Peterson's 8th edition. This section ended with about 10 minutes to spare.

Mechanics

My experience with this wasn't much different from the posts before mine. The only preparation I used for this was Peterson's 8th edition. One thing to keep in mind is that it is only 15 minutes long so remember to pickup/maintain pace. This section ended for me with about 5 minutes to spare.

ANIT

I think I was positive about 60 percent of the questions on this section and the other 40 percent I had to guess on. I wouldn't worry too much about because I still got a pretty good score and the things I didn't know, the only reason I didn't know them was because it wasn't in this thread or in my study materials. One I remember not knowing was "What is the concrete barrier that pops up behind at aircraft taking off from a carrier?"

UAV

I missed 3 on this one because I got in hurry, so try not to go so fast that is makes you mess up. I prepared for this using the flashcards on this website http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014. The best method I found for this was to draw a compass on a piece of paper, take the direction of your heading, then with that direction turn that direction on the compass to the point where north would be, then whichever direction parking lot is asked for it's in the same position as the direction on your drawn compass. My average time on these was about 3 seconds.

Joystick and throttle stuff

First you do the listening stuff. Just lean on the ear you're trying to listen to. Also make sure you are aware when the headphone changes ears.

Next is just using the throttle to follow an airplane silhouette up and down in a bar. Pretty simple just stay calm and get used to how sensitive the throttle is.

Next is using the joystick to chase an airplane silhouette around a 2 dimensional space. Kind of tough but again stay calm and use it as an opportunity to figure out how to use it.

Next is throttle and joystick at the same time. Again stay calm. I focused on the 2d mainly and looked at the throttle bar with my peripherals.

Next is throttle, joystick, and listening. Stay calm, stay focused. Make sure you're hitting all the numbers and at least staying semi close to the silhouettes.

Finally you get to do emergency procedures and follow both silhouettes. Focus mainly on the emergency procedures because it states in the directions that max amount of points that can be earned only goes down after an emergency occurs or something along those lines. I had difficulty doing all three of the tasks at once. I think I almost stopped following the silhouettes while I was solving the emergencies.

I really am not entirely sure how to prepare for this, but I prepared for it using these multitasking games. http://multitaskgames.com/ I thought they helped me at least a little, but even if they didn't they're good to play during a study break or in your free time if you've got it.

Last obvious tips. Stay hydrated and get plenty of sleep not just the night before, but the night before that as well.

Next step for me is MEPS. Hope to get an OCS class by the end of the year.

Hope this helps any wannabes out there.

Dave,

TAMU class 2015

 

[jay_navy]

http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/story.php?title=_36014

On this UAV practice test, the questions are always sequenced to find: N, S, E, W, parking lots. Is it the same on the actual test or does it come in random order and orientation (straight/slanted) ? I figured out a visualization technique to pick the target parking lot within 2-5 seconds and the ordered sequence makes it easy. I haven't tried the 'rotate compass' method yet but I've read somewhere on the forums that on the actual test, directions will be given through your headset so perhaps the 'rotate compass method' will be much more useful in this case. Not sure if the red arrow that you orient upside will appear on the actual test along with the audible directions from the headset.

 

[David Patterson]

On this UAV practice test, the questions are always sequenced to find: N, S, E, W, parking lots. Is it the same on the actual test or does it come in random order and orientation (straight/slanted) ? I figured out a visualization technique to pick the target parking lot within 2-5 seconds and the ordered sequence makes it easy. I haven't tried the 'rotate compass' method yet but I've read somewhere on the forums that on the actual test, directions will be given through your headset so perhaps the 'rotate compass method' will be much more useful in this case. Not sure if the red arrow that you orient upside will appear on the actual test along with the audible directions from the headset.

No there is no pattern you can follow. It's all random. The red arrow does not appear on the compass. There is an arrow on the map that is oriented in different directions, so say the arrow is pointing right, or EAST, then you would turn your drawn compass 90 degrees so that East is where North was, and if it asks for the South parking lot it will be where East was at first and so on. It will let you practice before you start the actual test, and it is also random and voiced through the headset. I think I practiced 15+ times to make sure I was good, so make sure you read EVERYTHING and don't click through like a dingus. Make sure you go all the way through the proprofs flashcards because the when the format changes to a heading on a map it's closer to what the actual test is like.

 

[MTLiving]

Took ASTB for the first time in January, got a 42 3/4/3. Pretty disappointed in myself overall but I am the one to blame. Everything the previous test takers said on here is accurate about what they experienced. I must say to those who are about to take it, please look at the UAV review on here. I went into that section thinking I could figure it out and I didn't know it was unlimited practice on it. Needless to say I ended up getting about 3-4 correct on it. The first time I took it, I only looked over the review guide and thought I could float by like I have done in college. Wow, was I wrong. This test is way harder than I thought and I really wish I had came across this page beforehand. Currently a month into studying for my second try and I realized everything I did wrong on the first try. Looking at KhanAcademy for all math related concepts, Accepted's ASTB book, and any/all gouge I can find on here. Looking forward to crushing it on the second time. Good luck to all future test takers!

 

[desertflyer]

I finally took my ASTB and received 57 8/8/8. I will just say this, I bought every ASTB, Military Flight Aptitude, and Officer Candidate book in existence and none of them came close to replicating the real test. Every word in this thread is vital to doing well on your exam, a lot of the questions and answers people posted are right off the test. The real test is a lot harder than all of the practice tests I took, here is my analysis. I was really nervous going into it, but once I got in the room, I settled down and got to work.

Math: Math was a lot of the questions I expected, but for some reason they were made to be a lot harder than they looked. I had a lot of average questions, simplify equations, rate and time, a few square and cubed root questions and some probability questions. No logarithms or matrix on the test. Every practice question I did to prepare, I was able to get the answer and figure it out. There were a few on the ASTB that I couldn't even get close to the answer choices and I was forced to guess on. I would say this is where I struggled the most on the test.

Reading: I felt like the test kept going back and forth between super easy questions about an interesting topic, and dry Navy text. I can't tell if this meant that I was doing bad on the dry Navy text questions, but overall I felt this part was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be.

Mechanical Comprehension: This was absolutely nothing like any of the books I practiced in. The most important thing I can suggest is to understand the theories behind why an answer is what it is. For example there was never a question that directly said "What was Newton's Third Law?", but there were plenty of questions that required you to use the theory behind Newton's Third Law to be able to answer the question.

ANIT: I have a pretty solid background in aviation, so I felt this part was easy. I had a question about who reports to who in the chain of command that I didn't know and guessed on, there was a naval history question that I guessed on concerning a battle, then another one that I wasn't expecting was how to calculate the CG on an aircraft. I should have absolutely known this, but usually when I do it I have a weight and balance form in front of me to figure it out. I guessed on this one, the answer for anyone that might need it is: Divide the total moment by the total weight of the aircraft to give an overall arm.

NATFI: This was pretty easy, just select the statement that seems most like you. Don't take anything personally, just decide which is closer to describing you than the other.

UAV: This section was a total train wreck. I was sure it would drag my scores down (and maybe it did?). There were 3 things I had problems with that I will address.

1. it is extremely difficult to separate your inputs between the throttle and the joystick. The joystick, you have to pull back on to go up, and the throttle you have to push forward to go up (just like a plane). The problem was, I would think oh I have to go up with the throttle to catch the plane, and then I would subconsciously pull up on the joystick at the same time. It's a matter of being able to coordinate two separate things. I fly airplanes and do it all the time, and it felt impossible and nothing like a real plane.

2. some of the things I read on here confused me about the diagnostic listening. I thought that they would only focus on one ear and was expecting it to tell me before the test started what ear to focus on. This isn't the case, as it is going, you can't just focus on hearing a number, you also have to focus on when it says "LEFT" or "RIGHT" to know when to switch ears and which one to listen to. It changes quite a bit. I missed quite a few in the beginning because I didn't realize this. Even when I did realize what to do, it was still pretty hard, I kept accidentally pushing a button for a number heard in the wrong ear.

3. when I did the emergency procedures, I pretty much ignored my flying and tracking to try and make sure I got the emergency procedure right. Even with that, I only got 2/3. The biggest problem I had, is for the propeller emergency. I believe it was fuel to neutral, and power full forward. Well my power was already full forward and I left it at that thinking I was good. The problem was, if it is already full forward, you have to pull it back and press it full forward again for it to recognize the input. This caused me to fail the EP. Overall I felt like a dumb monkey trying to chase the planes and press the right buttons. I was convinced I failed the whole ASTB off of this one section.

Biographical Inventory - They made me take this part at home, even though I specifically asked to do it there so that I could get my scores sooner. The only thing I would recommend is having your high school transcript with you. They asked me some questions about my math, physics, and earth sciences classes concerning whether they were AP, what year I took them, and my average grade. I really needed my transcript to do this, but tried to answer them as best I could off of memory even though it was 10 years ago already.

I put in about 2 months of studying for this. At the end of the day the test still felt impossible all around, but I'm happy with my scores. Good luck to all the future test takers!

 

[ea6bflyr]

I finally took my ASTB and received 57 8/8/8.
...
I put in about 2 months of studying for this. At the end of the day the test still felt impossible all around, but I'm happy with my scores. Good luck to all the future test takers!

Solid scores and great feedback/gouge!

 

[popeye123]

FIRE: EVERYTHING DOWN THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
ENGINE: EVERYTHING UP THEN HIT THE CLUTCH
PROP: ONE neutral ONE up and hit the CLUTCH

taking my test soon and i think i had trouble understanding this part
For example when both knobs go down, do you twist the knob backwards towards yourself or forward away from yourself?
vice versa for engine?

and what does the neutral mean? does it mean just don't touch that specific knob?

thanks again,

 

[desertflyer]

For example when both knobs go down, do you twist the knob backwards towards yourself or forward away from yourself?
vice versa for engine?

and what does the neutral mean? does it mean just don't touch that specific knob?

thanks again,

The knobs are actually up on the left throttle lever and turn from left to right. Left is down, right is up. The knobs correspond to gauges on the bottom right hand side of the computer screen. You determine neutral by looking at those gauges and move the knob accordingly.