Help! ASTB Anxiety...

[njk1]

Hello all,

I'm scheduled to take the ASTB soon. I am only taking the OAR portion. My greatest problem lies in the math section of the ASTB. I am having trouble completing the 30 questions in 25 minutes. I have just completed 2 different practice tests and finished 27 questions in the 25 minute time frame, missing only 4 questions per practice test.

During the tests, I found myself "freezing up" when faced with a problem that I did not know how to get the answer to. Formulating a simple strategy to get the answer was difficult if not impossible to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Does your "brain freeze" as mine does? I've looked up test taking anxiety literature, but it has not helped...

Also, after completing the practice tests, I came to the conclusion that, in order to finish on time, one would need to have memorized how to do a majority of the problems, (especially the word problems), in order to finish on time. Is this correct?

FINALLY, has anyone really crushed the OAR portion of this test? By crushed, I mean received a score of 70+? What about 65+? What did you do to study? How did you get such a high score?

Thanks everyone.

 

[jpa140]

I took the astb back in oct 17, 2011 and got a 42 on the oar and a 4/4/4 on aviation part. I studied a lot more than the 1st time (oar 38, 2/3/3). I felt good when i left the room cuz i thought i did well. apparently not. i know on the math i had like 4 questions left so yeah it is hard . I had use A trick pay' study guide, ARCO book, Barron's Book, the LEarning Express military officer candidate test book, the marine gouge, practice astb with the aviation practice test. I gotta wait 90 days to retake the test so i cant retake it until Jan. Until then I guess I will have to study my butt of because this will be my last attempt. The officer recruiter told me to just take the OAR so i can focus more on studying (considering i wasnt too interested in aviation).

 

[JonSmith89]

I'm pretty nervous to take the test myself. I heard that when studying for the test you need to time yourself or have someone do it for you. The math they use seems to be so elementary but boy it is hard to remember the stuff you learned 6+ years ago. Keep at it and good luck to use both!

 

[cameron172]

I got a 8/8/8 67 on my first attempt.

I heard that when studying for the test you need to time yourself or have someone do it for you.

This.

I would study practice problems for a week and then take a full length test (in the Barron's and Arco) with a timer at the end of the week. I would see what I needed work on and spent another week on those, then took another timed full length test. I did this for a month. After your first full length timed test, you figure out to skip the questions that don't immediately come to you and go on to the ones that you know right away. Go back if there's time (there was usually a couple minutes). You don't need to memorize, just familiarize yourself with the questions. They're just trying to see how clearly you think when under a time crunch.

I had use A trick pay' study guide, ARCO book, Barron's Book, the LEarning Express military officer candidate test book, the marine gouge, practice astb with the aviation practice test.

This is pretty much what I used.

 

[Echo24]

Hello all,

I'm scheduled to take the ASTB soon. I am only taking the OAR portion. My greatest problem lies in the math section of the ASTB. I am having trouble completing the 30 questions in 25 minutes. I have just completed 2 different practice tests and finished 27 questions in the 25 minute time frame, missing only 4 questions per practice test.

During the tests, I found myself "freezing up" when faced with a problem that I did not know how to get the answer to. Formulating a simple strategy to get the answer was difficult if not impossible to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Does your "brain freeze" as mine does? I've looked up test taking anxiety literature, but it has not helped...

Also, after completing the practice tests, I came to the conclusion that, in order to finish on time, one would need to have memorized how to do a majority of the problems, (especially the word problems), in order to finish on time. Is this correct?

FINALLY, has anyone really crushed the OAR portion of this test? By crushed, I mean received a score of 70+? What about 65+? What did you do to study? How did you get such a high score?

Thanks everyone.

I scored a 9/9/9 67 OAR.

You need to study to the point where you have naturally memorized how to do every problem because you have seen them so much. When you come across a question you do not know how to answer, automatically skip it and come back to it at a later time. That helped me greatly on the test. I had about 5-6 minutes to go back to the 3 problems I couldn't figure out and it greatly increased my ability to answer them as opposed to the 50 seconds you are given if all were spent evenly on each other.

The questions are surprisingly similar to the real test. There will be same questions with different numbers as well as exactly the same questions. NOTE:: Know how to take cubed roots. There was no practice for that and at least 3 math questions on it in form 5.