NEW ASTB Overview

[grant_davis]

Sounds Good. Yea I have no idea what my recruiter wants, he is about to retire and on a cruise right now. I think I am going to call up to the office Monday and ask one of the other recruiters what I should do. I know my main problem was the math. It's not that I can’t do it as much as I am way too slow. I just didn't know if my 4 in FOFAR gave any significant hints as to what exactly I missed. Either way I'll just keep studying everything and make sure I keep focusing in school to keep the rest of my package solid. Thanks for all the help.

Also I still haven't had a physical. I know I have to take it after I pass the ASTB and I have read on this site that I can even apply for SNA before I have my physical. My question is, if my vision is 20/100 correctible to 20/20 with contacts should I go ahead and get my PRK now so I don’t stall anything later down the line.

I know these questions seem like ones that I should ask my recruiter but he lives in Florida and is rather hard to get in touch with. As for the books I have the ARCO one online and all the FAA books, my other books are all hard copies. I don't mind mailing them I just need to "pass" this test first..

 

[grant_davis]

One random note about the test, I got 100's on all of the practice spatial apperception questions in the ARCO and Barrons book but I must have missed at least 4 on the actual test. Those drawings are so old school looking. It looked like they photo copied something way too many times and now it is just all messed up. Also the practice sections in the book don't focus on big and small banks enough.. I did like taking it on the computer though. I didn't have any trouble with it freezing and it was easy to go back to questions I missed.

 

[BullGator]

Sounds Good. Yea I have no idea what my recruiter wants, he is about to retire and on a cruise right now. I think I am going to call up to the office Monday and ask one of the other recruiters what I should do. I know my main problem was the math. It's not that I can’t do it as much as I am way too slow. I just didn't know if my 4 in FOFAR gave any significant hints as to what exactly I missed. Either way I'll just keep studying everything and make sure I keep focusing in school to keep the rest of my package solid. Thanks for all the help.

Also I still haven't had a physical. I know I have to take it after I pass the ASTB and I have read on this site that I can even apply for SNA before I have my physical. My question is, if my vision is 20/100 correctible to 20/20 with contacts should I go ahead and get my PRK now so I don’t stall anything later down the line.

I know these questions seem like ones that I should ask my recruiter but he lives in Florida and is rather hard to get in touch with. As for the books I have the ARCO one online and all the FAA books, my other books are all hard copies. I don't mind mailing them I just need to "pass" this test first..

I suggest you respectfully get a new recruiter ASAP. It sounds like that is what is necessary here. He or she can answer your questions. Are you applying SNA only?

 

[grant_davis]

That was my plan.. I have kind of been going at this on my own.. The only time I talked to a recruiter was just to set up my ASTB.. The Marine guy in our area is more than helpful though the only problem is that he is brand new and I don't know if all his information is 100% on point. He told me the minimums for the ASTB are 6 6 5 but that seems high...

There is definitely a big difference between enlisted and officer recruiters haha. But this website has helped a lot and I'm pretty persistent so ill definitely find a way to make it work..

 

[ea6bflyr]

Grant,
The ASTB mins are different for Navy and Marine Corps. For the Navy, if you want Pilot, the only required scores are the AQR, PFAR and OAR. For NFO, the required scores are the AQR, FOFAR and the OAR. You should notice that the ASTB score mins for the Navy are a bit lower than those for the Marine Corps.

-ea6bflyr

 

[BullGator]

One random note about the test, I got 100's on all of the practice spatial apperception questions in the ARCO and Barrons book but I must have missed at least 4 on the actual test. Those drawings are so old school looking. It looked like they photo copied something way too many times and now it is just all messed up. Also the practice sections in the book don't focus on big and small banks enough.. I did like taking it on the computer though. I didn't have any trouble with it freezing and it was easy to go back to questions I missed.

You did realize that there were about 4 to 5 wrong answers per section of SAT in the Barron's book, right? The main difference is towards land pictures from the cock-pit and you get some more time per Q on the ASTB(I went through too fast I think. Had about 2+ minutes left at the end). The bank angles should be obvious for the cock-pit pictures; on the choices it can be more difficult. I think I may have messed some up from the looks of my PFAR score (unless it was mechanical misses).

 

[grant_davis]

Grant,
The ASTB mins are different for Navy and Marine Corps. For the Navy, if you want Pilot, the only required scores are the AQR, PFAR and OAR. For NFO, the required scores are the AQR, FOFAR and the OAR. You should notice that the ASTB score mins for the Navy are a bit lower than those for the Marine Corps.

-ea6bflyr

Thanks for the help. I talked to the Marines and didn't make the cut for SNA you need a six in one of the test. I did make the cut for Navy tho... I am trying to get the rest of my package together now. It is just hard because I am about two hours away from my recruiter and I am in school. Hopefully I'll be able to make November .. In a mean time I am still studying in case I need to retake the ASTB

 

[grant_davis]

You did realize that there were about 4 to 5 wrong answers per section of SAT in the Barron's book, right? The main difference is towards land pictures from the cock-pit and you get some more time per Q on the ASTB(I went through too fast I think. Had about 2+ minutes left at the end). The bank angles should be obvious for the cock-pit pictures; on the choices it can be more difficult. I think I may have messed some up from the looks of my PFAR score (unless it was mechanical misses).

Yea I had A-LOT of time left on each of the sections after the break... I think I just went way too fast because I didn't finish the math section and got all worked up about it. I did notice the wrong ones in the Barrons book... It is easy to tell what is going on in the cockpit I just had trouble picking the right answer... Plus the Barrons book didn't really get into big and little banks.. I know I am going to do better if I have to retest I just need to work on my test taking strategies.. I got o excited to see my scores that I was hauling A** towards the end lol

 

[Skipilot]

What are the pipe colors and what they mean (on naval vessel)?
Hopefully someone can help me out quickly!!

 

[grant_davis]

That was not on my test.. But I have seen that one answered on this site somewhere... Sorry I am not more help.

 

[BullGator]

That was not on my test.. But I have seen that one answered on this site somewhere... Sorry I am not more help.

He started another thread and skipilot's question was answered in great detail there (ASTB board). Check it out, I know I learned some color-stuff.

 

[grant_davis]

Wow just got a bit of bad news. My OR called and said that they raised the minimums a few months ago and now you need at least straight 5's for SNA so it is back to studying for me. Look like I'm not going to make the November Boards... Ill get there eventually though.

 

[grant_davis]

Does anyone know the difference between the FOFAR and the PFAR as far as how they are calculated? I know they both rely heavily on math but I scored a 5 in PFAR and a 4 in FOFAR... Just wondering thanks for any help.

 

[BullGator]

Does anyone know the difference between the FOFAR and the PFAR as far as how they are calculated? I know they both rely heavily on math but I scored a 5 in PFAR and a 4 in FOFAR... Just wondering thanks for any help.

From memory, the PFAR is weighted heavily on SAT (and ANT,) and mechanical. I think the FOFAR is weighted heavily on math and ANT.

The Barron's MFAT book and ARCO book tell you precisely which sections weigh heavily on which score. You can also look at the NOMI site about the ASTB breakdown. That has to be the most extensive way to answer your questions on this.

 

[grant_davis]

Another potentially dumb question: I know runways are numbered by the first two digits of their compass direction, but how do you tell the difference between 10 and 100? I am assuming they just call 10 1 and the opposite end of the runway would be 190. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

I found the answer... 10 reads 01... Sorry for the post