Retake the ASTB if already passed?

[Zequa]

I've passed the ASTB with 47 6/8/7, OAR, AQR, PFAR, FOFAR and wasn't selected for this last board. There is room for improvement, so I'm wondering if it's worth the risk to retake the ASTB in hopes of raising scores or if that territory is hot water in the successive times you take the test. I still have two tries, but I've heard that it is more difficult the second time. Does anyone have some insight on this?

Side notes: I'm going for Marines and my OSO said they don't count the OAR. Does anyone know if this is true? I thought that he possibly meant that they don't count FOFAR because the Marines are phasing out/have phased out NFOs.

I'm not the best test taker, so I felt quite lucky to get these scores. Especially on the math. I will do whatever it takes to get selected and I'm studying quite a bit for the next test take, so has anyone had a similar experience?

I could see someone having a "bad day" on the PFAR section, as it might be difficult to replicate. You could sneeze, itch, brain fart or something and get a lower score because it moves at quite a fast pace. How difficult is it to get a 9 on that section of the test?

Thanks for reading!

 

[ea6bflyr]

I've passed the ASTB with 47 6/8/7, OAR, AQR, PFAR, FOFAR and wasn't selected for this last board. There is room for improvement, so I'm wondering if it's worth the risk to retake the ASTB in hopes of raising scores or if that territory is hot water in the successive times you take the test. I still have two tries, but I've heard that it is more difficult the second time. Does anyone have some insight on this?

Side notes: I'm going for Marines and my OSO said they don't count the OAR. Does anyone know if this is true? I thought that he possibly meant that they don't count FOFAR because the Marines are phasing out/have phased out NFOs.

I'm not the best test taker, so I felt quite lucky to get these scores. Especially on the math. I will do whatever it takes to get selected and I'm studying quite a bit for the next test take, so has anyone had a similar experience?

I could see someone having a "bad day" on the PFAR section, as it might be difficult to replicate. You could sneeze, itch, brain fart or something and get a lower score because it moves at quite a fast pace. How difficult is it to get a 9 on that section of the test?

Thanks for reading!

I would recommend that you retake the ASTB. Marine applications for air are competitive. Having the higher ASTB PFAR is key. Additionally, your PFA score is a deciding factor. What does your OSO recommend? Have you reviewed the other related threads on AirWarriors?

Lot of other items in your package besides the ASTB score. GPA, Degree, LORs, etc. It's a whole package deal...

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I've passed the ASTB with 47 6/8/7, OAR, AQR, PFAR, FOFAR and wasn't selected for this last board. There is room for improvement, so I'm wondering if it's worth the risk to retake the ASTB in hopes of raising scores or if that territory is hot water in the successive times you take the test. I still have two tries, but I've heard that it is more difficult the second time. Does anyone have some insight on this?

Side notes: I'm going for Marines and my OSO said they don't count the OAR. Does anyone know if this is true? I thought that he possibly meant that they don't count FOFAR because the Marines are phasing out/have phased out NFOs.

I'm not the best test taker, so I felt quite lucky to get these scores. Especially on the math. I will do whatever it takes to get selected and I'm studying quite a bit for the next test take, so has anyone had a similar experience?

I could see someone having a "bad day" on the PFAR section, as it might be difficult to replicate. You could sneeze, itch, brain fart or something and get a lower score because it moves at quite a fast pace. How difficult is it to get a 9 on that section of the test?

Thanks for reading!

What was your PFT score?

 

[Zequa]

I would recommend that you retake the ASTB. Marine applications for air are competitive. Having the higher ASTB PFAR is key. Additionally, your PFA score is a deciding factor. What does your OSO recommend? Have you reviewed the other related threads on AirWarriors?

Lot of other items in your package besides the ASTB score. GPA, Degree, LORs, etc. It's a whole package deal...

Thanks for the the reply! Did you mean to say PFT instead of PFA? My OSO recommends retaking the ASTB to try and get an even higher score, taking ASVAB - I only used my average SAT scores the first time. Also taking the DLAB as a bolster for language. My package was ready to go the first time, but not enough for selection for something like 4 slots picked in my region. Brushing up things here and there for the next board. I looked at other similar threads concerning my question here, but all of them seem to be much older, talking mid 2000's and I think the test may have changed a bit since then.

 

[Zequa]

What was your PFT score?

296, working on getting that 300 before the next board, hopefully!

 

[exNavyOffRec]

296, working on getting that 300 before the next board, hopefully!

I found your other post, does he think your 2.3 was a big issue? you could retake, I would be concerned of dropping to a 7 as an 8 is a really good score and you don't see too many 9's on here.

Did he tell you of the ones selected how many had 7's 8's or 9's?

 

[Zequa]

I found your other post, does he think your 2.3 was a big issue? you could retake, I would be concerned of dropping to a 7 as an 8 is a really good score and you don't see too many 9's on here.

Did he tell you of the ones selected how many had 7's 8's or 9's?

He doesn't really worry about my GPA much, he's claimed that the Marines won't care much bout the GPA, more about what you do after college and the whole package, which I have going for me there, yet I didn't get selected. It was a really competitive board for aviation slots this time around and supposed to be this way the rest of the fiscal year and maybe further on too. He didn't mention much about selected candidates' ASTB scores, but he said mine was high. They predicted for me to be selected. I could ask about it.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

He doesn't really worry about my GPA much, he's claimed that the Marines won't care much bout the GPA, more about what you do after college and the whole package, which I have going for me there, yet I didn't get selected. It was a really competitive board for aviation slots this time around and supposed to be this way the rest of the fiscal year and maybe further on too. He didn't mention much about selected candidates' ASTB scores, but he said mine was high. They predicted for me to be selected. I could ask about it.

I would ask him how you compared to those that were selected in PFT, PFAR, GPA, pretty much all the acronyms lol

 

[Zequa]

I would ask him how you compared to those that were selected in PFT, PFAR, GPA, pretty much all the acronyms lol

Gotcha, will do. Thanks for the input, all is appreciated!

 

[ea6bflyr]

Yes, PFT (The Navy calls it a PFA = BCA + PRT)

 

[Erin_hump777]

Gotcha, will do. Thanks for the input, all is appreciated!

Have you heard anything else? I didn't get picked up for the September Navy Board and I am really considering the Marines. I am going to take the ASTB again and I know I can do better on the ASTB section, but I'm not sure how I will fare on the OAR section as my math is extremally bad.

 

[Zequa]

Have you heard anything else? I didn't get picked up for the September Navy Board and I am really considering the Marines. I am going to take the ASTB again and I know I can do better on the ASTB section, but I'm not sure how I will fare on the OAR section as my math is extremally bad.

So I'm going to OCS in two weeks. I tried on two selection boards with aviation but didn't get it. Going in with a ground contract and trying for a competitive air contract later down the road. From what I understand, the Navy has boards more frequently, and they also take more candidates. More applicants as well, but the chances are probably better. I've also heard that the Navy has canceled some selections boards recently. The Marines haven't outright canceled selection boards, but they have drastically decreased the number of air contracts they're taking in right now because of the backup at flight school. I didn't bother applying for the Navy because I feel more aligned with the Marines.

Because of the flight school backup, it's difficult to get selected and may take a few tries. Work on improving everything that you can. My advice is that if you have a job or have other things to do, keep applying and wait it out for this flight school backup to fizzle out and things get back to normal. I wish I had more time with that, but I jumped on the application a little late and used up my time applying, and this past board was the last one I could submit for an air contract without an age waiver.

For the ASTB - I ended up taking it again and did worse than my first score. My office didn't mind that part and they're willing to work with dedicated candidates, so they submitted my best ASTB score anyway even though they're technically not supposed to do that. The plus with the Marines for air contracts is that they don't look at the OAR, as I've been told by my OSO - if that's something you weren't quite set with. If you have a decent ASTB score, I'd say it's risky to take it again, having done so. The second version was more difficult, especially the math and the mechanical portions. It was full of questions I didn't recall studying and I studied for the ASTB over the span of 2 years using many different resources. My math also isn't good, but I'd say really improving on what you know you can do is your best bet. Do lots the simple math practice and get faster at mental calculations so you can breeze through those problems. Print out worksheets and get the repetitions in. It'll help allow for more time on the more complicated algebraic type questions.

Others in this forum have posted that if you're competitive in one branch, you'll be competitive in the others. One area of opportunity to stand out more within the Marine pool of candidates is your physical fitness. It's something they heavily look at. If you can put up a really solid Marine PFT score, I'd say 285+, then your chances for an air contract with the Marines are higher than with the Navy. BTW, Marine PFT standards are getting easier in January. Not something I'm happy about, but it's a plus if you haven't ran a PFT yet.

Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!

 

[Amberstrongen]

Hello, I'll be taking the ASTB-E for the first time soon, and I'm thrilled to have found this site. If you're about to do so, send me a message.
I'm currently putting together a study group.
#TEAMPASSED