Aviation Selection Test Battery

The Aviation Selection Test Battery is used by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard as one criterion used in making selection determinations for officer aviation program applicants. The most recent complete revision of the ASTB was completed by the Naval Operational Medicine Institute (NOMI) in cooperation with the Educational Testing Services (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey in 1992. In 2004, three new parallel forms of this ASTB version were released by NOMI, and Forms 1 and 2, which had been in circulation from 1992 to 2004, were suspended.

The ASTB is used by the Navy Personnel Command (NPC) and the Commandant of the Marine Corps to select candidates for the Navy and Marine Corps pilot and flight officer programs. Portions of the test are also used by the Navy for selection into Officer Candidate School (OCS). The Coast Guard currently uses the ASTB to select pilot candidates for training, and uses a subcomponent score from the ASTB for its non­aviation officer commissioning program.

The ASTB is administered at Navy Recruiting Districts (NRDs), NROTC units, Marine Corps Officer Selection Offices (OSOs), and at numerous other permanent custody sites. The test is administered in a paper format, but at many sites it can be administered on a computer through a web­based system called APEX.NET. There are three versions of the test—Form 3, Form 4, and Form 5. Each version of the test contains different questions, but all three versions have the same format, subtests, and number of questions. The complete test battery requires approximately 2&frac12; hours to administer.

The current version of the ASTB was constructed and validated to predict both performance and attrition through the primary phases of aviation training for Student Naval Aviators (SNAs) and Student Naval Flight Officers (SNFOs). The entire test battery consists of 6 subtests:
 * Math Skills Test (MST), 30 items, 25 min
 * Reading Skills Test (RST), 27 items, 25 min
 * Mechanical Comprehension Test (MCT), 30 items, 15 min
 * Spatial Apperception Test (SAT), 25 items, 10 min
 * Aviation and Nautical Information Test (ANIT), 30 items, 15 min
 * Aviation Supplemental Test (AST), 34 items, 25 min (may be less than 34; actual number of items depends on the form given)

Retest Policy
Examinees that would like to improve their scores on the ASTB must wait until the 31st day following their initial attempts before taking different versions of the test. For example, an individual that takes Form 3 during their first administration must take Form 4 or Form 5 during their second testing session. A third and final attempt at Form 3, 4, or 5 is authorized on the 91st day following the first retest. These test interval requirements cannot be waived, so it is important that examinees are aware of the forms taken during previous administrations and the amount of time that has passed between administrations. Please talk to your recruiter or call 850­452­2257, and choose Option 3 followed by Option 5 if you are unsure of your test date or form number.

3 Test Lifetime Limit
A major change regarding the administration of the ASTB was the establishment of a 3 test lifetime limit in July 2004. An examinee may only take each version of the test (Form 3, Form 4, and Form 5) once, which means that an individual will only be allowed to take the ASTB 3 times during his or her lifetime. Examinees must take a different form during each retest, but the forms can be taken in any order. This limit only applies to Forms 3, 4, and 5. Therefore, if individuals took a previous version of the test (Forms 1 and 2, which are longer in use), it is not counted in this limit.

Illegal Testing
An examinee that retests too early or retests using a form that he or she has already taken will generate an illegal test. An illegal test means that the individual will not receive valid scores for the testing administration. On the other hand, the illegal test will still be counted against the individual’s lifetime limit.