Reflections and Advice on the AT-SAT

[jeffm1999]

Your first example is a little extreme. There are questions about climb rate and ground speed, but usually the numbers are easily divisible in your head. For example, they might ask:

A plane is climbing 200 fpm and traveling at 120 mph groundspeed. What will the plane's altitude be after it has traveled 10 miles?

To me this question is MUCH easier to do in your head if you break it into 3 small, easier steps:
1) At 120 mph, the plane is traveling 2 miles per minute.
2) It will take the plane 5 minutes to travel 10 miles
3) 5 minutes x 200fpm = 1000 feet altitude

Your second question is easier if you break it down like this:
1) Plane A is traveling 2 miles per minute, Plane B is traveling 3 miles per minute
2) Since they are traveling in opposite directions simply add the rates... 2 miles per minute + 3 miles per minute equals 5 miles per minute divergence.
3)multiply 5 miles per minute divergence by 9 minutes and you get 45 miles.

I know it is easier when you have tons of time to think about it, but if you break it down into smaller pieces the problems get much easier to do in your head.

Hopefully that is helpful, maybe it provides you a different way of looking at these problems. But I don't think you will see anything like your first example, all of the problems I remember were much more easily divisible in your head. Don't stress too much.

 

[jamin35008]

Thanks Jeff. I know the first one is alittle off the wall but its in the greenbook so I was wondering if anything like that is on the test. I have heard that most of the questions on the AT-SAT are easier than the greenbook.

From your memory of the test are most of the question dividable by 60 to get the miles per second? ie...120/180/240 ect....

Thanks for the info it makes me feel better about missing some of the crazy questions!

 

[jeffm1999]

I don't recall for sure, but I think most of the speeds were multiples of 60, but maybe not whole number multiples, maybe 1.5 or 2.5 times. For example maybe they would give you 150mph which is 2.5 miles per minute. Still pretty easy to figure in your head.

The other thing I remember about the green book was that you had to do a lot of converting between mph and knots and so forth. That is not how the AT-SAT works. I don't think there are any conversions at all.

One more thing. Be sure you know the difference between airspeed and groundspeed and how it relates to each problem, and then read the problem carefully to see what they want. I sort of remember a couple problems where that could have tripped you up if you used airspeed instead of groundspeed or vice versa. It has been awhile since I took it, though.

 

[Shane702]

I never did very good on the green book cd, in fact I usualy 7-10 wrong but on the at-sat you can skip the questions and come back to it and you also have a lot more time...I think like 29 minutes for 30 questions, and the time remaining is in the lower right corner...its so much easier.

 

[jolynnv26]

I took my test on 10-6 and got my score back on 10-7 a lot faster then I expected, I studied with the green book, much harder then the actual test, the math kinda threw me because on the test it had tailwind and sometimes u didnt even need that info.

 

[gatorbuc99]

Took the test 10/9 i'll find out my score in a few days i guess. Felt good about most of the test, the "meat" of it, if you will. The analogies were stupid and a little frustrating and the 135 count questionnaire the same. If i'm not accepted it'll probably be because of those 2 sections.

 

[Rosstafari]

Took the test 10/9 i'll find out my score in a few days i guess. Felt good about most of the test, the "meat" of it, if you will. The analogies were stupid and a little frustrating and the 135 count questionnaire the same. If i'm not accepted it'll probably be because of those 2 sections.

Don't worry about the questionnaire. It's not scored with the rest of the AT-SAT. I'm inclined to think it's not even used for anything other than demographic data, since they do a more thorough psychological screening later, but don't quote me on that. In any case, while it's probably not a good idea to blow that part off, it's probably not going to hurt you any.

 

[mikeflyte]

Hey Rosstafari, thanks for the guide. I took it yesterday in Peachtree City with 31 other potential controllers (full class). It really helped by expecting what it'd be like. Not sure how I well I did, but it was a bit wicked.

 

[Harejordan]

Thanks a lot for the guide!
I just finished taking the test, literally 5 minutes ago in San Bruno.

Dials, Applied math, angles, and the questionnaire were nothing.

Dials is just, reading Dials.

For the math, if you can divide 505 by 185, you can do the rest.

Angles is just turning your head all around. I found it was a little hard to distinguish 100 and 120 when the angle was upside down, but you'll eventually arrive at the correct answer.

Letter factory was easy besides the awareness questions, which you will have to guess on for at least half of them.

I found the JeremyJustice games easier than the actual AT-SAT(except for the almost no error landing room). Since the planes moved every 7 seconds, it was hard to gauge, when to slow down your plane landing on a runway, since the Fast option may just get it to the runway, instead of stopping right before it. I think I got a, 92, 38, 85, 98, for the 4 separate sections. Oh man, when a plane crashes and it goes BOOM, you literally jump. But then afterwards you can't help, but not laugh.

The analogies were just awful.

The questionairre throws some tricks at you with the word Not, but if you're honest, you're good.

 

[Rosstafari]

Glad that its helped some of you out. Good luck on the rest of the application process.

 

[mikeflyte]

90.2!!

 

[Harejordan]

10/16/2009 02:20:00 PM (Central Time): An

• AT-SAT score of 70 or above is necessary for passing. Your score was 97.8.

Hurray! I think I owe at least 70 points to your post!

 

[lukemorehouse]

10/16/2009 02:20:00 PM (Central Time): An

• AT-SAT score of 70 or above is necessary for passing. Your score was 97.8.

Hurray! I think I owe at least 70 points to your post!

:clap:FIRST OF ALL, CONGRATULATIONS!!! :clap:

What did you use to prepare for the applied math section?

 

[Harejordan]

http://forums.jetcareers.com/applic...nouncements/67879-sat-math-prep-download.html

I used this, which helped a lot with understanding a few concepts. On the test, it even tells you ground speed = true air speed + or - tail or headwind(can't remember the names well), but this will help you prepare for it. I just remember the hardest problem being dividing 505/185, dividing another number by another number, then multiplying those two together, which is actually very simple(just hard during the actual test).

Hope this helps and good luck tomorrow! Where are you taking it at?

 

[jamin35008]

Hey guys are there really questions on the AT-SAT like...

-An airplane is traveling between airport A and airport B at 80 KTAS, with a 10 knot headwind. What is the airplane’s GS?

-An airplane is traveling at a GS of 210 knots. How long will it take the airplane to travel 7 NM(s)?

-An airplane is traveling at a GS of 600 Knots. How many nautical miles will the airplane travel in 1 hour 7 minutes?

-An airplane is traveling between airport A and airport B at 90 KTAS, with a 15 knot tailwind. What is the airplane’s GS?

These seem really easy. Maybe thats a good thing if these are on the real test.......

 

[youinsee]

This past Friday I took the AT-SAT at Peachtree City, GA and already got my score back...93.5! That's a little lower than I was hoping for but I'm pleased. The guides, particularly Rosstafari's write-up, were invaluable. I found the math much easier than I expected--though I did miss one since I wasted time double and triple checking my answers. Learning Express's book (not the Green Book) was actually the best help for the math section. The problems in that book are much more difficult than those found on the atsat, which I found helpful; however, the answers and the answer key are flat wrong several, several times. While this wasn't too much much of a problem since I used a calculator to check my math, it was frustrating. Nonetheless, I would recommend this book, in addition to the Green Book to study the math.

I did find Jeremy Justice's programs to be helpful though they weren't perfect representations of what was on the test. First, the scan ranges change with roughly the same frequency as JJ's but there are more "aircraft" in the scan overall and a higher concentration at a given time. The scenarios were also a bit different. The average number of contacts ranged from 8 to 15 and the 7-second updates made it more difficult to work with rather than easier. I found using the medium speed for planes helpful, particularly as a plane neared its destination, since 'fast' resulted in planes overshooting their targets.

Analogies were easy, even entertaining, contrary to what most here have said. Angles, Dials, and the personality sections were also breezes.

I finished the test in about 5 hours--including times for lunch and other breaks.

Hope this helps.

 

[lukemorehouse]

So i took the test today in Peachtree City, GA. Well....lets see how I can sum this up...

DIALS - loved it
ANGLES - loved it
APPLIED MATH - answered 18 i felt confident with, guessed on two and had 5 uncompleted when time was up
SCAN - pretty similar to Jeremy Justice...i feel so so about my performance there
LETTER FACTORY- absolutely guessed on the random questions and think I tried to place a box twice when it didnt need to be placed
ANALOGIES - glad i didnt wear shoes with shoelaces cause I woulda hung myself here
ATC SCENARIO - 81, 83, 68, 84
EXPERIENCE QUESTIONAIRE - was falling asleep while answering

PATIENTLY WAITING ON THAT SCORE....

 

[srm1734]

I got my results................. 95.6 and i know i didnt study at all. i read this thread though and Rosstafari you are da man....... it was pretty much exactly how you described it......

The math the angles the dials i know i aced. the scan i was ok the letter factory was ok. the analogies i bombed. and the at scenarios i got a 36 56 76 46 or something like that. the highest score i crashed the most planes but i got the rest where they had to be a bit quicker.

 

[lukemorehouse]

I was also one of many who got my score the next day and what do ya know...

89!!!!!!!!!!

I can tell you guys for a fact on the math portion, I answered 18 questions I were sure had the right answer, guessed on 2 of them, and had 5 left uncompleted cause i didnt manage the time well.

ATC Scenarios, my efficiency scores were 81, 83, 68, 84

In looking at srm1734's post (CONGRATULATIONS BY THE WAY), who was sure she got all the math correct and got mostly 60s on her efficiency scores, but got a 95, I think we can conclude that the math is weighed pretty heavily if not has THE MOST weight.

Well...i can breathe now knowing i am WELL QUALIFIED and now back to doing what I have been seeming to do best in this whole thing...

**WAITING****WAITING**

 

[srm1734]

congrats Luke "WQ" :clap:

and yeah i think the math means something or weighs a lot too.