ASTB-E Aviation and Nautical Information Test (ANIT)

What's published, and what isn't

Source: NMOTC ASTB-E Overview and FAQ. The full battery takes 2 hours to 3 hours 15 minutes. Our set length and clock are ours.

Scoring

The ANIT doesn't count toward the OAR. Full-battery takers get the OAR plus three stanine scores from 1 to 9: AQR, PFAR and FOFAR. Pilot selection uses AQR and PFAR; flight officer selection uses AQR and FOFAR. The formulas are proprietary, so no one outside NMOTC can say how much the ANIT weighs. We estimate the OAR only, never the stanines.

As an adaptive subtest, it allows no skipping or going back. Answer too few and a penalty may apply, and random guessing near the end is advised against.

What it covers

• Aviation concepts: flight controls and the axes they move, the four forces, angle of attack and stalls, instruments, airport markings and basic flight rules.
• Aviation history: milestones in flight and in naval aviation.
• Nautical terms: port and starboard, bow and stern, keel, hull, beam, draft, bulkhead, deck, overhead, galley.
• Nautical procedures: navigation lights, buoys, knots and nautical miles, basic rules of the road.

Our questions follow standard references: the FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge for aviation, and standard seamanship terms for the nautical half.

How to approach a knowledge test

Recall is the main skill, but there's a method for the questions you half-know: work from the principle instead of the word. Many nautical terms come in sets with a logic (port, red and left go together; starboard, green and right), and many aviation answers follow from the four forces and angle of attack. On an adaptive test you must answer to move on, so reason to the best option and commit.

Three worked examples

1. Navigation lights. At night you see another vessel's red sidelight below its white masthead light, and no green light. Which side of that vessel faces you? A. its bow B. its stern C. its port side D. its starboard side E. its keel. Answer: C. Sidelights are red on the port side and green on the starboard side, so red alone means you're looking at its port side.

2. Buoys. Entering a U.S. harbor from sea, on which side do you keep the red buoys? A. port B. starboard C. either side D. dead ahead E. astern. Answer: B. Red, right, returning: keep red marks on your right, which is starboard, when coming in from sea. Heading out, it's the reverse.

3. Stalls. A wing stalls when: A. airspeed drops below a fixed number B. the engine stops C. the critical angle of attack is exceeded D. the airplane climbs too high E. the flaps are extended. Answer: C. A wing can stall at any airspeed and in any attitude once its angle of attack passes the critical angle. Low airspeed is a common cause, not the definition.

Traps

• Port vs starboard. Port is left when facing forward, and so is the red light. Port and left both have four letters.
• Knots per hour. A knot is already a speed, one nautical mile per hour; a nautical mile is about 1.15 statute miles.
• Stall equals slow. A stall is about angle of attack, not a set airspeed.
• Returning vs departing. Red, right, returning applies when you come in from sea.
• Random clicks at the end. NMOTC advises against them on adaptive subtests.

Pacing without a published clock

Recall questions should take seconds; spend time only where reasoning can find the answer. Our timed set, 30 questions in 15 minutes, works out to 30 seconds each and trains that rhythm.

Study plan and practice

Learn the nautical terms and lights first, since they're a small, closed set. Then cover aviation controls, forces and stalls, then airport markings and flight rules. The FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge is free and covers the aviation half.

Then use practice mode, with an explanation after each answer, and the timed set. We don't imitate adaptivity, so practice is fixed-length, and every question is original. Army applicants take a helicopter-centered aviation test instead; see SIFT Army Aviation Information.

FAQ