ASTB-E NATFI: The Personality Questionnaire, Explained

Where it sits in the ASTB-E

Source: NMOTC ASTB-E Overview and FAQ. The Overview says the battery has 6 subtests and the FAQ says seven, but both list these same six. If you take only the OAR, you won't see the NATFI.

What's published, and what isn't

The full battery takes 2 hours to 3 hours 15 minutes. Full-battery takers receive AQR, PFAR and FOFAR stanines (1–9) in addition to the OAR; NMOTC doesn't publish how much, if at all, the NATFI feeds any of them.

How the adaptive rules apply

NMOTC lists the NATFI among the adaptive subtests. Its rules for adaptive subtests (no skipping, no going back, no changing answers, and a penalty for finishing too few items) are written for all of them, so treat each response as final and keep a steady pace.

How to approach it

• Answer as yourself. With no published key, answering as an imagined ideal aviator means guessing at a key nobody outside NMOTC can see.
• Go with your first honest reading. Overthinking each item burns time and adds nothing.
• Read every word. A statement can turn on one qualifier, such as usually versus always.
• Stay consistent by staying honest. Honest answers are consistent answers; a strategy is hard to keep straight for a whole questionnaire.
• Rest beats rehearsal. The NATFI sits inside a long battery, so sleep and food matter more than any preparation.

If you've taken the AFOQT

The Air Force's Self-Description Inventory is also a personality questionnaire with no right answers: 240 statements in 45 minutes, each answered on a five-point scale. The NATFI differs in what's published about it: it's adaptive, and NMOTC gives no item count or time limit. The advice carries over: answer honestly, read every word and keep moving.

Why we don't simulate or score it

Practice works when there's something to practice against: a right answer, a method, a clock to beat. A personality questionnaire has none of these, and its scoring is proprietary. Any NATFI practice score would be invented, so we offer no drills, timed sets or estimates for it.

Where to spend your prep time

If you're taking the full battery, study time pays off elsewhere: the three OAR subtests, Math Skills, Reading Comprehension and Mechanical Comprehension, plus the knowledge-based Aviation & Nautical Information test. The free OAR diagnostic shows where you stand.

One more rule worth knowing: a full-battery retest repeats every part, the NATFI included. Scores can't be mixed between attempts, and your most recent attempt replaces all earlier scores, even higher ones.

FAQ