Those of you who have retaken the TBAS: how much did it affect your PCSM?

[tarheelaviator]

Hey yall adding another number to this.  

Previous score from 2016: 88

Current score taken last week: 92 (no increase in flying hour bracket) and hypothetical 95 with 201+ hours

Would have probably done even better had I not borked a few questions on the UAV section but having practiced and played a bunch of video games with inverted axis controls helped me do significantly better on the tracking and multitasking sections.  Would recommend everyone retake who can and just practice, practice, practice beforehand.  Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to roll the dice on this one.  

[Erthwerm]

Hey all, 

Adding another score update to this. 

Previous PCSM score from 2010 (yes you read that right): 70

Retook the TBAS this morning and my updated PCSM score: 89. 

My 201+ PCSM score is a hypothetical 99. I'm pushing through with an instrument rating and expect to push my PCSM score to a 95 when I cross the 80 hour mark by September (currently sitting at 47 hours) which is when I expect most units to start accepting applications again. If I have enough time, I'm going to try and push through to get about 100 hours, which'll push me to a 98 PCSM. 

Here's what worked for me. I recently started flying again and increased flight 10 hours for my flight review, and I studied 45-60 minutes every day for about 7-8 weeks. I'm married and work a full-time job during the day, so even though it was a challenge to stay motivated, I told myself that if I got offered a UPT slot, this would be my life for at least a year and that getting into this habit now can only help me in the future. 

My advice is to just really study. There are some pretty good study materials if you know where to look. I don't want to get gigged by any folks from the AFPC in case they read this, so I won't go any further, but just look around online for TBAS preparation materials. Spend at least a couple of hours a week doing focused study. Find a flight sim, get some cheap Rudder Pedals and a Joystick, and work on your coordination. Yes, you'll have to shell out a little bit of money, but honestly what's a couple hundred bucks when you're talking about accomplishing a goal most will never recognize? All in all, I think I spent about $180 on software and hardware for test prep. 

Additionally, come up with a system to quickly orient yourself on the Directional Orientation portion. Once again, I'm not going to elaborate for risk of giving it away, but there are patterns you can establish for yourself. The absolute worst scenario into which you can put yourself is trying to figure out where North is when the UAV is pointing to the Southwest and you're supposed to find the East target when the taking the test. Prepare yourself as best you can to always know at least where North is and to understand the other cardinal directions in relation. 

As far as how to prepare for the multitasking portion, I don't really have any advice other than be prepared to really focus. Get good at 3 digit addition/subtraction. Realize that you're not truly multitasking, but quickly serial-tasking. That way, you'll feel less overwhelmed. 

Also, if I can increase my score by nearly twenty points with focused study for a couple months, literally anybody can. Really commit to putting in the work and investing in yourself and you can increase your scores, too. 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Erthwerm
punctuation, spelling, grammar

[mayflower09]

For TBAS prep, I would highly recommend using https://tbastestprep.com/. It really helps prepare you for the actual exam! I ended up rescheduling my TBAS just to prep more using this software program. Good luck everyone! 

[Erthwerm]

On 7/19/2020 at 9:22 AM, Fat Tony said:

I was surprised how much weight the AFOQT holds.

Flight hours significantly help, as well, as you're probably aware. If you're below 70 on the PCSM score, it'd behoove (I know, I said it) you to fly as much as you can. 

[GreenArc]

Adding another data point here:

Originally took my TBAS and AFOQT many moons ago, and after the new formula revisions over the past few years, and with my current flight hours (~50) my PCSM was a 67; my pilot was a 72.

I recently retook my AFQOT, and while AFPC hasn't updated their site yet with my official scores, the TBAS site has (which seems pretty odd, but I'm sure there's a reason for it. Would LOVE to get those from the ASAP as I owe official updated AFOQT scores to a unit 😅):

When checking the TBAS site, it shows my AFOQT Pilot score is now a 96, and my PCSM is now an 83. So improving my AFOQT score by 24 points moved my PCSM up by 16 points; roughly a 2 point gain in PCSM for every 3 points gained in my AFOQT (or something like that; we'll see what my Quantitative score shows when I finally get the full official scores to explain any accuracy/inaccuracy here). If I get to 201+ hours, my PCSM will max out at a 97.

@Fat Tony increased his AFQOT by 70 points, and that moved his TBAS up by 38 points. At some point I may re-read through the rest of this thread and see if we can compile more data here, but with an admittedly very limited sample set, it seems like you every every 1 point gain in your AFOQT Pilot score moves your PCSM score up by .54 -.66 points. Again, take that with a grain of salt, but it's something!

With that said, and currently having no visibility into how I did for the rest of the scores, I focused exclusively on the Pilot sections: Math Knowledge, Table Reading, Instrument Comprehension, and Aviation Information. I used 4 (yep, four) different test books, and hammered each off them for the better part of 2 months. Almost every day, I was doing 1+ hours of study with a heavy emphasis on the Math Knowledge as that's always been my weakest point.

My advice:

1. If math was never your thing like me, use https://www.math-aids.com/ and YouTube. I probably did dozens and dozens of worksheets, and any concepts I struggled with, I watched YouTube videos to help me better grasp them.

2. IMHO, Table Reading & Instrument Comprehension are as close to gimmes as you're going to find. Table Reading is very straight forward, and so is Instrument Comprehension once you nail down the concept. I'd have to double-check to confirm, but I believe there's a total of 110 questions to answer between all off the sections that compose your Pilot score. 40 are Table Reading questions and 25 Instrument Comprehension questions. That's 65/110, or 59% of all questions. And, I believe I read that we're scored on the number correct, so nailing these two sections is absolutely critical. I printed my own 20x20 table from the AFPC/PCSM website's AFOQT Prep Guide and every day for two weeks leading up to the test I did 2-3 timed Table Reading Tests. That helped tremendously, and already having a pretty good grasp on the Instrument Comprehension, I still tried to do one of those at least every other day leading up to the test.

3. For the Pilot section, go flying. Invest in ground school and 6-10 hours of flying. It'll be worth it, I promise. Why 6-10? For some studs, 10 hours is enough to solo in working toward your PPL, but it'll also a) give you a boost on your PCSM as the 6-10 bracket is the second bracket that improves your scores b) give you a much better understanding of how airplanes operate in general and c) doing ground school will "make real" aviation concepts from the test. From there, study the AFOQT books (IMHO, Barron's was the best), and then knock that part of the test out.

4. If you think you did well on the TBAS--specifically getting all of the directional orientation questions correct--I'd advise against retaking it unless you feel really, really good about doing so, or at least retake the AFOQT first. I remember getting all of those correct, and while I thought of retaking the TBAS, I was like, "nah, let's just do the AFOQT because I think it's a bit too risky to retry the TBAS." While I'd like my PCSM to be in the 90's right now like some of the cats around here, IMHO, if you think you did well on the TBAS but still need to improve your PCSM score, start with the AFOQT.

Finally, to end this novel: I have 4 AFOQT prep books, a laminated 20x20 Table Reading grid for practice (printed from the AFPC AFOQT prep guide), and a few spare answer sheets I made copies of from the back of the Barron's book for taking (a bunch of) practice tests. If you want 'em, PM me, and they're your's, 100% my treat. Unless you happen to be in a unit I'm applying to, then all I ask for is to put in a good word for me 😉 

Best of luck to everyone grinding. Take it from me, someone who is not the smartest or most talented, and who has struggled mightily at times with math: You can do well on this test if you just hammer any concept you struggle with from the prep books until it makes sense, even if it takes months (and some coin)!

Edited August 3, 2020 by GreenArc