dckozak

Recommendations, Or if you wish, which one to avoid?

cale10

Hi everyone, I am close to graduating from college (141 flight school) with a bachelors in Aviation Flight. Upon graduation, i will have a PPL with instrument and commercial, I will also have CFI and CFII, and a multi-engine rating. Currently I am CFI-ing and hope to graduate with around 250 hours TT. To make a long story short, I wanted to join the Air Force right after high school with hopes to do something airplane related, but my parents suggested i go to college first, then think about it again later closer to graduation. Well, here i am at graduation and the Air Force seems like a pretty awesome career to me, and a career choice that i've always been thinking of in the back of my mind. But, I have to get in as an officer and then a pilot which has me all sorts of confused.

I was able to get into contact with a recruiter, and after filling out a form the recruiter suggested that I take the AFOQT and if my scores permit, get into contact with a real recruiter in person. I have the opportunity to take the AFOQT in February, but id much rather take it in March to give myself more time to prepare, but the recruiter I have been contacting made this sound like it was not wise to wait for whatever reason?

So, my biggest question is how to adequately prepare for the AFOQT in hopes to achieve a score high enough to secure a pilot slot. I have a prep book filled with tips, what the scores mean, and lots of practice questions. It seems that what I've gathered from other forums and sites is that the best way to prepare for the AFOQT is to study practice questions while timing yourself, remember to skip hard questions and go back later, and answer every question no matter wrong or right.

Also, I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but I'm not trying to be a fighter pilot, I just want to fly tankers/cargo ops.

Does anyone have any important tips to add to this?

mainlineAF

Finding a recruiter and getting your stuff scheduled is the hardest part.

Now just get the afoqt study guides and get to work. It’s not that bad if you study.

joepilot

Seriously consider AF Reserve or Air National Guard rather than active duty.

If you are at all considering an airline career, this is the best way to go. Many active duty pilots wish that they had known about this option.
Joe

Nation

I would take it when you're prepared. It's a balancing act though; you want to give yourself enough time, but studying with some pressure can help you use time more efficiently.

I took it a while ago but scored in the 90s for the AFOQT portion and had an 89 PCSM, for what it's worth.

I bought the Barron's study guide and the AFOQT study guide, read through the books individually, then took the every practice test available (4 AFOQT, 2 ASTB, 2 SIFT) in the books, timed, and looked over answers I got wrong. The biggest thing for the AFOQT is making sure you can finish it within the timeframe. This took me around 8 weeks, and I would stress that cramming isn't going to help here.

For the TBAS, you can find online resources for the UAV portion that will really help. Otherwise, I played a lot of Starcraft 2 (for the multitasking). From what I've heard, ANG looks at PCSM a lot more closely than AD.

NoDrop

First, don’t deal with your local recruiter. Make sure you are dealing with a officer accessions recruiter.

https://www.airforce.com/find-a-recruiter

Talk to your local Guard and Reserve units. They are always sending folks to UPT.

Merle Dixon

Years ago I got one of the AFOQT big book study guides - like the ACT study guides you can buy at a bookstore - and I read it cover to cover several times. I scored very well on the AFOQT and went to OTS and pilot training.

But, as others have typed, active duty SUCKS. Find an Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve unit. We have tons of folks just like you (college grad with pilot ratings), hired by the guard or reserve, in SUPT right now. The Guard is better than the Reserve. Good luck.

P.S. active duty sucks

PRS Guitars

Thank you parents!! Seriously, now you can be a pilot in the AF instead of work around planes.

make sure you are working with an “Officer Accession” recruiter. Ask your recruiter this today! If he isn’t an Officer Accession recruiter...thank him for his time and find the right person. This is super important.

i just bought the practice AFOQT book and took the tests, pay particular attention to the electrical mazes and aircraft orientation questions...if they still have those.

Xavier6897

Here are some great TBAS Prep resources!
https://tbastestprep.com/

Xavier6897

Here are some great resources to prep for the TBAS:
https://tbastestprep.com/