General Information/Advice for SIFT test

I took the AFAST=117, SIFT=47

Got selected.

I was disappointed in both scores, but whatever. Use the AFAST study guides. Brush up on Algebra if you can. I suck at it, and probably scored horribly on the math due to that fact. Other than that, its pretty much the AFAST with some twists. Don't stress it, just get over a 40.

I have an update for you as I have recently taken the SIFT since my last post.  I would not worry so much about failing the test, as I would about passing it with a very low score.  The first few sections are incredibly easy (Sample Drawings & Hidden Figures).  The Army Aviation portion will probably be impossible to pass if you do not study for it.  Study the FAA Handbook and WJ Wagtendonk's "Principles of Helicopter Flight" and this section will be a breeze.  Reading comprehension is still self explanatory, on some of the questions where it would appear there are two answers - make sure they are word for word.  I noticed they would change one word to throw you off.  Spatial Apperception is also very simple.  Some of the images of my test screen were blurry, but it was also very easy to spot the correct answer - i.e., you will have a photo of an airplane heading out to sea, and only one answer shows an airplane moving out to sea - very simple.  Pay attention to the corners and how much of the box the photos fill up.

Here's where it gets tricky.  The Math Skills and Mechanical Comprehension are both ADAPTIVE tests.  This is where it gets different for everyone.  My Math section became harder after every question I answered correctly.  When I had to guess on an answer I noticed it would bring me to a more difficult question if I had guessed correctly, or it would back down and give me another easier question if I had guessed incorrectly.  It is timed at 40 minutes and it will test you to your mathematical limit, and once that is determined the test will automatically take you to the next section.  Now as the instructions stated, I would be penalized for taking too long to answer a question and to give a best guess.  So, if the system cant figure out your mathematical competency because you are wasting time its going to penalize your test score.

Mechanical comprehension was the same as math.  I have a civilian background in mechanics, so I was able to make it to some very tough questions.  The first "educated" guess I made on this section took me to the end of the test and displayed my score.  I imagine since the software says this test is Adaptive it will poke around and test your Mechanical limits as well.

As I said before - I would be more afraid to score low instead of failing as you can not retake this test if you score a 40 or higher.  One person testing the same day as me ran out of time on the Spatial Apperception and Reading Comprehension so they decided they would purposely fail the rest of the test and started choosing random answers and ended up with a final score of 41 - now they are stuck with that score when their goal was to completely fail so they could retest.