SIFT INFORMATION

[XIIGage]

Are formulas provided on the mechanical and mathematics sections?

Yes, formulas are given to you.

[future_aviator]

I am a 27 year old, non-prior service, civilian applicant with no flight hours building my WOFT packet.

I benefitted so much from lurking this thread/forum and I just took the SIFT about 2 hours ago and wanted to post my experience with the test so others can take what they want from it and possibly benefit as well. I'll try and put everything I can remember.

I passed with a 61. I am very happy with this score. I've been studying casually for about 1-2 months. Below are the study guides I used, my summary of the test and my stats.

Study Guides: The FAA Rotorcraft Manual, Barron's Military Flight Aptitude, Arco's Military Flight Aptitude, 2018/2019 ASVAB for dummies, and the blue and red study guides with the helicopter on the from from Amazon, cram.com flash cards

Simple Drawings

I answered 98/100 with 3-4 mistakes. 5 drawings are presented in the middle of the screen, you click the answer, and it automatically loads the next 5.

Hidden Figures

19/50 with 1 mistake. I didn't feel too great about the amount that I got done. Arco's was probably the closest to the look of the figures. I was given the same 5 figures and they were presented along the bottom of the screen with the new puzzle presented at the top. You click your answer and it automatically goes to the next question.

Aviation Information

This was pretty much as expected and followed along the same outlines as most of the other posters here. I got a lot of flight control questions as well as some of the following:

Induced Flow

Translating Tendency

What causes Slip and Skid

Payload

Night Scanning

Dissymmetry of Lift

Coning

Semi rigid vs Rigid

Tandem Rotors

Temperature Humidity Air Density Altitude and how they pertain to efficiency

IM SAFE method

Questions like "What is an Army Utility Helicopter" and then presented with different air frames (UH)

Basic Aerodynamics (AoA, AoI, Lift, Thrust, Drag, Weight)

G air space (wasn't prepared for this)

Overall it was pretty much as expected. Would've been fine just reading the FAA rotor craft hand book but the study guides definitely helped.

Spatial Apperception

The pictures on this one were a little blurry. Wasn't too happy with the layout because of the blur. I got an airplane with just the land and water layout (no helicopter or rock involved). Used all of my study guides to prepare for this one. It was closest to ARCO's practice test.

Reading Comprehension

One paragraph with four multiple choice questions. I didn't study for this one and it felt pretty complicated. Just choose the answer that can definitely be determined based on the reading. There are a few that will be kind of right and one that will be definite. Try your best to choose the definite.

Math Skills Test

Thought I was more prepared for this than I actually was. This is the only subtest that I got booted out of. The ones that threw me off were the radical expressions (most of my questions) and geometrical questions. If I could re take my exact test I'd study negative exponents, radical expressions, spheres, cubes, and triangles. Its almost like the test new my weakness : [

Also make sure you're good on probabilities. For example, if you roll a pair of die twice, what is the probability that you'll roll a 12 and then a 7?

Mechanical Comprehension

Questions about stress types (compression, tension), fluid dynamics, weight, mass, newtons, joules, friction, force, newton's laws, and timing. ASVAB for dummies was my main guide on this one.

Overall happy with my 61 as I wanted anything above 60. Honestly felt like I was tanking it so that was a nice relief. I always wondered reading through here how people possibly got through 90+ of the simple drawings but that was actually the easiest part. Also thought I'd be totally screwed on hidden figures but I just drilled them as much as I possibly could and right before I went into the MEPS. I got about as many as I expected.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

My stats:

Civilian; Non-Prior Service; No flight-hours

Age: 27

GT - 134 (97th percentile)

SIFT: 61

APFT: TBD

LOR: TBD (none yet - living in San Diego area with no knowledge of units or anything around me so if you might be able to help point me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful!!!)

Flight physical: TBD

GPA: Associate's Degree 3.98 GPA working towards my bachelor's

[Pmortillo]

 

I am a 27 year old, non-prior service, civilian applicant with no flight hours building my WOFT packet.

I benefitted so much from lurking this thread/forum and I just took the SIFT about 2 hours ago and wanted to post my experience with the test so others can take what they want from it and possibly benefit as well. I'll try and put everything I can remember.

I passed with a 61. I am very happy with this score. I've been studying casually for about 1-2 months. Below are the study guides I used, my summary of the test and my stats.

Study Guides: The FAA Rotorcraft Manual, Barron's Military Flight Aptitude, Arco's Military Flight Aptitude, 2018/2019 ASVAB for dummies, and the blue and red study guides with the helicopter on the from from Amazon, cram.com flash cards

Simple Drawings

I answered 98/100 with 3-4 mistakes. 5 drawings are presented in the middle of the screen, you click the answer, and it automatically loads the next 5.

Hidden Figures

19/50 with 1 mistake. I didn't feel too great about the amount that I got done. Arco's was probably the closest to the look of the figures. I was given the same 5 figures and they were presented along the bottom of the screen with the new puzzle presented at the top. You click your answer and it automatically goes to the next question.

Aviation Information

This was pretty much as expected and followed along the same outlines as most of the other posters here. I got a lot of flight control questions as well as some of the following:

Induced Flow

Translating Tendency

What causes Slip and Skid

Payload

Night Scanning

Dissymmetry of Lift

Coning

Semi rigid vs Rigid

Tandem Rotors

Temperature Humidity Air Density Altitude and how they pertain to efficiency

IM SAFE method

Questions like "What is an Army Utility Helicopter" and then presented with different air frames (UH)

Basic Aerodynamics (AoA, AoI, Lift, Thrust, Drag, Weight)

G air space (wasn't prepared for this)

Overall it was pretty much as expected. Would've been fine just reading the FAA rotor craft hand book but the study guides definitely helped.

Spatial Apperception

The pictures on this one were a little blurry. Wasn't too happy with the layout because of the blur. I got an airplane with just the land and water layout (no helicopter or rock involved). Used all of my study guides to prepare for this one. It was closest to ARCO's practice test.

Reading Comprehension

One paragraph with four multiple choice questions. I didn't study for this one and it felt pretty complicated. Just choose the answer that can definitely be determined based on the reading. There are a few that will be kind of right and one that will be definite. Try your best to choose the definite.

Math Skills Test

Thought I was more prepared for this than I actually was. This is the only subtest that I got booted out of. The ones that threw me off were the radical expressions (most of my questions) and geometrical questions. If I could re take my exact test I'd study negative exponents, radical expressions, spheres, cubes, and triangles. Its almost like the test new my weakness : [

Also make sure you're good on probabilities. For example, if you roll a pair of die twice, what is the probability that you'll roll a 12 and then a 7?

Mechanical Comprehension

Questions about stress types (compression, tension), fluid dynamics, weight, mass, newtons, joules, friction, force, newton's laws, and timing. ASVAB for dummies was my main guide on this one.

Overall happy with my 61 as I wanted anything above 60. Honestly felt like I was tanking it so that was a nice relief. I always wondered reading through here how people possibly got through 90+ of the simple drawings but that was actually the easiest part. Also thought I'd be totally screwed on hidden figures but I just drilled them as much as I possibly could and right before I went into the MEPS. I got about as many as I expected.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

My stats:

Civilian; Non-Prior Service; No flight-hours

Age: 27

GT - 134 (97th percentile)

SIFT: 61

APFT: TBD

LOR: TBD (none yet - living in San Diego area with no knowledge of units or anything around me so if you might be able to help point me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful!!!)

Flight physical: TBD

GPA: Associate's Degree 3.98 GPA working towards my bachelor's

 

 

Thanks for the post, it was helpful last night/this morning before I was scheduled to take the SIFT.

 

Naturally, the "servers" were down at MEPS, so they made me wait a couple of hours and then told me to reschedule for next Thursday.

 

The beauty of MEPS continues to treat me well...

[future_aviator]

 

Thanks for the post, it was helpful last night/this morning before I was scheduled to take the SIFT.

 

Naturally, the "servers" were down at MEPS, so they made me wait a couple of hours and then told me to reschedule for next Thursday.

 

The beauty of MEPS continues to treat me well...

Rough! Good luck next week! Let me know if you have any other questions and Ill try and help the best I can.

[amby_1986]

Where can i find the 250 CRAM flashcards?

I didnt find any link for the same?

[JeffB]

I'm preparing to take the SIFT as well. I've found this thread to be of great benefit. Good info posted!

[DevilDog1775]

Did anyone purchase/use the King Schools online ground school to help/study for the SIFT?  If so, did it help you?

[Jbail]

On 1/29/2021 at 7:49 AM, DevilDog1775 said:

Did anyone purchase/use the King Schools online ground school to help/study for the SIFT?  If so, did it help you?

If you’re using it just to practice for the aviation information part then I would advise you that there are much easier ways of going about it. You should be able to find a free FAA rotorcraft handbook just by looking online and that should have more than enough information. I would recommend learning the controls and parts of a helicopter, types of helicopters, basic aerodynamic principles of helicopter flight, and it wouldn’t hurt to touch up on some basic maneuvers and weight and balance. There most likely will be some army aviation information as well so learn everything about the army’s helicopters and their uses. For example, what is the main use of the AH-64/UH-60/CH-47. Honestly it’s one of the easier sections if you put on the time and effort. Learn it and move on to studying the math and mechanical comprehension.