Everett Said:

Should I live out my parent's dream of attending UW?

We Answered:

Hey, I am a recent WWU grad so I know exactly what you are talking about. I wanted to go to UT, but the financial aid package coupled with instate tuition left me with only one real option. If you want to make it happen and your grades are good, you can go to RIT, and pay for the difference with loans. My suggestion is to check out WWU and UW, see what you think of the big campus vs. midsize campus. I got my BS in Computer Science and in the end, I am not upset I stayed in state.

Another thing, someone made a comment about it being easier for your parents to pay off the loans. That is not necessarily true, and in my particular case is definitely wrong. I now work in Redmond for a company you can probably guess, and it is way easier for me to pay my loans than it is for my parents to.

Reginald Said:

best way to study for the AFOQT and the ASVAB?

We Answered:

Hello.

Good luck if you can make pilot selection. Chances are small but you have to try. Be prepared to be an AF officer if you can not make pilot selection. Also be prepared to fly bombers, tankers, helicopters, cargo, and general aviation planes. Not everybody gets to fly the "glamour jets!"

OK. Officers do not take the ASVAB. ASVAB is for enlisted people.

Go back to the book store after you finish studying the books you bought and buy the other ones from the other publishers, also. You can buy them used from Amazon dot com.

The best way to learn with these books is:

A. Divide the book into it's chapters.
B. Assign 1 week per chapter.
C. Divide each chapter into 7 days. Use post it notes to separate the number of pages for each day's study.
D. Study carefully each day - you will need about 2 hours of study a day. Too much and it will be hard to remember. Do a little a lot of the time. Let it soak into the brain.

Now, another book I want you to buy:

Miller's Analogies: How to Prepare for the Miller Analogy Tests. These are difficult. I can't do them well, myself.

When you study these books:

A. Read the question stem carefully. Do not assume any information into the question stem that is not there. Many people trip themselves up by assuming something that isn't in the question stem.

B. Read all answer options - all 4 of them. Don't just jump at the first one that has something in it that seems "true."

C. All answers have something in them that is true. Look for something in the answer that is "NOT TRUE" and then discard that answer option. Then, the answer left will have "ALL of it's information in that answer "True." That is the BEST answer option and the answer option that the test will record as CORRECT.

ASVAB book. If you finish all the above and can still hold down a 3.8 - 4.0 GPA in college then you might want to buy a used ASVAB book from Amazon dot com just to work for "FUN."

Remember, if you become an officer you will be an officer for 4 years. You may not fly. You may be selected to fly and not be able to pass the physical or it might be too difficult for you to academically and physically manage to fly. Or, you might become a Navigator. They fly, too!

Have you already been accepted to Washington State and ROTC (2012!)? Or are you just "hopeful?" The 2011 classes haven't been filled yet! We are still in the 2010 school year!

Next question for you from me. Why are you NOT going to Washington State University for your freshman year and into ROTC for all 4 years? Explain this to me.

Aim High

Larry Smith
Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret.)
First Sergeant