Officer Candidate Tests, 7th Edition [Paperback]

Arco (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0768917018 | ISBN-13: 978-0768917017 | Publication Date: October 13, 2004 | Edition: 7

Every year, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard commissions 23,000 new officers. In this guide, a retired Army colonel and former Chief of the Examining Division of the New York City Department of Personnel gives candidates the preparation they need to achieve high scores on the required qualifying exam. Key topics for each branch-specific test are covered in full detail—from verbal reasoning and math to mechanics and electronics. Test-takers will also find the latest information on career opportunities. Offers test preparation for officer qualifying exams for all five branches of the military as well as job descriptions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

-Full-length sample tests for each branch of service
-Expert test-taking strategies
-Job descriptions and pay grades for commissioned officers
-A study plan to help readers prepare quickly and effectively

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Arco; 7 edition (October 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0768917018
• ISBN-13: 978-0768917017
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars AFOQT Takers Beware, July 21, 2000

By 

Phylis D Black - See all my reviews

This review is from: Officer Candidate 5e (Officer Candidate Tests) (Paperback)

Out of 16 subtests of the AFOQT, this book provides practice only on the 6 academic ones, with very few practice problems with even skimpier explanations. The only reason ARCO is still managing to publish this rip-off is because they have no competition. The most you'll get for your money is a good idea of what sort of questions they'll ask and how well you can expect to do in the allotted time for each subtest (but you can get that for free on the 'net). For serious study purposes, I strongly recommend you spend some quality time with Barron's SAT Study Guide. I scored phenomenally well on the AFOQT, and I owe it all to Barron.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Handy guide, September 23, 2004

By 

Thomas Hochmann (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Officer Candidate 6e (Arco Military Test Tutor) (Paperback)

Having recently joined the Air Force ROTC, it was inevitable that I would have to take the AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualifying Test). Knowing this, I grabbed a copy of /Officer Candidate Tests/, as recommended by AFROTC and my own detachment. The book offers a good overview of the requirements for becoming an officer of any branch of the military, the hundreds of career paths available, what sort of degree and traits you need for a given field, a rough estimate of pay grades, etc.

The real meat of the book, though, and the reason most people will buy it, is the coverage of the various officer tests. I can't comment on how well this book prepares you for other branches of the military, but I can say that /Officer Candidate Tests/ is a good starting point for the AFOQT. There are hundreds of sample problems that give a good idea of what areas the real test covers. In fact, I found many of the samples to be a good deal more difficult than anything I had on the actual test -- a good thing, since if you can handle the subjects the book presents with reasonable competence, you know you will do fine on the real deal.

There are some significant drawbacks, however. Firstly, the book only covers the "academic aptitude" (verbal and math/logic skills) and electrical/mechanical comprehension portions of tests. There's good material on the former and fairly skimpy preparation on the latter, but on the AFOQT, academic aptitude makes up only half of the exam. That's fine if you're not planning on being a pilot or navigator, but the remaining half of the test is rather critical for pilots. There's not even rudimentary descriptions of what the electrical maze, scale reading, instrument comprehension, block counting, and hidden figures questions are like. Again, if you are interested in being a pilot or navigator, that's a pretty large gap in knowledge to have when going into such an important test.

This isn't the world's best prep book, but I feel it was a big help in preparing me for the AFOQT, insofar as the half of the test it actually covered. I probably would have done better on the other sections if I had had any way of preparing. Even sections like the electrical maze, which are not something you can really "study" for, would have had a bit less shock value if I had at least seen an example or two. Then again, this is the military; you need to be able to handle some shock and pressure...

Bottom line - if you are wanting to become an officer, grab this book. It's decently priced, there's good info on career possibilities, and you'll get a feel for where you stand on the academic portions of a given officer test. Definitely a good starting point.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Infuriating, September 7, 2002

By 

"highsharperatio" (ny, ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Officer Candidate 6e (Arco Military Test Tutor) (Paperback)

A screw has 8 threads per inch and a vise must travel 2 inches along it. How many revolutions must the handle make? 16, right? The book says 18, with no explanation of the mysterious missing threads. Do you have to spin a couple of times to get going?

In short, the explanations stink (the editors routinely use oddball approaches in their math and skip whole series of steps) and there is not enough background material or pointers to references.

The entire mechanical comprehension section is lifted wholesale out of two freely-available Navy manuals and the test questions are just the examples that the Navy used.

There is no online companion to this - not even an errata so the authors could point out some of their mistakes.

I take this exam next week and I'm scared.