I took the MASS/POSS test about three weeks ago. I received a letter yesterday stating I was recommended for mechanical and controls maintenance as well as Operations. It seems I must have done OK on the test.
I've been out of the industry for about thirteen years, and haven't been taking tests since I left the plant.
Here's my take on the test, which I think strongly aligns with what others here have said.
About two weeks before I took the test, I went over all the info and recommendations here at Nukeworker. I bought an ASVAB book, and methodically worked through it. I did both the practice tests, and brushed up with the sections that are reviews. I made flash cards of unit conversions and used them to study as well.
The test was stressful, because I knew I needed to nail the sweet spot between working too slow and not getting enough done, and working too fast and not getting enough correct. The math section, was the hardest. Absolutely skip questions that appear to be hard (two or more conversions). Coming back to those skipped questions later, I found for some of them, I had just missed the obvious answer. I don't think I even looked up at the conversion chart once. Maybe I did, but I don't remember, which was a big difference compared to the first time I took the practice test on line. I completed most of the questions for most of the sections. The mechanical and reading section were completed with time to spare, but upon checking my work, I found a couple wrong answers, so, just like operating the plant, self checking can help.
I did use the stop watch function on my wristwatch. I didn't time each question, but just kind of ball parked my self as I went through the various sections. We all know it's a fast paced test, and therefore we may have a tendency to rush. Using a stop watch actually allowed me to realize I was going fast enough, and allowed me to slow down a bit. I'm sure that improved my score by boosting the number of correct answers.
I have just recently started wearing prescription reading glasses. My vision is fully corrected with them on. Even wearing glasses, I had a hard time seeing some of the identifying letters on the assembly portion of the test. IIRC, the letters are printed in small blue print, and appeared to be fuzzy. I don't know if the printing press was off a slight bit when the test was made, or if it was me. If I had the test to do over again, I'd invest in a cheap pair of dollar store reading glasses with more strength for that portion of the test. If you do this, be sure to work with them on for a while during study sessions, as wearing glasses for the first time makes your head feel funny!
Although I think I remember reading about it, I was thrown off a bit by some of the answers on the test. I remember the math section had an answer space for "N", meaning none of the answers given were correct. For a couple questions, after going through several steps in a calculation, I couldn't get a match to any of the answers they had given, so I filled in the "N" circle. After the test, I felt that I had made a mistake on those two problems. I still don't know. However, the point is that the ASVAB book didn't have "N", but the POSS/MASS test has "N". Don't be thrown. After the test, I think I remember a poster on here saying that "N" is never the correct answer, but haven't been able to find or validate that statement.
The algebra portion of the math section was fairly straight forward, but it's still algebra. Gotta remember how to solve for X. The level of difficulty of the ASVAB tests seemed to be a spot on for the POSS/MASS test. Don't worry about having to solve the quadratic equation, or any calculus. It's not on the test. Just simple 1/x = 2.3, or x-2 =3 + 2x type stuff. Again ASVAB practices and study guides will bring you right back up to speed. I was so rusty in my math, that the first few practices, I didn't use the ASVAB, but went to
www.mathisfun.com and relearned there, without timing myself. When I got to the ASVAB, I used a stopwatch.
In practice, I used scratch paper like a sonar tech taking a shower uses water. When I got to the actual test, they only gave us one sheet of scratch paper. Not a big deal, but perhaps worth mentioning.
The biggest thing that I think helped was knowing the conversions cold. Questions involving distances, in standard and metric and volumes in kitchen (tbsp, etc) and metric units were common. There were a few Q's involving circle area, circumference, diameter and radius. Knowing how to move back and forth between all those measurements was key, I believe.
That's all I can remember. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse. If anyone finds an error with this post, let me know, as I don't want to put out bum dope!
