Podcast
Military Exam Prep
Hosted by Ran Chen, EA, CFP® · EN
Military Exam Prep is a free, daily podcast by OpenExamPrep covering the most in-demand military aptitude, classification, and advancement exams — including the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), AFCT, PiCAT, AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualifying Test), OAR (Officer Aptitude Rating), ASTB-E (Aviation Selection Test Battery), SIFT (Selection Instrument for Flight Training), DLAB and DLPT (Defense Language tests), EDPT, NAPT, DoD Cyber Test, Air Force PFE, Navy NWAE, Coast Guard SWE, and Army Promotion Board. Each 5-minute episode breaks down one exam topic with concrete examples, scoring strategies (especially the AFQT line scores that determine job eligibility), common exam traps, and memory tricks to help you pass on your first attempt. Whether you're preparing for enlistment, OCS, flight school, language school, or your next stripe, the material is built around the way the test actually scores you. This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation for everyone — from recruits at MEPS to NCOs studying for promotion to officer candidates earning their commission. For free practice questions, AI-powered explanations, flashcards, and full study guides, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ Subscribe and listen daily — your enlistment, commission, or next rank is closer than you think.
97episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Navy OAR Exam Prep 17, Factoring and Quadratic Equations
2d ago00:02:54Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - To quickly identify quadratic equation types: difference of squares, simple trinomials, or complex trinomials. - How the zero-product property is the key to finding solutions from factored equations. - The fastest way to solve difference of squares problems like x² - 49 = 0. - When to abandon factoring and pivot to the quadratic formula to save time. - To avoid common traps like sign errors with the quadratic formula and in factoring. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 16, Exponents Radicals and Scientific Notation
3d ago00:02:40Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to apply the product and quotient rules to simplify complex exponential expressions quickly. - That a negative exponent means taking the reciprocal, and a fractional exponent like 1/2 means finding the square root. - The method for simplifying radicals by finding the largest perfect square factor within the radicand. - How to correctly convert numbers to scientific notation, focusing on the direction the decimal moves to determine the exponent's sign. - To use magnitude estimation as a sanity check to verify the reasonableness of your final answer, preventing common decimal and exponent errors. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 15, Inequalities and Absolute Value
4d ago00:03:18Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The most critical rule: when to flip the inequality sign to avoid common exam traps. - How to correctly solve compound inequalities by applying operations to all parts. - Why an inequality's solution is a set of numbers and how it's represented on the OAR. - The method for breaking a single absolute value equation into two separate linear equations. - A mnemonic ('less thAND' vs. 'greatOR') for solving tricky absolute value inequalities. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 14, Systems of Equations
5d ago00:04:15Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to quickly decide whether to use the substitution or elimination method on the timed OAR Math Skills Test. - A step-by-step process for solving a system using the substitution method, including how to avoid common distribution errors. - A clear example of using the elimination method by multiplying an entire equation to cancel out a variable. - The technique for translating OAR-style word problems into a solvable system of two linear equations. - How to interpret results that indicate no solution (parallel lines) or infinite solutions (the same line). For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 13, Linear Equations and Rearranging Formulas
6d ago00:03:54Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to isolate variables in one-step and multi-step linear equations using inverse operations. - The method for rearranging literal equations, or formulas with multiple variables, to solve for a specific quantity. - How to correctly set up and solve proportion problems by cross-multiplying. - To identify common exam traps, such as mishandling negative signs and reversing the order of operations. - A mental shortcut, 'Keep the scale balanced,' to ensure you always maintain equality in an equation. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 12, Algebraic Expressions and Simplification
1w ago00:03:34Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to translate verbal phrases, especially tricky ones like "less than," into correct algebraic expressions. - The most common exam trap involving the distributive property: forgetting to distribute the negative sign to all terms inside a parenthesis. - A simple mnemonic, the "fruit salad" rule, for accurately combining like terms (e.g., x-terms with x-terms, constants with constants). - The correct procedure for simplifying rational expressions by factoring both the numerator and denominator before canceling. - The critical rule to 'Factor first, then slash the match' to avoid the trap of illegally canceling terms instead of factors. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 11, Averages Weighted Means and Mixtures
1w ago00:03:42Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - That combined average, weighted mean, and mixture problems all follow the same principle: never average the averages. - How to set up weighted average calculations by multiplying each value by its respective weight before summing and dividing by the total weight. - The correct method for setting up mixture problems by creating an equation that balances the concentration and quantity of the components with the final mixture's properties. - To recognize the common exam trap of simply averaging percentages or scores without accounting for different quantities or weights. - To apply the 'Total Value' shortcut by tracking both the total quantity and the total weighted value to simplify complex problems, including replacement scenarios. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 10, Rates Work and Combined Production
1w ago00:02:40Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to calculate an individual's work rate as the reciprocal of the time taken (Rate = 1/Time). - Why you must always add individual work rates, not the times, to find the combined production rate. - The correct formula for solving combined work problems: (1/T1) + (1/T2) = 1/T_total. - How to handle problems with opposing forces, like filling and draining, by subtracting the negative rate. - The 'Flip 'em, Add 'em, Flip 'em back' mnemonic to quickly solve these questions on the exam. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 09, Ratios Proportions and Scaling
1w ago00:03:24Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to correctly set up and solve proportions using cross-multiplication for OAR-style word problems. - The critical difference between direct and inverse proportions, a common exam trap. - Techniques for solving scaling problems related to maps and technical drawings. - The importance of converting to consistent units before calculating ratios to avoid simple errors. - A mental shortcut, "More hands, less time," to quickly identify and solve inverse relationship problems. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →Navy OAR Exam Prep 08, Decimals Percentages and Percent Change
2w ago00:02:58Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to quickly convert between decimals, fractions, and percentages by moving the decimal point. - The method for solving reverse-percent problems to find the original amount after a change. - How to calculate markups and discounts by multiplying the original value by (1 + percent) or (1 - percent). - The critical difference between a percentage point change and a percent change to avoid common exam traps. - To apply the "New minus Old, over Old" formula for any percent increase or decrease question. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
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