Introduction
Welcome to your ASVAB preparation! The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is the test the U.S. military uses to determine eligibility for service and match you with an occupational specialty. In other words, how you do on the ASVAB helps determine whether you get accepted into the military and what your job will be once you get there.
This course will take you through each section of the exam, reviewing the basics and working up to the most advanced material covered on the test. Of course, we cannot predict the exact questions you’ll see on your exam, but we will give you the knowledge, strategies, and problem-solving skills you’ll need to be as prepared as possible for test day.
The skills you develop here will also help prepare you for life in the military, where you’ll encounter more tests, schooling, and specialized training throughout your career.
Eligibility
Anyone can take the ASVAB, including high school students, recent graduates, and adults exploring new careers.
However, to join the military, there are certain requirements that you need to meet, such as receiving a high school diploma or GED and passing certain medical requirements. Your ASVAB score threshold may also depend on the type of degree you’ve earned, so make sure to speak with your recruiter to learn more.
Exam format
There are multiple formats of the ASVAB, and the one you take will be determined by your recruiter. This course follows the CAT-ASVAB format (the computerized adaptive ASVAB), which is the most common.
If you take the ASVAB at a high school, you’re taking the student version - the ASVAB Career Exploration Program (CEP). The CEP is given either on paper or as a computer adaptive test (the CEP iCAT), and neither form includes the Assembling Objects subtest. If you test through your school (called School Staff Testing), your scores need a Verification Test before you can use them to enlist, so be sure to tell your recruiter about any CEP scores you’ve earned. Enlistment testing, by contrast, is computerized at every Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) and at most Military Entrance Test (MET) sites; only a handful of MET sites still give the paper-and-pencil version, which is not adaptive.
What “adaptive” means
On the CAT-ASVAB, the test adjusts as you go:
- If you answer correctly, the next questions tend to get harder.
- If you miss a question, the next questions tend to get easier.
This helps the test quickly identify exactly where your ability lies while having you answer the fewest questions overall.
Adaptive testing does not end a section early when you miss questions, and the number of scored questions in each CAT-ASVAB subtest is fixed, as shown in the table below. However, 2 to 4 of your subtests will also include tryout (pretest) questions - new questions being evaluated for future use that don’t count toward your score. These are mixed in among the scored questions with no way to tell them apart, and those subtests get extra time to account for them (for example, Arithmetic Reasoning’s 55-minute limit can stretch to as much as 113 minutes). So expect some subtests to run longer and include more questions than the table shows. Pacing matters most on the tightest subtests: Word Knowledge gives you about 36 seconds per question, and Shop Information gives you just 6 minutes for 10 questions. Running out of time does cost you, because the CAT-ASVAB penalizes questions left unanswered. So work carefully, keep a steady pace, and if time runs short, keep answering as best you can rather than filling in random guesses.
Paper-and-pencil vs. computerized
Here are the practical differences you’ll notice:
- Paper-and-pencil test: You can review and change answers within a section, but you can’t move on to the next section until the full time for the current section has ended.
- Computerized test (CAT-ASVAB): You can work at your own pace within each section, but once you submit an answer, it is final. You can’t review any of your previous questions. When you finish a section, you can move on immediately.
What’s on the exam
The exam includes:
- 4 core components: Paragraph Comprehension, Word Knowledge, Mathematics Knowledge, and Arithmetic Reasoning
- Technical and spatial components: General Science, Electronics Information, Auto Information, Shop Information, Mechanical Comprehension, and Assembling Objects
Auto Information and Shop Information are separate subtests on the CAT-ASVAB (as shown in the table below), but the paper-and-pencil test combines them into a single Auto & Shop Information subtest; either way, they’re reported together as one Auto & Shop (AS) score.
Below are charts showing the time limits and number of questions for each test format, which you can also view in the ASVAB Fact Sheet.
Computer ASVAB (CAT-ASVAB)
| Test | Number of questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| General Science | 15 | 12 mins |
| Arithmetic Reasoning | 15 | 55 mins |
| Word Knowledge | 15 | 9 mins |
| Paragraph Comprehension | 10 | 27 mins |
| Mathematics Knowledge | 15 | 31 mins |
| Electronics Information | 15 | 10 mins |
| Auto Information | 10 | 7 mins |
| Shop Information | 10 | 6 mins |
| Mechanical Comprehension | 15 | 22 mins |
| Assembling Objects | 15 | 18 mins |
| Total | 135 | 197 mins |
Pencil and paper ASVAB
| Test | Number of questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| General Science | 25 | 11 mins |
| Arithmetic Reasoning | 30 | 36 mins |
| Word Knowledge | 35 | 11 mins |
| Paragraph Comprehension | 15 | 13 mins |
| Mathematics Knowledge | 25 | 24 mins |
| Electronics Information | 20 | 9 mins |
| Auto & Shop Information | 25 | 11 mins |
| Mechanical Comprehension | 25 | 19 mins |
| Assembling Objects | 25 | 15 mins |
| Total | 225 | 149 mins |
Scoring of the ASVAB
The ASVAB is broken into two parts:
- AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test): determines whether you’re eligible to enter the military
- Technical subtests: help determine which jobs you qualify for
Each subtest is reported as a standard score on a scale with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 - about half of 18-to-23-year-olds score 50 or higher, and about 16% score 60 or higher.
AFQT
The AFQT is based on the 4 core components:
- Paragraph Comprehension
- Word Knowledge
- Mathematics Knowledge
- Arithmetic Reasoning
The AFQT raw score is calculated from your standard scores on these tests:
2 × Verbal Expression (VE) + Arithmetic Reasoning + Mathematics Knowledge = AFQT raw score
Verbal Expression (VE) is a weighted composite of your Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension standard scores, not simply their sum.
That raw score is then converted into the score you actually see: a percentile from 1 to 99. This percentile shows how you performed relative to a reference group of 18-to-23-year-olds who took the ASVAB in 1997 - it is not the percentage of questions you answered correctly. For example, an AFQT score of 62 means you scored as well as or better than 62% of that reference group.
Your percentile also falls into one of these AFQT categories:
| Category | Percentile range |
|---|---|
| I | 93-99 |
| II | 65-92 |
| IIIA | 50-64 |
| IIIB | 31-49 |
| IVA | 21-30 |
| IVB | 16-20 |
| IVC | 10-15 |
| V | 1-9 |
There’s no pass or fail on the ASVAB itself - each branch of the military sets its own minimum qualifying AFQT score for enlistment, and your recruiter can confirm the current minimum for your branch.
Technical components
The technical subtests (listed under What’s on the exam) determine your job options.
Scoring tips
It’s completely normal to do well in some of the technical tests and not as well in others. Each branch of the military has its own score criteria to qualify candidates for specific jobs. Your recruiter can give you a breakdown of these score requirements, or you can find them online.
Each branch combines your subtest standard scores into its own line scores (composites), and those line scores determine which jobs you qualify for.
We strongly recommend researching your intended job as part of your ASVAB study prep to see which section(s) you need to prioritize. You do not want to be limited in your intended career field - or not eligible for a signing bonus! - because of a low score in a particular section.
It’s also important to know that your ASVAB scores will stick with you throughout your military career. If you want to re-class (change jobs) and don’t have a qualifying ASVAB score, you will need to study and retake the test. It’s better to thoroughly prepare the first time and never have to worry about it again! Keep in mind, too, that ASVAB scores can be used for enlistment for up to 2 years from the date you tested.
Tips for success
To succeed on the ASVAB (and the military in general), you need to learn discipline. Setting up and adhering to a study schedule is a great first step.
- Read each section and do the knowledge checks.
- Take physical notes on anything you struggle with and review them daily.
- Read the explanation of the questions if you miss them, and then practice that section until you can reliably get the questions correct.
- Review the vocabulary daily.
- Make sure you’re consistently strong in the four AFQT subtests (Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning, and Mathematics Knowledge) before moving on to the technical sections.
- You will not be able to use a calculator on the test, so practice these sections without a calculator to get used to doing math problems by hand!