Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a multiple choice test, administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States armed forces. It is often offered to American high school students when they are in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade, though anyone eligible for enlistment may take it. There has never been a requirement that a test-taker with a qualifying score enlist in the military, and the test may simply determine personal aptitude at a particular career.

History

The ASVAB was first introduced in 1968 and was adopted by all branches of the military in 1976. In 2002 it underwent a major revision. In 2004, the test's percentile ranking scoring system was re-normalized, to ensure that a score of 50% really did represent doing better than exactly 50% of test-takers.

Categories

Current

The ASVAB currently contains nine sections. The duration of each test varies from as low as ten minutes up to 36 minutes for Arithmetic Reasoning; the entire ASVAB is three hours long.

• Word Knowledge (WK)
• Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)
• Mechanical Comprehension (MC)
• Automotive and Shop Information (AS)
• Electronics Information (EI)
• Mathematics Knowledge (MK)
• General Science (GS)
• Paragraph Comprehension (PC)
• Assembling Objects (AO)

Navy applicants also complete a Coding Speed (CS) test.

Previous

• "Numerical Operations" (NO)
• "Space Perception" (SP)
• "Tool Knowledge" (TK)
• "General Information" (GI)
• "Attention to Detail" (AD)

Standards for enlistment

AFQT required minimum scores for people with a high school diploma as of May 2012 (unless otherwise noted) are as follows:

Minimum AFQT

	Tier I	Tier II
Branch	≥ HS Diploma	= GED
Army	31	50
Navy	35	50
Air Force	36	65
Marines	32	50
Coast Guard	45	50
*Army National Guard	31	50
*Air National Guard	31	50

GED holders who earn 15 college credits 100 level or greater are considered equivalent with those holding high school diplomas. This would result in only needing the minimum score to enlist. Enlisted is not determined by score alone. Certain recruiting goal practices may require an applicant to achieve a higher score than the required minimum AFQT score in order to be considered for enlistment.

Information use

The information collected through the ASVAB is used by the United States Department of Defense for research purposes. Scores and personal information obtained during the test are released to the student's local school and to United States armed forces recruiters, at the option of the school.

Armed Forces Qualification Test

An Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score is used to determine basic qualification for enlistment.

AFQT Scores are divided into the following categories:

• Category I: 93–99
• Category II: 65–92
• Category III A: 50–64
• Category III B: 31–49
• Category IV A: 21–30
• Category IV B: 16–20
• Category IV C: 10–15
• Category V: 0–9

The formula for computing an AFQT score is: AR + MK + (2 x VE) where VE = PC + WK.

The VE (verbal) score is determined by adding the raw scores from the PC and WK tests (i.e., how many questions the aspiring recruit got right on each) and using a table to get the VE score from that combined PC and WK raw score.

AFQT scores are not raw scores, but rather percentile scores indicating how each examinee performed compared with all other examinees. Thus, someone who receives an AFQT of 55 scored better than 55 percent of all other examinees. Maximum possible score is 99 as a person can do better than 99 percent of those who took the test, but he cannot do better than himself, so the high percentile is 99.

Law prohibits applicants in Category V from enlisting.^{[citation needed]} In addition, there are constraints placed on Category IV recruits; recruits must be high school diploma graduates. Furthermore, the law constrains the percentage of accessions who can fall in Category IV (currently, the limit is 20%).

Composite scores

In addition to the ASVAB's AFQT, each branch has military occupational specialty, or MOS, scores. Combinations of scores from the nine tests are used to determine qualification for a MOS. These combinations are called "aptitude area scores", "composite scores", or "line scores". Each of the five armed services has its own aptitude area scores and sets its own minimum composite scores for each MOS.

Army/National Guard Composite Scores

CL	Clerical	VE+AR+MK
CO	Combat Operations	AR+CS+AS+MC
EL	Electronics	GS+AR+MK+EI?
FA	Field Artillery	AR+CS+MK+MC
GM	General Maintenance	GS+AS+MK+EI
GT	General Technical	VE+AR
MM	Mechanical Maintenance	NO+AS+MC+EI
OF	Operators and Food	VE+NO+AS+MC
SC	Surveillance and Communications	VE+AR+AS+MC
ST	Skilled Technical	GS+VE+MK+MC
* SF	Special Forces	GT≥107 CO≥98

Navy/Coast Guard Line Scores

GT	General Technical	AR+VE
EL	Electronics	AR+EI+GS+MK
BEE	Basic Electricity and Electronics	AR+GS+2*MK
ENG	Engineering	AI+SI+MK
MEC	Mechanical Maintenance	AR+AI+SI+MC
MEC2	Mechanical Maintenance 2	AO+AR+MC
NUC	Nuclear Field	AR+MC+MK+VE
OPS	Operations Specialist	WK, PC, AR, MK, AO
HM	Hospitalcorpsman	GS+MK+VE
ADM	Administrative	MK+VE
* SEALs	Special Operations	GS+MC+EI≥165 or VE+MK+MC+CS≥220 (minimum for BUD/S)

Air Force/National Guard Composite Scores (Standard AFQT score AR + MK + (2 x VE))

G	General	VE + AR
M	Mechanical	MC + GS (2 × AS)
A	Administrative	NO + CS + VE
E	Electrical	AR + MK + EI + GS

Marine Corps Line Score:

CL	Clerical	VE+AR+MK
EL	Electronics	GS+AR+MK+EI
GT	General Technical	VE+AR
MM	Mechanical Maintenance	NO+AS+MC+EI
ST	Skilled Technical	GS+VE+MK+MC
* MARSOC	Special Operations	GT=105

Further reading

• Gregory, Robert J. (2011). Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications (Sixth ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-78214-7. Lay summary (7 November 2010). 
• Hogan, Thomas P.; Brooke Cannon (2007). Psychological Testing: A Practical Introduction (Second ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-73807-7. Lay summary (21 November 2010). 

External links

• Official ASVAB Information: The official ASVAB web site for the U. S. Department of Defense.
• About Guide to ASVAB
• ASVAB test description: Includes structure of the test, time allotted per section of the test and which sections are counted towards the Armed Forces Qualifying Test (AFQT) score.
• SEAL ASVAB requirement: Minimum requirements for BUD/S School of the USN SEAL.