Many people believe that in order to join the military, they are only required to pass basic training, a process in which a person physically prepares themselves to become a soldier. Well, today’s military wants a soldier that is both physically fit and intelligent. For this reason would-be soldiers must be able to pass another type of test that determines how much intellect they possess. This test is called The Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery, (known as ASVAB) for short. If a person fails the test, they will not be eligible to join the Armed Forces, though they will be given an opportunity to take the test again if they desire. If they pass they will be allowed to join. Additionally, the military will use the results of the test to determine what type of military job they would best be suited for.
The ASVAB test itself tests several areas of knowledge, such as math, science, vocabulary and reading comprehension. It also has exams that test one’s skills when it comes to auto & shop, mechanics and electronics. Of course, before a person gets to the true meat of the ASVAB, they will usually be given a pre-qualification test first. This pre-qualification test does receive a score, but if the score is ‘low’ a person will still be able to proceed with the real test. The purpose of the pre-qualification test is to give a person an idea of how they will do on the real ASVAB.
In terms of scoring, the ASVAB does not have an official score for the overall test. However, the AFQT, a part of the ASVAB does have a score. This is what military people are referring to when they are bragging about their score, (though many mistakenly believe it is in reference to the ASVAB). In the case of the AFQT the score is on a 99 point scale.
When it comes to what is needed to pass the AFQT portion of the ASVAB, it will depend on what branch of the military a person is trying to get into. Most will allow for scores that are in the low to mid 30s. Yet, a person will not want to get in the military on the bare-bones minimum scores, because their job opportunities will become limited. For this reason, soldiers should study for the ASVAB exam before they plan on taking it.
Many study aides are available for the ASVAB exam. The best ones will contain several practice tests along with detailed information on the type of knowledge a person will need to be able to do well. If a person is looking to get into a specific type of military job, they can consider getting an ASVB exam guide that is designed around that specific career. Really ambitious soldiers may want to make sure they are fully covered by studying both ‘general’ ASVAB study guides as well as more specific career-based ones. Either way, as long as a soldier does some preparation for the ASVAB exam, they won’t be totally shocked at both the test and their resulting AFQT score.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Hello,
I am a young man trying to find a way of life.Sick of doing nothing! I feel as though the military can make me into a better man. The pressure of having no job and the reallity that i can’t afford to go to college! I want to exceed in life,i have three other brothers who i feel are not happy with themselves because they let there oppurtunities pass by,but i dont want that to happen to me! I would like to play college football for the army if could,but at the same time train to be a soldier in the military and receive a degree at the same time if possible!I dont know if this is possible with my age of (22). I need to figure out my life and need to find myself.Thankyou for your time!
March 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
i need help passing the asvab
August 10th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hi my name is Roberto and have a couple of questions 1st is that this going to be my fifth time taking the asvab, i really want to join the army but i just cant pass it this time i have studied more than two months i am really concern that i will fail again can u give any tips
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Hello,
I took the Asvab for the first time and got an 83.
I think I may have some tips to help you all pass the asvab test:
1. MATH:
Please remember order of operations. The order of operations in the order in which you solve a problem. If you follow the order… you WILL get the problem right!
PLEASE ( Parenthesis )
EXCUSE ( Exponents… like 4^2 = 16 )
MY (Multiplication)
DEAR ( Division )
AUNT ( Addition )
SALLY ( subtraction )
Also, it is good to know very basic geometry.
For Example…
A circle has 360 degrees.
A triangle has 180 degrees.
A diameter is the distance from any point of a circle to the exact middle.
A Radius is a line that goes through the middle of the circle from one side to the other.
I finished each math section with 15+ minutes to spare. Although I do consider myself to be good at math, I feel there is ample time to WRITE EACH PROBLEM OUT.
Use your scratch paper. Ask for an additional piece. USE IT! Mental Math is NOT your friend on this test.
English comprehension & word association:
The section on reading comprehension…. EASY
Read the questions first. DO NOT READ THE PARAGRAPH until you have seen the questions. The odds are you will read your answers in the order they are presented in the questions.
Some of the questions may ask “what is the purpose of the writing?” Do you feel the passage tried to persuade you? Inform you? Discourage you? Imagine the tone if someone were reading it to you.
Word association:
“One of these is NOT like the other!”
Find out which word in the answers does not go. Also… sound out the word in your head. Sometimes you know the word, but do not recognize it because it is not a word used in our daily lives. I’d say for 75% of the questions, the answer is overly obvious. Go with your first instinct.
General Science:
I am 25 years old ( at the time writing this ) and it has been a LONG time since I have taken high school science. All of this material is learned in high school science or is common sense. It was 10 years ago when I “learned” the material; however, the questions asked were more common sense than things that should be studied.
Remember… this test is not a competition. Go get some tutoring. If you are taking the test for the 5th time, the way you prepared the past four times doesn’t work. If you need some electrical work done and are not familiar with the trade, doing it yourself is a bad idea. You would call an electrician.
The same goes for preparing for this.
I wish you all the best of luck!
Todd