ASVAB AFQT For Dummies

With Online Practice Tests

Angie Papple Johnston, Rod Powers

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119413554
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides
• Edition: 3

Score higher on the ASVAB AFQT

Having a stable and well-paying career in the military can change your life for the better—and this book makes it easier than ever to pass the ASVAB AFQT so you can serve your country and set your future up for success.

Inside, you'll find all the guidance and instruction you need to practice your way through the Math Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Word Knowledge, and Arithmetic Reasoning sections of the exam so nothing comes as a surprise on test day. Plus, you get a one-year subscription to the online companion, where you can take additional full-length practice tests and focus your study where you need it the most.

• Updated guidelines and tools to analyze test scores and understand how to master these critical sections of the exam
• Advice and tips for becoming more confident with vocabulary, word knowledge, and reading comprehension skills
• A review of math basics, including algebra and geometry instruction
• Four full-length practice exams with complete explanations and answers to track your progress

Your future in the military awaits! Get there faster and more confidently with ASVAB AFQT For Dummies!

Part 1

Getting Started with the ASVAB AFQT

IN THIS PART …

Get an overview of the ASVAB AFQT, how it’s scored, and how to prepare for it.

Check out the differences between the paper and computerized tests, find out what your score means, and get details on the possibility of retaking the test.

Create a study plan to maximize your time between now and test day.

Figure out what study strategy works best for you, take advantage of study tips, and prepare yourself for test day.

Chapter 1

Examining the AFQT

IN THIS CHAPTER

Dissecting the AFQT

Checking out the advantages of a high AFQT score

Setting up a study plan

Using the practice tests correctly

If you’re thinking about joining the U.S. military, your AFQT score may well be the most important score you achieve on any military test. Sure, it also helps determine which military jobs you’re offered or whether you get promoted, but what good are those if you can’t get into the military in the first place? You need a qualifying score on the AFQT, or you won’t be allowed to enlist. You could be a young Rambo in the making, in perfect health and able to run 3 miles in 3 minutes, and none of that would matter if you didn’t have a qualifying AFQT score.

The services have years and years of research to back up their policy of using the AFQT score as an enlistment qualification. Dozens of studies have shown that an individual’s AFQT score is one of the most significant factors in determining whether a recruit will make it through basic training and his or her first enlistment period. It costs the military about $55,935 to process a new recruit for enlistment and send that person through basic training (and that’s not even including the cost of additional job-specific schooling after you’ve graduated), so you can see why the services want to maximize their chances of getting their money’s worth.

Thankfully, with a little review, there’s absolutely no reason that you shouldn’t be able to score well on the AFQT. The score is, after all, composed of four areas that you studied intensely during your high-school years: basic math, math word problems, vocabulary, and reading. That’s where ASVAB AFQT For Dummies, 3rd Edition, comes in. Other test-prep books, such as ASVAB For Dummies (Wiley), try to prepare you for the entire Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and may be a great addition to your review, but this book is specifically designed to help you boost the most important ASVAB score of all: the AFQT score.

Getting a Close-Up View of the AFQT

The AFQT isn’t a stand-alone test. You can’t just walk into a recruiter’s office and say you want to take the AFQT. You have to take the entire ASVAB, which consists of nine separate subtests. Four of those subtests make up the score that’s known as the AFQT score. The AFQT score determines whether you’re qualified to join the service of your choice. (Turn to Chapter 2 for the minimum qualifying scores for each service.)

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS NO AFQT

When you start basic training, you learn about military history. Why not start a little sooner and find out where this whole testing thing came from?

The Army began general testing of draftees during World War I. In order to provide a method for classifying these soldiers, the Army developed the Army Alpha Test, which consisted of 212 multiple-choice and true/false questions, including common-sense questions and vocabulary and arithmetic problems. But many of the draftees couldn’t read or write, so the Army developed the Army Beta Test, which required little word knowledge and relied on pictures and diagrams. Nearly 2 million soldiers took one of these tests during World War I.

During World War II, the Army General Classification Test (AGCT) replaced the Alpha and Beta tests. The new test had 150 questions — mostly vocabulary and arithmetic. The AGCT was used by the Army and Marine Corps to assign recruits to military jobs. Of the 9 million soldiers and Marines who took this test during World War II, just over 60 percent could read and write above a third-grade level. During this time, a completely separate aptitude test was given to Navy recruits; it was called the Navy General Classification Test (NGCT). (The Air Force didn’t have a test because the United States technically didn’t have an Air Force as you know it today; the Air Force was part of the Army back then.)

In 1948, Congress required the Department of Defense to develop a uniform screening test to be used by all the services. In 1950, the Department of Defense came up with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). This test consisted of 100 multiple-choice questions in areas such as math, vocabulary, spatial relations, and mechanical ability. The military used this test until the mid-1970s. In addition to the AFQT, service-specific tests classified prospective recruits into jobs. The Army Classification Battery, the Navy Basic Test Battery, and the Airman Qualification Examination (to name a few) were used for classification purposes from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.

In the 1960s, as military jobs became more diverse and technical, the Department of Defense decided to develop a standardized military selection and classification test and administer it in high schools. That’s where the ASVAB entered the picture. The first ASVAB test was given in 1968, but the military didn’t use it for recruiting purposes for several years. In 1973, the draft ended and the nation entered the contemporary period, in which all military recruits are volunteers. That year, the Air Force began using the ASVAB; the Marine Corps followed in 1974. From 1973 to 1975, the Navy and Army used their own test batteries for selection and classification. In 1976, the ASVAB became the official military job classification test used by all services, and the AFQT score became the official entry standard.

Here are the four subtests that make up your AFQT score:

• Arithmetic Reasoning: The Arithmetic Reasoning subtest consists of math word problems. The subtest is multiple-choice. On the computerized-adaptive test (the CAT version or CAT-ASVAB), which most applicants take, you get 39 minutes to correctly solve 16 questions. If you’re taking the paper version, you get 36 minutes solve as many of the 30 problems as you can. Chapter 11 leads you step-by-step through solving math word problems. Take a look at Chapter 12 for some tips on doing well on this subtest.
• Word Knowledge: The Word Knowledge subtest is a vocabulary test, plain and simple. You have to find words that are “closest in meaning” or “most opposite in meaning” to underlined words in the question stem. You have to define 16 words in 8 minutes on the CAT-ASVAB or define 35 words in 11 minutes on the paper version. You can boost your vocabulary knowledge by following the advice in Chapter 5 and get an idea of what the subtest is all about in Chapter 6.
• Paragraph Comprehension: The Paragraph Comprehension subtest requires you to read a paragraph and then answer one to four questions about information contained in that paragraph. The computerized version has 11 questions in all, and you’re expected to complete the subtest in 22 minutes; the paper version has 15 questions you have to power through in 13 minutes. Chapter 7 can help you sharpen your reading comprehension skills, and you can get a little practice with the P...