🎖️ Stuff Every Military Recruit Should Know: Training Guide

What the ASVAB is and where you take it

ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. It is the test used to decide if you can join the US military and which military jobs fit you.

The first ASVAB was given in 1968, and all the military services were using it by 1976.

Most enlistment testing happens at a Military Entrance Processing Station, or MEPS. There are 65 MEPS across the US and Puerto Rico, and remote test takers may use smaller Military Entrance Test sites.

High schools also give the ASVAB to help students explore careers, even if they do not plan to enlist.

Test versions and subtests

The computer CAT-ASVAB has 10 subtests. The paper ASVAB combines Auto Information and Shop Information into one subtest, so it has nine.

The subtests measure four domains: Verbal, Math, Science and Technical, and Spatial. Assembling Objects is the only Spatial subtest.

The enlistment test includes Assembling Objects, but the school testing program leaves it out. School testers receive three composite scores: Verbal Skills, Math Skills, and Science and Technical Skills.

The CAT-ASVAB is adaptive: a right answer usually brings a harder question, and a wrong answer brings an easier one.

Tryout questions do not count toward your score, but treat every question seriously. Calculators are not allowed.

AFQT and job scores

The AFQT is not a separate exam. It is a score computed from four ASVAB subtests: Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Word Knowledge, and Paragraph Comprehension.

AFQT scores are reported as percentiles from 1 to 99, not as percent correct. A 62 means you did as well as or better than 62 percent of the comparison group.

AFQT categories group scores: Category I is 93 to 99, Category II is 65 to 92, Category IIIA is 50 to 64, and the lowest is Category V at 1 to 9.

Subtest standard scores are a different scale. A 50 on a subtest means about half the comparison group scored at or above it.

Job scores use different names by branch. The Army calls job scores line scores and uses VE from Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension. The Navy calls an enlisted job a rating, and the Air Force uses MAGE composites: Mechanical, Administrative, General and Electronics.

Auto Information and Shop Information are reported as one combined Auto and Shop score, called AS.

Retakes, PiCAT, and branch minimums

ASVAB scores can be used for enlistment for up to two years after testing. School ASVAB scores can count if they are verified as yours, and School Staff Testing scores need a short Verification Test first.

After your first ASVAB, you must wait one calendar month to retest. A second retest also needs a one-month wait, and later retests need six months between them.

If your AFQT gains 20 or more points within six months, you take a confirmation test. If you skip it, you must wait six months for a standard retest.

The PiCAT is an online, unproctored ASVAB for people who have never taken the ASVAB. After a good PiCAT score, you take a short Vtest within 45 days for the score to count.

Branch minimums change over time. As of 2026, goarmy.com says the Army requires an AFQT of at least 31, and the Army's Future Soldier Preparatory Course helps people with at least 21.

As of 2026, airforce.com says high school seniors or graduates need at least 31 AFQT and GED holders need at least 50.

How Word Knowledge works

Word Knowledge items ask you to choose the word that most nearly means the same as the test word. You are looking for a synonym.

Some words have more than one meaning. The sentence tells you which meaning fits. Apprehension can mean arrest, but in a sentence about a good record it means anxiety.

Be careful with words that sound like other words. Candid sounds like candy, but candid means honest.

Eight words to know

Antagonize most nearly means provoke. Wilted most nearly means limp, like a plant that has lost water.

Apprehension most nearly means anxiety in the sample sentence. Quiver means shake with a small trembling motion.

Diligent most nearly means hardworking. Frugal most nearly means thrifty, or careful in spending.

Candid most nearly means honest. Obsolete most nearly means outdated or no longer useful.

How Paragraph Comprehension works

Detail questions are answered by finding the exact sentence in the passage. Do not rely on outside knowledge.

Inference questions ask what the author suggests, not what is stated word for word. The east Texas passage suggests the land does not look like a desert.

Main idea questions want the choice that covers the whole passage. The glass placement passage is about controlling heat gain and loss, not any single detail.

Words like deception and irony are clues that things are not what they seem. In the storm passage, the clear sky makes it seem like no storm is coming.

Percent problems

To find a percent of a number, write the percent as a decimal and multiply. For example, 15% of 80 is 0.15 times 80, which equals 12.

A percent increase uses the original amount. A $40 item that rises by 25% gains 10 dollars, so the new price is $50.

Percent decrease also uses the original amount. A stock drop from $80 to $60 is a 20 dollar decrease, and 20 divided by 80 is 25%.

A discount is a percent off the original price. A $60 jacket that is 20% off has a discount of 12 dollars, so the sale price is $48. A 20% discount means the buyer pays 80%.

Sales tax is a percent of the purchase price. An 8% tax on a $30 meal is $2.40, so the total is $32.40.

To find what percent one number is of another, divide the part by the whole. Because 36 divided by 48 is 0.75, 36 is 75% of 48.

Ratios and rates

A ratio compares parts. In a 3:5 ratio with a total of 64, add 3 and 5 to get 8 equal parts. Each part is 8, so the amounts are 24 and 40.

A win to loss ratio of 7:3 with 40 games means 10 total parts. Each part is 4 games, so the team has 7 times 4, or 28, wins.

Map scale is a ratio. If 1 inch equals 8 miles, then 3.5 inches equals 3.5 times 8, or 28 miles.

Unit price helps compare costs. If 5 pounds of apples cost $6.50, one pound costs $1.30, so 2 pounds cost $2.60.

A rate like 25 miles per gallon means the car travels 25 miles on one gallon. For 150 miles, divide 150 by 25 to get 6 gallons.

Distance, time, and averages

Distance equals rate multiplied by time. A car moving 55 miles per hour for 3.5 hours travels 55 times 3.5, or 192.5 miles.

Average speed is distance divided by time. A train that goes 120 miles in 3 hours has an average speed of 40 miles per hour.

To find an average, add all the values and divide by the number of values. The average of 78, 85, 92, 87, and 83 is 425 divided by 5, or 85.

If speed stays the same, distance and time grow together. At 40 mph, a train covers 200 miles in 5 hours.

Interest, work, and measurement

Simple interest is found with I equals P times r times t. $800 at 5% for 2 years earns 40 dollars per year, for 80 dollars total.

You can solve for a missing interest rate. If $500 earns $75 in 3 years, 75 equals 500 times r times 3, so r equals 0.05, or 5%.

Work problems add rates, not times. Worker A finishes in 6 hours and Worker B in 3 hours, so together they do 1/6 plus 1/3 of the job per hour. That is 1/2 job per hour, so the job takes 2 hours.

Two pipes filling a tank in 5 hours and 10 hours work together at 3/10 tank per hour. The time is 10/3 hours, or 3 and 1/3 hours.

One mile is 5,280 feet. Three miles is 15,840 feet.

One gallon is 16 cups. Two gallons is 32 cups.

Order, equations, and number types

Use PEMDAS: parentheses, exponents, multiply or divide left to right, then add or subtract left to right. In 4 plus 6 times 2 minus 3, multiply first to get 4 plus 12 minus 3, which is 13.

Parentheses change the order. In (3 plus 5) squared divided by 4, do the parentheses to get 8, square it to 64, then divide by 4 to get 16.

To solve 2x plus 6 equals 20, subtract 6 from both sides to get 2x equals 14, then divide both sides by 2 to get x equals 7.

To solve x divided by 4 minus 3 equals 2, add 3 to both sides to get x divided by 4 equals 5, then multiply both sides by 4 to get x equals 20.

A prime number has exactly two factors: 1 and itself. 29 is prime, but 21 and 27 are composite because they can be factored.

A factorial multiplies a whole number by every positive smaller whole number. 5 factorial equals 5 times 4 times 3 times 2 times 1, which is 120.

Fractions

To add fractions, use a common denominator. 1/2 plus 1/3 becomes 3/6 plus 2/6, which is 5/6.

To multiply fractions, multiply numerators and denominators. 3/4 times 2/5 equals 6/20, which simplifies to 3/10.

To divide fractions, multiply by the reciprocal. 3/4 divided by 2/5 equals 3/4 times 5/2, which is 15/8.

Exponents and square roots

An exponent tells how many times to multiply the base. 3 to the fourth power means 3 times 3 times 3 times 3, which is 81.

Any nonzero base to the zero power equals 1. So 7 to the zero power is 1.

A negative exponent means take the reciprocal of the positive power. 2 to the negative third power equals 1 over 2 cubed, or 1/8.

The positive square root of 144 is 12 because 12 times 12 is 144. Every positive number also has a negative square root.

To simplify the square root of 50, pull out the largest perfect square factor. 50 is 25 times 2, so the root simplifies to 5 times the square root of 2.

Geometry

The area of a rectangle is length times width. A 9 meter by 6 meter rectangle has area 54 square meters.

The perimeter of a rectangle is the distance around it: 2 times the sum of length and width. A 12 inch by 5 inch rectangle has perimeter 34 inches.

The area of a circle is pi times radius squared. A circle with radius 7 centimeters has area 49 pi square centimeters.

The circumference of a circle is 2 times pi times radius. A circle with radius 10 meters has circumference 20 pi meters.

The three angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. If two angles are 55 degrees and 65 degrees, the third is 60 degrees.

In a right triangle, the Pythagorean theorem says the squares of the legs add to the square of the hypotenuse. With legs 6 and 8, the hypotenuse is 10.

Chemistry and temperature

Salt spread on an icy sidewalk lowers the freezing point of water. Water with something dissolved in it freezes at a lower temperature than pure water, so the ice becomes slush.

Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level. To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 1.8 and add 32.

An element's atomic number is the number of protons in its nucleus. That number decides which element the atom is.

Helium, neon, and argon are noble gases in group 18. They are also called inert gases because they rarely react.

Dry ice changes from solid straight to gas. This change is called sublimation, and the reverse is deposition.

Cells, forces, and motion

Mitochondria are called the powerhouse of the cell because they make most of the cell's ATP energy.

Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the body's tissues. White blood cells fight germs, and platelets help blood clot.

Newton's first law says an object in motion stays in motion unless an unbalanced force acts on it. A hockey puck slides until friction stops it.

Newton's third law says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. A rocket pushes hot gas down, and the gas pushes the rocket up.

Space science

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. About 1,000 Earths could fit inside a hollow Jupiter, and Saturn is the second largest.

Mercury is both the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet. It is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon.

The order from the Sun starts Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.

Current, voltage, and resistance

Ohm's law is V equals I times R. Current I equals V divided by R, so a 12-volt battery and a 4-ohm resistor create 3 amps.

Resistance is measured in ohms. An ohmmeter measures resistance, a voltmeter measures voltage, and an ammeter measures current.

AC means alternating current, which keeps reversing direction. DC means direct current, which flows one way like a battery.

Copper wire is a conductor because it lets charge move easily. Glass and rubber are insulators because they hold electrons tightly. Pure water is also an insulator.

Circuits and devices

In a series circuit, resistances add. Resistors of 2, 3, and 5 ohms in series total 10 ohms, and the same current flows through each.

A diode acts like a one-way valve for current. It lets current flow in only one direction, which is used to change AC into DC, called rectification.

Solid state diodes have no heated filament, unlike vacuum tubes. That means they need far less operating power.

Color codes and reference points

The resistor color code lists red as the number 2. The order starts black 0, brown 1, red 2, then continues to white 9.

On many resistors, a gold band means 5 percent tolerance and silver means 10 percent tolerance.

A metal chassis used as ground is treated as zero volts. All other circuit voltages are measured relative to that zero reference.

Four-stroke engine basics

The four strokes in order are intake, compression, power, and exhaust. Intake draws in air and fuel, compression squeezes the mixture, power burns it and pushes the piston down, and exhaust pushes out burned gas.

In a four-stroke engine, each stroke is half a turn of the crankshaft. One power stroke needs two full crankshaft turns.

A two-stroke engine fires once every crankshaft turn, but a four-stroke fires once every two turns. The flywheel keeps the crankshaft spinning smoothly between power strokes.

Gasoline and diesel ignition

A gasoline car engine uses a spark from the spark plug to ignite the air and fuel mixture. The car's computer sets the ignition timing.

A diesel engine has no spark plugs for ignition. It squeezes air so hard that the air becomes very hot, and the heat lights the fuel when it is injected.

Because of this, gasoline engines are spark-ignited and diesel engines are compression-ignition engines.

Vehicle electrical and brake systems

The alternator recharges the car battery while the engine is running. The starter only cranks the engine, and a slipping drive belt can leave the battery run down.

Most car brakes are hydraulic. The brake pedal pushes a master cylinder piston, and brake fluid in sealed lines carries the push to pistons at the wheels.

Big trucks often use air brakes instead of hydraulic fluid. A cable usually works only the parking brake.

Shop tool safety and use

A ripsaw cuts along the grain of wood, a crosscut saw cuts across the grain, and a hacksaw cuts metal.

A machinist's cold chisel cuts cold metal. You strike it with a hammer, and punches with mushroomed ends should be replaced.

Never use a file without a securely attached handle, except for small Swiss pattern files. A file cuts on the forward stroke, so press down only on that stroke.

With an adjustable wrench, the fixed jaw should take the pressure. The movable jaw can slip or spread because it is set by a small worm gear.

A torque wrench measures exactly how tight a nut or bolt is. Treat it as a precision instrument.

Levers

For a lever, effort times effort distance equals load times load distance. In the wheelbarrow example, 50 pounds times 4 feet equals a 200-pound load times 1 foot.

A wheelbarrow is a second-class lever because the load sits between the wheel, the fulcrum, and your hands.

A seesaw with the pivot in the middle is a first-class lever. The fulcrum sits between the effort and the load, as in crowbars, shears, and pliers.

Pulleys and gears

A single fixed pulley has a mechanical advantage of 1. It does not reduce force; it only changes the direction of pull, so you can pull down to raise a flag.

A block and tackle with 4 rope sections pulling up has a mechanical advantage of about 4. Pulling about 100 pounds can lift a 400-pound load, but you must pull 4 feet of rope to lift it 1 foot.

Two outside gears that mesh turn in opposite directions. Adding an idler gear reverses direction again but does not change the gear ratio.

A 100-tooth gear driving a 25-tooth gear makes the small gear turn 4 times for each turn of the big gear, because each tooth moves one tooth.

Ramps and pressure

Pushing a cart up a ramp is easier than lifting it straight up because the ramp lets you use less force over a longer distance. Ignoring friction, the work is the same.

A longer, gentler ramp needs even less force. A screw is an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder.

Pressure is force divided by area. A 200-pound force spread evenly over 4 square inches produces 50 pounds per square inch.

The same force on a smaller area makes higher pressure. That is why a sharp knife cuts better than a dull one.

Hydraulics

Pascal's law says pressure in an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished. That means a small piston can create pressure that moves a larger piston.

If 50 pounds pushes a 1-square-inch hydraulic piston, it creates 50 psi. A 10-square-inch big piston then exerts about 500 pounds.

The distance trade-off is opposite: the big piston moves one tenth as far as the small piston.