Exam Overview for McGraw-Hill's ASVAB (page 2)

What is the ASVAB?

You learned in the preceding chapter that everyone seeking to enlist in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces must take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The education level of military personnel is a major concern, and the military does not take just anyone who wants to join. The ASVAB is one tool that the military uses to measure the abilities of potential recruits. The ASVAB is also given to high school students to help them explore their aptitudes for different careers. Results from the high school assessment can be used for military entrance.

The ASVAB is actually a group of individual aptitude tests. The tests are listed in the following charts. Each test measures something that is important for military entrance or for acceptance into training programs for certain military jobs.

Once you are accepted into the military, your ASVAB scores are used to qualify you for various military occupations. The higher your scores, the more choices you will have for training in different occupations.

Different Formats of the ASVAB

The ASVAB comes in two formats. Persons who take the ASVAB in schools and in certain other locations in the country are given a paper-and-pencil test battery. This format of the test has 200 items and takes a little over two hours to complete. The test taker reads the questions in a test booklet and answers them by filling in bubbles on a machine-readable answer sheet. The sheets are taken to a scoring location, and the results are returned to the school and to recruiters. There are four separate forms of the paper-and-pencil version of the test. The chart on page 16 shows the subtests that make up the paper-and-pencil ASVAB.

In recent years, the Department of Defense has implemented a computer format of the test. Individuals who take this form of the ASVAB sit in a room with computers and answer the questions using the keyboard. One of the special characteristics of the computer format is that the test is adapted to the ability level of each individual. The feature is called computer adaptive testing (CAT), so this version of the ASVAB is called CAT-ASVAB.

The CAT-ASVAB uses fewer items than the paper-and-pencil version and takes less time. Because the items are tailored to your ability level, you will not receive many easy items or many items that are way too difficult for you. Items are selected based on whether or not you got the previous answers correct. The items that are given to you are drawn from a very large pool of items, and no two people get the exact same test.

It doesn't matter which format of the ASVAB you take because you will end up with the same military enlistment score.

The MEPS

You can take the ASVAB test at a local Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS). There are 65 MEPS located all across the United States. At the MEPS, you will take a computer version of the test. This test will seem different from the paper-and-pencil version, as it will have fewer items, but those items will be tailored by the computer to your level of ability. This ASVAB test is called CAT-ASVAB. CAT means computer adaptive test. The word adaptive means that the test is tailored to or adapts to your particular ability level.

Don't worry about taking the CAT-ASVAB, as it will give you the same scores as the paper-and-pencil version.

MET Sites

There are approximately 500 mobile examining team (MET) sites across the country. They have been set up to qualify military applicants at locations that may be remote or distant from MEPS. If you live a long way away from the nearest MEPS, you can take the ASVAB at a MET site. That way, you and the recruiter can determine whether you are qualified by aptitude to enter the military without spending the time and money it would take you to travel to a MEPS.

At a MET site, you will receive a paper-and-pencil version of the test that is like the student form, not the CAT-ASVAB. However, this may change in the future. The test will include assembling objects.

Who Administers the ASVAB?

The answer to this question depends on where you take the test battery. If you take the ASVAB at a school or at a MET site, you will have a trained civilian test administrator from the Office of Personnel Management. These are individuals who are contracted by the federal government to adhere to the strict timing and directions of ASVAB administration.

If you take the ASVAB at a MEPS, you will have a military administrator who will help you get started on the CAT-ASVAB. The directions will be self-explanatory, and you will determine the pace of the test. It is likely that you will finish the CAT-ASVAB in less time than it would take you to finish the paper-and-pencil instrument.