I’m assuming if you’re watching this video, then you want to join the military. Well, no matter which branch of the military you want to join, you’re going to have to take the AsVAB. So in this video, I’m going to share my study tips to help you improve your score on the AsVAB. I know when you go to join the military, you get hit with a ton of acronyms and it is like, what’s this and that and this and that? For example, AsVAb. ASVAB stands for Armed services vocational aptitude battery. This is the test that determines what jobs you qualify for in the military. It is a multiple choice test that is mostly taken at meps. MEPS is military entrance processing station. This is where you go to take your AsVAb and also to do all of your medical testing and evaluations. I have videos on my meps day one and meps day two, so you guys can watch those and see what the meps experience is like. So the reason I say mostly taken at meps is because that is how most people are going to go about taking their test. Most people are going to go to meps and take the cat AsVAB.
Another acronym, CAT ASVAB, is computerized adaptive testing. So you’re going to take the ASVAB on a computer. The adaptive part means that based off of how you answer, the computer is going to give you a harder question or an easier question. And that’s what adaptive means. It’s going to adapt to how you answered the previous question. Now, some people will take the PiCAT. The PICAT is prescreening Internet delivered, computerized adaptive testing. Some people will take the PiCAt if the recruiter gives them that option. So for me, my recruiter actually did not give me the option to take the PiCat.
He said, I would rather you just.
Go to Mets and take the AsVAB there, because if you took the PiCAt, you have to take a validation test, and that is to make sure people are not cheating and that their score matches up with their PiCAT score. I know some people who scored just as well on their validation test as they did on the PiCat, and they still had to take it over again. All right, let’s move on to what the AsVAB consists of. The cat AsVAB consists of separate tests. I am reading them in order of the way that you take them on the AsVAB. This is going to be the same for everybody. So the categories are general science, arithmetic, reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, mathematics, knowledge, electronics information, auto and shop information, mechanical comprehension and assembling objects. Now, all of that seems like a lot, I know, but I’m going to break it down even more. So the next thing you need to know is the AFQT. AFQT stands for armed forces qualification test. Now, this is what actually determines whether or not you are qualified to join the military. But don’t worry, I know it sounds like a whole separate test, but it’s actually a test within a test.
So the AsVAB is made up of subsets, but four of those subsets make up the AFQT. Arithmetic, reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension and mathematics knowledge. Here are the minimum scores that you need to pass in each branch. If you need to, you can screenshot this so you don’t forget the main goal for all of us is just to qualify for the military in general. And then you can figure out if there are certain subsets that you want to focus on as well. Each job in the military is going to require a certain ASVAB score or aptitude area. Now, this is one thing in this video that is going to be Air force specific, just because I don’t know about it in other branches. But the four aptitude areas in the air force are administrative, general, electrical and mechanical. So if you have a specific job that you want, go look up that job, see what AsVAB score or aptitude area it requires. So then on top of the AFQT subjects, you can figure out which other subsets that you want to focus on to be qualified for the job that you want. I know that was a lot.
I hope we’re on the same page and that everybody is getting this and understanding it. I just felt like all of that information needed to be broken down because I know it can get kind of confusing when you don’t understand it all. So hopefully everybody understands now. But one thing I do want to go ahead and mention is that you cannot use a calculator on the AsVAB. You are going to be at meps and you have to put everything away anyway, so you’re not going to have anything on you. Your cell phone’s going to be put away and the test is supervised. So all you’re going to have is a pencil and scratch paper and your computer to answer the questions on. All right, it’s time for tips for the AsVab. So whenever you go see your recruiter, your recruiter is going to have you take a practice asvab, more like a practice AFQT, because you only test on those four subjects that I mentioned, paragraph comprehension, word knowledge, mathematics knowledge, and arithmetic reasoning, that is all you do for the practice asvab. And people typically score higher on the real asvab than they do on the practice asvab.
So don’t worry about if you didn’t do that great on the practice asvab because this is going to be your first indicator on what you really need to work on. If you are somebody who hasn’t taken the practice asvab yet, do not study for it. If you want to know why, I have a video on that.
Like I said, this is going to.
Be your first indicator on what you really need to focus on. So I’m going to use myself as an example. With my practice asvab. I did really well on word knowledge and paragraph comprehension, but when it came to mathematics knowledge and arithmetic reasoning, I absolutely bombed those two. But I ended up getting a 50 overall on my practice asvab, but I actually got an 84 on my real Asvab. So start out by only studying the AFQT because like I said, the AFQT is what qualifies you to join the military. But the Asvab in general just shows you what jobs you qualify for. The main goal is we want to join the military. So let’s only focus on those four subjects in the AFQT. So I used Asvab for dummies to study with, and I also used fourtests.com. Go to Fourtests.com. And I honestly recommend using a computer because the ads on this page are ridiculous. And if you use a phone or an iPad, ads are going to pop up in front of the questions. You’re not even going to be able to see them to answer them with. So use a laptop or a desktop to get on this page.
Once you’re on this page, click Asvab on the left part of the screen and then unclick the subsets until you’re only left with the AFQT sections. Or you can take them one at a time. That way you can gage your strength in that area and see if you feel confident in it or if you need to spend more time working on it. Now, of course, I think you should spend most of your time focusing on the subjects where you are weaker because that’s of course the stuff that you don’t know that you’re going to have to relearn or learn in the moment because we don’t know it. So why we’re not doing well in those sections. But that does not mean not to study the parts where you are stronger, but I think you should just go through as a refresher, go through those sections and make some flashcards just so you can remember, but definitely spend the majority of your time in your weaker areas. Set aside undistracted time while you’re studying. So no phone or tv or computer unless you’re on fortest.com or you’re on an Asvab site like that. But don’t open up any other tabs that are going to distract you.
This is obviously for your own good. We’re trying to work on getting better at the AsVab, so if you want to do that, then focus on that. This is a really important one and it is not to overwhelm yourself and cram every subject into one study session. Separate your study sessions and use each one to focus on one topic. I really do recommend getting an Asvab book. I do recommend the Asvab for dummies. I know other people have had different AsVab books and I’m sure those work just as well. But regardless, literally read through every single thing and take the time to learn it. Keep a notebook with you as you are studying. That way you can work on working out the problems yourself. Because again, you’re not going to have your phone or a calculator on the Asvab and you’re just going to have that scratch paper. And then if there is something that you really just cannot figure out or you had a tough time working out the problem, make note of that. So when you’re done with that study section or say you have a stopping point that you’re going to get to, then later you can get your phone or the computer and be like, I didn’t know how to do the area of a triangle.
Look up YouTube videos about that specific thing that you were struggling with. That way you can try to understand it a little bit better because we all have different ways of understanding and studying.
So here are just a few pages that I did whenever I was practicing. I would go to take a practice test and I would see how many.
Questions there were and then I would.
Number one through however many questions there were, and then I would go to take the practice test, writing down all my work like this, and then obviously putting the answer by the number question. Then I would go through and see which ones I got correct. I would highlight and see which ones I would get wrong, and then I would make a note over on the side of things I really needed to work on which I mean, maybe to some people this seems simple, but I have been out of high school for quite a while, so I forgot things like multiplying decimals, multiplying fractions, prime factorization, dividing fractions, multiplying exponents, exponent rules. So I would make notes of things that I just needed to go spend more time working on. And then you have another page here on the back. Another page? Page here. And. Yeah, that’s what I did. And then I would also just write down definitions of things just to familiarize myself. And then I would write down formulas as well.