Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a multiple aptitude battery used for two purposes. The first is proprietary: enlistment qualification and job classification for all the branches of the American military and the Coast Guard. The second purpose is to provide vocational guidance for high school and vocational students. These two uses are called the Enlisted Testing Program (ETP) and the Student Testing Program (STP), respectively.

The ASVAB consists of nine subtests. In the past, it had contained some purely timed subtests and some subtests well characterized as mixed speed and power. Subtest content is verbal ability, quantitative ability, spatial ability, and job knowledge. The subtests are General Science, Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Electronics Information, Auto and Shop Information, Mechanical Comprehension, and [Page 46]Assembling Objects. Paragraph Comprehension is a short subtest and is never used alone but always combined with Word Knowledge to increase reliability. All subtest raw scores are converted to normative population standard scores and then combined to make composites for use.

For use in the ETP, the ASVAB is administered in both paper-and-pencil and computer-adapted forms. In the ETP, all armed service members are required to pass a composite called the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) for minimal enlistment qualification. In addition to the AFQT, each service computes unit or simple weighted composites for classification of enlistees into specific occupations or clusters of occupations. The scores are reported either in normative percentiles or in service-specific normative standard scores. In the normative sample, the composites reflect the high loading of general cognitive ability in all the subtests. This loading also makes the composites valid for predicting occupational criteria.

The STP uses only paper-and-pencil administration and is aimed at career exploration. The ASVAB and its supporting interpretive materials are offered free of charge. In this program, the scores are reported by grade norms in the form of percentiles with error bands. Grades are reported for each of eight subtests and three content composites. The STP does not use the Assembling Objects subtest. Included in the program are copious materials to aid the student in exploring potential occupational goals. In the STP, an associated interest inventory is offered, and the relationships between interests and test scores are clearly explained in a guide titled Exploring Careers.