The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is vital to your successful enrollment and preferential employment within the Military. For that reason, you must take the test seriously and put forth diligent time and effort in regards to preparation. Many people who are enlisting don’t do this, and end up in a job that they don’t love, or they’re disqualified for enrollment all together. How should one go about studying for the ASVAB?
Learn About the Test, and What You Can Expect
This test isn’t your everyday SAT, although there are a few similarities in portions of the exam.
The first subset of the test is comprised of the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test), which includes sections on Arithmetic Reasoning, Math Knowledge, and Verbal Composite (word knowledge and paragraph comprehension). This subset is vital for enrollment, and a failing score will disqualify you from entering.
Extra sections will really speak to your general knowledge toward specific subjects and further curtail you for one job over another. These extra sections include science, auto and shop, mechanical comprehension and electronics information.
Breaking down your test into subsets will help you to conquer unfamiliar material in an efficient way, while reviewing what you already know as needed. There’s plenty of helpful study tips and content information available online, and there’s also a wealth of information at your local Military recruitment office.
Start Early
Don’t expect to cover this material and prep for the test overnight and still be successful. For best results, start as early as you can. The Military officially recommends beginning your studying efforts two months before the exam. You can never be too prepared, so start as early as you feel like you need to. Make a schedule for studying and stick to it so that you ensure spending an appropriate amount of time on each subject that’s relative to the time you have left.
Study with a Buddy
Unless you’re the kind of person who enjoys and thrives only on studying alone, consider finding a partner to study with. If you don’t have a friend whose walking this road with you, venture to a recruiting office and have a recruiting officer help you. Officers love to see initiative and want to see you succeed, and will more than likely love the opportunity to help coach you toward success.
Take Practice Exams
Before you ever go take the real deal, take several practice exams. These are free exams that are often offered in offices and schools all over the country, and will help familiarize you with the necessary material in order to do well. Get to the point where you want to be with practice exams before you ever take the real one.
If you take studying seriously, you should have no problems at all with the ASVAB. Simply learn what you can expect, start early and stick to a schedule, study with a buddy and take practice exams, and you should do great!
