What's on the ASVAB? Subtests, Times and Scores

The ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) is the military’s enlistment test. It has 10 subtests in four areas: verbal, math, science and technical, and spatial (Official ASVAB). Four of them, Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension, make up your AFQT score, which decides whether you can enlist. Your scores on all 10 help decide which military jobs you qualify for (Official ASVAB FAQs).

Who takes it

Most people take the ASVAB to join the military, starting with a recruiter who screens you on health, education, drug use and arrest record. You then test at one of 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS), or at a satellite Military Entrance Test (MET) site if you live far from one (Official ASVAB). Students can also take it at school, and service members can retake it to switch jobs (Official ASVAB).

Versions of the test

CAT-ASVAB at a MEPS or MET site

The computer version is adaptive: a right answer usually brings a harder question next, and a wrong one an easier question (Official ASVAB). It takes about 2 hours on average, and your scores are ready when you finish (Official ASVAB). You can’t go back to a question once you’ve answered it (Official ASVAB).

Paper and pencil at a MET site

The paper test takes 3 to 4 hours with instructions, and scoring at a MEPS usually takes a few days (Official ASVAB). MET sites can give either version, and the official site’s own pages disagree on which is more common: What to Expect says most MET sites test by computer (What to Expect), while the Fact Sheet says most use paper (Fact Sheet). Ask your recruiter which one you’ll take.

PiCAT at home

PiCAT is an unproctored online version. Your recruiter gives you an access code that expires after 30 days. Once you start, you have 48 hours to finish, and it takes about 2 to 3 hours, with no time limits on individual subtests. You can take it only once, and only if you’ve never taken the ASVAB (Official ASVAB PiCAT).

Only your recruiter sees the scores. If they look high enough, you take a proctored Verification Test (Vtest) at a MEPS or MET site within 45 days. It takes 25 to 30 minutes, and if it checks out, your PiCAT scores become your official scores (same page).

APT, the recruiter’s pre-screen

A recruiter may first give you the AFQT Predictor Test: 20 adaptive questions from the four AFQT subtests, taken online in 20 to 30 minutes. You can take it any number of times. It only predicts your AFQT (Official ASVAB APT).

The student ASVAB

The Career Exploration Program test is open to high school sophomores, juniors and seniors and to post-secondary students. On paper it takes about three hours, and on computer about an hour and a half (ASVAB CEP overview). It matches the enlistment test except that Assembling Objects isn’t given, and students get three career exploration scores in place of service job scores (Official ASVAB FAQs). Juniors, seniors and post-secondary students can use their scores to enlist for up to two years (ASVAB CEP overview).

The 10 subtests

In the order you take them (Official ASVAB):

Subtest	What it covers
General Science (GS)	Physical and biological sciences
Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)	Arithmetic word problems
Word Knowledge (WK)	Word meanings in context and synonyms
Paragraph Comprehension (PC)	Getting information from written passages
Mathematics Knowledge (MK)	High school math
Electronics Information (EI)	Electricity and electronics
Auto Information (AI)	Automobile technology
Shop Information (SI)	Tools, shop terms and shop practices
Mechanical Comprehension (MC)	Mechanical and physical principles
Assembling Objects (AO)	How an object will look once its parts are put together

On the computer, Auto and Shop Information are separate subtests that share one combined score (AS). On paper they’re a single subtest (same page).

Question counts and time limits

Subtest	CAT scored questions	CAT minutes	Paper questions	Paper minutes
GS	15	12	25	11
AR	15	55	30	36
WK	15	9	35	11
PC	10	27	15	13
MK	15	31	25	24
EI	15	10	20	9
AI	10	7	25 (AS combined)	11 (AS combined)
SI	10	6	in AS	in AS
MC	15	22	25	19
AO	15	18	25	15

CAT figures are from the CAT-ASVAB page. Paper figures are from What to Expect, which totals the paper test at 225 questions in 149 minutes.

The CAT limits assume no tryout questions (new questions that don’t count toward your score). Everyone gets them in 2 to 4 subtests, along with extra time. Arithmetic Reasoning, for example, goes from 55 to 113 minutes with tryouts (Official ASVAB). Questions you don’t reach before time runs out are scored as random guesses, but nearly everyone finishes in time (Official ASVAB).

The paper figures include Assembling Objects, following the most recent official page, updated October 2026 (What to Expect). An older page from April 2025 says AO isn’t given on paper (Military Jobs).

What the AFQT score means

AFQT stands for Armed Forces Qualification Test, but you don’t take it separately. It’s calculated from your scores on Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and Word Knowledge (Official ASVAB scores).

The AFQT is a percentile from 1 to 99, not a percent correct. It compares you with a national sample of 18- to 23-year-olds who took the ASVAB in a 1997 study. A score of 50 means you did as well as or better than 50% of that group. Subtests get standard scores instead: about half the sample scored 50 or higher, and about 16% scored 60 or higher (same page).

AFQT scores fall into categories (Official ASVAB eligibility):

Category	Percentile range
I	93 to 99
II	65 to 92
IIIA	50 to 64
IIIB	31 to 49
IV	10 to 30
V	1 to 9

Category IIIA or higher may qualify you for enlistment incentives (same page).

Minimum AFQT scores by branch

Each branch sets its own minimum (Official ASVAB eligibility):

Branch	Minimum AFQT
Army	31 (GoArmy)
Air Force	31 for high school seniors and graduates, 50 for GED holders (Air Force)
Marine Corps	31, or 50 with a GED or nontraditional diploma (Marines)
Coast Guard	32 (Coast Guard)
Space Force	Not listed. The enlisted page asks for “a qualifying ASVAB score” (Space Force)

The Navy says you need a minimum score but doesn’t publish the number on navy.com, so ask a Navy recruiter (Navy).

By federal law, if you’re not a high school graduate you need an AFQT of at least 31 (10 U.S.C. 520). Some jobs set their own minimum scores, so check the job you want (Navy). If you score below 31 but at least 21, the Army offers a 90-day academic track of its Future Soldier Preparatory Course, with chances to retake the test (GoArmy).

Line scores

The AFQT decides whether you can join, and line scores (also called composites) decide which jobs you qualify for. Each service builds its own from the subtests that best predict performance in groups of jobs: the Air Force uses four, the Army 10, the Marine Corps four and the Navy 15. The Army’s General Technical score, for example, is AR + VE, where VE is a verbal score built from Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension (Official ASVAB military jobs).

Retest rules

The official retest policy (Official ASVAB retest policy):

• Wait one month after your first test to retest.
• Wait another month for a second retest.
• After that, wait six months between retests.
• The same rules apply whether your first test was a student or an enlistment test.
• An AFQT gain of 20 or more points within six months means a confirmation test.
• A test thrown out for cheating means a six-month wait.

The Army’s recruiting site describes the third attempt differently, saying it can’t come until six calendar months after your second, so check with your recruiter before you schedule a third test. GoArmy also says the Army uses your most recent score, not your highest (GoArmy).

How to prepare

The ASVAB program endorses no particular prep method. It recommends a solid core of math, English and science courses, plus technical classes for the auto, shop, electronics and mechanical subtests (Official ASVAB). Its free resources (ASVAB prep disclaimer):

• Sample questions for all 10 subtests at officialasvab.com
• Practice tests and sample questions at asvabprogram.com/student
• The Army’s free online courses at March2Success

Test-day strategy (Official ASVAB):

1. Find out whether you’ll take the computer or the paper version, since the best strategy differs.
2. On the CAT, be sure of each answer before moving on. If time runs short, keep answering properly, because several wrong answers at the end of a subtest bring a relatively large penalty.
3. On paper, there’s no penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
4. Practice math by hand, since calculators aren’t allowed (Official ASVAB).

Recent changes

• Several officialasvab.com pages updated in October 2026 say that if you took the student ASVAB through School Staff Testing (SST), you must take a Vtest before using those scores to enlist (Official ASVAB; FAQs).
• A December 2023 law cut the share of a service’s new active-duty enlistees who can score from the 10th to the 30th percentile to 4%, down from 20%. The Secretary of Defense can raise a service’s limit to 20% (10 U.S.C. 520).