What is the validity period for ASVAB certification?
Certification: Test Prep ASVAB - Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) developed by the Department of Defence, has an important role in the recruitment process of the United States Armed Forces. The ASVAB is a multi-aptitude test comprising many subsets and composite of subsets and is designed to identify the strengths and weakness of a candidate to determine his/her potential of joining the Armed Forces.Administered in more than 14,000 schools and Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) across the nation, the main purpose of the test is to assess the ability of the candidates who want to join the Armed Force. However, taking the test and succeeding does not make it mandatory to join the Armed Forces and the candidates have two year time until when the ASVAB scores of a test will be valid.
For a candidate to eligible to take up the test, he must fulfil two major criteria which is also the primary prerequisite for joining the Armed Forces. The two criteria include that the age of the candidate must be between 17 and 35 years and he must have a high school diploma or a GED credential. For high school or post-secondary school students, ASVAB test is in the form of a Career Exploration Program. The students can know their eligibility for the program from the teachers and counsellors of their school. The other candidates taking up the ASVAB test are also provided with complete information on the various civilian and military jobs in the Armed Force to help them in selecting a career path and choosing a college, vocational school or a military career.
About ASVAB Test Format and Content
Based on the purpose, the ASVAB test has been divided into three versions including the Student ASVAB, the MET-site ASVAB and the CAT – ASVAB. The Student ASVAB and MET-site ASVAB are pen and paper tests with no flexibility in the start time of the test. The subsets of both the versions are the same and consist of eight subsets including Arithmetic Reasoning, Paragraph Comprehension, Electronics Information, Mechanical Comprehension, General Science, Word Knowledge, Mathematics Knowledge, and Auto and Shop Information. The major difference between the two versions is in the purpose of the tests and the test centres. While the Student ASVAB is designed to help students at high school and colleges to explore the careers in Armed Forces, the MET-site ASVAB is aimed at recruiting candidates into one of the military forces. The MET- site ASVAB are administered at Mobile Examination Test site located in various cities whereas Student ASVAB are conducted at vocational schools, high schools and colleges.
The third one is the CAT – ASVAB which is a computer-based version of the test designed for recruitment in any of the Armed Forces. Administered at MEPS, the test through its automated system displays question, record answers and also generate scores of the test. Unlike the other two versions, CAT – ASVAB provides flexibility to the applicants in terms of start time of each subset test. This test version automatically moves to the next subset after completion of one subset with the time allotted, however, the candidate has the option to start the next subset immediately or later according to their convenience. The subsets in the CAT – ASVAB are same as the other two versions with the only difference of a separate subset for Auto Information and Shop Information making the total number of subsets in this version to be nine.
ASVAB Scores
The scores of the ASVAB test include the standard scores and the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores. The standard scores are the scores that a candidate gets on each subset which help to assess the best suited job for a candidate in the military forces. AFQT scores are meant to determine the eligibility of a candidate for recruitment in Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps. The computation of the AFQT score requires the standard scores of four ASVAB subsets including Mathematics Knowledge (MK),Word Knowledge (WK), Arithmetic Reasoning (AR), and Paragraph Comprehension (PC).The minimum AFQT score for each military service varies with the highest score required for joining the Coast Guard, followed by Air Force, Navy and, Marine and Army. The jobs in the Navy and Coast Guard are called ratings or rate, The job in the Army and the Marine Corps is known as MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), jobs in the Air Force are called AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code), and
The scores in the other subsets excluding the AFQT score subsets decide the eligibility of a candidate’s career field and military occupation. The career field includes deciding the candidate’s eligibility for college, vocational school or military career. The choice of occupation also determines the joining bonus of a candidate, thus, a high scores would mean more opportunities for them.
Retest Options
The candidates can take the ASVAB test any number of times with limitation only being the age. The age limit for taking up the test is 35 years. The candidate can opt to take a retest if he/she has not scored well in the first attempt. However, the candidate can attempt a retest only after one calendar month. The one month waiting period is only valid for the second attempt as from the third attempt the gap between two tests must be at least six calendar months.
The importance of the ASAB testis immense in the recruitment process of the Armed Forces of the United States. Therefore, anyone aspiring to be Military personnel must take up the ASVAB test very seriously and perform their best to get a good score so that they have more opportunities and can join the service of their choice.