the armed services vocational aptitude battery (asvab) is a multiple choice test, administered by the united states military entrance processing command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the united states armed forces. it is often offered to american high school students when they are in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade, though anyone eligible for enlistment may take it. although the test is administered by the military, it is not (and never has been) a requirement that a test-taker with a qualifying score enlist in the armed forces. ==history== the asvab was first introduced in 1968 and was adopted by all branches of the military in 1976. it underwent a major revision in 2002. in 2004, the test's percentile rank scoring system was renormalized, to ensure that a score of 50% really did represent doing better than exactly 50% of the test takers. ==categories== ===current=== the asvab currently contains 9 sections. the duration of each test varies from as low as ten minutes up to 36 minutes for arithmetic reasoning; the entire asvab is three hours long. the test is typically administered in a computerized format at military entrance processing stations, known as meps, or at a satellite location called a military entrance test (met) site. the asvab is administered by computer at the meps, while a written version is given at most met sites. testing procedures vary depending on the mode of administration.  ====computerized test format==== * general science (gs) - 16 questions in 8 minutes * arithmetic reasoning (ar) - 16 questions in 39 minutes * word knowledge (wk) - 16 questions in 8 minutes * paragraph comprehension (pc) - 11 questions in 22 minutes * mathematics knowledge (mk) - 16 questions in 20 minutes * electronics information (ei) - 16 questions in 8 minutes * automotive and shop information (as) - 11 questions in 7 minutes * mechanical comprehension (mc) - 16 questions in 20 minutes * assembling objects (ao) - 16 questions in 16 minutes * verbal expression (ve)= (wk)+(pc) ====written test format==== * general science (gs) - 25 questions in 11 minutes * arithmetic reasoning (ar) - 30 questions in 36 minutes * word knowledge (wk) - 35 questions in 11 minutes * paragraph comprehension (pc) - 15 questions in 13 minutes * mathematics knowledge (mk) - 25 questions in 24 minutes * electronics information (ei) - 20 questions in 9 minutes * automotive and shop information (as) - 25 questions in 11 minutes * mechanical comprehension (mc) - 25 questions in 19 minutes * assembling objects (
Educational_assessment_and_evaluation Military_education_and_training_in_the_United_States Standardized_tests_in_the_United_States