Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery , also known as the ASVAB , is a test administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command in order to assess potential military members for enlistment qualifications . The test is generally offered on a non - mandatory basis in American high schools in the 10th , 11th , and 12th grade . Anyone who is eligible for enlistment may take the test , and all members of the Armed Forces of the United States take the test before being accepted . Taking the test does not incur any obligations to the military . History The ASVAB was first introduced in 1968 , and by 1976 all branches of the United States military began using the test as an entrance exam . The test underwent major revisions in 2002 . In 2004 , the grading system was reorganized to score the test based on how well a test taker scored against other test takers , rather than simply scoring the number of correct answers . Since the test is measured against other individuals taking the test , a score of 80 % means that the test taker scored better than 80 % of individuals who also took the test , rather than simply having answered 80 % of questions correctly . The test is frequently offered in American public high schools on a voluntary basis ; no teacher , principal , or member of the armed forces has any authority to force a student to take the ASVAB . The United States Army has made a practice test freely available on their website . Layout . The ASVAB currently contains nine sections . The sections take between ten and thirty - six minutes to complete . The entire test takes approximately three hours to complete . The sections are as follows : Applicants joining the Navy must also take the Coding Speed test ; however , this section of the test is only administered to those individuals who are taking the test during the attempt of admittance into the Navy . Discontinued Sections . Several sections were once part of the ASVAB but have since been discontinued . They include the following : Enlistment Requirements . Armed Forces Qualification Test . The Armed Forces Qualification Test ( AFQT ) is a formula that uses the scores derived from the ASVAB test results to ensure that the core intelligence requirements to joint the military are met . The purpose of this score is to ensure that a test taker does not fail the most important tests and use high scores in other sections to compensate and earn a passing grade . Only four sections of the ASVAB are used to determine the AFQT score : Paragraph Comprehension ( PC ) , Word Knowledge ( WK ) , Mathematics Knowledge ( MK ) , and Arithmetic Reasoning . The formula for computing the AFQT score is the following : AR + MK + ( 2 x VE ) where VE = PC + WK . Students with an AFQT score of 9 or less are prohibited by law from joining the armed forces . Military Occupation Specialty Scores . Military Occupation Specialty ( MOS ) scores are used to help determine what job in the military an applicant may best fit . The formulas to find MOS scores are combinations of the nine individual section scores . The formulas to determine MOS scores are as follows : Army / Army National Guard Navy / Coast Guard Air Force / Air National Guard Marine Corps Information Use . The test score data may be used by the Department of Defense for research purposes and may be made available to both the school and military recruiters . The last two uses are contingent on the consent of the school . Sources . http : / / official - asvab . com / http : / / www . military . com / join - armed - forces / asvab http : / / usmilitary . about . com / cs / joiningup / a / asvababcs . htm http : / / usmilitary . about . com / od / joiningthemilitary / a / afqtscore . htm