Uneducated to Serve
Twenty-seven percent of New Jersey's 17-to-20 year old high school grads applying to enter the military flunked the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, the test potential recruits must take for successful enlistment. Essentially, one out of every four Garden State residents -- including 34 percent of young black and Latino recruits -- couldn't answer such basic questions as "If three plus X equals six, what is the value of X?" and "If 4 people can run 8 machines, how many machines can 2 people run?"
This isn't just a New Jersey problem. Twenty-three percent of the nation's recent high school grads couldn't pass the ASVAB, flunking out of military service. The problem runs across all races and ethnicities, with one out of every five white young adults and two out of every five young black adults failing the test. Among those who did pass, many didn't score high enough on the exam to get into skilled military positions such as those in surveillance. Just 34 percent scored high enough to join Delta Force or any of the other elite special forces. The ones who managed to score high enough to get in, but fall into the low range, are more-likely to leave the service before completing their tour than those with high scores.
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http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/07/uneducated-to-serve/printWell the good news is that the ASVAB is not just a test that asks 6x=18 solve for x. There are a number of things it tests for. I have taken it twice, and past it twice and I am from the south where the education system is less than good. When you take the test you are generally tested as follows
General Science (GS) 25 Questions 11 minutes to complete
Arithmetic Reasoning (AR) 30 Questions 36 Minutes to complete
Word Knowledge (WK) 35 Questions 11 Minutes to complete
Paragraph Comprehension (PC) 15 Questions 13 Minutes to complete
Mathematic Knowlege (MK) 25 Questions 24 Minutes to complete
Electronics Information (20 Questions 9 minutes to complete
Auto & Shop Information (AS) 25 questions 11 minutes to complete
Mechanical Comprehension (MC) 25 questions 19 minutes to complete
Assembling Objects (AO) 25 questions 15 minutes to complete
Total 225 questions 149 minutes to complete
So you can see that this is not your basic high school test. And as far as the special forces part, anyone that says you can pick that as a job is a liar. That part can be included in your contract for a try out.. Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and the like, Delta is picked from them meaning you have to try out for Ranger school and be accepted (something that has to be done while already in the service, then from there you can try out for Special Forces and then from there try out for Deltat ( if I have the order right.) You can no more ask for those as a job than you can a fighter pilot in the Airforce.
As for the asvab, some of the questions are as follows.
GS SAMPLE QUESTION
1. On a Fahrenheit thermometer the boiling point of water at sea level is:
A)100 degrees
B)180 degrees
C)212 degrees
D)373 degrees
2. Which of the following substances has the highest pH?
A) ammonia
B) battery acid
C) isopropyl alcohol
D) water
3. Which of the following is sedimentary rock?
A) granite
B) marble
C) shale
D) slate
4. What color of light has the lowest frequency?
A) yellow
B) green
C) red
D) violet
5. Which of the following is not an example of an arthropod?
A) crab
B) centipede
C) sea horse
D) spider
AR SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. A certain box contains baseballs and golf balls. If the ratio of baseballs to golf balls is 2:3 and there are 30 baseballs in the box, how many golf balls are in the box?
A) 18
B) 20
C) 36
D) 45
2. A student finishes the first half of the exam in 2/3 time it takes him to finish the second half. If the entire exam takes him an hour how many minutes does he spend on the first half of the exam?
A) 20
B) 24
C) 27
D) 36
3. A 25-ounce solution is 20 percent alcohol. If 50 ounces of water are added to it, what percent of the new solution is alcohol?
A) 6 2/3%
B) 7 1/2%
C) 10%
D) 13 1/3%
4. A cat is fed 3/8 pounds of cat food every day. For how many days will 72 pounds of this cat food feed this cat?
A) 160
B) 172
C) 180
D) 190
5. A stock decreases in value by 20%. By what percent must the stock price increase to reach its former value?
A) 15%
B) 20%
C) 25%
D) 40%
WK SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Judicious most nearly means
A) accessable
B) cold
C) fair
D) talkative
2. Raconteur most nearly means
A) believer
B) storyteller
C) standout
D) pedant
3. The other owners accused the brothers of
collusionA) coalition
B) secret agreement
C) hoping
D) pretending
4. A student's
consternation may be due to bad teachers.
A) desires
B) inability
C) confusion
D) behavior
5. Reconnoiter most nearly means
A) advance
B) posit
C) grade
D) scout
MK SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. A bag contains 8 white, 4 red, 7 green amd 5 blue marbles. Eight marbles are withdrawn at random. How many of the withdrawn marbles are white if the chance of drawing a white marble is now 1 in 4?
A) 3
B) 4
C) 5
D) 6
2. Which of the following is a "blue" number?
A) 111
B) 220
C) 321
D) 422
3. If 7! = 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1, then 5! =
A) 15
B) 75
C) 120
D) 125
4. When D is divided by 15 the result is 6 with a remainder of 2. What is the remainder when D is divided by 6?
A) 0
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
5. If the average of 7 consecutive even numbers is 24, then the largest number is
A) 26
B) 28
C) 30
D) 44
EI SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Hertz is a unit of measurement that describes
A) frequency
B) the number of cycles per second of alternating current
C) the cost per day for a rental car
D) Both A and B are correct
2. Electrical pressure is known as
A) voltage
B) electrical potential
C) ampere
D) current
3. Increasing the voltage in a circuit and keeping the resistance the same will result in
A) increased current flow
B) decreased current flow
C) current flow staying the same
D) zero current flow
4. The formula for OHM's law is
A) E = I X R
B) E = I - R
C) E = I + R
D) E = I / R
5. When current passes through a diode the diode is
A) reversed-biased
B) foward-biased
C) open
D) grounded
AS SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. Cutting torches us a mixture of ___________ and ______________ to produce a high temperature flame.
A) nitrogen : acctylene
B) nitrogen : oxygen
C) acetylene : helium
D) acetylene : oxygen
2. The camshaft turns at ____________ the speed of the engine's crankshaft
A) one-half
B) one-fourth
C) twice
D) triple
3. ______________ cylinders will fire in one revolution of a six-cylinder engine
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) eight
4. The stoichiometric, or ideal air-fule ratio is
A) 10:1
B) 17:1
C) 14.7:1
D) None of the above
5. A four cylinder's engine's firing order always starts with cylinder number
A) 1
B) 2
C) 4
D) 8
And that is just a sample of the tests.
So with that being said yeah the test is simple in logic and reasoning but there is an extreme amount of pressure while taking the test as well. I thought I would just give my input on it since like I said I have taken it twice once for the Army and once for the Navy and will more than likely take it again this coming April or May.
Also should you be interested, the different jobs in the military depend on certain scores such as AR + AK and GS or something along those lines.