Best Quotes from Asvab For Dummies by Jennifer Lawler with Page Numbers

The ASVAB specifically measures your ability to be trained to do a specific job.

To develop an effective plan of study and score well on the ASVAB, it’s important to understand how the ASVAB is organized and how the military uses the scores from the subtests.

If you’re not interested in a job requiring a score on the Mechanical Comprehension subtest, you don’t need to worry about doing well on that subtest.

Spend the time on Word Knowledge or Arithmetic Reasoning.

Doing well on each subtest will broaden your available job choices and make you a more desirable candidate.

Achieving the minimum required AFQT score established by an individual branch gets your foot in the door, but the higher you score, the better.

Your ASVAB test results determine whether you qualify for military service and, if so, which jobs you qualify for.

Even so, if you’re Category IV, your chances of enlistment are small and mostly limited to the Army National Guard.

Follow this plan ensures a relatively accurate appraisal of your aptitude for various military jobs.

Knowing which kind of job you want to do in the military, the ASVAB helps you and the military determine your potential ability for different types of jobs.

Qualifying to join is only part of the picture.

Unless you’d be content to spend your military career painting things that don’t move, you need to understand how the ASVAB relates to various military job opportunities.

You’re going to go to military school to study how to make computers stand at attention and fly right.

The military spends big bucks turning high school graduates into highly trained and skilled aircraft mechanics, language specialists, and electronic-doodad repair people.

Every single Army recruit knows what his or her job is going to be before signing the enlistment contract.

Each service branch has its own system of scores.

If you get an appropriate score in the appropriate areas, you can get the job you want.

All enlistment contracts for the reserve forces contain guarantees for a specific job.

Line scores combine various standard ASVAB scores to see which jobs or training programs you qualify for.

A percentile score of 51 indicates you scored better in this aptitude area than 50 percent of the testers.

"You won’t do well on tests if you keep telling yourself that you can’t."

"Those who do well on tests are those who’ve figured out how to study efficiently and how to use a dash of test-taking psychology."

"The military has a saying, 'Train as you expect to fight.' The same is true of the ASVAB."

"If you don’t understand the question, you’re naturally not going to be able to make the best decision when selecting an answer."

"Don’t change an answer after you select it."

"Taking short breaks improves how well you’re able to remember information."

"You can’t skip questions or change your answers after you enter them on the CAT-ASVAB."

"If you guess on more than one question throughout the test, choosing the same answer for every guess is a smart way to go."

"A few minutes every hour is sufficient for study breaks; don’t ignore breaks completely."

"It’s human nature to find yourself spending your study time on subject areas that you have an interest in or that you’re good at."

A decent vocabulary is essential in the military if you want to get ahead.

The more words you understand, the more ideas you can understand.

Clear communication is so important that it’s taught and graded at all levels of leadership training.

Developing a large vocabulary takes time — often years.

You don’t need to study all those words. It’s possible to decipher English word meanings, even if you’ve never heard a particular word before.

If you memorize prefixes, suffixes, and roots, you have a better chance of figuring out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

You can acquire vocabulary words in the short term as well as over a long period of time.

Reading for enjoyment is crucial; studies show that those who read have a much larger vocabulary.

When you encounter a word you don’t know, try to understand what it means by looking at the context.

One way to improve your vocabulary is to keep a word list.

The Paragraph Comprehension subtest measures your ability to understand what you read and draw conclusions from that material.

Trust me on this one: if you can’t read and understand a regulation that’s buried within a pile of papers, how are you going to obey it?

The AFQT is the most important score.

You’d be surprised at how many diverse military jobs require a decent score on the Paragraph Comprehension subtest.

If you can identify the main point, you’re more likely to understand the whole paragraph.

The main idea, which is the most important point the author is making, is sometimes stated and sometimes implied.

Analyzing a passage requires you to draw conclusions from what you’ve read and understand relationships among the ideas.

You don’t need to enroll in a speed-reading course. If you devote at least one hour a day simply to reading, you’ll see your reading comprehension and speed increase within a month.

How do you prove to yourself that you understand what you’re reading? Here are a couple of tips.

The Paragraph Comprehension subtest tests your ability to understand what you read, not how quickly you can read it.

Don't sweat. This test is just for practice, and it doesn’t count for a score.

The communication subtests of the ASVAB are very important because they comprise a significant portion of your AFQT score.

To motivate your people, give them tasks that challenge them.

Get to know your people and their capabilities, so you can tell just how far to push each one.

When they succeed, praise them.

When they fall short, give them credit for what they’ve done and coach or counsel them on how to do better next time.

Organizational leaders influence several hundred to several thousand people.

Organizational leaders have staffs to help them lead their people and manage their organizations’ resources.

They establish policies and the organizational climate that support their subordinate leaders.

His face is creased, too, because he laughs and jokes so much.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics. I assure you mine are far greater." - Albert Einstein

"You don’t have to be a mathematical theoretician to score well on the Mathematics Knowledge subtest."

"Variety can also be the spice of life."

"If you want to know how many different ways six runners could finish a race, you would solve for 6! — 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1."

"Remember, a percent is just hundredths, so 3% is 0.03, 22% is 0.22, and 110% is 1.10."

"To find a common denominator can be easy, or it can be as hard as picking off all the anchovies."

"Finding a pattern in a sequence of numbers requires you to think about how numbers work."

"Don’t confuse opposite with inverse."

"Guessing on the Mathematics Knowledge subtest doesn’t count against you."

"Reading each question carefully, paying particular attention to plus (+) and minus (–) signs is still important."

Arithmetic Reasoning tests how you apply your ability to perform calculations to real-life problems.

To do well on the Arithmetic Reasoning subtest, you have to remember that there are two parts: arithmetic and reasoning.

Correctly solving math word problems requires you to perform a series of organized steps.

Ask yourself whether you’ve ever seen a problem like this before.

Clue words can be a big help when trying to figure out which question is being asked.

Make sure you attach units of measurement contained in the problem.

If your solution seems improbable, you’ve probably made a mistake in your calculations.

Guessing wrong on any of the ASVAB subtests doesn’t count against you.

Eliminating answers that can’t be right increases your chances of picking the right answer.

Using a little logic, do calculations with an obviously wrong answer choice.

It’s time to put those calculators, pocket computers, and abacuses away.

Tell you what: Instead of a number two pencil, you can use a number three or four instead.

Heck, you can even use a pen. See? I’m easy.

No pressure here!

Arithmetic Reasoning questions are math problems expressed in a story format.

Your goal is to determine what the question is asking by picking out the relevant factors needed to solve the problem.

Identifying unreasonable answers (through the process of elimination) can help you choose the correct answer choice faster.

If you were thinking answer Choice (B) sounded good, remember that the answer should make sense.

The total time is , which leaves or of the day to the enlisted person’s discretion.

Remember, these questions are designed for high school level and below.

Scientists are pretty skeptical. They don’t necessarily believe anything said by anyone else unless it’s been shown to be true (time after time after time) using a process called the scientific method.

Instead of trying to remember nine million individual facts, spend some time reviewing the general principles behind the facts.

Thinking about how the facts relate to each other. Looking at the big picture is an effective learning technique.

When developing and testing a hypothesis, scientists are guided by a principle known as Ockham’s razor.

When given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation.

Understanding science means developing objective facts — evidence and results that are measurable and experiments that can be reproduced.

An ecosystem also has decomposers, such as bacteria, which break down dead plants, animals, and the waste of all organisms.

Human actions, such as wasting natural resources and polluting the air, water, or soil, can disrupt an entire ecosystem.

A system of scientific classification was developed... it also helps scientists understand how living creatures are related to one another.

Even if you study hard for the General Science subtest, chances are you may come across at least a couple of questions that you can’t answer.

"Because if the jobs were easy, everyone would do them."

"It is better to try to get the best possible score on every subtest."

"The right tool for the right job..."

"The modern car is divided into several primary and secondary systems."

"Doing so will make you a more desirable candidate and may open the door for more job opportunities if your choice doesn’t work out."

"Measure twice and cut once."

"Screws have threads, which are likely to 'grab' wood more securely than a nail would."

"Common sense is your best ally in answering questions on this subtest."

"If you run into a question that reads something like the following... think about it."

"When all else fails, guessing is okay. If you guess, you have a 25 percent chance of guessing the right answer."

Understanding mechanical operations can open doors to unexpected opportunities.

Every action in nature has an equal and opposite reaction.

Forces are not just quantities—they have direction and can change the outcome dramatically.

Equilibrium is not just balance; it's a state that allows progress and stability in life.

Pressure is a reminder that small areas can exert great influence.

You don't have to carry every burden or challenge alone—find a mechanical advantage in your support systems.

Work is the result of effort, but remember, effort alone does not always translate to progress.

Using machines can multiply our capabilities, making seemingly impossible tasks achievable.

Every tool you use has the potential to amplify your strength and efficiency.

Success often requires knowing when to leverage knowledge with common sense.

Electricity is a general term for the variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric current.

You don’t have to be an electronics whiz to score well on this subtest.

Current doesn’t just flow in any properly working circuit unimpeded.

If you know the value of any two of the influences, you can find the value of the third.

A closed circuit must exist for electricity to flow.

Electricity follows the path of least resistance.

You can figure out quite a few answers if you remember these units of measure.

Guess and move on.

If you need a good score on this subtest to get your military dream job, study intensively for this test.

Even though electricity appears to be pretty mysterious at first glance, scientists understand a great deal about its properties and how it works.

"Spatial skills, which help people figure out maps and interpret technical drawings, are important to everyday living as well as for performing well in school and on the job."

"The Assembling Objects subtest is designed to measure your ability to look at pieces of an object and determine how those pieces should fit together."

"Way back in 1994, the Army concluded a study called Project A, all about trying to improve the selection and classification of enlisted personnel."

"The correct solution shows the line connected correctly to reflect the points shown in the first drawing."

"You’re starting to see the shape of things!"

"If you’re good at jigsaw puzzles, that’s plenty of time to finish."

"Visualizing success: Practicing spatial skills ahead of time."

"You can still improve spatial skills by engaging in activities that are spatially orientated."

"Practicing reading maps can help you develop the ability to gauge scales of size and direction between related objects."

"Sketching can help you to improve your ability to mentally visualize angles."

To score well on this subtest, you pretty much have to wade through the textbooks and memorize the facts.

If your idea of fixing your car involves calling that guy down the street, a little extra study may be in order.

The correct answer is Choice (C).

A compass is a device that takes advantage of the Earth’s magnetic field.

The atomic number refers to the number of protons an atom has in its nucleus.

A general automotive tune-up consists of checking/replacing the following: air and fuel filter, belts, spark plugs, distributor cap, battery, clutch.

Antifreeze raises the boiling point of water and lowers the freezing point.

The sideways force one feels when a car turns sharply is often called centrifugal force.

When two or more forces interact so that their combination cancels the other(s) out, there’s a state of equilibrium.

Capacitors store electric charge.

Your primary goal with this sample test is to determine your strengths and weaknesses.

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.

Don’t go on to the next section until the timer has gone off.

Use the answer sheet that’s provided.

Check your work for that section only.

If you miss only one question on the Word Knowledge subtest but you miss 15 on Arithmetic Reasoning, you know where to spend your study time.

Don’t worry about your score there if you're not pursuing a career that requires it.

Be ruthless and eliminate the unnecessary.

Eliminate the waste of your time.

Your experience in this practice test will contribute greatly to your overall preparation.

Remember, your scores on this practice exam don’t equate to scores on the actual ASVAB.

The practice exam, however, is a valuable tool for determining which subject areas you need to brush up on.

If you missed a few questions, reread the questions and try to figure out where you went wrong.

Effective appointment management eliminates the waste of your time.

You can also find additional practice questions in Chapter 15.

Many languages are excluded from the Indo-European language group.

Nothing in the passage has to do with expense, so Choice (B) is incorrect.

The passage states that privatized functions may sell goods and services to other customers as well as the government.

If you missed more than four or five, consider brushing up on your basic math skills.

Reviewing Auto Repair For Dummies may also help you score better on this subtest.

"Use the answer sheet that’s provided."

"You don’t get any breaks in between subtests during the real thing, so try to keep moving along as best as you can."

"After you complete the entire sample test, check your answers against the answer explanations and key in Chapter 19."

"Knowing the workers and showing sincere interest in their problems, career development, and welfare."

"Good leaders get involved in their subordinates’ careers."

"Leadership involvement is the key ingredient to maximizing worker performance."

"To get the most out of this practice exam, take it like you’d take the real ASVAB under the same conditions."

"I hope you used the results from the first practice exam to determine your weak areas and spent some time hitting the ol’ books and recharging your thinking cap."

"Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted."

"Bring a timer that you can set for various lengths of time, some scratch paper, and a pencil."

Doing so reminds you what the question is about and serves as a helpful review.

If you put the work in, you’ll probably find that you made fewer errors on Practice Exam 2.

If some subjects or subtests still give you problems, keep studying.

Just follow the cross-references for some tips and additional practice questions.

The better you do on each subtest, the more desirable you become as a candidate for all the available jobs.

If you think you need more in-depth study, review Chapters 7 and 8.

Building knowledge in math skills is important because math skills make up half of your AFQT score.

If your score has improved since you took the first test, congratulations!

Improving your score on this subtest in a short period of time is difficult, but it can be done.

Think of this technique as a workout for your mind.

Use it to refresh your memory of the material or to cram for any of the subtests that you have to do better on.

Don’t forget to use the test-taking strategies and the guessing tips in each of the subtest chapters earlier in this book.

To get the most out of this sample test, take it under the same conditions as the real ASVAB.

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.

Use the answer sheet that’s provided.

You should see some improvement.

Innovation means change, and change requires leadership.

Leaders must be the chief transformation officers in their organizations.

Change is often associated with panic and disorder.

The primary goal of epidemiology is to control or prevent outbreaks of disease.

If you find you need to study more for any subtest, follow the cross-references.

You have to do well on this subtest to qualify for military enlistment.

If you’re still doing poorly on this test, you may want to postpone taking the ASVAB until you have more study time under your belt.

Work with a partner who can quiz you on vocabulary.

Review your vocabulary words intensely, even several times a day, to ensure your success.

Take your time when you read the passages.

The information is in the paragraph; you just have to concentrate to pull it out.

If you’re still missing too many questions, you may need to take more drastic measures.

Keep hitting the books and testing yourself up until the day of the ASVAB.

Using your common sense can help you quite a bit.

Your goal here is to determine where you may still need to spend some more study time.

If you miss only one question on the Word Knowledge subtest but you miss 15 on Arithmetic Reasoning, you may want to dedicate some extra study time to further develop your math skills.

Calculators are not allowed.

With diligence and practice, anyone can improve their skills.

The Armed Forces Qualification Test is a crucial step in determining your mental qualifications.

Your AFQT score can open doors to your future in the military.

This book is here to help you prepare and succeed.

Evaluating yourself before the test can boost your confidence.

Prepare thoroughly to give yourself the best chance for success.

Investing time in your study now is an investment in your future.

Keep in mind that these four subtests determine whether you can even get into the military.

If you find you’re still struggling in any of these subtest areas, you may want to concentrate some additional study effort before knocking on the recruiter’s door to say, 'I’m ready!'

Mathematical word problems can be tough for some people.

You have to develop a skill for determining which factors are relevant to the problem and then be able to convert those factors into a mathematical formula to arrive at a correct solution.

If you still need work on this subtest, I recommend a few good math books.

Improving your vocabulary can also help improve your reading comprehension skills.

Don’t be discouraged. The problems are purposely designed so that they can be solved using only a scratch paper, the ol’ No. 2 pencil, and a little brain sweat.

Engage in some more reading practice.

Reviewing Chapters 7 and 8 and the additional practice questions may also help.

If you still need to boost your score, engage in some more reading practice.

If you don’t qualify to join the service branch of your choice or don’t qualify for the job you want, you haven’t technically failed, but you may have to take the test again.

Using study guides like this one not only gives you an idea of what to expect but also allows you to sharpen some skills that may have gotten a little dull.

You should be spending your time on the math and vocabulary review, because the math and vocabulary subtests of the ASVAB are used to compute the all-important AFQT score.

Keep your mind focused on the task at hand throughout the whole test.

If you lose focus while you’re taking the test, time has a tendency of slipping away.

The more you panic, the more likely you are to make mistakes.

Just work at a steady pace, and you’ll do fine.

Don’t leave any blank spaces. In most cases, guessing if you have to is the way to go.

Mark the answer and move on.

Make sure that you know what the question wants from you and then give the question what it wants.

As soon as the test starts, write down what you’re likely to forget.

Read all the answer choices before deciding.

The best defense against trickery is to read each answer choice completely.

Base conclusions only on what you read.

Change percents to decimals to perform math operations.

Understand inverses: the opposite of addition is subtraction, and vice versa.

Remember how ratios, rates, and scales compare.

Your answers should make sense, or they’re probably wrong.

Double-checking your answers allows you to catch your errors.

Just follow the directions and choose the answer that’s closest in meaning.

The more you do math, the better you’ll get at it.

You may have been taught to rely on a calculator for high school math, but you have to leave your calculator at home when you take the ASVAB.

Memorize the order in which you do certain calculations when you’re solving equations.

Mathematical equations with multiple steps must be solved in a specific order.

One way to improve your vocabulary is to keep a word list.

You can focus on mastering one new word every day and using it in conversation.

These word parts are the building blocks of much of the English language, and they can give you clues about what words mean.

Learning psychologists agree that this is one of the most effective methods of memorizing new information.

If you spend four hours a day watching TV or surfing the Web, you can instead use those four hours to read.

You want to be able to easily identify the main point.

"Each of the military services has established its own individual line score requirements for specific enlisted jobs."

"Just because you achieve the minimum ASVAB line score for the job of your choice doesn’t mean you’ll absolutely get that job."

"Other factors are considered, including the current needs of the service, security clearance qualification, and medical exam results."

"The charts in this appendix are as accurate as they can be at press time, but military jobs and qualification standards are subject to change with little or no notice."

"Scan the table and see whether you find a job that interests you."

"The Army calls its enlisted jobs Military Occupational Specialties (MOSs), and more than 150 such specialties exist for entry-level recruits."

"The Air Force refers to enlisted jobs as Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs)."

"The Navy calls its enlisted jobs ratings and has about 75 types of jobs available for entry-level recruits."

"The United States Marine Corps needs a few good men (and women) to fill about 120 enlisted entry-level job specialties."

"Like the Navy, the Coast Guard calls its enlisted jobs ratings and uses the sums of various ASVAB subtest scores for job qualification purposes."

"Use these tests to simulate taking the real CAT-ASVAB as closely as possible."

"Your results from these practice tests can’t be saved. I recommend that after you complete a subtest, you write down the topics of the questions you missed so you can go back and review those areas."

"If you want to sharpen your AFQT test-taking skills, you can take a practice AFQT either on the CD or online."

"A large part of your overall ASVAB score is determined by your knowledge of word definitions."

"To help you in this area, I include a set of digital vocabulary flashcards on the website."

"You can create customized sets of questions within ASVAB For Dummies Online."

"Your registration at ASVAB For Dummies Online is good for one year."

"Have your local computer store add more RAM to your computer (or find out how to add RAM yourself)."

"Adding more memory can really help the speed of your computer and allow more programs to run at the same time."

"If you get an error message such as 'Not enough memory' or 'Setup cannot continue', try one or more of the following suggestions."