How the AFQT Predictor Test works
A recruiter registers you and gives you an access code, which expires 30 days after it is issued. You take the APT online from anywhere with an internet connection, in Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Samsung Internet, ideally on a screen of at least 7 inches. Once you start, you have 48 hours to finish.
The 20 questions come from the four subtests that make your AFQT: Arithmetic Reasoning (word problems), Math Knowledge (algebra, geometry and number facts), Word Knowledge (vocabulary) and Paragraph Comprehension (short passages). Like the full computer ASVAB, it is adaptive: each question is picked to match the level your answers so far suggest.
At the end the APT produces a single score, a prediction of your AFQT. You do not see it; only the recruiter who registered you can. If it suggests you may be eligible, the recruiter can book you on the ASVAB at a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) or a Military Entrance Test (MET) site, or send you a code for the PiCAT, the ASVAB taken at home.
The AFQT itself is a percentile from 1 to 99 against a 1997 national sample of 18 to 23 year olds. The Army, for example, requires at least 31 to enlist. The official page is clear that an APT score is a prediction, not a guarantee, and carries some random error.
How to approach the APT
The prediction is only useful if it reflects how you will do on the day, so take it the way the official guidance asks:
- Set aside at least half an hour in one go, somewhere quiet, on a computer or tablet with a stable connection. Try to finish without stopping.
- Have scratch paper and a pencil ready. Use no calculator, no internet searches and no help from anyone.
- Read each question in full. With 20 questions spread over four areas, a careless slip costs more than it would on a longer test.
- For a word problem, write down what the question asks for before you calculate. For a vocabulary question, decide what the word means before you read the options.
- Take the time you need. There is no clock, so a careful answer always beats a quick one.
Worked example
An Arithmetic Reasoning style question: “A phone plan costs $35 a month plus $0.15 for each text over 200. In March you sent 260 texts. What was the bill?” The options are A. $9.00, B. $44.00, C. $47.00 and D. $74.00.
Only the texts over 200 cost extra: 260 − 200 = 60, and 60 × $0.15 = $9.00. Add the $35 monthly charge to get $44.00, option B. Option A stops part-way, and option D charges every one of the 260 texts.
A Word Knowledge style question: “The new rules were meant to curb overtime. Curb most nearly means” A. record, B. limit, C. reward, D. explain. To curb something is to hold it back, so the answer is B, limit.
Tips for the real APT
- Treat it as a rehearsal. Your recruiter uses it to decide whether to book your ASVAB, and you can take it again.
- Resist looking things up. A prediction inflated by help only sets you up for a surprise at the real test, where no calculator or outside help is allowed.
- Ask your recruiter what your predicted score was and what it means for the jobs you want, since you will not see it yourself.
- Use a laptop, desktop or tablet. The official advice is a screen of at least 7 inches, which rules out most phones.
- If the prediction comes back low, put your practice into Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension as well as the maths: together they make the verbal score, which the AFQT counts twice.
Practise the AFQT Predictor Test on CogniPrep
Our APT practice gives you 20 adaptive questions with no clock: five each from Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and Mathematics Knowledge, in that order. The five-per-area split is our choice, because the real split is not published. At the end you see a predicted AFQT percentile with a likely range, worked out with the published AFQT formula, which the real APT shows only to your recruiter. The questions are ours, so treat the result as a guide.