How the General Science subtest works
General Science opens the ASVAB. On the CAT-ASVAB you get 15 scored questions in 12 minutes, about 48 seconds each, and the time and questions remaining show in the lower right of the screen. Each question is a single sentence, often an unfinished one, with four answers to complete it.
The official topic list has three parts. Life science covers botany, zoology, anatomy and physiology, and ecology. Earth and space science covers astronomy, geology, meteorology and oceanography. Physical science covers force and motion, energy, fluids, atomic structure and chemistry.
The test adapts as you go: you start on a question of medium difficulty, a right answer brings a harder one and a wrong answer an easier one, and you cannot go back. General Science is not part of the AFQT, but it feeds the Air Force Electronic composite, the Navy and Marine Corps electronics composites, the Navy Hospitalman composite and the Army Electronics, General Maintenance and Skilled Technical line scores.
How to answer General Science questions
Four steps that work for almost every question:
- Read the stem as the start of a sentence, then read each answer as its ending. The one that makes a true sentence is the key.
- Name the topic: the body, plants and animals, weather, space, rocks, forces or chemistry. It tells you which facts to reach for.
- Rule out answers that belong to a different topic, or that are true but do not answer the question.
- If you are still unsure after about 45 seconds, make an educated guess from what is left and move on. You cannot come back to it.
Worked example
“The part of a plant cell where photosynthesis takes place is the” A. nucleus, B. cell wall, C. chloroplast, D. vacuole.
This is life science. Read each option as the end of the sentence: the nucleus holds the genetic material, the cell wall gives the cell its shape, and the vacuole stores water. Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, which captures light energy, so C is the answer.
Tips for the real General Science subtest
- Revise from a high school biology, earth science and physical science textbook. The ASVAB programme’s own advice is a solid core of science courses.
- Learn the units and conversions that science questions lean on: Celsius and Fahrenheit, the metric prefixes, and what joules, newtons and watts measure.
- Pace yourself at under a minute a question. Almost everyone finishes within the limit, so there is no need to rush.
- Expect harder questions if you are doing well. On an adaptive test, a run of difficult questions usually means your earlier answers were right.
- Aiming at an electronics, technical or medical job? Give General Science real practice time: it feeds those composites even though it is outside the AFQT.
Practise General Science on CogniPrep
Our General Science game gives you 15 adaptive questions with a 12-minute clock, starting at medium difficulty and adjusting to each answer, with no going back. Questions you do not reach before the clock runs out are scored as if you had guessed at random, as on the real test. You get a standard score on the ASVAB scale, where 50 is the average for US 18 to 23 year olds. The questions and their difficulty ratings are ours, so treat the score as a guide.