Scaling the Proposed New Armed Forces Qualification Test Composed of Verbal, Arithmetic Reasoning, and Math Knowledge
Abstract
The Numerical Operations (NO) subtest was made part of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) in October 1980 when forms 8, 9, and 10 of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB 8/9/10) were introduced. The AFQT contained the Word Knowledge (WK), Paragraph Comprehension (PC), and Arithmetic Reasoning (AR) subtests, in addition to NO (AFQT = WK + PC + AR + NO/ 2). Since 1980, the NO scores, and resultant AFQT scores, have been found to be affected by the design of test booklets and answer sheets. A more serious problem is that examinees can prepare for the NO test and thereby increase their NO scores. Most of the increase occurs at the lower range of ability. The Joint Service Selection and Classification Working Group, which is responsible for the development and maintenance of the ASVAB, recommended in 1986 that the NO subtest be dropped form the AFQT and replaced by the Math Knowledge (MK) subtest. The new AFQT would then be defined as: AFQT = WK + PC + AR + MK. The purpose of this report is to present percentile-score norms for the proposed new AFQT in the 1980 Youth Population and the scaling of the new AFQT in current forms of the ASVAB (forms 11, 12, and 13) to the 1980 score scale. Keywords: Aptitude tests; Skills; Human performance; Personnel selection.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADB118541
Entities
People
- Catherine M. Hiatt
- Milton H. Maier
Organizations
- Center for Naval Analyses