Book Preface

Congratulations on taking an important step toward enlisting in one of the United States Armed Services! The Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, and National Guard all emphasize the importance of mission preparedness. By obtaining this Kaplan ASVAB book, you are on your way toward being well prepared to take the ASVAB test that is a prerequisite for enlisting in one of the services. The United States Military Entrance Processing Command administers the ASVAB for all the services. That organization calls the enlistment process “Freedom’s Front Door.”

The Armed Services give our marines, sailors, soldiers, guardsmen and -women, and airmen and -women the opportunity to grow personally and professionally, to assume major responsibilities, and to work in integrated teams to achieve their goals. The military needs bright, talented young individuals to serve our country, and the ASVAB is one of the factors used to enlist the most qualified applicants. Being selected for the military is very competitive; not only do you have to meet certain threshold standards, including ASVAB scores, but you are also competing with thousands of other applicants for these coveted openings.

My efforts as a member of the team that prepares new editions of the Kaplan ASVAB book have brought back many memories of my four and a half years as a proud member of the U.S. Navy. When I was in the engineering department on a destroyer, an unusual combination of circumstances resulted in our ship being about 40 percent below the proper staffing level just three months before we were scheduled for a major deployment. Our crew had to be augmented quickly, but, as the saying goes, it takes three years to get three years’ experience. Consequently, sailors just graduating from advanced training (“A School” in Navy parlance) were slotted into positions on our ship normally staffed by third-class petty officers with two or so years under their belts and sometimes even second-class petty officers who might have been in their second term of enlistment.

Fortunately, almost all of our new crew members were well suited for their shipboard duties thanks, in part, to the version of the ASVAB that was being used at that time. Consequently, they learned quickly and assumed their responsibilities well. During their first full year on board, we were deployed 290 days and we never missed a beat. In fact, many of us were awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for restaffing so successfully that we even covered a couple of operational commitments for other ships.

Needless to say, my experience convinced me that the process of selecting the right people for the right jobs was very well executed. I made many lifetime friendships in the Navy, and I have stayed in touch with some of my shipmates since I left. Some went on to very successful careers in the Navy. Several others used the G.I. Bill to help further their education and went on to civilian careers.

Enough of my reminiscing! I mention my experiences to encourage you to get the most that you can from this Kaplan ASVAB book so that you score up to your maximum potential and are selected for the service and occupational specialty that you want and that will enable you to excel.

Kaplan is the premier test preparation company in the world, and we have applied our expertise and experience to this new edition. Because practice is so important to your preparation, we have included three full-length practice ASVAB tests in this book and scores of practice problems and explanations. Your purchase of this book will also give you access to Kaplan’s online resources, including three computer-based ASVAB practice tests, hundreds more practice questions, and videos covering key concepts. When you complete an online test, your Performance Summary will give you a detailed performance breakdown by skill or concept.

You have chosen the right tool to help you score as high as possible on the ASVAB; the rest is up to you. Merely reading the book might help some, but the real payoff will come from studying the material, taking the practice assessments, and focusing on the areas where you can realize the most improvement. Remember, your hard work will pay off with rewards on Test Day and beyond! I wish you the best as you begin your journey and hope that you find your time in the military as rewarding as I did.

Jack Hayes
Former LT., USN (and a former recruiter)

YOUR KAPLAN RESOURCES

Your Kaplan book contains:

• a full-length diagnostic test
• tools to help you plan your studies
• chapters that cover each of the ASVAB subject tests, including:
  • Kaplan Methods for every question type
  • worked examples that display the expert approach
  • practice questions with explanations
• two more full-length practice tests
• 500 flashcards to help you remember important concepts for the technical subtests

Your Kaplan online resources offer:

• 40 instructional videos with key test-taking strategies
• three additional full-length practice tests, to prepare you for Test Day
• a Qbank with over 200 items, to help you hone your skills
• Performance Summaries, to help you keep track of your strengths and areas of opportunity
• Kaplan’s flashcard app, so you can review your flashcards on any device

Between the Kaplan book and online resources, you have all the resources you’ll need to achieve your goals on the ASVAB.

THREE LEVELS OF STUDY

Perhaps you’re already pretty good at the ASVAB, but you need to brush up on specific skills or to review all of the skills lightly before Test Day. Or maybe you feel moderately confident about the ASVAB, but you need significant review on some or all of the topics. Or perhaps, like many people, you’ve forgotten much of what you learned in high school and need a comprehensive review.

Kaplan’s book and online resources will help you prepare for the ASVAB regardless of which of those groups you fall into. The chart below outlines three approaches you might take depending on your needs. Of course, your individual situation may be best served by a combination of these approaches.

If you need a quick brush-up or light overall review . . .	If you need a moderate review of some or all of the topics . . .	If you need to (re)learn many of the skills from scratch . . .
Start by devoting one week to each of the subject tests. During each of those weeks, read the appropriate chapter and do the practice items in the book and online.	Use the results from your diagnostic to identify your areas of greatest need. Start by devoting two weeks to each of those subject tests. During each of those weeks, read the appropriate chapter and do the practice items in the book and online.	Give yourself plenty of time to work through this book, chapter by chapter. Periodically review the earlier chapters so that those skills stay fresh. Use the practice questions in the book and online to reinforce what you’ve learned and review the explanations carefully.
After you’ve completed your comprehensive review, take a full-length test in the book or online. If you haven’t seen significant improvement, continue to work on the areas you find most challenging. Take another full-length test every week or two, depending on your test date.	After you’ve done so, take a full-length test in the book or online to gauge your progress. Continue to study and take a full-length test every week or two, depending on your Test Day. In the last few weeks before Test Day, give a week or several days to each of the subtests on which you were already strong.	Don’t take many full-length tests until you’ve reviewed most of the subject tests. In the last few weeks before Test Day, take a full-length practice test (either in the book or online) once a week or once every two weeks, depending on your test date.

GETTING STARTED

1. Register your Kaplan online resources.

To obtain access to your Kaplan online resources, visit kaptest.com/moreonline. Create your account by choosing “ASVAB,” selecting your Kaplan ASVAB book, and answering the question or questions that appear.

Once you have created your username and password, log in to your resources at kaptest.com/login. Enter your username and password. Click on the title of your book to see your resources.

2. Take the diagnostic test in your Kaplan book.

Chapter 2 of this book offers a full-length diagnostic test. As a first step in your studies, set aside about three uninterrupted hours when you can take the diagnostic test. Work through the subject tests in the order they’re presented, with one break at most.

3. Review your performance and read through the explanations.

After you’ve taken the complete diagnostic test, check your answers using the explanations that appear immediately after the tests. When you check your answers, don’t just check whether you got the question right or not. Rather, read the explanations for all the questions. That’s because you can learn a great deal from reviewing questions you’ve already done, even if you got those questions right. As you review your performance on the diagnostic, really think about why the right answers are right, why the incorrect answers are incorrect, and what drew you to the answer you chose.

4. Contact a recruiter and do some research.

You’re going to want to set some goals regarding your ASVAB score, but different enlistees will have different priorities in studying for the ASVAB, depending on their career aspirations. For example, a test taker who wants to go into a technical career (such as equipment or computer technician) will likely need high scores in Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Mathematics Knowledge, Arithmetic Reasoning, General Science, and Mechanical Comprehension. However, a test taker who wants to go into a career repairing structures or vehicles should likely emphasize Auto and Shop Information, Electronic Information, and Mechanical Comprehension over General Science.

Your recruiter is the best source of information about careers in the military and the scores you will need to earn to be competitive for those careers. Use information from your recruiter as well as information available on the various branches’ websites to inform your ASVAB score goals.

5. Learn, practice, review.

Once you have taken your diagnostic and established some goals regarding your ASVAB score, you’re ready to get down to serious studying. Effective studying has three phases: learn, practice, review.

Learn: Each subject test on the ASVAB has its own chapter in this book. Read these chapters carefully, paying particular attention to these features:

• Concepts are introduced with learning objectives. Use these learning objectives as a checklist of skills, to keep track of which you have mastered and which you need to work on more.
• Key terms you’ll need to understand are introduced in bold type.
• Important strategies, takeaways, and shortcuts are highlighted in gray boxes sprinkled throughout the book.
• Worked examples appear throughout the book: each one shows, step-by-step, how an expert test taker would approach ASVAB questions.

Practice: Practice items are sprinkled throughout each chapter. Do each one as you come to it and then carefully review the explanation that follows. Moreover, each chapter ends with a practice set. Don’t time yourself on these practice questions. It’s more important to really understand how the questions work; you can work on timing later.

When you do these practice sets, don’t just tally up how many you got right. Rather . . .

Review: Always review the explanation for every practice problem. Think about why the right answer is right and why the wrong answer is wrong. If you answered the question incorrectly, think carefully about where your thinking went astray and use that to inform your next steps. (For example, in an algebra problem, perhaps you understood the underlying concept but you made a simple addition error. In that case, the remedy would not be to study more algebra; rather, the remedy would be to practice adding and subtracting quickly while avoiding errors.) If you answered the question correctly, ask yourself whether you got it right for the right reasons and whether you could have arrived at the same answer more efficiently.

Repeat this process every time you take a full-length test. Review all the answers and explanations for every item in the test and think about how you performed overall.

6. Take full-length practice tests.

Once you have learned, practiced, and reviewed all of the test concepts, use the full-length tests available in your book and online resources. Taking a full-length test helps you in four ways:

• It reinforces the skills and strategies you’ve learned.
• It helps you work on timing.
• It gives you a sense of how you’re doing on the various topics and what you need to work on more.
• It helps you learn to cope with test fatigue.

Now, you’ll notice that one item not on that list is “It helps you learn concepts.” You don’t learn how to approach questions correctly by taking a full-length test: that learning should be done in an untimed fashion and accompanied by deep thinking, as described above. That’s why we don’t recommend that you start your studies by taking a bunch of full-length tests. However, the last few weeks before Test Day are a perfect time to take full-length tests.

In addition to the diagnostic test in chapter 2, your Kaplan book has two full-length practice tests in the back. These follow the ASVAB’s paper-and-pencil format. You also have three practice tests in your online resources. These are computer-based tests that will help you get used to testing using a computer under the time constraints used by the CAT-ASVAB. While the computer-based tests in your online account are not adaptive, their structure does allow you to prepare for the CAT-ASVAB’s format and content.

MANAGING STRESS

You have a lot riding on the ASVAB. However, you’re also doing the work you need to do to reach your goals. Unfortunately, though, simply knowing that you’re working hard won’t make your test anxiety go away. Thus, here are some stress management tips from our long experience of helping students prepare for standardized tests.

Clock in and out: Once you’ve set up a study schedule for yourself, treat it like a job. That is, imagine clocking yourself in and out of ASVAB studies according to that schedule. Do your best to stick to your schedule, and when you’re not “clocked in,” don’t let yourself think about the ASVAB. That will help you release your stress about the test in between study sessions.

Don’t punish yourself: If you get tired or overwhelmed or discouraged when studying, don’t respond by pushing yourself harder. Rather, step away and engage in a relaxing activity like going for a walk, watching a movie, or playing with your cat or dog. Then, when you’re ready, return to your studies with fresh eyes.

Breathe: Remember to breathe into your stomach. That forces some of the muscles that tense up when you’re stressed to relax.

Set small, manageable goals: Each week, set manageable goals related to your ASVAB progress and reward yourself when you’ve achieved them. Examples of small goals might be:

• This week, memorize and practice the Kaplan Method for Assembling Objects questions until I no longer have to think about what the steps of the method are.
• This week, try 40 math questions and practice choosing a strategy for solving each (such as Backsolving, Picking Numbers, estimating, straight-up math).
• This week, review all Paragraph Comprehension question types until I can identify each question’s type and the appropriate strategy.

Keep yourself healthy: Poor health, fatigue, and isolation make it harder to cope with stress and anxiety. Get on a regular sleep schedule as much as possible during your studies, eat well, continue to exercise, and spend time with those you care about. Also, don’t fuel your studies with caffeine and sugar. Those substances may make you feel alert, but they can also damage focus.

Keep the right mindset: Most importantly, keep telling yourself that you can do this. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re not “allowed” to feel confident yet. That’s a self-punishing attitude that will only hurt you. Rather, remember that confidence breeds success. So let yourself be confident about your abilities. You’re obviously ambitious and intelligent, so walk into the ASVAB knowing that about yourself.

If you get discouraged, make a list: If you ever start to wonder if you’ll ever reach your ASVAB goals, stop what you’re doing and make a list of everything you’re good at. List every specific skill that you are bringing to the ASVAB. Examples of specific skills might include:

• researching a detail in a paragraph
• using suffixes to tell whether a vocabulary word is a noun, verb, or adjective
• identifying what a math question is asking for
• factoring a quadratic equation
• identifying whether a circuit is built in series or in parallel
• identifying types of hammers

Post that list of things you’re good at somewhere you’ll see it every day, then add to it as you continue to study. We at Kaplan recommend this because many people focus too heavily on their weaknesses while preparing for a standardized test. But if you only focus on your weaknesses, you aren’t seeing an objective picture. There are ASVAB skills you’re good at. Keep that in mind and focus on building on those strengths.

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