1 in 4 fail U.S. Army exam (basic questions such as 2 + x = 4). Too bad.

army embarrassment wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

If one in four are failing the exam, it reflects poorly on our society much more so than the military; I would be more concerned if everyone passed. A high failure rate shows that our military does have standards.

Please. The standards aren't high enough. There was still Abu Ghraib and other war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And I believe Abu Ghraib was carried out by reservists who did not have the day to day training that the Regular Army has. I also don't see the connection between low entry standards and Abu Ghraib....who's to say the perps didn't score high?

There are shitbags in all walks of life and in all classes.

Alan

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. "I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America's underperforming education system."

So it is no longer a secret. The public school system is educating us to become cannon fodder for the ruling elite whose families attend private school.

it's the war against the middle class...

not admitting to being dumb wrote:

Of the 29 sample questions in the link I missed two

the sparkplug question-I do not drive and doubt I've looked under the hood of a car in 45 years-no lawnmotor or model planes either. Thinking about it never owned an internal combustion engine in any form.

The ohms/volts Q- no freekin idea-I actually guessed and got it correct but I guessed so I give my self 27/29

or 93.1% which would put me on the lower lip of the highest level.

Anyone else willing to admit that they are not perfect?

I just took the sample test and I missed the handsaw question. (I had no clue on that one). I got lucky on the spark plug question, the solid state diode question, and the clamp question with guesses where I was ~75% sure. (I had that confindence because of my understanding of multiple choice tests, not because of my knowledge of the relevant material).

I suppose it is easy enough if you prepare for it, but that test wouldn't be easy if you didn't care enough to study and you had never spent much time working on cars or electronics. The pressure of a timed exam would make it even worse.

I was a B student in HS and college. Haven't been in an academic setting in over 6 years. Haven't been in HS since 1996. I didn't study a bit. Scored a 98. The percentile score is NOT a percent scored correctly. It's a percentile RANK meaning I scored better than 98% of a reference group of 18-23yr old test takers during 1997.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFQT

Alan

I assumed that it accounted for all test-takers, but it's just 18-23? I took it when I was 15 (all 10th graders at our school did, I remember getting the results sent to us in our sophomore English class) and I got a 99, not really giving a damn about anything on it. Seemed like a review of middle school math with a few common sense questions.

We've become Ancient Rome, offering barbarians citizenship to fight our wars of choice.

If you were to go into any major US college into any of the non science, non business depts - philosophy, English, "cultural studies", sociology, psychology, anthropology, drama, political "science", liberal studies ... you would find that 1 in 4 fail.

STEM disciplines are the key. Eliminate all funding for arts, theater, music, phy ed., etc.

Sadly, I would add the Education deptartment as well.If you were to administer the same U.S. Army exam to all college athletes, the failure rate would be even higher, and would easily approach 40% failure.

Satans Helper wrote:

If you were to go into any major US college into any of the non science, non business depts - philosophy, English, "cultural studies", sociology, psychology, anthropology, drama, political "science", liberal studies ... you would find that 1 in 4 fail.

getsome wrote:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/afqtscore.htm

"The AFQT score is a percentile score"

There is no penalty for a wrong answer so if what you said was true everyone who just guesses would average around a 25 on the test.

You're right. They should phrase the article better since there is no mention of how scoring works in the article "Recruits must score at least a 31 out of 99 on the first stage of the three-hour test to get into the Army. The Marines, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard recruits need higher scores."

getsome wrote:

this shouldn't be alarming at all. To qualify as an enlisted you need to score in the 32nd percentile or higher. So if only 25% fail that actually implies the military population is more intelligent than the general population. I realize that's not saying much though.

So I'm a little confused as to the results they are throwing out at us and the nature of the test. If it's a 31st percentile to pass then how can they claim that only 23% of high school grads trying to enlist fail this test? Is it a blanket administration of the test at certain public schools regardless of intention to enlist thus expanding the pool? I'd never even heard of the ASVAB until reading this article. I realize it varies with each administration of the test, but I'd be curious to see what a percentile score of say 75 on average yields on a raw score.

You missed where I said the percentile score compares your raw score to that of a group of 18-23yr olds during a 1997 test study.

Here's what you're looking for:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/afqtscore.htm

75 percentile is a score of 229 in the AFQT.

Some points:

1. Harder questions are worth more points.

2. The AFQT includes only 4 sections of the test: Paragraph Comprehension, Word Knowledge, Mathmatical Knowledge and Arithmatic Reasoning.

3. The AFQT is 2VE+MK+AR

4. VE = PC + WK

5. Raw scores are NOT included on the Score Sheet. So you'll NEVER know your actual raw scores or a % of right/wrong.

I scored "only" 80 on a practice test before taking the real one. Any of these online practice tests really don't do the actual test justice. I say go talk to a recruiter, then go to MEPS and take the test.

Alan

You've been there, so you know it to be true!? Or did some college professor brainwash YOU into believing it is true???

dirty south wrote:

People who are attracted to the military usually are not rocket scientists.

Interesting. Considering I went to the US Amry with a double major in Math and Physics. What is your major left-winged hippie puke or pussy pany republican?

Old Man Runner wrote:

Hey, its pretty hard!

Here is a sample of questions based upon a quick Google search...

http://www.official-asvab.com/questions/app/question_ar1_app.htm

It is a breeze! 16,560

Old Man Runner wrote:

Hey, its pretty hard!

Here is a sample of questions based upon a quick Google search...

http://www.official-asvab.com/questions/app/question_ar1_app.htm

honorable discharge wrote:

dirty south wrote:

People who are attracted to the military usually are not rocket scientists.

Interesting. Considering I went to the US Amry with a double major in Math and Physics. What is your major left-winged hippie puke or pussy pany republican?

Actually, I am currently teaching physics at one of the top 5 public universities in the nation. I have a PhD in both math and physics (so we have something in common).

Oh, and rocket science is remarkably simple. I always find it amusing when people refer to rocket science as some sort of intellectual Everest. There are many very challenging fields in science. It is just that rocket science is not one of them.

I don't have a phd in math or physics, I have 2 BS degrees in math and physics. Yes, rocket science isn't all that.

I'm confused.

These 3 questions:

http://www.official-asvab.com/questions/app/question_ar1_app.htm

Are absolutely NOTHING like this question: 2 + x = 4

There is no comparison.

So, it the test easy or hard? Which is it?