About Army GT
The standardized aptitude test of the U.S. Armed Forces is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB. It is used by all branches of the U.S. military to determine the mental and educational qualifications prospective recruits, and scores on this test play a large part in determining what occupational specialties are open to enlisted personnel. One important use the US Army has for the ASVAB is to use it to determine their General Technical, or GT, score.
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Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
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The ASVAB is multiple choice, and has nine sections: arithmetic reasoning, assembling objects, auto shop, electronics information, general science, mathematics knowledge, mechanical comprehension, paragraph comprehension and word knowledge.
Composite Scoring
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All branches of the U.S. military have their own standards for admission into particular military occupations, using the results of the ASVAB to determine the individual scores according to their own unique systems. While the test is standardized, the uses its scores are put to are not. An example is the Army's GT. This is determined by first finding the VE, or verbal score from adding the paragraph comprehension and word knowledge scores, and running them through a conversion table. The result is then added to arithmetic reasoning.
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Raising the GT Score
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Most Army bases have educational facilities that offer FAST, or Functional Academic Skills Training. One of the programs offered by FAST is designed for GT score improvement. Admission means meeting certain standards, however. An applicant must already have a GT score between 100 and 110, and Test for Adult Basic Education, or TABE, reading and mathematics scores greater than 10.2.
Army Jobs Using GT
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The following Army occupational specializations consider GT scores: diver (110), early warning systems operator (100), recruiting and retention (110), special forces (100 or 110, depending on specialization) and journalist (110).
Other Uses
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The ASVAB is administered at most American public high schools during 11th grade, and is a good research tool for those interested in collecting data on the general aptitude of American high school students. In addition to its use in determining scores such as the GT, the ASVAB and its numerous scoring systems are used by both the Department of Defense and by certain school systems for research purposes.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Department of Defense
