# Do you have what it takes intellectually for the military? Check out the ASVAB review questions! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456 "2010-07-12T21:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/41 "2010-07-15T00:06:43Z")
“The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.” – Rommelwood Military Acadamy Commandant’s graduation address, The Simpsons ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/42 "2010-07-15T02:19:00Z")
THANK you, **CrazyCatLady**. I just wanted to comment that you were damned lucky if you got bothered by unsolicited recruiters for under a year - I’m quite serious when I tell you that they only just stopped calling me. When I was in college, my mother would tell them that, yes, I was quite serious about continuing with my bachelor’s degree at a small private women’s college and not, you know, _the Marine Corps_, and one of them said, “Well, you never know!” Really? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/43 "2010-07-15T02:35:42Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > You know, you’re right. Who we need running the nuclear missiles are people who can’t be arsed to go to recruiting station and take the test on their own, or ones who are so spineless they can be harassed into doing something they don’t want to do. Or even better, the ones who either so dumb or so ignorant they have to study to pass the test. > > I mean, who else are you going to get to join up based on forcing high school kids to take the ASVAB and then calling them every week for the better part of a year? People who actually _want_ to be in the military will find a recruiter and take the test on their own. People who don’t want to be in the military and have actual spines aren’t going to join just to make the damn recruiters stop calling. So where is the benefit of mandatory testing or study guides? I’ll tell ya who we _don’t_ want charging into battle- people that bitch and moan because people (OMG!) _call them_! On the phone, at home, no less! Can you believe those communist, fascist Nazi recruiters _force_ high school students to take the ASVAB?! FORCE them!!! Those poor, poor souls! Won’t anyone think of the high schoolers? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/44 "2010-07-15T04:32:01Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’ll tell ya who we _don’t_ want charging into battle- people that bitch and moan because people (OMG!) _call them_! On the phone, at home, no less! Can you believe those communist, fascist Nazi recruiters _force_ high school students to take the ASVAB?! FORCE them!!! Those poor, poor souls! Won’t anyone think of the high schoolers? I hadn’t taken the ASVAB in high school, and sometime around the middle of my junior year, I started getting phone calls. Recruiters can and do get contact information from schools, will call absolutely unsolicited, and for some reason (purely anecdotally), will call over and over and over again. So, yeah, if you voluntarily take the ASVAB you don’t have much ground to stand on, but lots of teenagers get lots of calls completely unsolicited. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/45 "2010-07-15T04:52:25Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I hadn’t taken the ASVAB in high school, and sometime around the middle of my junior year, I started getting phone calls. Recruiters can and do get contact information from schools, will call absolutely unsolicited, and for some reason (purely anecdotally), will call over and over and over again. > > So, yeah, if you voluntarily take the ASVAB you don’t have much ground to stand on, but lots of teenagers get lots of calls completely unsolicited. When I was in high school, the Army didn’t bug me TOO much, but the Marines were rather persistent. Which is hilarious if you’ve ever met me. Totally not Marine Corps material. The Air Force, meanwhile, was the exact opposite. We only had one recruiter covering something like three counties around the time I was planning to enlist, so it took me forever just to find the guy in his office. The final funny bit? After I had been in the Air Force for over two years… I got a packet from the Army trying to get me to enlist. While I am two years into a six year contract with the Air Force. Glad they keep up with these things. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/46 "2010-07-15T14:00:17Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I’d scored perfectly, and his scoring sheet (translating number of questions missed to a percentile of the maximum score via a table) didn’t directly account for missing zero questions on the table. It was of course easy to logic that missing zero means 100% and therefore the score would be “xxx”, that was also helpfully labeled outside of the table as “maximum score”. I explained this to him, pointing out how, via the table, you can infer how many points each correct answer was worth and how that matches perfectly with the maximum score… > . [It’s the manned missile for you son!](http://www.themathlab.com/writings/short%20stories/feeling.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/47 "2010-07-15T15:00:19Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’ll tell ya who we _don’t_ want charging into battle- people that bitch and moan because people (OMG!) _call them_! On the phone, at home, no less! Can you believe those communist, fascist Nazi recruiters _force_ high school students to take the ASVAB?! FORCE them!!! Those poor, poor souls! Won’t anyone think of the high schoolers? Then why the hell do they keep on calling them? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/48 "2010-07-15T15:13:45Z")
I took the ASVAB about a year after I graduated, which was more years ago than I like to think about. Did well enough that the recruiter kept wanting to sign me up in the nuclear engineering section. No idea what my actual score was. I remember that the code and pattern matching was my weakest section, though. I didn’t like the idea of being stuck on a sub soaking up zoomies for 6 months with a bunch of young male assholes, and no privacy to even whack it in the bathroom, so I kept turning him down. Now, I think young me was a fucking idiot for not taking the Navy up on paying for university and learning something useful. Four to six years seems a hell of a lot shorter than it did at the time. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/49 "2010-07-15T18:37:57Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [It’s the manned missile for you son!](http://www.themathlab.com/writings/short%20stories/feeling.htm) That was brilliant, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/50 "2010-07-15T19:41:51Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I took the ASVAB in high school because it got me out of English for the day. I did fantastically well on all the language parts, and horrendously on all of the mechanical parts. There were all these diagrams of contraptions with questions like “if pulley A is pulled, what will happen to wheel C?” Yeah, I have no idea. > > Turns out that the army doesn’t care if you can read and write - if you are horrible at mechanical ideas, they don’t want you. I got one half-hearted call from a recruiter who seemed grateful to hang up when I told him I was going to college in the fall. All my friends traded schemes for getting the recruiters to stop calling, but I never really had any need of them. Oh my god, I loved the mechanic part (I also took it because I got out of class :)). I’m definitely a language person (instead of math) but I’ve always done great on mechanic/spatial things. I got a 98 composite and only got contacted by the Navy. Repeatedly. They wanted me to be a nuclear engineer, apparently. Hey, man, can’t you see I just wanted to ethically skip class, not actually join? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/51 "2010-07-15T19:57:58Z")
Where the hell did all you people go to school that you were required to take the ASVAB? I’d never even \*heard \*of it before this thread. (Private school, graduated in '01.) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/52 "2010-07-15T20:35:13Z")
Upon graduating high school I was approached by a Navy recruiter and invited to come to the recruiting office to “discuss my future.” I was bored one day that summer so I went to the recruiting office and was put in a little room and administered this test. It was probably a different test than now, this was 15 years ago, but having just graduated my mind was still loaded up with fresh knowledge and I found the test quite easy. The recruiter scored my test and apparently I did very well because he then proceeded to aggressively attempt to sign me up. I declined and went home to prepare to head off to college, but that guy or someone else from the Navy called me every single day that summer. OTOH, upon looking at the test now, 15 years of debauchery later, I have no idea what half of that shit means. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/53 "2010-07-15T20:56:26Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Where the hell did all you people go to school that you were required to take the ASVAB? I’d never even \*heard \*of it before this thread. (Private school, graduated in '01.) Public school, class of 97, ASVAB was mandatory and the fucking Navy guy wouldn’t let you go pee unsupervised. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/54 "2010-07-15T21:04:06Z")
Class of 2000, ASVAB was optional. I can’t remember if I took it or not, but I got hassled by the recruiters too. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/55 "2010-07-15T21:14:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Where the hell did all you people go to school that you were required to take the ASVAB? I’d never even \*heard \*of it before this thread. (Private school, graduated in '01.) Class of 2004- public high school, California. ASVAB was mandatory- they sent the entire senior class in to take it one morning. I never had any desire to join the military, but for a solid year, I’d get recruiters from every branch knocking on my door a time or two a week. And calling. And sending letters. Craziness. After a while, I just started hitting on them. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/56 "2010-07-16T01:18:08Z")
For those who really do not understand why some folks cram for the damned thing: Thank all you hold sacred that you aren’t one of them. For some, the military is the best option - it is not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of how and where. Think of the SAT - the difference being: Do poorly on the SAT, go to 2nd rate college Do poorly on this thing, and you get shipped halfway around the world to get your ass shot. Do well, spend your career behind a desk. I knew some of these kids in high school (small town, 1 high school for everybody) - they knew they were cannon fodder, but there’s always that hope that maybe, just maybe, you’ll “luck out” and score high enough to leave the rifle behind when you complete Basic. ---
**Author:** ![Animastryfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Animastryfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animastryfe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/57 "2010-07-16T04:03:38Z")
I just took the advanced math portion. I got one question wrong because I don’t know the ratio of a yard to a foot (I’m not American). I find it very odd that there are “what units are the most appropriate” questions in the advanced math test. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456/58 "2010-07-19T21:03:46Z")
Class of 1981. Don’t know why I took it - probably to get out of class. I guess I scored 100% on it; 36 out of 36 or something? Every recruiter in Tennessee came calling, telling me they’d never seen that before, blah, blah, blah. I only considered the Navy, since my dad had been a CPO. They promised me I could fly jets until they found out I was color blind. Lyin bastiges! Scored 1590 something on my SAT. I’ve successfully parlayed that into a mediocre life with a 16 year old truck with an oil leak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-what-it-takes-intellectually-for-the-military-check-out-the-asvab-review-questions/546456.md?page=2)