ASVAB line score calculator

Your AFQT is a percentile built from four subtests (Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning and Mathematics Knowledge). It decides whether you can enlist at all. Line scores, which the services call aptitude area composites, combine different subtests, including the technical ones, and decide which jobs you qualify for.

That is why two recruits with the same AFQT can be offered very different jobs: a strong Mechanical Comprehension or Electronics Information score lifts the composites the technical jobs use, and does nothing to the AFQT.

Each service publishes its job requirements differently, so we keep one sourced, searchable table per branch, read from the services' own job pages: ASVAB scores for Army jobs (line scores by MOS), ASVAB scores for Navy jobs (subtest sums by rating), ASVAB scores for Air Force jobs (MAGE percentiles by AFSC) and ASVAB scores for Marine Corps jobs (GT, MM, EL and CL by MOS). On the Army and Navy tables, "Check my scores" opens this calculator already set to that job's minimums.

VE (Verbal Expression) is the combined Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension score printed on your sheet. Where published guides disagree on a formula, we say so; the calculator uses the version shown.

Count how many line scores each subtest feeds. By the formulas above, Verbal Expression and Mechanical Comprehension each feed six of the ten Army line scores and Arithmetic Reasoning and Mathematics Knowledge five each, so the AFQT subjects move the most job doors at once. Each AFQT subject has its own guide with a free timed drill: Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and Mathematics Knowledge.

• Need a higher GT? It is only VE + AR. Word Knowledge and word problems are the whole job. Start with the ASVAB practice test to see which of the two is lower.
• Aiming for a technical job (ST, EL, MM)? Mechanical Comprehension and General Science carry weight here. Our mechanical aptitude test practises the gears, levers and pulleys MC asks about.
• Close to a cut-off? A retest raises your scores only if you prepare differently. The how to pass the ASVAB guide has study plans by the time you have.

Each subtest standard score is scaled so that 50 is average and 10 points is one standard deviation in the reference group. The Army reports line scores on a scale centred on 100. For GT, the widely quoted rule is the plain sum of VE and AR, which is the same as 2 × their average. We apply that same scaling to every composite so that each one is centred on 100.

For composites of three or four subtests the Army's own conversion is not public, so your official number can differ by a few points, most of all at the extremes. Treat a result within about five points of a job minimum as too close to call.

The Navy and Coast Guard quote requirements as plain sums of standard scores (for example VE + AR + MK + MC), so the Navy-style figures in the calculator are exact sums rather than estimates. The Air Force (MAGE percentiles) and Marine Corps use their own composites, which this calculator does not cover; see Air Force job minimums and Marine Corps job minimums instead.

Line scores come from your real subtest scores, so the way to raise them is to build the subtests behind them before you test; whether you may retest at all is a question for your recruiter. Take the free ASVAB-style practice test to find your weakest AFQT subject, check the minimum you need on what is a good ASVAB score, and read the ASVAB test guide for the CAT and paper formats and the retest rules.