What score do you need? ASVAB, TEAS, HESI, CCAT and Wonderlic minimums
Four of the five US military services now ask for an AFQT of 31 from a high school graduate, and the Coast Guard asks for 32, according to their own recruiting pages. Many guides still list 35 to 40 for the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Nursing schools want roughly 58% to 70% on the TEAS and 75% to 85% on the HESI. For employer tests, most of the "required score by job" figures online cannot be traced to the publisher. Here are 35 figures, each labelled with where it comes from.
By the LifeScore Editorial Team · Updated · How we built this
Older figure, still widely repeatedThe service’s own page, 14 October 2026
- Army
- Marine Corps
- Navy
- Air Force
- Coast Guard
2530354045
The five tests at a glance
- ASVAB minimum scoresAFQT minimums by branch, the law on low scorers, and the DoD quality benchmarks.9 figures
- TEAS minimum scoresATI's five levels and what six nursing programs ask for.11 figures
- HESI A2 minimum scoresCut-offs from five nursing programs.5 figures
- CCAT minimum scoresCriteria's own median, and the role targets prep sites repeat.5 figures
- Wonderlic minimum scoresThe average, and the role scores attributed to the 1992 manual.5 figures
ASVAB: the AFQT minimums, and the law behind them
The AFQT is a percentile from 1 to 99. Each service sets its own floor; federal law and Department of Defense policy cap how many low scorers can join at all.
| Applies to | Score and source |
|---|---|
| Army enlistment, high school diplomaAFQT 21 to 30 can qualify for the Future Soldier Preparatory Course | AFQT 31[1]Official |
| Marine Corps enlistment, high school diploma50 with a GED or non-traditional diploma | AFQT 31[2]Official |
| Navy enlistment, high school diplomaBelow 50 needs a diploma or equivalent (Tier 1 or 2) | AFQT 31[3]Official |
| Air Force enlistment, high school diploma50 with a GED; 65 with no qualifying education | AFQT 31[4]Official |
| Coast Guard enlistment, high school diploma | AFQT 32[5]Official |
| Any service (Category V) | AFQT 1 to 9 cannot enlist[6, 7]Law or DoD policy |
| Share of yearly recruits in Category IV (AFQT 10 to 30)The Secretary of Defense can raise it to 20% for a service, with notice to Congress | At most 4%[6, 7]Law or DoD policy |
| DoD recruit quality benchmarkCategories I to IIIA; in place since FY1993 | At least 60% of recruits at AFQT 50 or above[6]Law or DoD policy |
| DoD recruit quality benchmark | At least 90% of recruits with a high school diploma[6]Law or DoD policy |
The AFQT categories
| Category | AFQT percentile | What it means for enlistment |
|---|---|---|
| I | 93 to 99 | Top 7% |
| II | 65 to 92 | Above average |
| IIIA | 50 to 64 | Average to a little above |
| IIIB | 31 to 49 | A little below average |
| IVA | 21 to 30 | Capped share of recruits |
| IVB | 16 to 20 | Capped share of recruits |
| IVC | 10 to 15 | Capped share of recruits |
| V | 1 to 9 | Cannot enlist |
Category ranges from the official ASVAB site.[25] The right-hand column is our summary of the rules above.
What is a good ASVAB score? goes further: what the score means and how to raise it.
TEAS: ATI’s levels and what nursing schools ask for
ATI, which makes the TEAS, reports a level for each score. It does not set a pass mark; each school does. These are the cut-offs from six schools’ own pages.
| Applies to | Score and source |
|---|---|
| ATI level: Developmental | 0% to 40.7%[8]Official |
| ATI level: Basic | 41.3% to 58.0%[8]Official |
| ATI level: Proficient | 58.7% to 77.3%[8]Official |
| ATI level: Advanced | 78.0% to 90.0%[8]Official |
| ATI level: Exemplary | 90.7% to 100%[8]Official |
| Touro University (New York), nursingProficient rating and 70% in science and math | 70% composite[9]School's own page |
| Los Angeles City College, nursing | 62.0% composite[10]School's own page |
| Southwestern College (California), ADN and Step-Up | 62%[11]School's own page |
| Southwestern College (California), vocational nursing | 58%[11]School's own page |
| Miami Dade College, School of Nursing | 60% composite[12]School's own page |
| Fairmont State University, nursing | 60 composite[13]School's own page |
What is a good TEAS score? goes further: what the score means and how to raise it.
HESI A2: five nursing programs’ cut-offs
Elsevier does not publish a pass mark for the HESI Admission Assessment. Programs set their own, usually per section and usually between 75% and 85%.
| Applies to | Score and source |
|---|---|
| Baylor University, Louise Herrington School of NursingOn both the math and the English composite | 80 or higher[14]School's own page |
| Mesa Community College (Arizona)Average across reading, vocabulary and general knowledge, and grammar | 75% math; 80% average[15]School's own page |
| Pensacola State College, RN programReading, math, anatomy and physiology, grammar and vocabulary | 75% on each section[16]School's own page |
| University of Arizona, MEPNAcross math, reading, vocabulary and biology | 75% average[17]School's own page |
| Houston Christian University, nursingMath, grammar, anatomy and physiology | 85% on required sections[18]School's own page |
The HESI A2 test explained goes further: what the score means and how to raise it.
CCAT: one official number, and a lot of hearsay
Criteria Corp publishes the median of its reference group. Employers set their own cut-offs and do not publish them; the role figures below come from prep sites, so treat them as rough guides.
| Applies to | Score and source |
|---|---|
| Median of the reference groupA raw score of 24 is the 50th percentile | 24 of 50 correct[19]Official |
| Customer service roles | 17 or more[20, 21]Reported, not confirmed |
| Software development, accounting, financial services | 20 or more[20, 21]Reported, not confirmed |
| Analyst roles; senior and executive leadership | 22 or more[20, 21]Reported, not confirmed |
| Legal roles | 24 or more[20, 21]Reported, not confirmed |
What is a good CCAT score? goes further: what the score means and how to raise it.
Wonderlic: the average and the old role scores
The role figures that circulate online are attributed to Wonderlic’s 1992 user’s manual. We could not see the manual itself, so every row here is marked as reported.
| Applies to | Score and source |
|---|---|
| Average on the classic 50-question test | About 20[22]Reported, not confirmed |
| Clerical work and first-line supervisorsAttributed to the 1992 user's manual | 20 to 26[23, 24]Reported, not confirmed |
| NurseAttributed to the 1992 user's manual | About 23[23, 24]Reported, not confirmed |
| EngineerAttributed to the 1992 user's manual | About 29[23, 24]Reported, not confirmed |
| AttorneyAttributed to the 1992 user's manual | About 30[23, 24]Reported, not confirmed |
Wonderlic score chart goes further: what the score means and how to raise it.
How to read the source labels
- Law or DoD policy is a statute or a Department of Defense instruction, summarised by the Congressional Research Service. These change only by law or formal policy.
- Official is the test owner or a military service on its own site or manual. Services change their minimums with recruiting needs, so a recruiter has the final word.
- School's own page is one program's admissions page. Other schools, and other programs at the same school, set different cut-offs. Most also rank applicants, so the minimum is rarely enough to get in.
- Reported, not confirmed means prep sites or reference works repeat the figure but we could not see it in the publisher's own material. Quote these as "reported", not as fact.
We left out the many "required score" lists for named employers. None that we found cited a source we could check.
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<p><a href="https://lifescoretest.com/research/aptitude-test-score-benchmarks">Aptitude test score requirements</a> by LifeScore</p>How we built this
- What it covers
- 35 published minimum or benchmark scores for five US admissions and hiring tests: 11 from schools' own pages and 9 that are reported but not confirmed.
- How each figure was checked
- Against the service, school or publisher page that states it, by reading the page text in search results on the date below. The Navy figure comes from the Navy Recruiting Manual (August 2026); the Category IV cap from the Congressional Research Service and DoD Instruction 1145.01.
- Why we corrected ourselves
- Our ASVAB pages listed AFQT minimums of 32 (Marine Corps), 35 (Navy), 36 (Air Force) and 40 (Coast Guard). The services' own pages now say 31, 31, 31 and 32. We changed every page that used the old figures on the date below.
- What is not here
- Per-service AFQT score distributions, the full TEAS cut-off for every nursing program, and employer-specific CCAT or Wonderlic cut-offs. We could not confirm them from a source we could name.
- Last checked
- 14 October 2026
- Corrections
- Found an error or a newer figure? Tell us and we will fix it and date the change in the public change log.
Sources
- 1.U.S. Army (2026). ASVAB test and preparation. goarmy.com. goarmy.com
- 2.U.S. Marine Corps (2026). Enlistment requirements. marines.com. marines.com
- 3.Navy Recruiting Command (2026). COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8S: Navy recruiting manual, enlisted (5 August 2026). cnrc.navy.mil. etoolbox.cnrc.navy.mil
- 4.U.S. Air Force (2026). ASVAB. airforce.com. airforce.com
- 5.U.S. Coast Guard Recruiting Command (2026). Get started. gocoastguard.com. gocoastguard.com
- 6.Congressional Research Service (2026). Defense primer: Active component enlisted recruiting (IF11147). Library of Congress. congress.gov
- 7.U.S. Department of Defense (2024). DoD Instruction 1145.01: Qualitative distribution of military manpower. Executive Services Directorate. esd.whs.mil
- 8.California State University, Los Angeles (2026). Sample ATI TEAS score report (2026). calstatela.edu. calstatela.edu
- 9.Touro University, New York School of Career and Applied Studies (2026). Nursing admissions. touro.edu. nyscas.touro.edu
- 10.Los Angeles City College (2026). Nursing eligibility, application and selection process. lacc.edu. lacc.edu
- 11.Southwestern College (2026). TEAS testing. swccd.edu. swccd.edu
- 12.Miami Dade College (2026). TEAS: Test of Essential Academic Skills. mdc.edu. mdc.edu
- 13.Fairmont State University (2026). TEAS test overview. fairmontstate.edu. fairmontstate.edu
- 14.Baylor University, Louise Herrington School of Nursing (2026). HESI A2 information. baylor.edu. nursing.baylor.edu
- 15.Mesa Community College (2026). Evolve Reach Nursing Admission Assessment Exam (HESI). mesacc.edu. mesacc.edu
- 16.Pensacola State College (2026). HESI-A2 exam. pensacolastate.edu. testing.pensacolastate.edu
- 17.University of Arizona College of Nursing (2026). HESI admission assessment. arizona.edu. nursing.arizona.edu
- 18.Houston Christian University (2026). Nursing admission assessments (HESI A2 and TEAS). hc.edu. hc.edu
- 19.Criteria Corp (2024). CCAT score report guide. Criteria Corp. criteriacorp.com
- 20.CCAT Ready (2026). What is a good CCAT score? Benchmarks by role. ccatready.com. ccatready.com
- 21.PrepCCAT (2026). CCAT score requirements by job. prepccat.com. prepccat.com
- 22.Wikipedia contributors (2026). Wonderlic test. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
- 23.Cogn-IQ (2026). What's a good Wonderlic score? By profession, NFL and IQ. cogn-iq.org. cogn-iq.org
- 24.Psychometric Success (2026). What is a good Wonderlic score. psychometric-success.com. psychometric-success.com
- 25.Defense Testing and Assessment Center (2026). Understanding your ASVAB scores: AFQT categories. officialasvab.com. officialasvab.com
How we choose sources is in our editorial policy. Every source we cite is on the sources page. Spotted an error? Tell us.
Practice for the test you are taking
- ASVAB practice test50 questions on the four AFQT subjects, with an estimated AFQT.
- AFQT score calculatorEstimate your AFQT from practice-test results.
- TEAS practice test50 questions on reading, math, science and English.
- HESI A2 practice test20 timed questions, scored by section.
- CCAT practice testVerbal, math, logic and spatial questions against the clock.
- Wonderlic practice testTimed questions in the Wonderlic style.