New Developments in ASVAB Testing

There is now a new way to take a form of the ASVAB for those applicants wishing to join the Air Force. 

This is a Pre-screening Internet Delivered Computer Aptitude Test or PiCAT.  It's an un-proctored version of the full ASVAB and provides recruiters with the ability to determine if the applicant is qualified before having to send them to the military entrance processing station or military entrance test site.

At this time, the Air Force the Recruiting Service has approximately 260 recruiters who are authorized register applicants and are working together with the US Military Entrance Processing Command to make sure that all Air Force recruiters are registered to provide this test. 

This process works in the following way.  When applicants express their interest in taking the ASVAB to apply for enlistment in the Air Force, the recruiter will provide the applicant with a unique access code. At that point the applicant will have 72 hours in which to start the test from any computer of their choosing. Once the test is started they have 24 hours to complete the test. After the test has been completed the recruiter has immediate access to the applicant's score. 

The purpose of this test is to allow applicants to gain familiarity with the ASVAB and help recruiters determine those applicants who will be able to qualify for Air Force entrance when they take the official test. This can save both time for the recruiter and money for the Air Force.  As a rule for this test applicants are not permitted to use external sources such as books, Internet or other people to help them during the test. 

Since it will be impossible to know whether the applicant was aided in the taking of the test at this time it is only accepted as a practice test. When the official test is taken by the applicant it will become apparent whether or not help was used.  The hope is that in the future the PiCAT will be used as the official ASVAB which could happen as early as January 2014. 

At that point the test with the combined with a short verification test that is given at either the MEPS or MET site.  The applicant’s score-of-record for enlistment will be available and if it is found that they fail the verification test or just decided they would not like to use their PiCAT score as their official score, they will then be set up to take the full length proctored ASVAB.