Career Guidance

In American high schools, the ASVAB is a valuable exploratory tool that students can use to gain insight into their own abilities. This self-knowledge can be used in making future career choices. The ASVAB coordinates well with career education and development programs and can serve as the foundation for other development initiatives. ASVAB is designed for high school juniors and seniors. The self-knowledge regarding interests, aptitude, and work ethic gained from taking the ASVAB may instill a sense of confidence that allows a student to follow a desired career path.

Because of its use as a skills assessment tool, the ASVAB is the most widely used aptitude and assessment tool in the United States. The subtests in the battery of tests known as the ASVAB include such topics as Arithmetic Reasoning, General Science, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Mechanical Knowledge, Auto and Shop Information, Electronic Information, and Shop Assembly.

Although the ASVAB administered in high schools is most often aimed at helping students identify career goals, nine percent of high school students who take the tests decide to enlist in the military anyway. While a certain number of persons who take the test remain undecided about future career goals, about two-thirds of participating students opt for two or four-year colleges or to enroll in technical-vocational schools or programs. For most of the students who take ASVAB, there is no intent to join the military. Even so, the same two-thirds of participants in the ASVAB Career Exploration Program say they find the test helpful in identifying career aptitudes and skills of which they were previously unaware.