ASVAB Score Requirements 2026: AFQT 31st Percentile Floor

The Armed Forces Qualification Test is not a second exam. It is four subtests inside the ASVAB: Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning, and Mathematics Knowledge (officialasvab.com, FAQs, retrieved 2026-08-22). The percentile that comes out of those four is the number a recruiter uses to decide whether you can enlist at all. Line scores from the other subtests decide the job.

This page does not print a branch-by-branch "Army 31 / Air Force 36 / Coast Guard 40" table. Officialasvab.com does not publish those service floors. Unofficial pages disagree with each other. What the DoD program does publish is the AFQT category table below. What statute publishes is the 31st-percentile floor for people who are not high school graduates.

Last verified: 2026-08-22.

30-second answer. AFQT is a percentile from 1 to 99 against a 1997 sample of 18-to-23-year-olds. Category IIIB starts at 31. Category V (1-9) is not an enlistment band. 10 U.S.C. 520(b) puts non-graduates at or above the 31st percentile. Retest waits are one calendar month, one more calendar month, then six. Confirm the branch floor with a recruiter before you study to a rumor.

The live enlistment study-aid is ASVAB requirements for military enlistment. The test explainer is ASVAB military entrance test. Start from the military pathway if you are still picking a branch.

AFQT categories (the table officialasvab.com actually prints)

AFQT scores are grouped into categories for reporting. Applicants in category IIIA or higher may qualify for enlistment incentives (officialasvab.com, Enlistment Eligibility, retrieved 2026-08-22):

An AFQT of 50 means you scored as well as or better than 50 percent of that 1997 youth sample, not 50 percent of the people who tested last month (officialasvab.com, Understanding ASVAB Scores, retrieved 2026-08-22).

The minimum AFQT required to enlist "varies across the different branches of service." Officialasvab.com tells you to contact a recruiter or a Service website rather than listing Army 31 next to Coast Guard 40.

Floors that do have a primary document

That is the honest N. Branch recruiting pages this unit opened did not print a diploma-versus-GED pair of 31/50 or 36/65. Those figures are cut until a Service page names them.

The four AFQT subtests

The ASVAB has 10 tests. AFQT uses four (officialasvab.com FAQs, retrieved 2026-08-22):

• Word Knowledge (WK). Synonyms and words in context.
• Paragraph Comprehension (PC). Main idea and detail from short passages.
• Arithmetic Reasoning (AR). Word problems. Math without a calculator is what the test measures.
• Mathematics Knowledge (MK). High-school math: algebra, geometry, the formulas you have not used since junior year.

The other six (General Science, Electronics Information, Auto Information, Shop Information, Mechanical Comprehension, Assembling Objects) feed line scores for jobs. A high AFQT with weak line scores still limits the MOS or rating list. This page does not print MOS cut scores. Those change by Service and by year; confirm them with the recruiter for the job you want.

Retest clock

After the first ASVAB you wait one calendar month to retest. The second retest waits one more calendar month. After that, six calendar months between retests (officialasvab.com FAQs and ASVAB Retest Policy, retrieved 2026-08-22). Scores may be used for enlistment for up to two years from the test date.

A gain of 20 or more AFQT points inside six months is a Critical AFQT Gain. That triggers a confirmation test. Do not treat a jump like that as a finished score until the confirmation test lands.

How the CAT-ASVAB is actually given

Most enlistment testing is at a Military Entrance Processing Station. If you do not live near a MEPS, a Military Entrance Test (MET) site can give the paper version. MEPS uses the computer adaptive CAT-ASVAB. Officialasvab.com says the scores should be very similar either way (ASVAB Fact Sheet, retrieved 2026-08-22).

CAT-ASVAB picks the next item from a pool that runs from very easy to very hard, using the information from the item you just answered (The CAT-ASVAB, retrieved 2026-08-22). You cannot bring a calculator.

PiCAT is the official unproctored AFQT predictor, not a second enlistment exam. Confirmation of a PiCAT still happens under proctored rules. Schedule through a recruiter.

How to prepare without a folklore study plan

Officialasvab.com's own prep page is blunt: take a solid core of mathematics, English, and science. That is what AR, MK, PC, WK, and General Science measure. Technical courses help Auto, Shop, Electronics, and Mechanical. This page does not ship a 6-week hour-by-hour plan or a "30 to 50 questions a day" quota, because those are not in the DoD materials.

Do this instead:

1. Get a target from a recruiter for the branch and the job, not from a blog table.
2. Take a timed diagnostic on the four AFQT subtests so you know whether the hole is vocab, algebra, or word problems.
3. Study the hole. Official sample questions live on officialasvab.com.
4. Walk into MEPS knowing the retest clock. A first-attempt 28 with no plan costs you a month.

Texas public-safety overlay

If the long game is a Texas fire or police job, the ASVAB is still the military door, not the civil-service door. Two Texas facts that do have a primary:

• In Chapter 143 cities, Local Government Code 143.025 adds five veteran points after a passing entrance-exam score for an honorable discharge. Five points do not replace a failing score. See veterans preference in public safety hiring.
• TCOLE age is 21, or 18 with an associate's degree, 60 semester hours, or an honorable discharge after two years of active service. A Class A misdemeanor is a lifetime bar. Only Class B carries the ten-year lookback. Family violence bars on community supervision as well as conviction. TCOLE does not require a driver's license; the rule is that you are not prohibited from operating a motor vehicle (37 TAC 217.1). The statewide page is TCOLE peace officer license requirements.

The fire-side transition is military to firefighter. Branch 101s: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force.