What is on the ASVAB?
All nine subtests
The paper form is nine subtests, 225 questions and 149 minutes. Here is every one of them, with its clock.
Last verified 11 August 2026. Subtest order, counts and timings match the paper form our own ASVAB practice exams are built to.
The nine subtests
| Subtest | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| General Science | 25 | 11 min |
| Arithmetic Reasoning | 30 | 36 min |
| Word Knowledge | 35 | 11 min |
| Paragraph Comprehension | 15 | 13 min |
| Mathematics Knowledge | 25 | 24 min |
| Electronics Information | 20 | 9 min |
| Auto and Shop Information | 25 | 11 min |
| Mechanical Comprehension | 25 | 19 min |
| Assembling Objects | 25 | 15 min |
| Total | 225 | 149 min |
Two different tests share one name
The CAT-ASVAB, taken at a MEPS, is computer adaptive: it chooses your next question from your last answer, so no two candidates sit the same test and there is no fixed question count. The paper-and-pencil form, still used at MET sites and for the student Career Exploration Program, is fixed — nine subtests, 225 questions, 149 minutes, the same for everyone.
Our practice exams are built to the paper form, because that is a test you can actually reproduce. Selling a fixed set of questions and calling it the CAT would be a lie about the product.
Not all nine matter equally
Four of them decide whether you can enlist at all: Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning and Mathematics Knowledge. Those four make the AFQT, and everything else only affects which jobs you qualify for.
That is worth knowing before you start studying, because a candidate short on time should not be splitting attention nine ways. Electronics Information is 20 questions in 9 minutes and will not keep you out of the service; Arithmetic Reasoning is 30 questions in 36 minutes and might.
Assembling Objects is on this form
It is dropped from the CAT for some services. It is not dropped from the paper form, and it is not dropped from ours. If a practice test you are using has eight subtests, it is not the paper form.
Who sits it
Adults, mostly 17 to 25, taking it for themselves — and high school students sitting it through the Career Exploration Program. Nothing on the exam assumes a classroom, a teacher or a school year.
Practice the real thing
Our ASVAB exams are full length and written from scratch — every wrong answer carries its own explanation, so a child learns what they got wrong and why. Ten questions are free, with no account and no card. After that it is five credits an exam.