When the Smoke Clears

I had to take the ASVAB again.

The last time I took it was several years ago, just for the heck of it. I was having fun, questions popping up on the screen that weren’t too tough, just lots of them. I stalled out on one math question because the right answer was not one of the choices. Trust me, I’m positive about this one.*

They sat me down at the computer, handed me a single piece of paper and a pencil and typed in a few things. Two recruits were on either side of me, having started up just a minute or so before me. For some reason, my system took an extra code.

Click, click, click. I understood the instructions. Pick the best answer. blah blah. Then the science questions showed up. Interesting. And interesting they asked for such specifics on embryonic development, but ok. Seemed a bit hard for what this test was supposed to be, a lot harder than I remembered.

Next up, Word Knowledge. I consider myself to have a pretty good vocabulary. I like learning words. I’m almost done paying for my nearly $100K private education. I better know a few 50¢ words.

There were words on there I have never seen before in my life. I’m not just talking about I had heard them before and was a little fuzzy on the precise definition. No clue. To the right and left of me, words like “deny” and “treacherous.” I was getting pissed. My test took an extra code. Someone must have been messing with me.

Then came Math. A factorial, a complex statistical analysis that took one entire side of the sheet of paper and the monitor had to come over to do an unlock on my computer since I had spent more than 4 minutes on a single question, quickly followed by calculation of a payment on a loan amortized over 6 years. To the right and left of me: 2x+3=9.

Very much not happy. Someone had to have been messing with me. The rest of the test was like that, too, though I have no idea if I was anywhere on track in the automotive or electronics section.

Got home, started reading up and thank goodness, it’s now an adaptive test. Answer the first couple of questions quickly and correctly and you get bumped into a different class of questions. I thought I had completely bombed the thing and the test admins had decided to give me the “special” treatment.

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* hint for multi-subject standardized tests. On a math section, whenever a geometry problem involving a right triangle appears, the combination will be either 2,2,4 or 3,4,5. It will be some variation on that theme because there isn’t time to have a tester do more complex calculations. With that in mind:

A tree stands 30 feet tall. It casts a shadow 40 feet long. What is the distance from the top of the tree to the end of the shadow?
a) 30 feet b) 60 feet c) 70 feet d) 140 feet

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