ASVAB Word Knowledge: Word List, Roots and Practice

Word Knowledge (WK) is the ASVAB's vocabulary subtest. Each question gives you a word, on its own or in a sentence, and asks which of four choices is closest in meaning. WK feeds the Verbal Expression score, which counts twice in your AFQT score, and it carries more weight there than Paragraph Comprehension does.

This guide covers the question formats, a method for words you don't know, the prefixes and roots that unlock many of them, a printable practice word list, and five practice questions with explanations.

What the WK subtest looks like

Most applicants take the computer version: it is given at MEPS and at most MET sites, and the paper version at only a handful of MET sites. Tryout questions are new questions that do not count toward your score. On the computer version each test taker gets them in two to four subtests, mixed in among the scored ones, so if WK is one of them you may see up to 30 questions. That is normal, and the time limit doubles to match.

PiCAT is an unproctored computer version you can take at home with an access code from a recruiter. It has no time limits for individual subtests and no tryout questions. It is open only to people who have never taken the ASVAB, you must finish it within 48 hours of starting, and its scores count only once a short proctored verification test at a MEPS or MET site confirms them.

The ASVAB program describes WK as testing the "ability to select the correct meaning of words presented in context and to identify the best synonym for a given word". Questions come in two forms (the examples here were written for this guide, not taken from the test):

• The word alone: "Transient most nearly means:" followed by four choices.
• The word in a sentence: "The storm was transient, gone within the hour. Transient most nearly means:" Here the sentence gives you a clue.

The time limits work out to about 19 seconds a question on paper and about 36 seconds on the computer version most people take, where the ASVAB program says almost everyone finishes each subtest in time. Either way, don't get stuck on one word: if you don't know it, use the method below quickly and move on. There is no penalty for guessing, so answer every question. Never leave one blank on paper, and on the computer don't let the clock run out, because questions you have not reached are scored as if you had guessed at random.

A method for words you don't know

1. Predict first. Before you look at the choices, say what the word means in your own words, using the sentence if there is one.
2. Check the tone. Decide whether the word is positive, negative or neutral in context. That alone often rules out two choices.
3. Take the word apart. Look for a prefix, root or suffix you know (see the tables below).
4. Swap in each choice. Put each choice into the sentence in place of the word. The right one keeps the sentence's meaning.
5. Watch for look-alikes. A choice that looks or sounds like the word is often a trap: incredulous (not believing) is not incredible (hard to believe).

Prefixes, roots and suffixes

Many English words are built from a small set of word parts, most of them from Latin and Greek. Knowing a few dozen of them lets you make an educated guess about words you have never seen.

Prefixes

Roots

Word parts are clues, not proof. ped means foot in pedestrian but child in pediatric, which comes from a Greek word for child. Always check your guess against the sentence.

Suffixes

Practice questions

Each question has one best answer. Try the method before you open the explanation.

How to build your vocabulary

• Read a little every day, just above your comfort level: news, science and history writing, or long magazine articles. Note each word you had to guess.
• Make your own cards. One word per card, with its meaning in your own words and a sentence you wrote yourself.
• Group words by root. Learning spect once helps with inspect, spectator and perspective.
• Test yourself instead of rereading. Cover the meaning and say it before you look.
• Little and often. Ten minutes a day over a few weeks is easier to keep up than one long session the night before.

WK and your scores

WK is combined with Paragraph Comprehension into Verbal Expression (VE), and VE counts twice in the AFQT composite (AR + MK + 2 × VE). In the published formula WK carries more of VE's weight than PC does: on average, one standard-score point in WK moves the composite by about 1.3 points, against about 0.8 for PC. Those are averages, because VE is rounded to a whole number before it is doubled, so any single point moves the composite by either 0 or 2. That is arithmetic, not study advice: a point is not equally easy to gain on every subtest. How your AFQT score is calculated walks through the arithmetic.

More practice

• The ASVAB program's own Word Knowledge sample questions.
• Look up any word you are unsure of in a full dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster.
• The Arithmetic Reasoning guide covers the math side of the AFQT.

Sources

• officialasvab.com, What to expect: the description of what WK tests; question counts and time limits for the paper and proctored computer versions, where each is given, and how many finish in time; tryout questions; and PiCAT's rules (access code, untimed subtests, first-time testers only, the 48-hour window and the verification test).
• officialasvab.com, The CAT-ASVAB: how questions not reached before time runs out are scored.
• officialasvab.com, Preparing for the ASVAB: "Answer every question" and no penalty for guessing.
• officialasvab.com, Word Knowledge sample questions: sample questions.
• Segall, D. O. (2004). Development and Evaluation of the 1997 ASVAB Score Scale (Technical Report No. 2004-002). Defense Manpower Data Center. Section 2.2 (Table 2.4, standard-score constants), section 2.3 (equation 2.3, how WK and PC are weighted in VE) and section 2.4 (the AFQT composite). PDF on officialasvab.com
• The word list, definitions, example sentences and practice questions were written for this guide by TopASVAB.