Useful ASVAB Word Knowledge Tips You Should Know

This article will give you the most important ASVAB Word Knowledge tips and ASVAB practice tools to help you prepare for your upcoming test!

The ASVAB Word Knowledge Test measures your knowledge of words. It’s one of the ASVAB subtests you’ll take to determine your eligibility for military service. As you may be aware, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is the world’s most widely used multiple-aptitude battery. The ASVAB assesses your ability to quickly grasp new material as well as your knowledge of specific jobs or careers.

An ASVAB Word Knowledge Test is a test that helps determine your ASVAB scores and to shows how well you know words. It has 25 questions and you can answer them in 15 minutes. The ASVAB Word Knowledge Test includes questions about synonyms, antonyms, definitions, spelling, grammar usage, word relationships, and more. You should do as many of these practice tests as possible because it will help you increase your ASVAB score!

Thus, you need a careful study plan for one of the most challenging parts of the ASVAB – ASVAB Word Knowledge! We also prepare some tips to help you attack the meaning of unfamiliar words.

The Word Knowledge subtest of the ASVAB requires you to both be able to differentiate words based on their spelling and to know what various words mean.

In other words, this section of the test is all about your vocabulary. Some of the questions will simply ask you what a word means. Other questions will use the word in context and then you will need to pick the definition. 

Analyze the Word

The first thing you should do when coming to the question is analyze the keyword. It’s also a popular strategy when determining the meaning of a word, that is to break it down by word part.

If it is a compound word, break it down into its separate parts to help gain meaning. If there are discernible prefixes or suffixes, can you identify a familiar root? What are those prefixes and suffixes doing to the root word?

There are hundreds of prefixes, suffixes, and roots that serve as the building blocks of the English language. Studying some ahead of time and seeing their effect on word meanings will help you much when you see them at work in new words.

Read more >> ASVAB Word Knowledge Study Guide

Use Context Clues

One of the most popular techniques for students no matter what age they are when they encounter a new word is to consider the context clues. This means looking at the words around the unknown word to see if there are any hints as to its meaning.

Sometimes, an example or implied definition might be close at hand. You have to find out what the rest of the sentence says and how it relates to the unknown word.

However, remember that this technique only works in the test questions containing the word in the context of a sentence. Some of the questions will just give you a word and you have to answer what the word most nearly means. And the available options they provide may be just as unfamiliar as the tested word. In that case, a different strategy is necessary.

Make an Educated Guess

If the context clues and word-breaking parts aren’t working, maybe you should try looking at the word and saying it to yourself. And then think of what word it can remind you of visually. “What word does it sound like?“

Sometimes, there appear visual or audio clues that will remind you of another word with a similar meaning, and then you can make an educated guess. When all else fails, it’s important to do this trick.

So, if you can make an educated guess about a word, you may get it right and boost your score. But remember, this is a time-limited test, so no matter what strategies you use, let’s do it quickly and move on to the next question.

ASVAB Word Knowledge Tips

When you’re taking the Word Knowledge subtest, remember these tips:

• Look at the sentence context for clues to a word’s meaning.
• Narrow down your choices:
• If two answer choices are very close in meaning, neither one is probably correct.
• If two answer choices are opposite in meaning, one of them is probably correct.

Look for words or phrases that can help you eliminate answer choices.

Use a dictionary to find the meanings of difficult words. ASVAB Word Knowledge is about synonyms, antonyms, definitions, spelling, grammar usage, and word relationships. You will need some study time in order to increase your ASVAB score!

Our Free ASVAB Practice test

Qualified questions based on the official ASVAB Test

To test your current word-knowledge skills, we recommend taking our Word Knowledge Practice Tests, which are filled with questions that are similar to what you will find on the real ASVAB. 

Thousands of free ASVAB practice questions are available. We have gamified these questions so all you need to do is to practice round by round just like playing a game. 

Our detailed explanation

We are proud that our website is one of a few number platforms providing detailed explanations after each question. You could understand the roots of the problems and pass the ASVAB Test on the first visit.

Demonstrate the real test-taking process

Taking this practice test will help you develop the knowledge you need to earn a high score. It will also help you get familiar with the CAT-ASVAB test-taking process so that you feel more confident and comfortable when you go to take the real test.

Easy and friendly to study

Our ASVAB practice test 2023 is designed to keep you motivated and focused while studying.

You should also consult our ASVAB study guide for all 9 parts, which will provide you with additional study tips and information to help you improve your score even more.

Remember that you can take our practice test as many times as you want, and the questions will be reordered each time to provide you with a new learning experience. Combine it with these ASVAB tips to get the best effectiveness. Let’s begin practicing right away!