(a)The number of persons originally enlisted or inducted to serve on active duty (other than active duty for training) in any armed force during any fiscal year whose score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test is at or above the tenth percentile and below the thirty-first percentile may not exceed 20 percent of the total number of persons originally enlisted or inducted to serve on active duty (other than active duty for training) in such armed force during such fiscal year.
(b)A person who is not a high school graduate may not be accepted for enlistment in the armed forces unless the score of that person on the Armed Forces Qualification Test is at or above the thirty-first percentile; however, a person may not be denied enlistment in the armed forces solely because of his not having a high school diploma if his enlistment is needed to meet established strength requirements.
An AFQT score is derived from the ASVAB(essentially the militaries’ IQ test). IQ scores are based on a normal distribution of scores from the general population with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. So the 30th percentile represents an IQ score of 92 while the 10th percentile would correlate with an IQ of 81.
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This is a myth. There IS a test, called the “Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)”, which is a competency test to see what jobs you would be suited for, but that is NOT an IQ test.
Sure, if you score badly on that test you will LIKELY have a low score on an IQ test, probably because something like 40% of American adults are illiterate or have low-literacy and that would impact your ability to do any test.
But the military does not IQ test.
It is a percentile-based test against others who’ve tested on it. So it’s similar to an IQ test in that regard.
Sure… But it’s a DIFFERENT TEST, on a different population of people, with the goal of measuring military-specific factors.
And if low iq folks are more likely to seek enlistment, the distribution could be significantly lower than iq/the population at large.
Yes, there is absolutely a sampling bias here
I also just watched a Veritasium video.
This is inaccurate. The military doesn’t IQ test. ASVAB is designed to test your proficiency in different career fields.
Done by a test designed to determine relative learning ability and proficiency compared to your age group?
While the ASVAB does in many ways serve a similar function to an IQ test, it really isn’t the same thing.
Insert Marine Corps joke here
Meanwhile, the police have a maximum IQ limit and anyone above that is not qualified.
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If you can be coached to make the standard, then you were already capable of reaching the standard.
Also, the IQ test that the military gives, the ASVAB, is a very long test. The average time to complete it is 90 minutes. The maximum is 154 minutes.
If you can be coached through that, then you’ve earned your place. And the simple truth is, people can be coached on the test and do better. Which is okay.
Hello fellow Veritasium enjoyer
They need to be smart enough to not be persuadable to shoot innocent civilians and their higher ups
