ASVAB — All Questions

With fuel running short, the company commander had to curtail night training. "Curtail" most nearly means

• a.shorten✓
• b.delay
• c.review
• d.extend

Fuel running short forces a cut, not a wait: to curtail is to shorten or cut back something already under way. The curt in it is the curt of a curt reply, clipped and short. Delay tempts because both answer a shortage, but a delayed drill still runs its full length later.

The last three miles of the ruck march were arduous, and half the platoon fell behind. "Arduous" most nearly means

• a.prolonged
• b.enjoyable
• c.demanding✓
• d.unplanned

Half the platoon fell behind over only three miles, so the word measures effort, not scenery: arduous means hard, steep, taxing. Latin arduus meant steep, as in a climb. Prolonged tempts because hard marches feel long, but a stroll can be long and still easy.

Even after four rejections, the sales rep stayed tenacious about following up with that account. "Tenacious" most nearly means

• a.persistent✓
• b.suspicious
• c.optimistic
• d.apologetic

Four rejections and he is still calling: tenacious means holding on and refusing to let go. Latin tenere, to hold, also gives tenant, tenure and retain. Optimistic tempts because both keep a person going, but optimism is about expecting good news, not about gripping.

A juror who has already formed an opinion about the defendant cannot be impartial. "Impartial" most nearly means

• a.reliable
• b.tolerant
• c.unbiased✓
• d.informed

Having already picked a side is exactly what the word rules out: impartial means taking no part, favoring neither side. Read it as im- (not) plus partial (leaning partly one way). Informed tempts because jurors are supposed to learn the case, but knowing it is not leaning.

The battalion augmented its medical section with two nurses borrowed from the post clinic. "Augmented" most nearly means

• a.relieved
• b.assessed
• c.replaced
• d.enlarged✓

Two nurses are added to a section that already exists, so augment means to increase by adding to. Latin augere, to increase, also gives auction, where the bids keep climbing. Replaced tempts, but the original medics stay on; nothing was swapped out for them.

In the cold the plastic housing turned brittle and cracked the moment the technician tightened the screw. "Brittle" most nearly means

• a.fragile✓
• b.flexible
• c.slippery
• d.scorched

It cracked on a single turn instead of bending, so the plastic snapped rather than gave: brittle means hard but easily broken. Peanut brittle shatters the same way. Flexible tempts as the opposite quality, the bend the cold took out of the housing.

The squad leader was reprimanded for letting the vehicle log fall two weeks behind. "Reprimanded" most nearly means

• a.scolded✓
• b.praised
• c.charged
• d.briefed

A late logbook is a paperwork lapse and the response fits it: to reprimand is to rebuke or scold formally. Latin re- plus premere, to press back, the premere behind press, pressure, repress and suppress. Charged tempts because a reprimand is official, but it is a dressing-down, not a criminal case.

The work order was so ambiguous that two crews arrived expecting to do different jobs. "Ambiguous" most nearly means

• a.revised
• b.routine
• c.unclear✓
• d.verbose

Two crews read one order and took away two meanings, so the flaw is double meaning: ambiguous means open to more than one reading. Ambi- means both, as in ambidextrous. Verbose tempts as another writing fault, but wordy instructions can still be perfectly clear.

The engineers proposed a novel approach to cooling the server room, one no data center had tried. "Novel" most nearly means

• a.permanent
• b.original✓
• c.imaginary
• d.reliable

No data center had tried it, so the approach is brand new: as an adjective, novel means original or previously unseen. Cousins are novelty, innovate and renovate, all built on novus, new. Imaginary tempts because a novel is a work of fiction, but that is the noun, a separate sense.

At a U.S. city council meeting, with two members absent, the council tabled the zoning proposal until the next meeting. "Tabled" most nearly means

• a.advertised
• b.approved
• c.rejected
• d.postponed✓

Members are missing and the item waits for the next meeting, so nothing was settled: in American parliamentary use, to table a proposal is to set it aside for later, while British usage does the reverse. Rejected tempts because tabling can quietly kill a measure, but the proposal is still alive.

The manager tempered her criticism with praise for the parts of the report that worked. "Tempered" most nearly means

• a.reversed
• b.hardened
• c.softened✓
• d.repeated

Praise is folded in to take the sting out, so temper here means to moderate or make less harsh, as in a tempered opinion. Hardened tempts because tempering steel is a heat treatment that changes how hard metal is, a technical sense this sentence does not use.

By March the family had exhausted the savings they set aside for house repairs. "Exhausted" most nearly means

• a.borrowed
• b.refunded
• c.fatigued
• d.drained✓

The set-aside money is gone by March, so exhaust here means to use up completely; an exhaust pipe empties a cylinder the same way. Fatigued tempts because exhausted usually describes tired people, but savings cannot be sleepy. The object of the verb picks the sense.

Ignoring the leak for a week only compounded the damage to the subfloor. "Compounded" most nearly means

• a.worsened✓
• b.repaired
• c.combined
• d.revealed

A week of neglect made existing damage bigger, so compound here means to add to a problem and make it worse. Compound interest piles up the same way. Combined tempts because a pharmacist compounds a drug by mixing ingredients, a sense the sentence does not carry.

The inspector's report described a grave defect in the elevator's brake assembly. "Grave" most nearly means

• a.obvious
• b.unusual
• c.routine
• d.serious✓

A brake defect an inspector writes up is weighty and dangerous: as an adjective, grave means serious. It comes from Latin gravis, heavy, the root of gravity and grievous, not from the burial grave. Obvious tempts, but a serious fault can sit hidden inside the machinery.

After the flood the engineer found the bridge piers sound and reopened the lane. "Sound" most nearly means

• a.solid✓
• b.shaky
• c.moist
• d.noisy

The lane reopened, so the piers passed inspection: sound here means whole and in good condition, the sound of safe and sound and of a sound argument, from an old word meaning healthy. Noisy tempts because sound also names what the ear hears, an unrelated noun.

He squandered his first paycheck over one weekend and had nothing left for gas. "Squandered" most nearly means

• a.shared
• b.wasted✓
• c.earned
• d.banked

A whole check gone in two days with nothing to show for it: squander means to spend wastefully, to throw away what you already have. Banked tempts as the opposite habit, the thing the sentence says he failed to do, and earned describes how the money arrived, not where it went.

Before signing off, the auditor scrutinized every line of the expense report. "Scrutinized" most nearly means

• a.approved
• b.defended
• c.examined✓
• d.compiled

Every line, and before signing, points to close looking: scrutinize means to inspect in careful detail. Latin scrutari meant to rummage through, which is why an inscrutable face cannot be searched for clues. Approved tempts because auditors do sign off, but looking is not agreeing.

After six months in the motor pool, the private was proficient with every vehicle in the fleet. "Proficient" most nearly means

• a.patient
• b.curious
• c.popular
• d.skilled✓

Six months of practice and every vehicle in the fleet: the sentence measures ability gained by doing, so proficient means competent and skilled. Pro- plus facere, to make headway, gives proficiency and profit. Patient tempts because six months takes patience, which is not the same as ability.

Parking across two handicapped spaces was a flagrant violation, not an honest mistake. "Flagrant" most nearly means

• a.unplanned
• b.obvious✓
• c.careless
• d.routine

Two marked spaces at once, and the sentence rules out an honest mistake: flagrant means conspicuously offensive, wrong in a way nobody could miss or excuse. Latin flagrare, to burn, also gives conflagration. Careless tempts, but carelessness is accidental and a flagrant act is done in plain sight anyway.

The city closed a four million dollar deficit by delaying road work for a year. "Deficit" most nearly means

• a.agreement
• b.surcharge
• c.shortfall✓
• d.guarantee

The city has to close it by cutting planned work, so the word names money that is missing: a deficit is the gap left when spending outruns income. De- plus facere, to fail, also gives deficient. Surcharge tempts as a money word, but a surcharge is an extra amount collected.

Between emergencies, most of the paramedic's shift was mundane: forms, restocking, and coffee. "Mundane" most nearly means

• a.required
• b.exciting
• c.ordinary✓
• d.rewarded

Forms and restocking are set against the emergencies, so the word marks the dull middle: mundane means ordinary and everyday. Latin mundus meant the world, so mundane is literally worldly. Required tempts because paperwork is required, but plenty of required work is dramatic.

Two deputies apprehended the suspect three blocks from the store. "Apprehended" most nearly means

• a.followed
• b.released
• c.arrested✓
• d.searched

Deputies, a suspect, and a chase that ends: apprehend here means to seize and take into custody. The same root runs through comprehend, to grasp with the mind, and apprehensive, gripped by worry. Followed tempts because of the three blocks, but the distance is where it ended.

The platoon sergeant bolstered his request for new radios with three weeks of failure logs. "Bolstered" most nearly means

• a.questioned
• b.reinforced✓
• c.postponed
• d.summarized

Three weeks of failure logs are propping the request up, so bolster means to strengthen with added support. A bolster is the long firm pillow that holds you up in bed. Questioned tempts because data can also undercut a claim, but here the evidence is on the sergeant's side.

After the deployment notice went out, the family readiness office was inundated with calls. "Inundated" most nearly means

• a.flooded✓
• b.briefed
• c.charged
• d.staffed

One notice, then more calls than the office can handle at once: inundate means to flood or overwhelm with a rush of something. Latin unda is a wave, the same wave inside undulate. Staffed tempts because a flood of calls needs people, but that is the response, not the word.

Losing altitude over open water, the crew jettisoned the cargo to keep the aircraft flying. "Jettisoned" most nearly means

• a.discarded✓
• b.lightened
• c.inspected
• d.organized

The crew throws the load out to stay in the air, so jettison means to cast off or throw overboard. It shares a root with jet and with jetsam, goods thrown from a ship. Lightened tempts because that is the result, but the word names the throwing itself, not its effect.

He relinquished the union presidency the week he accepted a management job. "Relinquished" most nearly means

• a.reorganized
• b.surrendered✓
• c.transferred
• d.celebrated

Taking a management job forces him to let the post go, so relinquish means to give up something you hold. Latin linquere, to leave behind, also gives derelict. Transferred tempts, but relinquishing names only the letting go; the sentence never says who takes the office next.

Counting inventory by hand for six hours was tedious but not difficult. "Tedious" most nearly means

• a.costly
• b.boring✓
• c.simple
• d.urgent

The sentence draws the contrast for you: six hours of counting was hard to sit through yet easy to do, so tedious means tiresomely long and dull. The cousin noun is tedium. Simple tempts because the work was easy, but that easiness is what the sentence adds, not what tedious itself says.

The limit of forty applications a day felt arbitrary, since no one could explain where the number came from. "Arbitrary" most nearly means

• a.strict
• b.unfair
• c.random✓
• d.formal

Nobody can say where the number came from, so no rule stands behind it: arbitrary means chosen by whim rather than by reason. Think of an arbiter ruling on personal judgment alone. Unfair tempts because arbitrary limits often feel unjust, but the word marks the missing reason.

With the bridge already destroyed, further shelling of the crossing was futile. "Futile" most nearly means

• a.necessary
• b.dangerous
• c.premature
• d.pointless✓

The bridge is down already, so more rounds cannot accomplish anything: futile means useless, unable to produce a result. The cousin noun is futility. Dangerous tempts because shelling carries risk, but the sentence weighs what the effort can achieve, not what it costs.

The witness was shaken but coherent, and her account matched the store video. "Coherent" most nearly means

• a.logical✓
• b.audible
• c.sincere
• d.nervous

She is upset yet her story holds together and lines up with the video: coherent means clear and consistent, with the parts fitting one another. To cohere is to stick together, as in cohesion. Audible tempts because a shaken witness is hard to hear, but volume is not the issue.

Adverse weather grounded the flight, so the team drove through the night instead. "Adverse" most nearly means

• a.unpredicted
• b.exceptional
• c.unfavorable✓
• d.encouraging

The weather worked against the team and cost them the flight: adverse means unfavorable, acting in opposition. Ad- plus vertere, to turn against, also gives adversary. Unpredicted tempts, but a storm forecast days ahead is still adverse. Do not confuse it with averse, meaning unwilling.

The damage was minor and did not warrant a full investigation. "Warrant" most nearly means

• a.explain
• b.justify✓
• c.prevent
• d.appoint

Minor damage is being weighed against the trouble of an inquiry, so warrant here means to justify or call for. Think of unwarranted, meaning uncalled for. Explain tempts because both deal in reasons, and the familiar search warrant is the noun, a different use of the word.

The ceremony will commence as soon as the colors are posted. "Commence" most nearly means

• a.shift
• b.pause
• c.begin✓
• d.close

Posting the colors is the opening act, and the ceremony follows it: commence means to start. A graduation is called commencement because it opens the next stage of life, which is exactly why close tempts here; the word marks a beginning, never an ending.

She was discreet about the coming layoffs, mentioning them to no one before the announcement. "Discreet" most nearly means

• a.hopeful
• b.anxious
• c.curious
• d.guarded✓

She knew and told no one, so the word praises her handling of a secret: discreet means careful about what you reveal. Watch the homophone discrete, spelled with the two e's apart, which means separate. Curious tempts, but wanting to know is the opposite of holding back.

The county levied a small fee on each building permit to pay for inspections. "Levied" most nearly means

• a.removed
• b.debated
• c.imposed✓
• d.awarded

The county places a charge on permits and collects it for a purpose, so levy means to impose officially. Latin levare, to raise, is why you raise a tax, and armies were once levied the same way. Debated tempts because councils argue over fees before the charge is ever placed.

Before a machine is serviced, its power source is switched off, locked in the off position, and tagged with the name of the worker doing the job. Only that worker may remove the lock. A tag by itself is easy to overlook, and a switch that is merely turned off can be turned back on by someone who does not know a mechanic is inside the machine. The lock removes that possibility instead of relying on anyone noticing the tag. The paragraph is mainly about

• a.why a lock, not just a tag, guards a mechanic✓
• b.how a machine is taken apart and then repaired
• c.what a mechanic does after the power is cut off
• d.who may sign the tag on a machine being serviced

The paragraph gives one reason for every step it lists: the switch can be flipped back by someone who does not know a mechanic is inside, so the lock removes that possibility instead of relying on anyone noticing the tag. Repair work is the setting, not the subject.

A straight ladder leaned against a wall should stand one foot out from the base of the wall for every four feet of height to the point where it rests. Set closer than that, the ladder is likely to tip backward as the climber nears the top; set farther out, the feet may slide. The rule is easy to check from the ground: pace off the distance to the wall, then compare it with the height of the resting point. According to the passage, a ladder set too close to the wall is likely to

• a.tip backward as the climber nears the top✓
• b.slide outward at the feet as weight is added
• c.be too short to reach the resting point
• d.press too hard against the wall it leans on

The passage splits the two errors between the two directions: set closer than the rule allows, the ladder tips backward; set farther out, the feet may slide. Sliding feet is a real hazard the paragraph names, but it belongs to a ladder placed too far out, not too close.

A second copy of a file on the same hard drive feels like insurance, and against a file deleted by mistake it is. It is no help at all against the failure it is most often expected to cover. When the drive itself fails, both copies go with it, and the same is true of a fire or a theft that takes the whole machine. A copy counts as a backup only when it sits on separate hardware, and ideally in a separate building. The author wrote this paragraph mainly to

• a.warn readers against deleting files by mistake
• b.compare the cost of two storage devices
• c.correct a widespread misunderstanding about backups✓
• d.explain the many ways a hard drive can fail

Every sentence works on one belief: that a second copy on the same drive is a backup. The paragraph grants the small case that belief covers, names the failures it does not, and ends with the corrected rule. Drive failure is the evidence used to correct the belief, not the topic itself.

Light reaches an observer almost instantly, while sound travels roughly one mile every five seconds. Counting the seconds between a lightning flash and the thunder that follows it therefore gives the distance to the strike: a count of fifteen puts the lightning about three miles away. The count also tells whether a storm is closing in, since a shrinking gap between flash and thunder means each strike is nearer than the one before it. According to the passage, the count works as a measure of distance because

• a.light covers the distance almost instantly✓
• b.thunder is made after the flash fades
• c.sound loses speed over a long distance
• d.the flash and the sound leave at different moments

A stated-detail question is answered by the sentence that supplies the reason, and the first one does: light reaches an observer almost instantly, so the whole gap belongs to the sound. A sound that lost speed as it went would make a fixed seconds-per-mile rate useless.

For most of the last century, forest managers put out every fire they could reach. Grass, brush and fallen limbs built up under the trees year after year with nothing to thin them. When a fire finally escaped control it had far more fuel than any fire a century earlier, and it burned hot enough to kill mature trees that once survived regular light fires. Managers now set small fires on purpose in cool weather to take the fuel out before a summer fire finds it. Which title best fits this paragraph?

• a.The Right Season for Clearing Out Forest Brush
• b.Why Mature Trees Grow Slowly in a Forest
• c.Putting Out Fires Made the Next One Worse✓
• d.How Forest Fires Are Fought in Hot Weather

The paragraph traces one chain end to end: suppression left fuel, the fuel made escaped fires hotter, and managers now burn deliberately to undo it. A title has to cover that whole chain. Cool-weather burning is the response named in the last sentence, not what the paragraph is about.

A tsunami sometimes announces itself by pulling the water off the beach, exposing sand and rocks that are normally under several feet of sea. The sight draws people out to look. The water that withdrew is the trough ahead of the wave, and it returns as a wall moving faster than anyone can run on wet sand. Anyone who sees the sea retreat without warning should move inland and uphill at once, and should not wait for an official alarm. The main purpose of this paragraph is to

• a.compare a tsunami with an ordinary storm wave
• b.warn readers about a sight that looks harmless✓
• c.explain how the sea floor shapes a wave's height
• d.describe how coastal alarm systems are operated

The paragraph names an inviting sight, says what it actually is, and closes with an instruction to move at once without waiting for an alarm. That shape is a warning. Alarms come up only in the advice not to wait for one, which is not the same as describing how they work.

Blood banks watch one type more closely than the rest. Red cells from type O negative donors carry none of the markers that provoke a reaction in a recipient, so they can be given to a patient of any type. That makes O negative the blood an emergency room reaches for when a patient is bleeding and there is no time to test. Only a small share of the population has it, and hospitals ask those donors to give as often as the rules allow. According to the passage, O negative red cells can be given to any patient because they

• a.lack the antibodies that attack donor cells
• b.carry the markers shared by every other type
• c.carry a marker that masks the recipient's type
• d.lack the markers that provoke a reaction✓

The question asks for the reason the paragraph gives, and the sentence introducing the type states it: the cells carry none of the markers that provoke a reaction in a recipient. Carrying markers common to every other type is the reverse of that sentence, and no antibody is named here.

Before the 1950s a cargo ship was loaded piece by piece, and a crate might be handled a dozen times between a factory and a customer overseas. Each handling cost labor and offered another chance to break or steal the goods. The steel box changed that: packed once at the factory, it is lifted from truck to ship to train without being opened. The saving was not in the box itself but in everything that no longer had to be done to what was inside it. The paragraph is mainly about

• a.why steel was chosen for cargo containers
• b.how a standard box cut the handling of cargo✓
• c.the theft of goods from ships and railyards
• d.how dockworkers loaded ships before the 1950s

The last sentence states the point outright: the saving lay in the handling that stopped happening, not in the container. Piece-by-piece loading is the contrast the paragraph opens with, and theft is one item on the list of what handling cost. Neither covers the whole paragraph.

Cabin crews tell passengers to fit their own oxygen mask before helping anyone else, and parents traveling with small children often find the instruction hard to accept. At the altitude an airliner cruises, a person who is not getting oxygen has perhaps thirty to sixty seconds of useful consciousness. A parent who spends that time on a child's mask may end up unable to fasten either one. Taking ten seconds first leaves a parent able to help for as long as help is needed. The paragraph was written mainly to

• a.explain the reason behind a resisted instruction✓
• b.list the duties of a cabin crew before a flight
• c.compare adult and child oxygen masks in flight
• d.describe how cabin oxygen is supplied to the seats

The paragraph names an instruction passengers dislike, then spends the rest of its length giving the reason: the seconds of useful consciousness run out. That is explanation, not description. The crew appear only as the source of the instruction, and no equipment is described at all.

A bicycle helmet works by breaking on purpose. The hard shell spreads the blow, but the work is done by the foam under it, which crushes as the head slows and stretches the stop out over a few more thousandths of a second. Crushed foam does not spring back. A helmet that has taken a real impact may look sound, the shell unmarked, and still have nothing left in the part that mattered. Riders are told to retire a helmet after any hard hit for that reason, whatever it looks like. According to the passage, a helmet that has already taken a hard impact should be retired because

• a.the shell has cracked somewhere beneath its paint
• b.the foam hardens after a heavy blow
• c.the straps have stretched and no longer hold tight
• d.the foam has already crushed and stays crushed✓

A stated-detail question is settled by the sentence carrying the reason, and here it is the one about the foam: it crushes as the head slows and does not spring back, so nothing is left in the part that mattered. The paragraph says the shell may be unmarked, which rules out visible damage.

When the Erie Canal opened, moving a ton of flour from Buffalo to New York City cost a small fraction of what it had cost by wagon, and took a fraction of the time. Farmers who had grown only what their own county could eat began shipping wheat to the coast and on to Europe. Towns the canal passed grew into cities within a generation, and the ones it missed did not. A ditch forty feet wide rearranged the map of a state. Which title best fits this paragraph?

• a.Wheat Farming in Western New York
• b.What Cheap Freight Did to a Whole State✓
• c.Building the Erie Canal by Hand
• d.How Wagons Crossed the Mountains

Each sentence measures a consequence of cheaper freight: what farmers grew, which towns became cities, and the closing line about rearranging the map. Wheat and wagons sit inside that account as the before and after. The paragraph never describes the digging of the canal at all.

Alcohol hand rub is quicker than soap and water and works well on most germs, which has led many people to treat the two as interchangeable. They are not. Alcohol kills what it touches but removes nothing, so hands that are visibly soiled, or greasy, keep a film the alcohol cannot reach through. A few organisms also survive alcohol outright. Where hands are dirty, or after using the toilet, soap and running water do work the rub cannot. The author's main purpose is to

• a.list the hours at which hands should be washed
• b.argue that hand rub should not be sold at all
• c.explain how alcohol destroys a germ's cell wall
• d.correct the idea that two methods are equivalent✓

The paragraph states the belief, answers it in two words, and spends the rest showing where the two methods part company. That is a correction. It grants that alcohol works on most germs, so it is not arguing the rub away, and it never explains how the alcohol acts on a germ.

A trial jury is empaneled for a single case and released when the verdict is read. A grand jury is not. It is sworn in for a term that may run several months and hears whatever the prosecutor brings during that time, case after case, deciding in each only whether the evidence is strong enough to put a person on trial. Its work is done without the defense present and without an audience, and none of it settles guilt. The jurors who decide that are a different group, seated later and for one case alone. According to the passage, a grand jury differs from a trial jury in that it

• a.must reach its finding by a unanimous vote
• b.serves a term of months and hears many cases✓
• c.is chosen from a wider pool of local citizens
• d.is questioned by both sides before it is seated

The contrast the paragraph draws is one of duration: a trial jury is released when its one verdict is read, while a grand jury is sworn for a term of several months and hears case after case. How jurors are drawn, questioned or counted is never raised, so none of that can be checked here.

The written checklist entered cockpits after a new bomber crashed on takeoff with one of the service's most experienced pilots at the controls. He had left a control lock engaged. The aircraft was not too complicated to fly; it was too complicated to remember. What followed was a short list of the steps that must be done in order, read aloud and confirmed by a second crewman, and the type went on to fly thousands of missions. The paragraph is mainly about

• a.the design flaws of an early heavy bomber
• b.the missions a famous bomber later flew
• c.how an experienced pilot lost his rating
• d.why a list replaced memory in flight✓

The paragraph turns on one sentence: the aircraft was not too complicated to fly, it was too complicated to remember. Everything before sets that up and everything after is the remedy. The crash and the later missions are evidence on either side of it, not the subject.

Noise damages hearing without hurting. The hair cells in the inner ear that turn sound into signal are worn down by loud sound the way a carpet is worn by traffic, a little at each pass, and they do not grow back. A worker who spends years beside a loud machine notices nothing until conversation in a crowded room stops making sense, and by then the cells that carried those consonants are gone. Plugs cost almost nothing and are worth wearing long before anything seems wrong. The paragraph was written mainly to

• a.compare two kinds of hearing protection
• b.describe how the inner ear turns sound into signal
• c.explain why a crowded room is hard to hear in
• d.warn about harm that is felt only long afterward✓

A purpose question asks what the whole paragraph is built to do, and every sentence here carries one point: the loss is painless, the cells do not return, and nothing is noticed for years. The crowded room appears as the evidence for that point rather than as the subject being explained.