ASVAB — All Questions

Prudent most nearly means

• a.generous
• b.wealthy
• c.sensible✓
• d.stubborn

A prudent decision shows good judgment and forethought about consequences.

Detect most nearly means

• a.gather
• b.forbid
• c.notice✓
• d.repair

To detect is to discover the presence of something, often something faint or concealed.

Endorse most nearly means

• a.question
• b.support✓
• c.delay
• d.cancel

To endorse a plan is to give it public backing. The word also means to sign the back of a check, which is a form of approval.

Sever most nearly means

• a.soak
• b.bend
• c.cut✓
• d.join

To sever is to cut something apart completely. Join is its opposite.

Robust most nearly means

• a.sturdy✓
• b.fragile
• c.hollow
• d.hasty

Robust means strong and healthy, or strongly built. Fragile is its opposite.

Ration most nearly means

• a.shortage
• b.container
• c.surplus
• d.allotment✓

A ration is a fixed share handed out to one person. A shortage may be the reason rations are issued, but the word names the share itself.

Erratic most nearly means

• a.gradual
• b.precise
• c.permanent
• d.unsteady✓

Erratic behavior is irregular and unpredictable. Gradual describes a steady rate of change, which is nearly the reverse.

Comply most nearly means

• a.argue
• b.boast
• c.plead
• d.obey✓

To comply is to act in accordance with an order or a rule. Argue points the other way.

Ascend most nearly means

• a.fall
• b.drift
• c.rise✓
• d.pause

To ascend is to move upward. Fall is its opposite, and drift carries no sense of direction.

Hoist most nearly means

• a.lift✓
• b.clamp
• c.drop
• d.twist

To hoist is to raise a load, usually with a rope, pulley, or crane.

Immerse most nearly means

• a.submerge✓
• b.evaporate
• c.decorate
• d.sprinkle

To immerse is to put something completely under a liquid. Sprinkling wets only the surface.

Sparse most nearly means

• a.rough
• b.dense
• c.plain
• d.thin✓

Sparse describes things thinly scattered, such as sparse vegetation. Dense is its opposite.

The recruit showed remarkable poise under pressure. Poise most nearly means

• a.determination
• b.talent
• c.composure✓
• d.strength

Poise is calm self-possession in a difficult moment. Strength and talent describe capability rather than steadiness.

Hasten most nearly means

• a.stroll
• b.hurry✓
• c.delay
• d.linger

To hasten is to move or act quickly, or to make something happen sooner. Delay and linger both point the opposite way.

Obstruct most nearly means

• a.block✓
• b.repair
• c.permit
• d.follow

To obstruct is to get in the way of movement or progress. Permit is its opposite.

Trivial most nearly means

• a.dangerous
• b.expensive
• c.temporary
• d.unimportant✓

A trivial detail carries little weight. Temporary concerns duration, not importance.

Wary most nearly means

• a.cautious✓
• b.good-natured
• c.weary
• d.reckless

To be wary is to be on guard against trouble. Weary looks almost identical but means tired.

Convene most nearly means

• a.postpone
• b.announce
• c.assemble✓
• d.adjourn

To convene a meeting is to bring it together. Adjourn is the opposite act of ending one.

A crew chief keeps a maintenance log for every aircraft in the squadron. The log records not only repairs but also the hours flown since each part was installed. Because parts are replaced on a schedule tied to flight hours rather than to the calendar, an aircraft that flies rarely may keep a part far longer than one flown daily. According to the passage, replacement of parts is scheduled by

• a.hours flown✓
• b.repair history
• c.squadron size
• d.calendar date

The passage states that parts are replaced on a schedule tied to flight hours rather than to the calendar. Repairs are recorded in the log but are not what sets the schedule.

Sea fog forms when warm, moist air drifts over water that is colder than the air. The water chills the lowest layer of air until the moisture in it condenses into droplets. This is why fog is common where a warm current meets a cold one, and why it often burns off once the sun warms the air above the dew point. The passage indicates that sea fog requires

• a.water warmer than the air
• b.a steady offshore wind
• c.rain earlier in the day
• d.air warmer than the water✓

The first sentence says fog forms when warm, moist air drifts over colder water. Wind and rain are not mentioned as requirements.

Many people believe that a heavier bat will always drive a baseball farther. In practice, a bat that is too heavy slows a batter's swing enough to cancel the advantage. The best bat for any given player is the heaviest one that the player can still swing at full speed. The main point of the passage is that

• a.the right bat weight varies✓
• b.heavier bats hit the ball farther
• c.light bats suit most players
• d.swing speed is not important

The passage rejects the blanket rule about heavy bats and concludes that the right weight depends on the individual batter's swing speed.

The first lighthouses burned wood in open baskets, and their keepers spent the night hauling fuel up the tower stairs. Oil lamps replaced the baskets, and lenses were added to gather the light into a narrow beam. Modern towers use electric lamps and need no keeper at all. Each step made the light stronger and the labor of tending it smaller. The passage is mainly about

• a.the daily life of a keeper
• b.why lighthouses were built
• c.the danger of rocky coasts
• d.lighthouse light over time✓

Each sentence traces a stage in how the light itself was produced, from wood fires to electric lamps. The keeper's labor is mentioned only in support of that history.

A supervisor who corrects a worker in front of the whole crew may win the argument and lose the worker. Criticism delivered privately is far more likely to be acted on, because the worker is not defending his standing in front of others at the same time. The passage suggests that public criticism fails mainly because it

• a.takes too much of the day
• b.goes unheard by the whole crew
• c.is usually factually wrong
• d.forces the worker to save face✓

The passage explains that a publicly corrected worker is simultaneously defending his standing before others, which is what blocks the correction from being acted on.

Concrete gains strength for weeks after it is poured, but it gains that strength only while it stays damp. A slab left to dry in hot sun may reach less than half the strength of one kept wet for a week. Crews therefore cover fresh slabs with plastic sheeting or spray them at intervals. According to the passage, covering a fresh slab is done to

• a.protect it from traffic
• b.keep the surface level
• c.speed up the pour
• d.keep the concrete damp✓

The passage says concrete gains strength only while it stays damp, and that sheeting and spraying are the crew's response to that fact.

Bamboo is a grass, not a tree, though some species grow taller than a four-story building. Because a grass stem is hollow and jointed, bamboo bends far more than a solid trunk of the same thickness, which is one reason it survives storms that break hardwoods. The passage explains that bamboo survives storms because it

• a.bends instead of breaking✓
• b.grows back very quickly
• c.has unusually deep roots
• d.is shorter than hardwoods

The passage attributes the survival to the hollow, jointed stem that lets bamboo bend more than a solid trunk. Root depth and regrowth are not discussed.

A clerk was told to file the invoices by vendor, then by date within each vendor. She filed them by date alone, reasoning that it would be faster to find a recent invoice that way. When the accounting office asked for every invoice from one supplier, the whole file had to be searched. The passage best illustrates that

• a.dates are poor labels
• b.orders can have a reason✓
• c.clerks resent extra work
• d.filing wastes office time

The clerk's shortcut looked reasonable until the request that the original instruction anticipated arrived. The passage is about the hidden reason behind the order.

Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, which is why crews spread it on winter roads. Below about minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, however, salt loses most of its effect, and crews switch to sand. Sand does not melt anything; it simply gives tires something to grip. According to the passage, sand is used on very cold roads because

• a.salt loses its effect✓
• b.sand melts ice faster
• c.sand is much less costly
• d.salt damages the pavement

The passage says salt loses most of its effect below about minus 10 degrees, which is why crews switch to sand. Sand is described as providing grip rather than melting.

The word budget once meant a leather pouch. An English official who presented the year's finances was said to open his budget, meaning that he opened the bag holding his papers. Over time the name of the bag came to mean the plan inside it. In this passage, the word budget originally referred to

• a.a public speech
• b.a yearly report
• c.a leather bag✓
• d.a tax collector

The first sentence states directly that budget once meant a leather pouch, and the rest explains how the meaning shifted to the plan.

Night vision depends on rod cells, which sit mostly around the edge of the retina rather than at its center. That is why a dim star is easier to see when you look slightly to one side of it than when you stare straight at it. Sailors and astronomers both learn this trick early. The passage suggests that to see a faint object at night you should

• a.stare directly at it
• b.use a brighter light
• c.look slightly aside✓
• d.close one eye first

Because rod cells cluster away from the center of the retina, the passage says a dim star is easier to see when you look slightly to one side.

Apprenticeship differs from classroom training in one important way: the apprentice produces real work from the first week. The work is slow and closely supervised at first, and the employer accepts that cost in exchange for a worker trained to the shop's own methods. According to the passage, the employer's return on an apprenticeship is

• a.lower insurance premiums
• b.a worker trained to its methods✓
• c.a shorter training period
• d.cheap labor from the very first day

The passage names the exchange explicitly: the employer accepts early inefficiency in return for a worker trained to the shop's own methods.

A rip current is a narrow channel of water flowing away from the beach. Swimmers who try to fight one head-on tire quickly, because the current can move faster than a person can swim. Swimming parallel to the shore takes the swimmer out of the narrow channel within a short distance. The passage indicates that a swimmer caught in a rip current should

• a.dive beneath the current
• b.swim parallel to the shore✓
• c.swim straight toward dry land
• d.float until it weakens

The passage contrasts fighting the current head-on with swimming parallel to the shore, which leaves the narrow channel quickly.

In a factory that runs three shifts, the machines never cool down. Tools that would last a year in a single-shift shop wear out in four months, and a breakdown on the night shift costs as much as one at noon. Maintenance in such a plant is scheduled rather than waited for. The passage explains that maintenance is scheduled in three-shift plants because

• a.night crews are less skilled
• b.spare parts are scarce
• c.machines are more complex
• d.wear accumulates far faster✓

The passage gives continuous running and the resulting rapid tool wear as the reason maintenance cannot simply wait for failures.

Sourdough bread rises without commercial yeast. A baker keeps a starter, a mixture of flour and water in which wild yeast and bacteria live, and feeds it with fresh flour. The bacteria produce the acids that give the bread its tang, and the yeast produces the gas that lifts the loaf. According to the passage, the sour taste comes from

• a.bacteria in the starter✓
• b.the flour that is used
• c.the yeast in the starter
• d.a long slow bake time

The passage divides the work: the bacteria make the acids that give the tang, while the yeast makes the gas that lifts the loaf.

Anyone who has moved a heavy chest alone knows that pushing it is harder than sliding it on a rug. The rug does not make the chest lighter. It replaces the grip between wood and floor with a much smaller grip between rug and floor. The passage says the rug helps because it

• a.spreads the load
• b.reduces friction✓
• c.protects the floor
• d.reduces weight

The passage states that the rug does not make the chest lighter and that it replaces a large grip with a much smaller one, which is a description of reduced friction.

Written safety rules are often blamed for slowing work down. In fact most were written after an injury, and each one marks a specific accident that someone did not walk away from. A rule that seems pointless usually seems that way because the accident behind it has been forgotten. The author's attitude toward safety rules is best described as

• a.scornful
• b.alarmed
• c.positive✓
• d.undecided

The author answers the criticism by explaining that each rule records a real injury, which is a defense of the rules rather than a complaint about them.

A carpenter measuring a long wall in stages will accumulate a small error at every mark. Measuring from a single fixed end each time avoids this, because each mark is then taken from the same starting point and no error is passed along. The passage recommends measuring from one fixed end in order to

• a.save some measuring time
• b.avoid accumulated error✓
• c.mark the wall more lightly
• d.use a much shorter tape

The passage contrasts staged measurement, which passes each small error along, with measuring from a single fixed point, which does not.

Aluminum resists corrosion not because it is unreactive but because it is extremely reactive. It combines with oxygen almost instantly, and the thin oxide layer that forms seals the metal underneath. Scratch the surface and a new layer forms in seconds. According to the passage, aluminum is protected by

• a.a layer of its own oxide✓
• b.its low reactivity
• c.a coat of applied paint
• d.the density of the metal

The passage says the thin oxide layer formed when aluminum meets oxygen seals the metal underneath and reforms when scratched.

The clerk's report contained no errors of fact, yet the committee sent it back twice. Figures appeared in one order in the tables and another in the summary, and two sections used different names for the same account. Accuracy, the chairman noted, is not the same thing as clarity. The report was returned because it was

• a.inaccurate
• b.unsubstantiated
• c.inconsistent✓
• d.incomplete

The passage states the facts were correct but that the ordering and the naming disagreed between sections, which is an inconsistency rather than an error.

Desert animals rarely drink. Many get all the water they need from their food, and some produce water inside their own bodies by breaking down fat. The kangaroo rat can live its whole life without taking a single drink. According to the passage, some desert animals obtain water by

• a.digging for shallow wells
• b.breaking down body fat✓
• c.licking dew from plants
• d.storing rain in burrows

The passage names two sources, food and the breakdown of fat inside the body. Dew and stored rain are not mentioned.

A ship's compass is thrown off by the iron in the ship itself. Navigators correct for this with small magnets and iron spheres placed near the compass, adjusted until the error nearly disappears. The remaining error is written on a card and consulted on every heading. The passage indicates that compass error on a steel ship is

• a.ignored in everyday practice
• b.eliminated altogether
• c.different for each crew
• d.reduced and then recorded✓

The correction reduces the error until it nearly disappears, and what remains is written on a card for use on every heading.

Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor but shelter roughly a quarter of all marine species. The coral animal builds a stone skeleton, and generations of skeletons stack into a structure full of crevices. It is the crevices, more than the coral itself, that make the reef so crowded. The passage attributes the variety of reef life mainly to

• a.the many hiding places✓
• b.the warmth of the water
• c.the clarity of the water
• d.the coral animal's diet

The final sentence says it is the crevices, more than the coral itself, that make the reef so crowded.

A driver who brakes hard for every red light burns more fuel than one who lifts off the accelerator early and coasts. Braking turns motion into heat and throws it away. Coasting converts the same motion into distance covered. The passage explains that hard braking wastes fuel because it

• a.wastes energy as heat✓
• b.requires a lower gear
• c.wears the brake pads
• d.shortens the trip time

The passage says braking turns motion into heat and throws it away, while coasting converts the same motion into distance.

The Roman army marched on roads built for its own supply wagons, not for trade. Merchants used them anyway, and towns grew where the roads crossed. Within two centuries the network built to move soldiers had reshaped where ordinary people lived. The passage suggests that the roads' most lasting effect was

• a.on military victories
• b.on settlement patterns✓
• c.on wagon design
• d.on Roman legal practice

The passage ends by noting that the network reshaped where ordinary people lived, which is the lasting effect it identifies.

A thermos keeps coffee hot with a vacuum between two walls of glass or steel. Heat cannot travel by conduction or convection through a vacuum because there is nothing there to carry it. The silvered surfaces handle the third route by reflecting radiant heat back inside. According to the passage, the silvering of a thermos deals with

• a.escaping steam
• b.radiant heat✓
• c.convected heat
• d.conducted heat

The vacuum stops conduction and convection; the passage assigns the silvering to the third route, radiant heat.

New employees are often told to ask questions freely, and then find that the people they must ask are the busiest in the building. A better practice is to name one person whose job explicitly includes answering them, so that the newcomer is not weighing his own confusion against someone else's deadline. The passage recommends that an employer

• a.shorten the training period
• b.assign a designated helper✓
• c.hire more experienced staff
• d.reduce the questions asked

The passage proposes naming one person whose job explicitly includes answering a newcomer's questions.

Standard time zones did not exist until the railroads demanded them. Before that each town set its clocks by the local noon, so a traveler moving west found the clock behind him at every stop. Timetables were impossible to print until the country agreed on shared time. According to the passage, time zones were adopted because of

• a.railroad timetables✓
• b.shipping routes
• c.telegraph service
• d.astronomical research

The passage says the railroads demanded standard time and that timetables could not be printed until the country agreed on shared time.

A good tourniquet is applied tightly enough to stop the bleeding entirely. One applied halfway may block the veins returning blood to the heart while leaving the arteries open, so that the limb keeps filling and the bleeding grows worse rather than better. The passage warns that a loosely applied tourniquet may

• a.damage the nerves
• b.increase the bleeding✓
• c.slip out of its position
• d.become contaminated

The passage explains that blocking the veins while leaving the arteries open makes the bleeding worse rather than better.

For fifty years the standard advice was to keep a wound dry and open to the air. Studies then showed that cells rebuilding skin move faster across a moist surface, and covered wounds began to be seen as healing better than uncovered ones. The advice reversed on the strength of evidence. The passage is mainly concerned with

• a.the structure of skin
• b.the cost of bandages
• c.a change in advice✓
• d.the causes of infection

The passage traces how the standard recommendation reversed once evidence about moist healing appeared.

Solve for x: 3x - 7 = 20

• a.9✓
• b.7
• c.11
• d.13

Add 7 to both sides to get 3x = 27, then divide by 3 to get x = 9. Substituting back, 3(9) - 7 = 20.

Solve for x: 5(x + 2) = 45

• a.9
• b.11
• c.7✓
• d.5

Divide both sides by 5 to get x + 2 = 9, so x = 7. Checking, 5(7 + 2) = 5(9) = 45.