<p>An answer is found in <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/MG265/images/webG1471.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an official memo, albeit from 1980</a>, where</p>

<ul>
<li>the correlation of AFQT with WAIS (no version specified) was stated as 0.8 based on a Army "fact sheet" from 1965; the details of the comparative test could not be found</li>
<li>an Air Force comparison found (in 1974) that the correlation (again with WAIS, no version specified) for white enlistees was (again) 0.8 but 0.77 for black enlistees.</li>
</ul>

<p>(This ~0.8 is actually about the same as the correlation of IQ tests with SAT.) I don't know if the AFQT is still the same as back then.</p>

<p>A official-looking 2006 <a href="http://www.nrcs.k12.oh.us/Downloads/ASVAB%20CONCORDANCE%20TABLES.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">concordance/translation table of AFQT score with SAT scores</a> can also be found, although it's rather summary; it doesn't mention a correlation coefficient.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-16T07:59:41.597Z
It is worth noting that the most commonly used IQ tests don't even correlate perfectly *with themselves*. Or said in another way, of course there is always some measurement error. A good IQ test may have test-retest correlation of $r = 0.9$, and hence the correlation of $0.8$ is actually an underestimation of the strength of the relation between IQ tests and the AFQT, because some of that remaining $1-0.8 = 0.2$ is simply measurement noise.
Eff
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-16T05:52:57.897Z
2018-07-16T06:30:16.130Z
2018-07-16T06:30:16.130Z
got trolled too much this week
<p>Wikipedia has a pretty non-informative page as to the nature of the (US) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Services_Vocational_Aptitude_Battery#Armed_Forces_Qualification_Test" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Armed Forces Qualification Test</a> (AFQT) as it mostly talks of results ranges etc. What I could descipher from there is it that it has three (or maybe four, depending on how one counts) [sub]parts, </p>

<ul>
<li>Arithmetic Reasoning (AR) – 30 questions in 36 minutes</li>
<li>Mathematics Knowledge (MK) – 25 questions in 24 minutes</li>
<li>Verbal Expression (VE)= (WK)+(PC)

<ul>
<li>Word Knowledge (WK) – 35 questions in 11 minutes</li>
<li>Paragraph Comprehension (PC) – 11 questions in 22 minutes</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>and</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The formula for computing an AFQT score is: AR + MK + (2 x VE).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That sounds a bit like SAT... and a quick search found <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/81482/1/wp965.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one paper</a> that talks of "cognitive skills as measured by the AFQT". (SAT is <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-perfect-score-project/201107/is-the-sat-iq-test" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pretty well correlated</a> with IQ.) So, to what extent does AFQT correlate to more traditional IQ [sub-]scores?</p>

<cognitive-psychology><measurement><test><iq><military-psychology>
To what extent does AFQT correlate with IQ?
got trolled too much this week
# To what extent does AFQT correlate with IQ?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-16)

Wikipedia has a pretty non-informative page as to the nature of the (US) [Armed Forces Qualification Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Services_Vocational_Aptitude_Battery#Armed_Forces_Qualification_Test) (AFQT) as it mostly talks of results ranges etc. What I could descipher from there is it that it has three (or maybe four, depending on how one counts) [sub]parts,

* Arithmetic Reasoning (AR) – 30 questions in 36 minutes
* Mathematics Knowledge (MK) – 25 questions in 24 minutes
* Verbal Expression (VE)= (WK)+(PC)
  + Word Knowledge (WK) – 35 questions in 11 minutes
  + Paragraph Comprehension (PC) – 11 questions in 22 minutes

and

> The formula for computing an AFQT score is: AR + MK + (2 x VE).

That sounds a bit like SAT... and a quick search found [one paper](https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/81482/1/wp965.pdf) that talks of "cognitive skills as measured by the AFQT". (SAT is [pretty well correlated](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-perfect-score-project/201107/is-the-sat-iq-test) with IQ.) So, to what extent does AFQT correlate to more traditional IQ [sub-]scores?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, measurement, test, iq, military-psychology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2018-07-16. Score: 3

An answer is found in [an official memo, albeit from 1980](https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/MG265/images/webG1471.pdf), where

* the correlation of AFQT with WAIS (no version specified) was stated as 0.8 based on a Army "fact sheet" from 1965; the details of the comparative test could not be found
* an Air Force comparison found (in 1974) that the correlation (again with WAIS, no version specified) for white enlistees was (again) 0.8 but 0.77 for black enlistees.

(This ~0.8 is actually about the same as the correlation of IQ tests with SAT.) I don't know if the AFQT is still the same as back then.

A official-looking 2006 [concordance/translation table of AFQT score with SAT scores](http://www.nrcs.k12.oh.us/Downloads/ASVAB%20CONCORDANCE%20TABLES.pdf) can also be found, although it's rather summary; it doesn't mention a correlation coefficient.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It is worth noting that the most commonly used IQ tests don't even correlate perfectly *with themselves*. Or said in another way, of course there is always some measurement error. A good IQ test may have test-retest correlation of $r = 0.9$, and hence the correlation of $0.8$ is actually an underestimation of the strength of the relation between IQ tests and the AFQT, because some of that remaining $1-0.8 = 0.2$ is simply measurement noise.  

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