Word Knowledge is described by the ASVAB program as the ability to identify the best synonym for a given word. On the computer form it is 15 scored questions in 9 minutes — the tightest clock of the four AFQT subtests by a wide margin.
Two formats, and that is all
The official sample questions use exactly two shapes, and the real subtest does not invent a third:
- The bare word. "Abate most nearly means" followed by four single-word choices.
- The word in a sentence. A short sentence, then "the word X most nearly means". The sentence gives context but rarely gives the answer away.
Note the phrase: most nearly means. You are not looking for a perfect definition, you are looking for the closest of four. Often two choices are defensible and one is closer.
Ten examples with the reasoning
- Abate — lessen. A storm abates when it dies down.
- Candid — frank. Openly honest, even when it is awkward.
- Terse — brief. Few words, and usually a little blunt with it.
- Obsolete — outdated. Replaced by something newer, not merely old.
- Diligent — hardworking. Steady, careful effort rather than brilliance.
- Novice — beginner. New to the activity and still learning it.
- Hinder — obstruct. To get in the way of progress.
- Lenient — merciful. Going easy where one could be strict.
- Prudent — sensible. Showing good judgment about what is ahead.
- Frugal — thrifty. Careful with money and avoiding waste.
What to do when you do not know the word
Use the parts
English borrows heavily and the pieces are reusable. In-, un- and non- negate; -ous and -ful make adjectives of plenty; re- repeats; -less removes. "Inevitable" contains the sense of not being avoidable before you know the word at all.
Use the sentence, but carefully
When the word sits in a sentence, the sentence usually tells you whether the meaning is positive or negative and what part of speech it is. That alone often removes two choices.
Answer and move
Thirty-five seconds is not time to deliberate. If two choices survive, take the one that matches the register of the word and go. A question you spend ninety seconds on costs you two you would have known.
This is the one subtest where last-minute work pays least and steady reading pays most. Vocabulary is built over months. If your test is next week, spend the time on mathematics knowledge instead — it is a finite list of rules and it moves faster.
How to build the vocabulary
Reading anything written for adults — a newspaper, a manual, a serious magazine — meets more unfamiliar words in a week than a word list does, and meets them in context, which is how they stick. Keep a short list of the ones you had to guess at and look them up in batches rather than one at a time.
Ninety more word knowledge questions
Both official formats, every answer with a plain definition. First five free, no account.