{"id":23129,"date":"2019-02-04T18:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T23:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=23129"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:47","slug":"whats-on-the-asvab-word-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qa.kaptest.com\/study2\/asvab\/whats-on-the-asvab-word-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"What's on the ASVAB: Word Knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Know What to Expect<\/h3>
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\nThis subsection of the ASVAB<\/a>\u00a0is essentially a test of your vocabulary. However, that\u2019s not the entire story. While knowing the definitions of many words will certainly help you in this section, there are other ways to identify the correct answer and eliminate the wrong answers in ASVAB word knowledge questions.
\nOn the WK section of the CAT-ASVAB, you will have 8 minutes to answer 16 vocabulary questions. If you are taking the paper-and-pencil ASVAB, you will be given 11 minutes to complete a total of 35 questions. Whichever version of the test you\u2019re taking, your goal is the same: find the synonym for a given word in a fraction of a minute.
\nA little more than half of the questions in the WK section will ask you to define words with no context. We\u2019ll call these No-Context<\/strong> WK questions. Here\u2019s an example of this type of question.
\n\"asvab\"<\/a>
\nIf you happen to know the meaning of the underlined word, fantastic. If not, don\u2019t get discouraged. Although questions of this type do not provide you with context clues, there are decoding strategies<\/strong>, or ways of guessing a word\u2019s meaning, that can help you answer these questions correctly. Decoding strategies that involve understanding words\u2019 prefixes, suffixes, and roots will be a major emphasis of this chapter.
\nThe other type of question you\u2019re likely to see in this section will ask you to define a word that appears in the context of a sentence. We\u2019ll call these In-Context<\/strong> WK questions. Take a look at an example of this type of question:
\n\"asvab\"<\/a>
\nNotice that in this type of WK question, you can use clues in the sentence to help you find the word\u2019s meaning.
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The Kaplan Method for Word Knowledge Questions<\/h3>
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The Kaplan Method for ASVAB Word Knowledge Questions<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Step 1:\u00a0<\/b>Identify the word’s meaning, or use decoding strategies to guess its meaning.
\nStep 2:\u00a0<\/strong>Make a prediction.
\nStep 3:\u00a0<\/strong>Look for your prediction among the answer choices, or strategically eliminate wrong answers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
\nLet\u2019s see how you\u2019d apply that to a question in which you know the meaning of the underlined word.
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Question<\/th>Analysis<\/th><\/tr>
The unusually cold weather was an anomaly<\/em>.<\/td>Step 1:<\/strong> Anomaly means \u201csomething unusual,\u201d or \u201csomething that doesn\u2019t seem to fit expectations.\u201d<\/td><\/tr>
Answers:<\/td>Step 2:<\/strong> Make a prediction before looking at the choices: the answer choice will mean \u201cout of the ordinary\u201d or \u201cunexpected.\u201d<\/td><\/tr>
(A) oddity<\/td>Step 3:<\/strong> Correct. Oddity closely matches that prediction.<\/td><\/tr>
(B) ally<\/td>An ally is a friend. Incorrect.<\/td><\/tr>
(C) anonymity<\/td>Anonymity is the state of not being known. Incorrect.<\/td><\/tr>
(D) heat wave<\/td>A heat wave is not, by definition, out of the ordinary. Also, in the context of the sentence, a heat wave does not make sense. Incorrect.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>