Air Force ASVAB scores and requirements: the 31 minimum and MAGE composites

The Air Force takes the same ASVAB as every other branch, and it publishes two things most branch pages do not: an enlistment minimum that depends on your education credential, and the composite formulas — the MAGE scores — that decide which career fields are open to you. That second one is why this page can be specific.

The minimum AFQT: 31, or 50 with a GED

The Air Force states both figures plainly: "High school seniors or graduates must achieve a minimum 31 AFQT overall score." and "GED holders must achieve a minimum 50 AFQT score." An AFQT of 31 sits on the bottom edge of Category IIIB in the category table; 50 is the start of Category IIIA. The gap between the two rows is the whole reason the education credential is worth mentioning on a score page — the same test, two bars.

MAGE: how the Air Force turns subtests into job scores

The Air Force is explicit that the AFQT is not what decides your career field: "The Air Force utilizes a combination of the ASVAB subtests, referred to as Mechanical, Administrative, General Aptitude and Electronics (MAGE), to determine what career fields you are most qualified for in the Air Force."

Four composites, each built from named subtests. The Air Force lists them like this:

One piece of that needs unpacking. Verbal Expression (VE) is not a subtest — it is Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension combined first, and the Air Force notes exactly that. So an Electronics score never touches the verbal subtests, while Mechanical and General lean on them twice.

In our topic terms: Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Mechanical Comprehension, Electronics Information, General Science, Auto Information and Shop Information (which together are the "Auto & Shop Information" above), and Word Knowledge with Paragraph Comprehension as the pair behind Verbal Expression.

What follows from the table is worth stating: the two subtests people skip when they "only study the AFQT" — General Science and Electronics Information — are the ones an Electronics composite is half built from. How the ASVAB is scored makes the same point about line scores generally, and the line-scores page puts this MAGE table next to the Navy's and the Space Force's composites as the published examples.

Your score is good for two years

"ASVAB scores are valid for up to two years after the date of testing." If your path to enlistment is slow — finishing school, a credential, a fitness goal — that two-year window is the deadline governing your plan, not the test date.

Retakes

The Air Force page also states the wait: "you must wait 30 days before you can retake the ASVAB. You must then wait another 30 days to take the test a third time. After your third attempt, you must wait six calendar months to retake the ASVAB a fourth time." That is the same one-month, one-month, six-month shape as the official retest policy, counted by attempt rather than by retest.

The test is the same in every branch

There is one ASVAB, and the Air Force administers it through the same program as every other branch — so the MAGE table above is the Air Force's way of reading a report you would get anywhere. The free ASVAB diagnostic is the fastest way to see which of those composites your current answers would support.

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