How many times can you take the ASVAB? The retest policy, in full

You can retake the ASVAB, but the waits are real and they stack. The retest policy is one month, then one month, then six months — and knowing the shape of it is what lets you spend a retake well instead of burning one.

The core waiting periods

The policy is stated in three steps:

• After your initial ASVAB, you must wait one calendar month to retest.
• To retest a second time, you must wait an additional calendar month after the first retest.
• For any additional retests after that, you must wait six calendar months between retests.

So the first two retests come fairly quickly, and everything after them is on a six-month cadence. The same policy applies whether your initial test was a student test or an enlistment test — taking it at a school does not buy you a shorter wait.

One caution when you check this elsewhere. Branch recruiting pages describe the same schedule counted by attempt rather than by retest, and their summaries do not all land on the same step: the Army's page puts the six-month wait before a third attempt, while the Air Force's page puts it before a fourth. The schedule above is the official retest policy, which is the authority across all the services — so if a branch summary and this page seem to differ by a step, it is usually the counting, and the official policy is the one to quote.

A worked illustration of the clock

A first retest on, say, March 20 means the second retest can be taken on or after April 20. A second retest administered before the one-month period is up is invalidated — it does not count, and it does not count as the attempt you thought you spent. The six-month rule then governs every retest after the second.

Scores have a shelf life

Your scores can be used for enlistment for up to two years from the date of testing. A retake is not the only reason to keep an eye on the calendar; if you are planning a slow path to enlistment, the two-year window is the deadline that actually governs.

The confirmation test, and the 20-point rule

One branch of the policy surprises people. If you obtain a Critical AFQT Gain — a gain of 20 or more points on the AFQT within a 6-month period — you are required to take a confirmation test (a C-Test). The upside: you may retest immediately, with no one-month wait before the C-Test. The catch: if you are a C-Test no-show, the next standard retest is six months from the date of the critical-gain retest, and after a completed C-Test, your next standard retest is six months from the C-Test.

The C-Test exists because a jump that large is treated as something to verify, not something to take at face value.

When a test is invalidated

• Invalidated for administrative reasons (a fire drill, for example): that test does not count as one of your attempts. After an invalid initial test, you can return for another initial test per MEPS scheduling; after an invalid first or second retest, you can retest on a different form one month later.
• Invalidated for cheating: you must wait six months before retesting.

How to use a retake well

A retake is a scarce resource, so treat the wait between attempts as study time rather than dead time. Three things make a retake worth it:

1. Fix a topic, not an attitude. "I'll try harder" is not a plan. Find the two subtests that produced your lowest scores and work them specifically — how the ASVAB is scored explains which four feed the AFQT.
2. Rehearse the conditions. Timed, no calculator, one sitting. What to expect on test day covers the rules you are rehearsing toward.
3. Know what you are aiming at. What a good score is and the category chart give the target; clear it with margin so you do not need a third attempt.

Elk Ridge Academy is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Defense, USMEPCOM, or MEPS.