Officer Aptitude Test: The OAR and AFOQT, Scores and Retake Rules

An officer aptitude test is whichever exam your service uses to decide if you can handle the classroom side of officer training. The name sounds like one test. In practice it is several. The branch you want to commission into decides which one you sit, and in the Army, so does the route you take.

• Navy officer programs, Marine Corps aviation and the Coast Guard: the OAR (Officer Aptitude Rating), scored from part of the ASTB-E, the Navy's aviation selection battery.
• Air Force (the Space Force uses it too): the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test, or AFOQT.
• Army: no officer exam of its own. Its Officer Candidate School wants 110 or better on the GT line of the ASVAB, the enlistment test.
• Police departments: a police officer aptitude test means a civilian written exam set by a city or state, unrelated to the military ones.

For the Army route, read our guide to armed forces aptitude tests. For civilian exams, read the police aptitude test guide. The rest of this page stays with the two military officer exams most people mean: the OAR and the AFOQT.

What is the OAR test? A score from three ASTB-E sections

The officer aptitude rating comes from three sections of the ASTB-E: Math Skills, Mechanical Comprehension and Reading Comprehension. The Navy uses it to predict whether you can keep up academically at Officer Candidate School. It reports one number, on a scale from 20 to 80.

The Coast Guard has used the same score for its non-flying officer route. The Marine Corps overview of the ASTB sets out how the sections and scores fit together.

Do I need to take the entire ASTB-E if I'm only required to complete the OAR test?

If you want a supply, intelligence or surface warfare job and flying is off the table, you can sit just the three OAR sections. The full ASTB-E adds aviation sections and three more scores, each from 1 to 9: one for the academics of flight training, one for pilots and one for naval flight officers.

No. An OAR-only sitting is allowed, but it still uses one of your three lifetime attempts. The Marine Corps overview says you can add the aviation sections within 90 days and have it count as one attempt. Miss that window and they cost a second attempt, so if flying is even a maybe, sit the whole battery the first time. Our Navy aptitude test guide goes further into how Navy communities read these numbers.

The OAR is taken by computer at a proctored site, such as a Navy recruiting office or an NROTC unit, and it adjusts to you as you answer. Answer well and the questions get harder; miss a few and they ease off.

Two candidates can see different questions and still earn comparable scores, and the real items are never published. Practice sets online are written by prep companies.

What is on the OAR test?

Three sections, each testing a different kind of thinking. Question counts and times below are the ones prep publishers list; the adaptive format means your exact count can vary.

Section

Questions

Time

Topics

Seconds per question

Math Skills

30

40 min

Arithmetic, algebra, basic geometry, word problems, no calculator

About 80

Reading Comprehension

20

30 min

Short passages, one question on what each supports

About 90

Mechanical Comprehension

30

15 min

Gears, levers, pulleys, fluids, springs, basic electricity

About 30

OAR total

80

About 85 min

The three sections above

About 64 on average

Full ASTB-E

More, with aviation sections

About 195 min

OAR sections plus aviation, spatial and personality sections

Varies

Math Skills. Fractions, ratios, rates, percentages and solving for a missing value come up again and again.

Reading Comprehension. The wrong options are often true in real life and missing from the text. Answer only from the page.

Mechanical Comprehension. Mostly diagrams. Nobody expects you to have rebuilt an engine. You do need to picture which way the third gear in a chain spins when the first one turns clockwise.

How long is the OAR test?

About 85 minutes of testing for the three OAR sections, and about 195 minutes for the whole ASTB-E, going by test-prep publishers. Plan on more time than that, since check-in, instructions and a short tutorial come first. The Air Force's exam is closer to five hours; see the comparison further down.

OAR mechanical comprehension: the fastest-paced section

About 30 seconds a question, against well over a minute in math and reading. You do not have time to work anything out from a formula, so the goal is to recognize the setup on sight: two gears meshed, a longer lever, a narrower pipe.

Work OAR mechanical comprehension questions in timed sets of ten at five minutes a set. The same handful of principles repeats, so this section tends to move faster with practice than the other two.

People who grew up fixing bikes or cars often find it the easiest part of the test. People who never did often find it the hardest at first, and then the most improved after a few weeks.

OAR practice questions with answers

These are written in the style of the real test, not copied from it. Time yourself: 80 seconds for the math, 30 for the mechanical.

1. Math. A convoy covers 180 miles in 3 hours. At the same speed, how far does it go in 5 hours? (A) 240 (B) 300 (C) 320 (D) 360Answer: B. 180 ÷ 3 = 60 miles an hour, and 60 × 5 = 300.

2. Math. If 3x − 7 = 14, what is x? (A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8Answer: C. Add 7 to both sides to get 3x = 21, then divide by 3.

3. Mechanical. The diagram shows three gears in a row, each meshed with the next. Gear A, on the left, turns clockwise. Which way does gear C, on the right, turn? (A) Clockwise (B) Counterclockwise (C) It does not moveAnswer: A. Each meshed gear reverses direction, so B turns counterclockwise and C turns clockwise again.

4. Mechanical. The diagram shows a plank on a pivot. A 90-pound crate sits 2 feet to the left of the pivot. You push down 6 feet to the right of it. How much force lifts the crate? (A) 15 lb (B) 30 lb (C) 45 lb (D) 90 lbAnswer: B. Weight times distance must balance: 90 × 2 = 180, and 180 ÷ 6 = 30.

5. Reading. Passage: "Night carrier landings demand more of a pilot than day landings, largely because the horizon and the edges of the deck are harder to judge in the dark." Which statement does the passage support? (A) Night landings are the most dangerous flight operation. (B) Judging the deck's edges is harder at night. (C) Most pilots prefer day landings. (D) Carriers limit night landings.Answer: B. A, C and D might be true, but the passage never says them.

6. AFOQT table reading. In the grid below, X values run across the top and Y values down the side. What number sits at X = +1, Y = −1? (A) 30 (B) 34 (C) 35 (D) 36

Y \ X

−1

0

+1

+1

28

31

34

0

29

32

35

−1

30

33

36

Answer: D. Find the X column first, then drop to the Y row. A is a sign slip on X, and B is the right column but the wrong row. The real subtest uses a far bigger grid and gives you seconds per item.

How are OAR test scores calculated?

Your OAR is a standard score, not a count of right answers. The adaptive test weighs how hard each question you answered was, then places you on a scale from 20 to 80 with 50 in the middle. The Marine Corps ASTB overview shows most examinees landing between 40 and 60, with very few at either end. Fewer than 10% of test takers score above 60, according to TestHQ's OAR guide.

A 60 puts you well ahead of most candidates. A 40 puts you behind most of them.

What is a good score on the OAR?

Remember who sits this test: college graduates and seniors who chose to apply. Scoring 50 puts you in the middle of that group. Recruiters and prep guides commonly treat 50 or higher as competitive for most Navy designators, and the crowded ones ask for more.

What is a passing score for the OAR test?

There is no single published pass mark. The number you will hear most often as the Navy officer aptitude rating minimum score is 35. Treat it as a floor, not a goal.

Every community, from surface warfare to supply, decides its own cutoff, and the cutoff moves from one selection board to the next with the number of applicants. The officer recruiter you work with can tell you what recent selectees in your target community scored.

What is the minimum passing score for the AFOQT?

Every officer applicant needs at least 15 on the Verbal composite and 10 on the Quantitative composite. Candidates for flying and battle management jobs need further minimums. The Rutgers Air Force ROTC AFOQT page lists the subtests, times and minimums in one place.

The AFOQT reports percentiles from 1 to 99, so a 70 means you scored higher than about 70 percent of other takers. The subtests roll up into composites: Pilot, Combat Systems Officer, Air Battle Manager, Academic Aptitude, Verbal and Quantitative.

Those floors are low on purpose. They screen people out rather than pick anyone. Boards see your whole set of composites next to your grades, fitness scores and interviews, and a composite sitting at the minimum rarely helps.

OAR vs AFOQT rules in one table

Rule

OAR (ASTB-E)

AFOQT

Attempts

Three per lifetime, OAR-only sittings included

Up to three chances to pass Verbal and Quantitative

Wait period

Second try on or after day 31; third on or after day 91 after the second. Cannot be waived.

At least 90 days after the last attempt

Score of record

Your most recent attempt, even if lower

Your best composite from any attempt

Score validity

No expiry date; the latest score stays on file

No expiry date under current Air Force policy

Adaptive

Yes, questions adjust to your answers

No, fixed questions with tight time limits

Length

About 85 minutes (about 195 for the full ASTB-E)

About five hours, 12 subtests, 516 questions

Sources: the OAR attempt limit and 31-day and 91-day waits come from the Marine Corps ASTB overview, and the Navy's ASTB FAQ covers score of record and validity. The AFOQT retest wait, attempts and best-score rule come from the Rutgers Air Force ROTC AFOQT page, which cites the Air Force's testing manual. Rules change, so confirm with your recruiter before you book.

How difficult is the OAR test compared to other military aptitude tests?

The content is close to the ASVAB's math, reading and mechanical parts, pitched at a college applicant rather than a high school enlistee. What makes it harder is the stakes. A bad day costs more, because your newest score replaces your best one and you only get three tries.

How hard is the AFOQT?

Neither exam asks for more than a solid high school education plus some mechanical and aviation basics. The AFOQT is harder on stamina: five hours, several speeded subtests where many people run out of time, and aviation questions that feel foreign if you have never been near a cockpit. It adds verbal analogies, word knowledge, physical science, table reading, instrument comprehension, block counting, aviation information, situational judgment and a 240-question self-description inventory. The pilot aptitude test guide covers the flying side of both.

Three groups sit these exams. College seniors and recent graduates headed for Officer Candidate School or Officer Training School. ROTC cadets working toward a commission. And working adults, often a few years into another career, who have decided they want to serve.

The last group has the most riding on what comes after the score, because they are giving up one career to start the next.

Beyond the officer aptitude test: which officer path fits you

A board learns you can pass the classroom, not whether you would rather run a ship's engineering plant, brief a commander on intelligence or keep a supply chain moving. Those jobs make for very different days.

The Air Force works the same way: you rank career fields that run from cyber operations to contracting to flying. You are asked for your preferences long before anyone has watched you work.

If you are still asking yourself whether you are suited to be a military officer at all, our military career test guide and this Air Force career quiz are good places to start.

What the self-description inventory hints at, and where Pigment comes in

The AFOQT itself looks past ability. Its 240-question self-description inventory asks you to rate statements about yourself, and it is tempting to answer as you imagine an officer would. Pigment's career test is built from forced-choice pairs instead, so there is no officer-sounding answer that scores higher.

Your Pigment report describes how you work. One part covers the work types you lean toward. Two of the five are Operational work, where you keep routines, systems and processes dependable, and Analytical work, where you pull patterns out of information.

Another part covers working style. Someone who leans toward what Pigment calls the Accelerator pattern makes quick, decisive calls. Someone who leans toward the Analyst pattern digs for root causes.

The report will not name a Navy designator or a specialty code in the Air Force. It gives you something solid to hold against each community your recruiter describes, before you put them in order.

Rank Your Designators With More Than a Hunch

Pick between briefing a room and fixing the system behind it, again and again. Your 36-page report shows the work you lean toward, so you can hold it up against every community on your list. $79.99.

See which officer work suits you

"Practice more" is true and not much use. A plan works better when it follows each section's clock and respects your attempt count. What follows is a six-week OAR plan, then the AFOQT differences.

Six weeks on the OAR, split by what each section rewards

Weeks one and two, math. Prep guides list 30 math questions in 40 minutes, about 80 seconds each. Do 20 problems a day by hand, no calculator: fractions, ratios, rates, percentages, simple equations. Time every set.

Weeks three and four, mechanical. Timed sets of ten at five minutes each, as above. Keep a list of every setup you missed and redo it two days later.

Week five, reading. Prep guides list 20 questions in 30 minutes, about 90 seconds each. For each wrong answer, find the sentence in the passage that rules it out.

Week six, full runs. Two full timed practice tests. Book the real one only when both land above your target.

AFOQT: put your hours where they move a composite

Math knowledge and arithmetic reasoning respond to the same drills as the OAR. Instrument comprehension and aviation information respond to a few evenings with the FAA's free Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge.

Table reading and block counting are speed drills. Word knowledge and verbal analogies grow slowly, so start reading widely now. The Air Force's AFOQT pamphlet shows the question styles. Answer the self-description inventory honestly and consistently.

What score should I aim for if I want a competitive officer position?

For a competitive officer slot, the target is not the floor. Ask your recruiter what recent selectees in your community scored, add a margin, and do not book the OAR until your practice runs clear it. With the AFOQT's best score rule, you can sit earlier and retest, but a strong first sitting still saves you 90 days.