Ass fab?

With so many acronyms, how are any of us going to keep them all straight? A patron came into today and asked for books with practice tests for the GED and the ... ass fab?!!?

Rather than admit any ignorance, I positioned myself at the keyboard ready to do a quick Google search before the catalog search before asking "what is that test for?" "Entrance into the Air National Guard." Aaaaahhhhh. The ASVAB (or, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) is a required test for enlisting in the military. It scores vocabulary, reading comprehension, math and arithmetic reasoning, and counts toward one's total AFQT (Armed Forces Qualifying Test) score which determines whether one is qualified to enlist in the military at all.

Besides the GED, PSAT, ACT, SAT, Praxis, GRE, LSAT, GMAT or MCAT, what other assessment tests are used regularly? Test Prep Review provides a quick summary of common tests and what they assess, in addition to free practice questions. Barron's (a publisher specializing in test preparation) offers a list of their books, as well as an online test prep center. Kaplan (a preparation business) categorizes the tests they work with very nicely so one can determine at a glance which career path will require which tests, and at which stage (admissions? employment?) one would need to take the test.

Uff! All I can say is that people should not underestimate the value of taking those practice tests. The tests themselves can be long and grueling (especially if you have a short attention span, like myself), and you need to know how to pace yourself before entering a standardized test situation. Too bad we require this experience of so many grade-schoolers. Damn nclb. Damn it all.