Correcting Differences in Answer Sheets for the 1980 Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Reference Population

In the late 1970s, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the reference population for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), at that time based on a 1944 sample, be changed and updated to reflect the current youth population. In 1980, the data for the new reference group were collected. Data analyses indicate that the new sample's speeded test scores are atypically low; therefore, the sample might be inappropriate as a reference. The problem was traced to the format of an answer sheet used in the 1980 youth population data collection. In our study, we tested the differences between performance on the 1980 youth study answer sheet and that used operationally for the ASVAB. An adjustment was developed to resolve those differences. Data for this study were scores on two ASVAB speeded tests of about 9,500 service applicants at Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS). Half of these applicants were tested on the operational ASVAB answer sheet; half were tested with the answer sheet used in the 1980 youth study. The speeded test scores derived from the 1980 youth study answer sheets were then equated to those derived from the operational ASVAB answer sheets. Adjustments based on these equatings resolved the speeded test anomalies observed in the 1980 youth study.