The Cyber Test, formerly the Information/Communications Technology Literacy (ICTL) test, is a separate information technology knowledge test that some applicants take on the ASVAB computer platform at MEPS. It covers networking, computer operations, security and programming, and it does not count toward the AFQT. The Air Force and the Navy use it as an alternate route into certain cyber jobs. On the Air Force pages, a score of 60 can make up for an Electronics composite a few points short.
The test grew out of a Department of Defense review of the ASVAB. In 2005 the Defense Manpower Data Center started that review at the request of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, and an expert panel reported in March 2006 with 22 recommendations. One of them was a test of information and communications technology literacy to supplement the existing battery.
The Air Force took the lead because its leadership had named cyberspace operations a major growth area. The Air Force Personnel Center started the project in October 2007. Researchers at the Human Resources Research Organization and the Air Force Research Laboratory built it as an information test, the same family as General Science, Electronics Information and Auto and Shop. The 2014 journal article on its development already calls it the Cyber Test, and a 2018 Air Force Research Laboratory report describes it as "formerly known as the Information and Communications Technology Literacy Test."
It is not one of the ASVAB subtests, and it does not count toward the AFQT, which comes only from Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension (see how the AFQT is calculated). A Cyber Test score cannot raise or lower your enlistment eligibility.
Not every applicant sees this test. The 2014 development report describes it as "a special test to be administered in static form on the CAT-ASVAB platform," given to "a limited number of applicants who may expand the pool of available qualified applicants." The CAT-ASVAB is the computer version of the ASVAB that MEPS uses, so the Cyber Test runs on the same machines you take the ASVAB on.
In June 2014 the Air Force began operational use. Its model looked at applicants who were 5 or fewer percentile points below an existing cyber cut score. Those who scored at least 60 on the Cyber Test were added to the pool of qualified applicants. The Air Force job pages still follow that pattern: a composite a little under the cut, plus a 60 on the Cyber Test.
The program office's own site, officialasvab.com, does not describe the Cyber Test on any of its pages, and no Service recruiting page read for this guide says when in the MEPS day it is given. Ask your recruiter before you ship to MEPS whether the Cyber Test is part of your testing. The rest of the day, from check-in to score reports, is covered in what to expect on ASVAB test day.
Between August 2016 and April 2018, 86,623 Service applicants took Cyber Test forms with 10 experimental questions seeded in. Once the researchers dropped invalid and repeat records, almost the whole sample came from the Air Force and the Navy.
The blueprint has 4 broad content areas. The 2014 report built them from industry skill standards and Air Force, Army and Navy training plans, then had 72 military cyber experts cut the list down to entry-level knowledge. The 2018 report kept the same 4 areas after a joint-Service panel of 23 NCOs reviewed them again, and kept the share of questions for each that was set in 2015.
Under those 4 areas sit narrower clusters. The 2014 report lists network communications and maintenance, telecommunications, PC configuration and maintenance, using IT tools and software, system security, offensive methods, software programming, database development and administration, web development, data formats and numbering systems. The 2018 blueprint no longer lists web development or data formats. Hardware sits inside computer operations: 70 percent of the 2018 panel said a recruit should already be able to connect PC hardware such as a monitor or printer.
The questions target what a new recruit should know, not what a working technician knows. When the 2018 panel rated what a recruit should already know before enlisting, the top items were basics: electronic devices, word processing and spreadsheet software, common network terminology, and bits, bytes and CPUs. Item writers aimed new questions at easy and moderate difficulty for applicants.
No official source read for this guide states the current number of questions or the time limit, so treat an exact figure on a prep site with suspicion. The research reports describe the versions on record.
The test is multiple choice, built to fit the ASVAB computer system. The 2014 report set a target of about 20 minutes for the operational form and describes two fixed forms of 29 questions each. The Army's 2016 validation study used those same forms.
In 2018 the Air Force Research Laboratory assembled larger pools of 130 or 87 questions per form so the test could become adaptive, with the computer choosing each question from your earlier answers, as the main CAT-ASVAB does. That report lists a simulation and implementation as next steps. No public document read for this guide confirms which version runs at MEPS now.
Your result is a scaled score, not a percent correct. The Army report explains the metric: an item response theory estimate placed on an adjusted t-score scale, set so that the national youth population would average 50 with a standard deviation of 10. A 60 is therefore one standard deviation above the youth average. It is reported apart from your ASVAB composites, and the job pages list it as its own requirement.
Of the 7 Air Force cyber job pages read in October 2026, only 2 list the Cyber Test, and a search of all 267 career pages on airforce.com found no others. Requirements change, so confirm any job with your recruiter.
Say you want Cyber Systems Operations and your scores come back Mechanical 52 and Electronics 57. You meet Mechanical 45 but miss the Electronics 60 of the main route. On the alternate route, you meet Mechanical 45 and Electronics 55, so a Cyber Test score of 60 or higher qualifies you on paper. With Electronics 53, the Cyber Test cannot help on either route.
The Air Force Electronics composite comes from General Science, Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge and Electronics Information. Raising Electronics Information or General Science can clear the main route outright, which beats relying on a second test. For the full list of Air Force jobs and their composites, see Air Force jobs by ASVAB score.
The Navy uses it today. The rating list that goes with MILPERSMAN 1306-618, published by Navy Personnel Command, gives new accessions a Cyber Test route into Cyber Warfare Technician (the rating formerly called Cryptologic Technician Networks), Information Systems Technician, Cryptologic Technician Technical and the submarine Information Systems Technician ratings. Each route adds the Cyber Test score (CT) to other subtests, such as CT+MK+VE or AR+MK+CT, and most also require a CT of at least 60. The navy.com Cyber Warfare Technician page lists no ASVAB or Cyber Test scores, so ask your recruiter for the current line scores. The other Navy routes for these ratings are in Navy jobs by ASVAB score.
The Navy and the Army both took part in the research. The test was validated against 2 Navy schools, Information Systems Technician and Cryptologic Technician Networks, and Navy applicants made up about 40 percent of the 2016 to 2018 sample. An Army Research Institute report published in October 2016 validated the ICTL test for the 25B and 25N Signal jobs, at the request of the Army Cyber Center of Excellence. The 2018 Air Force report calls the test "a pre-enlistment assessment across Services."
The Army's job pages do not mention it. The goarmy.com pages for 17C Cyber Operations Specialist and 25B Information Technology Specialist name no Cyber Test score, and no Army source read for this guide lists it as a job requirement. If you are headed to an Army cyber job, ask your recruiter whether it applies.
The Space Force Cyber Operations page lists a General score of 60 to 64, depending on specialty, and says nothing about the Cyber Test. No public Space Force document read for this guide confirms that the test is used to qualify Guardians. The Space Force jobs by ASVAB score guide covers the General requirement in detail.
The Cyber Test was built as an information test, and information tests reward people who have worked with the subject. An hour at a command prompt does more than an hour with a glossary, and nearly everything below needs only a laptop and free software.
Start with common network terminology, the item the 2018 panel rated most important of all. Run ping, traceroute (tracert on Windows) and nslookup against a few websites and read what comes back. Learn what a router, switch, hub, bridge and server each do, and how a LAN, a WAN, a MAN and a wireless LAN differ.
Know what a CPU, network interface card and storage drive do, how files and folders are organized, and what bits and bytes measure. Use a word processor, a spreadsheet and presentation software enough to know their common features.
Learn what a firewall does, what encryption and decryption do, and the common ways websites and email are attacked, such as phishing and malicious attachments.
Practice converting between binary, decimal and hexadecimal by hand until it is quick. Read short programs and follow arrays, loops and if/then statements. Try the Windows commands ipconfig, netstat and dir, and the Unix commands ls, mkdir, mv and grep in a terminal.
Because the test carries a verbal load, keep up your Word Knowledge and Paragraph Comprehension work. And do not let Cyber Test prep crowd out the subtests that build your Electronics composite, since the alternate route still needs Electronics 55.