The Air Force Should Continue to Use the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test for Officer Selection

The Air Force has long recognized the importance of selecting the most qualified officers possible. In that spirit, the Air Force has relied on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test AFOQT as one measure of those qualifications for more than 60 years. Nevertheless, a variety of concerns have been raised about whether the test is fair, whether it is biased against minorities or women, whether it is too expensive, and whether it actually predicts anything important to the Air Force. Some have even suggested replacing the AFOQT with another test, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test SAT, in the hope that this step would lead to a more diverse Air Force population and would save administrative costs. There is a body of scholarly and technical literature concerning the use of aptitude tests for academic and professional selections, but this work is rarely directed toward military policymakers. The Air Force asked RAND Project AIR FORCE PAF to review existing knowledge about the AFOQT and other selection tests and to examine the implications for the future of the AFOQT.