MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (June 5, 2012) – Being in the military isn’t just about crawling along the ground in camouflage and shooting up the bad guys, à la Tom Hanks in his pre-Wilson days. The U.S. Armed Forces also employ technicians, engineers, computer specialists, and more. These computer gurus are totally welcome to wear camo too, but it probably won't be necessary unless they plan to be doing most of their cryptology in the underbrush. Well, they might, but we haven't seen any movies about that yet.

The ASVAB (pronounced AZ-vab, as opposed to…other pronunciations) is a tool used by military recruiters to gauge whether an applicant is qualified for enlistment. The test is open to all eligible candidates for the Armed Forces, although it's usually taken only by those who are not fatigued by the idea of dressing regularly in fatigues.

Shmoop, a publisher of digital curriculum and test prep, announces the launch of its new ASVAB Guide, which will get students in tip-top shape before taking the test…so they don’t feel ambushed.

In this guide, you will:

• Test your word problem prowess by breezing through a bunch of arithmetic reasoning problems. You didn’t think this would be what someone might mean when asking a staff sergeant about their “Division,” did you?
• Learn how your ability to put together tangrams will factor into your military placement. Let’s get ready to rhombus.
• Discover what Sir Isaac Newton and Yoda have in common. Hint: They’re both masters at wielding a Force. Well, a force, anyway. You’ll also learn which one of them said, “For every action, an equal and opposite reaction there is.” Or something like that.
• Find the main idea of a four-sentence paragraph in 60 seconds or less. This skill may not come in handy on the front lines, but it will be more useful than you might imagine. Your drill sergeant might go off on a protracted diatribe, for example, but the main point is that you need to get down and give him 50.
• Apply physics skills to mechanical comprehension questions like a boss. What’s more fun than applied physics? Correct answer: Nothing. In fact, you hope they replace the Super Bowl with a televised “Applied Physics-thon.” Now you’re getting it.

If you want to be all you can be and score all you can score, Shmoop’s ASVAB Guide will prepare you to take the test and handle whatever those sneaky test-makers may throw at you. Even when they pull out the heavy artillery.

About Shmoop
Shmoop is a digital curriculum and test prep company that makes fun, rigorous learning and teaching materials. Shmoop content is written by master teachers and Ph.D. students from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and other top universities. Shmoop Learning Guides, Test Prep, and Teacher’s Editions balance a teen-friendly, approachable style with academically rigorous materials to help students understand how subjects relate to their daily lives. Shmoop offers more than 7,000 titles across the Web, iPhone, Android devices, iPad, Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader. The company has been honored twice by the Webby Awards and was named “Best in Tech” for 2010 and 2011 by Scholastic Administrator. Launched in 2008, Shmoop is headquartered in a labradoodle-patrolled office in Mountain View, California.

Media Contacts
• Emily Embury, C. Blohm & Associates, 608-216-7300 x19, emily@cblohm.com