All recruits take the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) which is normalized for the youth population. The test score indicates trainability. Those in Categories I and II tend to be above average in trainability; those in Category IIIA and IIIB are average; those in IV are below average; those in Category V are markedly below average.

Until 2006, the DoD's goal was a minimum of 67 percent of recruits testing at least in the 50th percentile of the AFQT, with performance falling into categories I – IIIA. That goal has since been lowered to 60 percent.  This allowed the Army to meet its goal, with 62.1 percent of new recruits testing in those categories in 2008 and 60.8 percent in 2007.

The DoD attempted to cap Category IV recruits to less than 2 percent, but recently raised the cap to 4 percent. Historically, this has not been a problem, but since 2005, the percentage of Category IV recruits has been at least 4 percent. In 2007, it was 4.1 percent.  Fiscal Year 2008 was the first year the Army met that new goal, with 3.5 percent testing in IV and V categories.