Tools, materials, measuring and the rules of the shop floor.
Shop Information measures familiarity with hand tools, power tools, fasteners, materials, measuring and layout, and shop safety - the practical knowledge expected of someone about to work in a metal or wood shop. It is the shortest timed section on the test and, alongside Auto Information, the most vocabulary-driven.
Items are direct: which tool is used for which job, what a thread size or a gauge number means, which saw suits a cut, what the correct guard or PPE is. Nothing requires you to have built anything, only to know the names and purposes of what a shop contains.
SI is not an AFQT subtest. It feeds mechanical line scores used by maintenance, fabrication and construction-oriented jobs. In the computer-administered format AI and SI are separate subtests, while the paper version merges them into a single Automotive and Shop section, which is worth knowing if you test at a Mobile Education Site.
Section 8 of 10 in our timed mock template. This subtest is not part of the AFQT; it feeds service component and line scores used for job qualification.
The shapes below are what our bank is written against, and what the section is built around. None of them are reproduced from the official test.
Specific, not generic: what the items in this topic test, and the one or two moves that solve most of them.
Learn the pairings: a Phillips driver turns a cross-recess screw and a flat driver a single-slot one; a wrench grips flats and a pliers grip rounds; a file cuts on the push and should never be used as a hammer or a pry bar. Know the mallet - soft-faced, for striking without marring - and that the size of a hand tool is measured by its blade or jaw, not its handle.
10 original questions in this topic set.
Match the tool to the cut and the material: a drill bores, an end mill mills, a jigsaw follows curves, a bandsaw cuts curves in stock, a table saw rips and crosscuts straight, a miter saw cuts angles, an angle grinder grinds and cuts metal. The recurring safety principle is that the guard stays on, the work is clamped, and power is disconnected before any blade change.
10 original questions in this topic set.
Bolts are graded by strength - a higher grade number means a stronger bolt - and threads are specified by diameter and threads per inch, with coarse threads for general use and fine threads where vibration or a finer adjustment matters. Sheet metal and wire are numbered inversely: a lower gauge number is thicker material. Learn the difference between a machine screw, a wood screw and a self-tapping screw.
10 original questions in this topic set.
Know the resolution of each instrument: a steel rule to a sixty-fourth of an inch, a caliper to a tenth or a two-thousandth, a micrometer finer still, and a dial indicator for variation rather than absolute size. For layout, a scriber marks, a square checks squareness, a center punch makes a location for a drill, and a prickle mark starts a cut. Read the question for required precision before choosing the tool.
10 original questions in this topic set.
Safety items have a predictable answer: the option that removes the energy source or adds protection. Disconnect power before adjusting or changing a blade, wear eye protection whenever you cut, grind or hammer, keep guards in place, tie back loose clothing and remove jewelry, use the correct wheel for the grinder, and clean up chips with a brush rather than by hand or compressed air.
10 original questions in this topic set.
Sampled from the Shop Information bank below, spread across its topics so you can see the range. The correct option is marked, the method is written out, and the tempting wrong options are explained - the same format you get in the app the moment you answer.
A machinist must shave a small amount of metal from a steel shaft so it will slide into a bearing. Which hand tool is made for that controlled removal?
A mill file carries fine, continuous teeth cut along its face and removes metal in thin layers you can stop at any moment, which is what fitting a shaft to a bearing hole requires.
Long, straight rips must be made through several sheets of 3/4-inch plywood to width. Which power tool suits this best?
A table saw supports the panel on a flat table beside a rising blade, and a rip fence held parallel to the blade keeps every cut straight and exactly to width.
A machine screw is marked M10 × 1.50. What do those two numbers state?
In the metric screw convention M gives the nominal major diameter in millimeters and the second number is the pitch, the crest-to-crest distance of one thread, also in millimeters.
An outside shaft diameter must be read to the nearest 0.01 mm. Which instrument does that directly?
An outside micrometer clamps the work between anvil and spindle, and the sleeve scale plus the graduated thimble resolve readings to a hundredth of a millimeter.
On the clock
SI is 11 items in 6 minutes - about 33 seconds each, and items should mostly take ten. Because it is the shortest section on the test, the practical goal is finishing with a spare minute to review guesses.
Free Shop Information practice on this site, graded instantly with explanations. Timed sections, wrong-answer review and the full library are in the app.