Last Updated on August 5, 2024
Defense Language Aptitude Battery Test (DLAB) Practice Test, 2024 with Free Study Guide [UPDATED]; Prepare for the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) with our updated 2024 practice test and free study guide. This comprehensive resource is also available in PDF format for your convenience. Try all our DLAB review questions and answers to enhance your test prep and improve your chances of success.
Our DLAB practice test and study guide provide essential review materials to help you understand the test format and critical concepts. Use these tools to ensure you are well-prepared for the DLAB exam.
DLAB Practice Test 2024
The DLAB is a test like no other. It doesn’t ask you straightforward questions. Instead, it tries to gauge your ability to perform something by asking you to answer things that aren’t obvious. You have already seen an overview of the test layout and have access to a comprehensive DLAB practice test. We highly recommend that you take advantage of that practice test and take it seriously.
- DLAB Audio Practice Test (10 MCQs)
- DLAB Audio Grammar Practice Test (30 MCQs)
- DLAB Visual Practice Test (10 MCQs)
The questions represent the types of questions you should expect on the DLAB Test; however, they are not intended to match exactly what is on the exam.
DLAB Test
Any application to a defense language school or a language-centric community will require the service member to take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery Test (DLAB). It is a standardized test to measure the applicant’s aptitude for language studies. It is considered a good measure of their capacity to learn a new language.
As such, the military takes the scores very seriously and believes they are a good indicator of the applicant’s chances of surviving a tough language school like DLI. According to school statistics, there is a strong link between high DLAB scores and good performances at DLI. The military strongly believes that the DLAB gives the administrators an adequate way to identify those service members who show a skill for learning a language and those who will struggle.
| DLAB | Defense Language Aptitude Battery Test |
| Total Questions | 126 |
| major segments | five audio sections and one visual section |
| Test Type | Online CBT |
| Question Types | MCQs |
| Retake option | after six months |
| Minimum Score | 95 |
| DLI’s Website | http://www.dliflc.edu/ |
*Applicants should never leave a question blank. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so a guess is better than no answer.
Audio sections
The audio portion is divided into five sections: Stress Syllables, Nouns and Adjectives, Possessives, Verbs, Subject/Objects, and Comprehensive Rules. The test won’t call these sections this; we only use these titles to help you organize your training and studying.
Visual sections
The visual portion is the last portion of the test and will not require headphones. Pictures will be presented to the test taker along with the picture’s corresponding translations. The questions will then consist of another picture, and the options will be translated. You are to then use the information from the image set to figure out the translation of the picture in question.
How does taking the DLAB help my military career?
Your DLAB score will also determine which category of languages you can be assigned. The category system was developed due to the difference in difficulty between specific languages. In the category system, those languages that are believed to be the hardest are designated as category IV. The easiest languages are placed in category I. Their designation is based on lettering systems, grammatical structures, intonations, and overall differences from the English language. The scores required for each category are as such.
- Category I language: 95 or higher (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
- Category II language: 100 or higher (German, Indonesian)
- Category III language: 105 or higher (Hebrew, Hindi, Kurdish [Kurmanji, Sorani], Persian [Dari, Iranian], Punjabi, Russian, Serbian Croatian, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Uzbek)
- Category IV language: 110 or higher (Arabic [Modern Standard, Iraqi, Levantine, Egyptian], Chinese [Mandarin], Japanese, Korean, Pashto)
A high DLAB score is also an excellent way for service members to set themselves apart from their colleagues. Many service members have taken the DLAB test, and superiors will use it to determine promotions and assignments. DLAB scores tend to follow a service member throughout their career and can be a great asset if the result is good.
While these scores are required to enter a language program of that category, often placement is based upon need rather than score. For example, a service member who receives a score of 115 (good enough for Category IV) may be placed in Russian (Category III). Previously, the maximum score on the DLAB was 176, but it has now been lowered to 164 recently, as of 2016.
Who can take the DLAB?
All U.S. service members and their spouses in good standing with the military can take the test. Although rare, spouses can sometimes take language courses with service members. Just like the service member, they too will need to take the DLAB to apply.
This only happens when service members have follow-on orders to a foreign country of that language, and there is enough room to allow a spouse to join the class. If such a situation arises, the spouse may take an available spot in a language course; however, if the spouse starts to fall behind just a bit, the military will kick them out. The school’s objective is to teach the service member, and if the spouse is causing the class or the service member to slow down, the spouse will be removed.