Navy Enlisted Promotions

(Note: The below article is from the Aug 97 edition of Navy "All Hands" Magazine.

Ask any Sailor who has spent a Navy career successfully rising through the ranks about the secret of success, and you're likely to get this answer: "Know how the advancement system works." This chapter highlights the entire enlisted advancement process and explains the behind-the-scenes operation of the system.

If you are among the thousands who want to wear a rocker and stars above their crow, prepare now for advancement. This "journey of 1,000 miles" begins with a single step into the Educational Services Office (ESO) for your copy of the new advancement handbook on your rating. ESO has a supply of these handbooks, which include personnel advancement requirements (PARs). Study its contents, especially on the references under PARs.

Preparing yourself

This annually updated handbook will help put the advancement system to work for you. Read it now — use it for reference later. Part A of the handbook explains the Navy's enlisted advancement system. Part B contains naval standards, with a bibliography for your specific pay grade. Part C contains occupational standards or PARs with a bibliography or materials you should study.

The occupational standards portion lists the tasks you are required to perform on a daily basis. The tasks represent the Navy's minimum requirements expected for occupational skills. They also form the basis for training, advancement and assignments. The PARs require you to demonstrate your ability to perform the tasks stated in the standards. All E-4 through E-7 candidates are required to have PARs checked off by their division supervisor. This is a hurdle you should complete as soon as possible.

The bibliography portion of this handbook provides you with chapter references in rate training manuals (RTMs) and other publications that support the occupational standards for your rating. In studying for advancement you should become familiar with your occupational standards up to and including the pay grade you are studying for. RTMs, applicable Navy instructions, other publications listed in the bibliography and the specific referrals included in each reference are strongly recommended as study material for advancement. Manuals marked by an asterisk (*) in the bibliography are mandatory.

Once you've read and thoroughly studied mandatory and recommended RTMs, complete the appropriate non-resident training courses (NRTCs). The course may be included in the RTM or published as a separate booklet. A word of caution - don't study only the NRTC questions. Study the entire manual. Questions were written to guide students through the RTM, but, they cannot cover every point that should be learned.

The Advancement Handbook For Apprenticeships (AN, CN, DN, FN, HN and SN) is also available from your ESO. This three-part handbook explains the Navy advancement system in Part A, the naval standards for E-2 through E-3 pay grades in Part B and the occupational standards and supporting bibliography for each specific apprenticeship in Part C.

"Hitting the books," completing the PARs check off list and passing the military leadership exam are not the only requirements for advancement — on-the-job performance is extremely important. Evaluations dictate if your commanding officer will recommend you for advancement.

You can influence what goes into your evaluations - by turning in a sustained superior performance which means you always do top-notch work. Be a top performer among your peers - be the best you can be. Additionally, superior performance evaluations add points to your final multiple score (FMS); E-4 and E-5 "four pointers" get 70 of these FMS points while "three-pointers" get only 10 FMS points. Even one-hundredth of a point difference in your performance average can change your final multiple by more than one-half point.

Once you have met all eligibility requirements, you are ready to take the exam.

All Navywide advancement exams have 150 multiple-choice questions, each with a choice of four answers. The exams are given on the same day, worldwide, for each pay grade to minimize any compromise and to give every candidate an equal opportunity for advancement. At each exam site, examination board members, with the help of proctors, explain exam procedures and answer "how-to" questions about completing answer sheets.

There are no secrets to taking the three-hour exam - you must know your subject. Get a good night's sleep beforehand and come prepared to do your best. Answers don't conform to any set pattern. Answer every question, even if you are not sure of the answer. You do not lose points by this procedure and you may gain points.

Also, don't look for trick questions — there aren't any. Read each question carefully and don't try to read more into a question than is asked. Even if a question seems unusually easy, don't fret - every exam has some "freebies." Remember, there is only one correct answer for each question. But, in most cases, alternate choices will be plausible enough to stump those with only a superficial knowledge of their rating.

Problem areas

During each exam cycle, a few advancements are delayed because either candidates or their commands incorrectly complete exam paperwork. The most common mistake is improperly marked answer sheets. This can delay getting exam results back for up to six months.

Some mistakes are "mechanical errors," others are "discrepancies." Mechanical errors include not blackening in circles entirely. Discrepancies include listing an incorrect Social Security Number.

Either type of mistake increases the administrative problems for personnel at your command and at the Naval Educational and Training Program Development Training Center (NETPDTC), Pensacola, Fla.

After exams are taken

Every Navywide advancement exam answer sheet is mailed via registered mail to NETPDTC in Pensacola for scoring.

As they arrive, they are logged in and placed in batches. A batch is immediately assigned a number so it can be retrieved at any point in the scoring process. Answer sheets from each batch go through an optical scanner which transfers information on the answer sheets to magnetic tape.

The completed tape is sent to the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) at Naval Air Station Pensacola for automatic scoring by computers.

At NETPDTC, answer sheets containing mechanical errors are rejected by the optical scanner and manually corrected before being reinserted and recorded on tape. About 6,000 to 8,000 answer sheets of the 130,000 received each exam cycle are rejected by the computer for discrepancy errors made by the individual taking the exam or by the local exam board. Correcting these errors delays the scoring process for all involved.

When the magnetic tapes arrive at NCTS, they are read by a computer. Each exam is scored and assigned a Navy standard score. The same is done for each candidate who has taken an exam in a given exam cycle.

Once this process is complete, the number of candidates passing each exam in a rating is sent to BUPERS. BUPERS determines advancement quotas based on vacancies in each rating and the future needs of the Navy.

Advancement quotas are forwarded to NETPDTC who advances a specified number of people in each rate. Boards meet once a year in Washington, D.C., to select candidates for advancement to E-7 through E-9.

Once it has been determined which E-4 through E-9 candidates have been selected for advancement, NETPDTC messages and mails advancement results to commands. The results contain pertinent information, such as the candidate's final multiple, exam standard scores, exam profiles and advancement status.

With a commanding officer's approval, each selectee is advanced on the date specified by NETPDTC. All other candidates receive appropriate information about their status and their series of marks on the various parts of the exam.

Specific requirements for advancement

The requirement chart outlines the eligibility requirements in each pay grade and the scheduling, processing and notification steps. If candidates meet all the eligibility requirements, including time-in-rate (TIR), they can participate in the advancement exam regardless of total active service (TAS).

Exam system particulars

The advancement process is outlined, step-by-step, in the advancement handbooks and training manuals. Detailed information is available from Navy career counselors.

Qualifications for advancement are specified in Section 1 of the Manual for Advancement and are outlined for each rating in Section 1 of the Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classification and Occupation Standards (rating-specific copies of the same standards included in advancement handbooks).

Still, there are areas people ask questions about: How is the final multiple calculated? How important is the CO's recommendation? These questions will be addressed in this section, so you will have a complete understanding of what is involved in attaining your advancement.

The CO's recommendation

The most important requirement in the enlisted advancement system is the CO's recommendation of individual candidates for advancement to the next pay grade. With it, each candidate has been certified to be qualified for advancement.

When a CO recommends a Sailor, that means a Sailor is qualified in all respects, to assume the duties and responsibilities of the next higher pay grade, to the best of the CO's knowledge.

Commanding officers are tasked by the Navy with making honest, conscientious performance evaluations and advancement recommendations. It's the CO's responsibility to recommend only those who are fully qualified.

When individuals are recommended for advancement, the command is certifying they are qualified and already know the minimum required for the rate and rating.

Consider an example from the machinist's mate (MM) rating:

• Every MM "must" know how to rethread a bolt.
• Every MM "should" know several methods for rethreading bolts.
• It would be "nice-to-know" how many methods there are for rethreading bolts.

So, minimum required information is that knowledge a petty officer must have to function in his or her rate or rating. Should-know information is that knowledge which places a petty officer a notch above those who have not diligently applied themselves to the diverse areas covered by his or her rating. Nice-to-know knowledge is not generally tested.

It is assumed that each candidate for advancement knows the minimum required information, the exams are not designed to determine if a person is qualified. They do determine who are the best of the qualified candidates on the basis of should-know information and rank them in order from the best to the least-qualified.

Since the Navy's enlisted advancement system is vacancy driven, not everyone can be advanced, because the number of vacancies is less than the number of qualified candidates. This process singles out those best qualified for advancement.

Navy standard scores

The number of questions candidates get right on the same advancement exam are converted to Navy standard scores so that comparisons may be made within groups and between different exams.

The lowest possible Navy standard score is 20 and the highest is 80. The average number of correct answers on a given exam is converted to a standard score of 50. Simply put, standard scores tell candidates how well they did in comparison to their peers. Generally, if you get about one-half of the 150 questions correct, you'll get a standard score of around 50. If you get three fourths or more correct, you'll get a standard score in the high 70s.

The final multiple

Chief of Naval Personnel determines how many candidates can be advanced in each pay grade, from E-4 to E-9. Information for E-4 through E-6 is sent to NETPDTC and for E-7 through E-9 to selection boards in the form of quotas for each pay grade in each rating. Quotas are based on manning requirements and projected losses due to retirements, discharges, advancements, deaths, etc.

The FMS for advancement to E-4 through E-6 consists of points awarded for the exam score, performance marks average, total active service, TIR, awards and passed-not-advanced points. The FMS for E-7 candidates consists only of points from the exam score and performance average.

For advancement to E-4 through E-6, the FMS ultimately determines who is advanced.

People who compete for each rate are ranked according to their FMS. That is, the person with the highest FMS is first followed by all the others in descending order, down to the last person, with the lowest FMS. Advancements are made starting at the top and counting down until the quota is filled.

For example, if the quota was 50 for a given rate in which 75 candidates passed, the 50th person's FMS would be the "minimum FMS required" - 50 people would be advanced and 25 would be passed-not-advanced in that rate.

For advancement to E-7, the final multiple determines who will be "selection-board eligible."

One final look

All Navy personnel seeking advancement must demonstrate leadership abilities, possess sufficient military and professional knowledge and be recommended by their commanding officer.

In summation, each candidate must:

• Have the required TIR.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the information in mandatory rate training manuals.
• Demonstrate the ability to perform tasks listed in PARS in the advancement handbooks.
• Successfully complete service school, if required.
• Meet all appropriate citizenship or security clearance requirements for advancement in certain rates or ratings.
• Fulfill special requirements for certain ratings.
• Be in the proper path for advancement.
• Meet minimum performance criteria.
• Be recommended by the commanding officer.
• Successfully compete in a Navywide examination for advancement in rate or change in rating.
• Meet all physical readiness/body fat standards outlined in OPNAVINST 611O.1C.

Meeting all these requirements cannot guarantee that any one person will be advanced. The advancement system guarantees that Sailors within a rate will compete equally for vacancies.

U.S. Military

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