DOE Core Exam

[Biff]

I noticed there was a core exam on this site.  I have taken it a few times and done pretty good.  I am wondering how accurate that the exam is to the real exam I have to take to get the job.  Are you allowed calculators and provided Gas Amp curves and Isotope charts?  Anyone take the exam recently and have any advice?  Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[HenryBlack]

They won't let you use your own calculator at SRS but I am not sure about the others. They do give you a book with the chart of the niclides in it and some other good information.  The test on Nukeworker is pretty close to the test there. All you really need to do to pass is read the Study guide a few times and then it will be fairly easy. Good luck!

[Atomic_Punk]

The core practice exams on this site are NOTHING like the core test at Hanford for CH2MHILL (or Fluor).  The Hanford one is A LOT harder.  It's still based on the objectives, but, not the ones you think you'd be tested on.  You can use your own calculator (non graphing) and they give you a book on the chart of nuclides and a formula sheet to use.  I can't speak for the test that Eberline gives at Hanford....I've heard it's easier.  Now for the good part....your core card from another site is no good at Hanford.  You have to take their test.  I guess the training people need to justify their presence somehow.

[Rennhack]

All of the training guides are available in our study center, just click on the study tab.

[moondoggie]

In replying to Atomic punk, here @ Paducah, we also require the new hires to take the core exam, irregardless of if they have a current card from another DOE site. The reasoning behind it is the fact that some sites are not using the latest test bank version, and there is no way to verify this.

We give the candidates the chart book, a formula sheet, and they can use their own calculator, as long as the memory is cleared. We also have 1 question per objective on the exam.

[Mike_Koehler]

The good news is... if you know where to look in the Chart of Nuclides book, many questions are answered......and they let you have that for the test

[march2003]

The core practice exams on this site are NOTHING like the core test at Hanford for CH2MHILL (or Fluor).  The Hanford one is A LOT harder.  It's still based on the objectives, but, not the ones you think you'd be tested on.  You can use your own calculator (non graphing) and they give you a book on the chart of nuclides and a formula sheet to use.  I can't speak for the test that Eberline gives at Hanford....I've heard it's easier.  Now for the good part....your core card from another site is no good at Hanford.  You have to take their test.  I guess the training people need to justify their presence somehow.

I'd rather saw off my arm with a dull knife than do this one again. But.....

[johnnieslingshot]

The DOE core exam, no matter where it is given, is just basic RADCON.  Quit your whining.  If you can't pass the exam on the first try then obviously you don't know your basic fundamentals and you should just get out of the business.  BASIC RADCON, 'Nuff said.

[HydroDave63]

The DOE core exam, no matter where it is given, is just basic RADCON.  Quit your whining.  If you can't pass the exam on the first try then obviously you don't know your basic fundamentals and you should just get out of the business.  BASIC RADCON, 'Nuff said.

to ya! This reminds me of a previous thread...  http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,10970.0.html#msg59343

[Content1]

I think a computer company has a similar test, it is called the "Apple Core."   I think their headquarters is located in the capital city of Maryland.

[BetaAnt]

USE THE FORCE, LUKE!

The DOE core test is all the basic stuff you were taught YEARS (for some of us, EONS) ago, but you forgot it (same principal of 'use it or lose it' for some, Alzheimer's for others,  .).

Best ways to take the test:
1. Don't be a stress puppy. If you don't know the answer bypass and another question may jog the answer loose.
2. Relax the day before. This is not a license to party all night or drink to oblivion. Just relax and study lite and get some good sleep. See #1 above.
3. Nukeworker and DOE have some good reference/study material. Read it twice and review the night before the test. See #2 above.
4. Read the question. Two of the four multiple choice answers are false. Throw out those two and concentrate on the other two.
5. Reread the question and answer the question.
6. Reread the question, AGAIN and answer the question, AGAIN. If you come up with the same twice, you will be 80% right (80% is passing).
7. See #1 above, AGAIN.
8. Don't argue with the test proctor/grader. Learn from your mistakes. Retake the test if necessary. Follow steps 1-7 above, you will have a 90% success rate.

Do not blow off the study material. Some sites word questions differently (SRS) and the question may read one way but asks a different question. If in doubt, ask the proctor. The proctor is there to help you pass, not give you the answer to the question.

Good Luck and Happy (Job)Hunting,

BA 

[Chimera]

There are just so many questions in the exam bank.  However, in order to live up to procedural requirements for different versions of the same exam to be different from other versions, some of the questions leave a lot to be desired. 

I have noticed a disturbing tendency by the instructors at some sites (DoE and commercial) to "cherry pick" the exam bank for silly and/or little known questions.  Some tests seem fair and balanced using good, basic questions with the occasional "ace buster" while other tests seem to exist more to bring an evil grin to the instructor's face than test the basic knowledge level of the test taker.

[Atomic_Punk]

How in the hell can anyone whine about a test that is based on well defined 'objectives'?  You know going in what the expectations are.  Study or fail.  It is your choice.

The DOE core exam, no matter where it is given, is just basic RADCON.  Quit your whining.  If you can't pass the exam on the first try then obviously you don't know your basic fundamentals and you should just get out of the business.  BASIC RADCON, 'Nuff said.

Not whining...just stating the facts.  Unless you've actually taken the test that we're talking about, perhaps you should refrain from comment.  "Nuff said.

In replying to Atomic punk, here @ Paducah, we also require the new hires to take the core exam, irregardless of if they have a current card from another DOE site. The reasoning behind it is the fact that some sites are not using the latest test bank version, and there is no way to verify this.

We give the candidates the chart book, a formula sheet, and they can use their own calculator, as long as the memory is cleared. We also have 1 question per objective on the exam.

Sorry.  BS answer.  So do you make a new person retake the test two weeks later if a new question bank comes out?

[moondoggie]

Not even close to a BS answer. The logic is simple. If someone knows their stuff, they should have no problem taking the exam. Problem is, many of the previous versions have been handed out like candy. And, to an extent, if a new exam bank is issued, then yes, those questions are incorporated into the continuing training sessions the RCT's here attend. Maybe I can't see the forest for the trees, but I am not really sure if there is anything wrong with this system.

[let-it-ride]

I disagree with the elitists that say the core test is basic rp stuff and if you can't pass it get another career. That type of person is usually a poor tech but can pass the test in 20 minutes. We all know people that would never be trusted but, hey scored 95% on a test that is meaningless. HP/RCT is dose rates, smears, and air samples. Of course job coverage requires that and more. It takes time and experience.  It also requires being a people person, manager to have the "craft people" to actually follow the rules and to tell them why.

It would be like to say if you want to be a taxi driver, you have to know how to take an engine apart and put it back together. Simplistic yes, but true.

Why not have a more practicable test such as going through a job coverage test.
Oh wait, that happens alot but, funny, it is just the house people going through the motions with all the returnees and then telling stories of what happened since the last outage, and then just signing the paper work. I had this done more times that I can't count.
You know this is true. How many of us had had our site specifics and JPM's signed off while we were all telling what happened at the last job.

I can also name many sites where we were given a study guide that was the test. I can also name sites when the test was given, the instructer went to lunch.
I can also name sites that when the test was graded, the instructer gave the test back and said you should look at number .... and then hand it in again.

So don't think that by trying to have a test that is made hard by people that make themselves look good by making others look bad and then saying if you can't do it, get out.

A question, why is the Core test not accepted nation wide? If it is all that, why can't the government trust other government sites?  Maybe it is people having to give up their empires and status.

A site specific test and site procedures exam is more valid to help the tech and site. Trying to show how smart you are by putting traps to the people that are putting themselves on the line to help "craft", should be changed.

Ok, I know I will be hammered for these views, but when in the last 20 years has ANYTHING been done to help the roadies???
 

[let-it-ride]

OH, and to mutant.  You are obviously a house slug that sits in the break room while the contractors do the work for you. Having hand fed quals once a quarter and then equating it to walking to a job and hoping there are not people like you giving the test must make you get off.
So I suggest that before you tell others to get a new career, you should find one for yourself. You are a disgrace to HP/RCTs that spend months away from their families trying to have a career that is ruined by slugs like you.

[moondoggie]

Lets see, where do I start. Thanks for making my argument for me, as to the way some sites conduct the core test. Your examples are exactly why I do not trust the certifications from other sites. My site also does site specific exams, as well as on the job performance measures prior to final certification.

Not going to get into the house/road tech discussion, except to state that it is a personal choice which way you work. There are slugs on both sides. Neither side has a monopoly on it.

[Smart People]

Or maybe there could be a national test and a registry or something like that so you only have to take it once and nearly every site accepts it and you don't have to take a Core or NUF test as long as it's active. Wouldn't that be nice?

[Smart People]

I reckon,...I always look at the testing, prac facs, etc., as free money. Getting paid to do once again what I have been paid to do countless times in countless places, over and over and over,...

i.e. paid insanity,....

(sic)

Darnit! I can't disagree with that logic!

Unfortunately I've already participated in that national test thingy

[retired nuke]

Or maybe there could be a national test and a registry or something like that so you only have to take it once and nearly every site accepts it and you don't have to take a Core or NUF test as long as it's active. Wouldn't that be nice?

NRRPT did that to some extent - got me out of a few tests. But some sites still made me take it... including RFETS.

ANd yeah, I always looked at it as a freebie, paid to verify what I already knew to be true....

[pbooth]

I am a poor Rad Tech who has pretty much been on the road since the early 80's and have seen this beautiful country of ours from north to south, east to west and then some. The core test is no joke, but it is RP fundamental stuff we all learned back when we got into this business. Now the powers that sign our pay checks should come together and come up with one test for commercial and DOE. Then if you can't pass it, either study harder or take a course at a accredited school, then take it again. If anyone has to take the core test they should use the resources that are on nukeworker or the other sites. If you use these helpful resources, you will pass. Don't give up without giving it all you got don't give up with out a fight. PEACE!!! pbooth-old school road dog.

[ashtray]

If you need to take the core exam in the Oak Ridge, TN area; contact Gary Johnson at
CG Services
(865) 300-8501
Except for areas that require you to take their exam (i.e. Savanna River), the exam covers all of the U.S.

[johnnieslingshot]

Not whining...just stating the facts.  Unless you've actually taken the test that we're talking about, perhaps you should refrain from comment.  "Nuff said.

For your information.  I have taken the exam 5  times and have never made less than a 96 on it.  (4 times at SRS and once at Portsmouth Uranium Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  I have also taken the Department of the Navy NAVSHIPS 389-0288 Article 108 test 6 times ( Charleston Naval Shipyard) and never made less than a 90 on it.  I took the NEU/NUF back in 2005 cold (was not given a chance to study) and still made a 92 on it.   I think I am more than qualified to comment.

[Chimera]

I agree, Marssim.  I wasn't commenting so much on the "ace buster" as I was about the tests that seem to be made almost entirely of this type of question.  I've been a trainer and I appreciate the statistical analysis that is/should be done each time the test is given.  My primary observation was about the exams that seem to be drawn primarily from the "trivia" instead of testing the fundamentals with the occasional challenging question thrown in.

As a side note, you should have seen (and perhaps you have) the original Northeast Utilities exam when it was the in-house exam at the Northeast Utilities plants back in the 70's.  The current itteration is actually quite easy to pass compared to what Jim Bennett used to throw at us at Millstone back then.  Trying to learn enough to pass one of those exams was how I started learning the theory and the fundamentals of my craft.  Who knew that "jelly" wasn't spelled with a "j" (laughing at myself)?

Michael

[RDTroja]

Back in 1978 when each plant made up its own tests and nobody could possibly imagine why they would want to share information with other utilities, there was a test at Indian Point 2 that had a question that went like this (the numbers have been changed due to a failing long-term memory):

You are walking through a room with a bag of trash over your shoulder when the bag breaks open and scatters its contents on the floor. The dose rate on the bag (prior to breaking) was 75 mR/hr @ 1 foot and it had a significant amount of loose dusty material in it. The room is 40' by 80' with a 12 foot ceiling.

What is the airborne concentration in the room? List all assumptions made.

Yikes.

I gave what was deemed a correct answer based on my assumptions. But the answer I really wanted to give was "I don't have time to do this calculation, I am on my way to get an air sampler and a whole buncha rope... and I can't think well while I am holding my breath."

When I asked why they had such a ridiculous question on their test, they told me that it was to test practical application of theory. I threw the BS flag and told them if they trusted people to derive survey data in this manner that they were doomed. The question was not on the next test. In hindsight, I think they should have kept it just to identify the true geeks in the crowd.