One more milestone...

[JustinHEMI05]

Whelp, completed the license certification exam the last two weeks. Did well on simulator scenarios and JPMs, but had my ass kicked a bit by the written. Hardest test I had yet, but still did well enough to advance.

The next 3 weeks are going to be painful.

Justin

[Creeker]

Is license cert exam AKA audit exam?

[RDTroja]

If it was easy, any of us slugs could do it.

Congratulations.

[thenuttyneutron]

Good luck to you.  I just had my License Exam last July.  It is a big test that will stress you out.  That written is the last item in a long 18 month class.  I am surprised that they are giving the license exam between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You only had to take one audit?  In my class they gave a ball buster audit that was only passed by a RO upgrade and a DSRO from engineering.  I was told later that the test is supposed to be designed to fail most people and to motivate us to study our asses off.  The second audit was much better and everyone passed it.  In the end only 1 failed the actual license exam and 8 others got licenses.

[JustinHEMI05]

Thanks all!

As for our audits, there is one "official" audit, but prior to this, there are 3 comprehensive exams that are written to the rigor of an audit/NRC exam. The last 2 were also ball busters. Prior to those, we have 9 simulator phase exams that start out small but grow to the size of the comps as we progress through simulator. Prior to that, is 10 systems phase exams. So yeah, before we get to the NRC exam, we have, for all intents and purposes, 4 audits with one being the official sign off for the managers.

Now we have 2 full weeks in the sim before Thanksgiving, then a week after Thanksgiving, then the exam. Our chief examiner wants to get everything done in a week, except the written, so that is good. He is a no nonsense guy and I like that because its pretty calming knowing he doesn't want some elaborate song and dance during JPMs and what not.

Justin

[thenuttyneutron]

Grab a DVD player and some movies for the exam week.  If you can still stomach the books, study during the week.  Otherwise if you are like my class, having that DVD player and movies will help you relax and be mentally rested for the tests.

The tension will be up there.  I left after a 16 hour day of JPMs with a huge headache.  Make sure you have Advil/Tylenol/Excedrin (whatever you prefer).  Also, make sure you have some good snacks and a pocket full of quarters for the vending machines.  Most important, if things are not going well on the simulator, take a deep breath, calm down and start over in the EP if you have to.  It is easy to mess up routing points.
 

[Turbine08]

Congratulations.  Tell me more about what this does for you.

[JustinHEMI05]

That audit/cert? Basically, it tells the management and execs at corporate that I am ready to go up for my license exam. Although a person may PASS the audit, it doesn't mean they do well enough to continue. The management wants "margin," so you not only have to pass, you have to pass well. They don't want to send people that are "at risk" for failing to the NRC exam. The idea is that the NRC exam is just a check of a rigorous training program, and is not meant to be the filter. I hope that makes sense. Some of the other folks like Broadzilla might have to chime in here.

The NRC exam stuff aside, the SRO certification also opens up other doors of opportunity for things such as senior ops instructor.

[Smooth Operator]

Congrats Justin...


This too, shall pass.