Struggling in A School

[Redman50]

I joined in March and got to Charleston in May and now I'm about 3.5 months into A school. I started off fairly well (3.2ish) and then once I got to E-Funds the pace and huge amount of information destroyed my grades. I'm at a 2.8 currently and we just started digital. Right now there are 23 people in our class and there's only one person with a lower GPA than me. I put in a lot of hours every week and put in a lot of effort to do well but the material just doesn't seem to click for me so well.
I guess I'm not sure if I should stick with it and just scrape by in A school but end up not really understanding and in turn not being as good of an EM, or try to re-rate and do better at whatever job I end up getting.
At this point I'm not 100% sure I want to be a Nuke and feel as if I would be a better asset in another rate. I'd really appreciate any advice from someone who's been in a similar situation or is knowledgeable regarding the pipeline.

Also I really love the Navy, my grandfather served in WWII and I have cousin in as well, but I don't want this program to drain all of my "Hooyah" so to speak if I'm just going to get to power school and struggle more and then get to prototype and the fleet and not know my job very well.

[Arxos]

Hey OP, first of all, 2.8 is not a bad GPA. Remember, you only need a 2.5 to graduate. One of my friends just graduated Prototype, and was one of the first to qualify. He finished ET A School with a 2.65 GPA. Most of my Power School friends tell me that they enjoy Power School MUCH more than A school, and my Prototype friends all say that Prototype is better than Power School. From the sounds of it, the pipeline gets better. This is a training command, so it's nothing like the "real Navy". Things will get better. Just keep sight of the end goal! The Nuke program is an incredible opportunity to both serve our country, and gain valuable skills and knowledge.

Also, E-Funds was my worst subject (I failed E-Funds 4). Digital ended up being my best subject so far, and I'm even finding ICE to be easier than E-Funds. You're going to be just fine, OP.

[Gamecock]

Many years ago, a young man was struggling in NFAS.  This guy was not sure he had what it takes to be a nuke, and he often wondered what it would be like to be a different rate.  Back in that day, you could graduate and get your third crow if you graduated with greater then a 2.5 GPA, but you could not go to Power School unless you were greater then 2.8.  This guy had to get greater then 3.0 on the comp in order to have the 2.8 GPA.  This guy continued to work hard, and study hard.  He ended up getting a 3.13 on that comp and moved on to Power School.  Somewhere around week 4 of Power School, everything clicked.  This guy ended up graduating with 3.6 at Power school, then ended up qualifiying week 15 at prototype.  This guy continued to work hard even after he got to the fleet.  He was selected for an officer program while on his first ship.  He got an engineering degree, got commissioned, and then went back through the nuke pipeline again.  This guy never gave up, even though sometimes he wondered if he was good enough.  He retired in 2013 after earning a bachelors degree and three masters degrees, all paid for by the navy.

You are where you are for a reason.  Never give up. Do your best, and things will work out.

Cheers,  GC

[GLW]

Many years ago, a young man was struggling in NFAS...........

to the OP:

you're not alone, it's been done by many before, it's just that now you get to carry the torch,...

Being an an old 'Rickover' Nuke, it does get better. You have to realize the game that is being played. Just as in bootcamp, they test you. You blow thru 'A' School and get to NPTU. The weeding begins. Some people give up and quit. Others, like yourself, believe you have reached your limit. The truth is, you have unlimited capabilities.....

..........You may not have them now, but they will come to you. Just get past the next few months. Never give up, Never give in.

Out in the fleet, remember,........... Keep your head on your sholders and in a tech manual. Become the Go-To-Guy for a system and run with it.

Live Long and Prosper  

The extra school helps, but the Navy is going to teach you their way!
I failed NPS math and still made it through in the upper half of the class. I don't recommend this option!
Basically if you have a good head on your shoulders (it sounds like You do) and study the way they teach you to (yes, they teach you the Navy way), asking for help when you need it. You have a very high likelyhood of making it.
If you make it through it opens many doors for you later in life.
Good Luck

Class 8207 NPS Orlando FL
MM1/SS/ELT

..........Personally, I thought Power School was twice the pace and workload of A-school BUT I know tons of people who say A-school was tougher, and tons of people who think they are about the same. Also tons of success stories of people who had 2.5-2.9 in A school and above a 3.0 in Power School.

Specific example, girl I Know, 2.58 A school almost failed out several times, 3.6 Power School and graduated with distinction so it is what you make of it. Just don't wimp out.

Well then it's easy,....

You do what you're told, when you're told, how you're told,...

Ignore all the BS and BS'ers around you and stay focused on getting through and doing your best,...

If you find out you are not the type that can breeze through the pipeline, you still do your best,...

If you are not top half of your class, you still do your best,...

If you get asinine section chiefs and leads, you still do your best,...

If some jerk puts you on mondo mandatory study hours, you still do your best,...

If you cannot get the hang of a watchstation, you look basically stupid, and have to perform five watches instead of three to qualify, you still do your best,...

If you find out you really do not like the Navy, you still do your best,...

If you have a lapse of judgement and get busted from E-4 to E-3, you still do your best,...

If you are failing out, you still do your best,...

Because the attrition going on all around you means nothing to you when you are focused on doing your best,....

Should you be the one staring attrition square in the face, it will be no worse than a vocation you were not cut out for,...

You will know that because you did your best,...

So will the officers and enlisted who are administering your pipeline wash out,...

And some time later, near or far, when your commitment to the Navy is over,...

Your discharge will state "Honorable", and that still means something,...

OBTW,...good luck, let us know when you make it through, we like success stories,...  

[Tylor]

I can tell you A-school was the hardest part of the pipeline for me. A-school is all about learning how to learn, and if you're having issues retaining the knowledge, I would talk to your SLPO or Academic Advisor about effective study techniques. Going in to digital it was pretty heavy on memorization. I struggled the most through e-funds and digital, but equip made a lot more sense to me.
I'd recommend working on your study habits now, because good study habits will help you stay ahead of the class in power school, and will translate to good work ethic when you're in prototype.
A big thing that helped me when I was in A-school/power school was using study time effectively. It's easy to sort of check out during class when you think "Oh, I have 4 extra hours to do anyways, I'll understand it later on when I study it more." It will help you out way more if you're actively paying attention to the lectures, then in any study halls you get during classroom time, you look back over the information you just learned. During your plus hours, study the TGOs, they're formatted as questions, and pretty similar to what you'll be seeing on graded evolutions.

[hamsamich]

Try to gut it out, like one other said, power school isn't always the hardest part for everyone, you may get there and find it easier.  I know what you are saying about the hoo-yah stuff though, being a nuke is different (good and bad) than being a regular navy guy.  But there are opportunities for hoo-yah stuff.  If you make it to a sub they may still let nukes become divers.  They did back in the early 90s.  If you are hoo-yah you can do coner (non-nuke stuff) but it will take more work.  Submariner nukes really get into that stuff sometimes.

Also, if you are having trouble learning the material in a traditional method there are other ways to teach yourself if you are truly dedicated and want to learn.  Drawing simple/silly pictures for each concept really helped me remember things.  I would pick 10 or so of the hardest concepts I knew I would have trouble memorizing and draw a picture representing each concept.  When I got to the test the picture would be up in my head and I would remember almost everything!  Boosted my grade quite a bit when I started doing this.  This works really well with lists (like 5 reasons why AC is better than DC power or something like that) to remember each part of the list in one drawing.  Focus on learning what you don't know by going thru your notes and highlighting what seems important and could be on the test AND you aren't understanding.  That way you don't go over ALL of your notes learning stuff you already know or comes easy to you or you think there is little chance it will be on the test.  I found myself going over stuff I already knew 10 times in a page-flipping daze of ineffective attempts to try to memorize everything and had to make a change.

[Redman50]

Thanks to everyone for the motivation and personal experiences, it means a lot to me to read other people's struggles and success. Also, this is truly a great community and has given me much insight over the last few months. Thanks again. 

[Wiggin]

It's funny, every time I finished one school the instructors/ other students higher up would say the next one was worse. Powerschool said the Prototype was awful, Prototype said that the boat was worse than anything in school, and the boat (specifically my chief) says that real life is worse than anything in the navy. Strangely enough, what was hard for one person isn't always hard for another.

Here is a quick tip for you. A-school is very book intensive. you learn theory about a specific job in relation to the nuclear field, Power school is also very book intensive except you learn general nuclear theory and principles to carry forward. Once that's done, Prototype is very personality dependent. you are standing in front of someone telling them what you know about a topic, this is called a check out. I can't tell you how many check outs I said absolutely everything wrong just about but they signed my qualification card anyway because I made them laugh. It all depends on how social you are with a mix of what you know and how good of a judge a character you are on who to get check outs from. it's definitely more of a social game and less book intensive. and the boat, is almost primarily social skill dependent. On a boat, they want you to qualify. it helps everyone if you do, it helps you, it helps your division by you standing watch, it helps your department, by you qualifying on time, and especially the boat as a whole. If you are social and make it past the first 2 schools you are good to go.

[chuckie]

I am a first time poster that did the Nuke thing back in 93 as an ET.  I had some trouble in A school and Power School and was even on mando 35-5's for some of it.  Trust me...things will get easier as you go on. If you're a hands on kind of guy you will really enjoy prototype as long as you can get through the checkouts.  Things get even easier once you're in the fleet (I was on an SSN)

Good Luck, it's worth it at the end of the day!