How many hours of home work are typical for a nuke in school?

[nukemaster]

wow. let me just start off with thanking everyone that has dedicated their time to giving advise to the new generation of navy nukes (or the ones considering it). THANK YOU!
anyway, i have also decided to enlist as a navy nuke and i've been in the DEP program from almost a year now. i graduated high school in june, and im shippin off to bootcamp nov. 9th. (funny, thats a day after my 18th bday). in school, i was in the JROTC program for four years and i sorta already have the discipline instilled in me as well as the PT. but what im getting a lot of is the training after A school. Im signed up to be an ET (whats the diff between MM's, ET?, and EM's?) and im anxious to struggle though NPS and prototype school. i just got a few questions about them cause it seems that these schools are harder than a college carreer. how many hours of hw are typical for a nuke in school? (both schools-or for that matter, all of them?)
lemme thank you in advance for your answers...

[Fermi2]

1: Enjoy the next year, I wouldn't wory about trying to "pre learn" nuke stuff. The Navy has it's way of teaching it.

2: One thing I think you should be aware of, if I recall correctly they'll tell you you can be an ET while you're in DEP, but that won't get decided until boot camp. About the only thing that is really guaranteed is MM.

Mike

[nukemaster]

so what you're telling me is that a position as an ET isn't guaranteed? Then what does an EM do as well as an MM? all i know is that my recruiter reffered MM's as "grease-monkeys."
also, my recruiter just told me today that i have to take the nuke qualifying test all of a sudden. i was wondering why i didnt take it right after i took the asvab...any advise for that?

[JsonD13]

Nope you'll find out what you are going to be in boot camp.  They will have you rank the three rates in order of preference to make it seem like they are giving you a choice, but in the end the needs of the navy will dictate your path.  ET's operate the reactor, and perform maintainance on the reactor control systems (they get alot of computer programming type training), EM's are in charge of all the electrical systems that are associated with the power plant (pump motors, breakers, etc.), MM's are in charge of all mechanical aspects with the plant (valves, pumps, pipes, turbines, etc.).  As far as having to take the nuke test, you didnt take it right after the ASVAB probably because the recruiter might have thought you had a sufficient score on it to not need the test.  It doesnt matter though, if you REALLY want to study for it you should bone up on some math, physics type stuff.  But dont worry about it.

[nukemaster]

thanks for the info, and by any chance do you know if the navy gives nukes leave between schools? (after A school, before power school, etc...)

[taterhead]

thanks for the info, and by any chance do you know if the navy gives nukes leave between schools? (after A school, before power school, etc...)

After A school IS before power school.

I think it depends on how long until you "class up" for power school...meaning that enough people have finished A school to form an entire power school class.  For some , it is weeks.  For others, it is days.   

[nukemaster]

and what about after power school?

[taterhead]

I don't know how much time they allow now, especially if you live in Charleston and get assigned to NPTU.

We were allowed 2 weeks transit to prototype from Orlando.  I'm sure it must have changed by now.

[Rad Sponge]

To answer the topic of this post:

In A-School (the school where you learn the basics of your job rating (MM, EM, or ET) you will initially be placed on a mandatory study plan called MANDOS.

It is a 2 part system requiring an aggregate of required logged hours per week and also a minimum hours per day.

For example, if you are on 30-3s (Pronounced Thirty-Tack-Threes) it means you have to log 30 hours per week and a minimum of 3 hours a day Sunday through Friday.

Other combinations can be 15-0, 20-4, etc. at the descretion of your Section Advisor. It all depends on your attitude, grades, and whatever policy is set by the Class Director and what he delegates in turns of control to his Section Advisors.

As you progress and prove your maturity to your supervisors through your bearing, work ethics, and grades you may eventually be placed on Voluntary Hours (pronounced Vols (Valls)).

VOLS are great because you earn the flexibility necessary to have somewhat of a life and most importantly you can avoid coming in on Sunday.

ONCE you are in Nuclear Power School you go back on MANDOS and have to prove your worth all over again (Get used to this, because as a Nuc you will be proving yourself all over again for the rest of your enlistment).

But here is the trick, go on VOLS and if your grades or attitude slips you go back on MANDOS. Also, I found that logging 30-50 hours a week while I was on VOLS was like having a military bearing savings account. It meant when I did slip (at one point or another you are bound to f up somehow, my grades and logged hours kept the punishment at a minimum since what on Gods earth can a Senior Chief do to an MM3 with an average of 46 hours logged/week? But him on Mandos? Sure, go ahead.

So I basically logged about 900 hours during NPS and did not just sit there , but actually studied and did every possible practice problem offered in the manuals. As a result I graduated near the top of my class, got a great eval, etc, etc.

Moving on to Prototype: get used to a minimum 12 hour day. 8 hour shift and 4 hour study period either before of after shift depending on which shift.

Once you qualify your nuke rating/NEC you go on staff hours (8 hours/shift) or less depending on the needs of your crew, so qualify quick and get a much needed rest.


Ok now let's go back to the actual "HOMEWORK"

1. You will probably be assigned between 2-4 hours of homework per night or more. That's a gimme. Use your night duty instructors(NDI) if you get stuck. Log your visits to the NDI. That is also part of your military bearing savings account. "IF IT AINT LOGGED, IT NEVER HAPPENED"

Go to the NDIs, because your shipmates, no matter how gifted, are all retards.

2. Get a dry erase board approximately 2x3 feet and a big supply of dry erase markers. Use this to draw system schematics and memorize vocabulary and definitions over and over and over again.

3. Work on homework between classes and during lunch. I learned to get most of my homework done this way so come 1600, all I had to do was study and go over my homework. I also got in the habit of getting 2 problems done during class when the instructor was putting out notes or rambling on about the USS Used-to-Fish or something or when some retarded student was asking to go over some point for the 8th time.

Number 3 all boils down to effective time management.

4. Do every possible practice problem for any subject and keep these filed away for review. There are only so many problems to be asked on an exam. Most of the exam banks contain the same problems asked in different ways so it would behoove you to attack problems from as many different angles as possible.

5. Keep your mouth shut during study hours. I preferred to go to a no-talking area and study in a private cubicle. Many times shoot-the-shits develop in the classroom and before you know it you just lost 2 hours of your life with nothing to show for it. Save the shoot-the-shits for after you are qualified.

If there are disruptive trainees (there is always at least one) address the problem with the dipshit directly and professionally. If they tell you to f off, don't get mad, don't risk doing something stupid, just report them to your class leader ( a fellow trainee, kind of like the Boot Camp RLCPO (R-POC)) and if that does not solve the problem go directly to your section leader.

I think that pretty much covers homework and hours.

Good luck.

[MeMekanik]

As a current NPS student, everything said above is very accurate.  Dunno what you're doin JMK, so i most definately do not intend to tread on toes.   There is one minor detail however, that I can fill in.  B/W NFAS (Nuclear Field A-school) and NPS (Nuclear Power School) you will have at least 10 days of leave time.  If you do well enough in math during A-school (>2.75) you'll be able to take up to 15 days leave and 5 of which are not charged against you, however, you have to help out at your recruiting station( which, btw, can either be 5 days off or 5 days of work...it all depends on your recruiter).  Now, if you're in a feeder class like I was (1st A-school class of your NPS class to graduate), you won't get leave until almost the start of NPS.  During the month and a half before leave you'll be on Transition Track (T-track), which has you doing all sorts of jobs around the site.  You may stand building watches in the schoolhouse, or you may work for the building managers..kinda depends on luck of the draw.  Once in NPS, you start out on hours based off your final A-school GPA.  3.4 and up gets you the easy life of 0-0's (Volls), and it goes down( or up really) from there.  In NPS, you can expect approx. 1/2 hour of homework per hour of class( that's what we're told at least  , sometimes it's more, sometimes less).  Hope this helps you out some^^ and I'm glad you've signed up^^   
MM3

[nukemaster]

hey thanks everyone for the replys. now its a week until i leave for bootcamp and all of this info has been incredibally useful. ive taken into consideration everyones advise on the following steps in the nuke pipeline and imma see how well i apply this info. if all goes well (and it WILL!), i'll be seein some of you guys out in the fleet! but for now, i gotta take that nuke apptitude test this friday and im touchin up on some physics stuff, just to refresh what i learned in high school. well, if anybody has any more advise for the nuke test, i welcome any info and i appreciate your efforts to inform me. thanks in advance.

[Medayo]

You got a shipping date before you even took the test? I had to take the test and get waivers for school, citizenship, and my reasons for wanting to join the Nuke program before they even got my contract started... 

Well good luck I guess you're leaving this week? Tomorrow! Bye! Have fun at boot camp!

[KAMFRO]

I was partial to the Group Study Room and the shoot the shits, and in the process we study in the form of a board, though at the time we didnt know it...We would go to the board and quiz each other on problems or drawings and so forth.

[Fermi2]

One of the things I always liked on the few occasions I put in extra hours was going to McDonalds for the whole section. I never opened a book outside of class while I was in NPS, but I'd go in a couple hours a week just to shoot the shit and see if I could help anyone out.

Mike

[hamsamich]

how much homework TIME depends on:

1. how wisely you use time between actual nuc-school classes (don't study on break, take a break)
2. how wisely you use the mando time ORIGINALLY for the first couple weeks assigned to you (gives section adv. good or bad first impression)
3. how much time you spend actually studying during your assigned hours
4. if you really try to understand most of the material, don't just try to memorize. if you do this at the Begining of the courses (really learn it, not memorize!), this wil pay high dividends later when you are having trouble with new concepts, because some of these new concepts will partially build on old ones
5. use of time wisely "what time you study for a certain purpose".  use the morning (5-7am) right before the test to study for exam.  this is the only time you should "cram".  the studying you did earlier during the week is to learn the concepts.  this "pre-exam" morning time is to go over your notes in general, make sure you understand everything, and memeorize a couple of key items that can't be learned thru concept-type-thinking (mathematical formulas, values), or things that are very important and could cause you to miss several questions if you don't remember them exactly (ex. six factor formula).
6. how well you do on the tests (use visuals to remember items, especially lists), your GPA lower than 3.4 or if your test scores are erratic you may be assigned more hours, for instance, I had a gpa of about 3.5, then got a 2.58 on a test, I was bumped from v-15 to S-20 (suggested hours vs voluntary). if you don't put in hours assigned to you, even vouluntary, your hours will probably go up.
7.  try to get into a good routine to get enough sleep yet allow for fun/party time.  I always partyed HARD on Fri night after putting in a couple hours, then partied less on saturday (usually no hoursof study either), then did quite a bit of work on Sunday.  it is good to have ONE day of no study whatsoever, this will actually be more effecient use of your time according to many psychological learning studies. if you can, try to take it easy during one of your weekdays also either Tues, Wednes, of Thurs.  studies have shown with GREAT signifigance higher recall and greater problem solving success when time is taken off for at least a few hours for frivoulous/other activity.
8.  if you are a good student and take to the info well, a way to bump up your test scores even higher is to help others in group study if this is still available.
9. studying at school instead of at barracks will most likely be more efficient and less study time overall there
10. always go to the galley or get some food, don't stay after over 2 hours when class is done, take a break and eat and re-coup
11. VERY IMPORTANT - the best time to learn is IN CLASS, so get good sleep and spend less time at nuke school overall by being well rested and attentive IN CLASS.  stand up! if you are tired or daydreaming, this was key for me, I was a podium king even though I got alot of sleep (i am a hyper dude with tendancy to daydream).  ask questions in class, or, if the instructor needs to move on and is tiring of your endless amount of questions, write down the questions while you are taking notes and ask after class.  step 11 here is the most important thing to do I think to lower the amount of time you spend at nukeschool after class.
12. utilize instructors at all times after class when possible, there should be duty instructors
13. frame of mind - before you go, accept that you may be spending 70 hours a week at nukshcool. it will make it easier to take and if you end up only doing 55 hours a week total it will feel like you are on vacation!

OVERALL - if you maximize true learning and efficiency while you are at NukeSchool, and psych and body are well, you will do much better and have better overall quality of life spending much less time in NukeSchool and more time doing cool stuff in Chucktown.  nukeschool gets harder for some and easier for others as time moves on.  if you do the above hopefully you will fall in the easier catagory.