I don’t know what they are currently allowing but on the center side I’ve heard ZOA, ZNY, ZUA, ZAN, ZSU, HCF in the past. I’m not sure about tower.
As of 6 months ago, everything except for ZOA is on the OCONUS/Alternate Facility Placement Request form, which also shows the tower options. FAI and JNU for Alaska, OGG and ITO for Hawaii, San Juan, and ST. Thomas, which is in the Virgin Islands.
You can request certain hard to staff/non-CONUS facilities but then you are locked into going there regardless of your final class rank.
This is mostly true. If you get approved for OCONUS/Alt, then you are given a separate list (of one facility), in which case, class rank does not affect facility selection. However, from the OCONUS/Alt request form: "If approved, you may rescind your request up until three weeks prior to the last day of Initial Training." You can change your mind, but not after your list comes out.
Very. Everyone thought for sure we’d go 8/8 based on how well we were all doing in the practice problems. Unfortunately the evals were nothing like the practice problems, they ended up being way more complex and busier.
Very. Everyone thought for sure we’d go 8/8 based on how well we were all doing in the practice problems. Unfortunately the evals were nothing like the practice problems, they ended up being way more complex and busier.
They pulled the same stunt with us, evals had concepts we never learned or practiced.
They pulled the same stunt with us, evals had concepts we never learned or practiced.
Yep. My classmate ran the same problems as me and got the same scores. And she was also really good. It sucks. I’m unfortunately one of the ones who didn’t make it. I was told every single day by instructors that I was really good and I’d have no problem getting out of there. My first evaluator pulled me in to tell me my score and he said “you were the best student I’ve ever graded, you just ended up making one mistake in the second half that caused a bunch of other errors. I have no doubt that you can do this job and be very successful at it. I know you’ll kill the next two and get out of here. You deserve this job” and here I am. Totally sucks. Especially after having an evaluator himself tell me that. Wasn’t nervous at all. The problems were just so crazy and had new concepts in them. I also heard that they recently ramped them up more. And the evaluators I had are apparently known to grade the hardest problems is what I was told
They pulled the same stunt with us, evals had concepts we never learned or practiced.
FAA: "We have a staffing crisis!"
also FAA: "Let's see how many people we can wash out in Academyland with fake airplanes!"
EDIT: I'm genuinely confused why this post is getting hate. I mean, can anyone really understand why the make the Academy so difficult to pass? The graded scenarios should be straightforward with no “gotchas.” That’s what OJT is for at each facility.
Very. Everyone thought for sure we’d go 8/8 based on how well we were all doing in the practice problems. Unfortunately the evals were nothing like the practice problems, they ended up being way more complex and busier.
The problems were just so crazy and had new concepts in them. I also heard that they recently ramped them up more. And the evaluators I had are apparently known to grade the hardest problems is what I was told
Oh yeah, I'd heard about the new evals, apparently they're absolutely brutal. That's awful, I'm sorry.
Yep. My classmate ran the same problems as me and got the same scores. And she was also really good. It sucks. I’m unfortunately one of the ones who didn’t make it. I was told every single day by instructors that I was really good and I’d have no problem getting out of there. My first evaluator pulled me in to tell me my score and he said “you were the best student I’ve ever graded, you just ended up making one mistake in the second half that caused a bunch of other errors. I have no doubt that you can do this job and be very successful at it. I know you’ll kill the next two and get out of here. You deserve this job” and here I am. Totally sucks. Especially after having an evaluator himself tell me that. Wasn’t nervous at all. The problems were just so crazy and had new concepts in them. I also heard that they recently ramped them up more. And the evaluators I had are apparently known to grade the hardest problems is what I was told
Oh yeah, I'd heard about the new evals, apparently they're absolutely brutal. That's awful, I'm sorry.
This isn’t a new thing. For years, instructors have been swearing to their classes that they’ll never see anything new on an eval, and that the evals won’t be any more difficult than the practice problems. Then inevitably, people in almost every class find that not to be the case. I’m convinced it’s all part of the mind game the academy tries to play. They try to lull you into a false sense of security and see how you respond.
This isn’t a new thing. For years, instructors have been swearing to their classes that they’ll never see anything new on an eval, and that the evals won’t be any more difficult than the practice problems. Then inevitably, people in almost every class find that not to be the case. I’m convinced it’s all part of the mind game the academy tries to play. They try to lull you into a false sense of security and see how you respond.
No, it's true that within the past 2 months they've redone the evals to make them more difficult. But I wouldn't be surprised if you're also correct. I felt that way about all the stories they'd tell us about students who "only needed 3 points to pass on their last eval and made a 1" or whatever. Everything done at the Academy is done to mess with you and see how you can handle it.
Yep. My classmate ran the same problems as me and got the same scores. And she was also really good. It sucks. I’m unfortunately one of the ones who didn’t make it. I was told every single day by instructors that I was really good and I’d have no problem getting out of there. My first evaluator pulled me in to tell me my score and he said “you were the best student I’ve ever graded, you just ended up making one mistake in the second half that caused a bunch of other errors. I have no doubt that you can do this job and be very successful at it. I know you’ll kill the next two and get out of here. You deserve this job” and here I am. Totally sucks. Especially after having an evaluator himself tell me that. Wasn’t nervous at all. The problems were just so crazy and had new concepts in them. I also heard that they recently ramped them up more. And the evaluators I had are apparently known to grade the hardest problems is what I was told
This is exactly why the academy is so messed up.
"If you can't handle the Academy, then you would never certify in a facility."
"If you can't handle the Academy, then you would never certify in a facility."
Straight BS.
So messed up. This is what I’ve wanted to do for 15 years now. I have some grievances though, so I was encouraged to file them and come back through the terminal side, so hopefully I’ll be back at the academy soon
Yep. My classmate ran the same problems as me and got the same scores. And she was also really good. It sucks. I’m unfortunately one of the ones who didn’t make it. I was told every single day by instructors that I was really good and I’d have no problem getting out of there. My first evaluator pulled me in to tell me my score and he said “you were the best student I’ve ever graded, you just ended up making one mistake in the second half that caused a bunch of other errors. I have no doubt that you can do this job and be very successful at it. I know you’ll kill the next two and get out of here. You deserve this job” and here I am. Totally sucks. Especially after having an evaluator himself tell me that. Wasn’t nervous at all. The problems were just so crazy and had new concepts in them. I also heard that they recently ramped them up more. And the evaluators I had are apparently known to grade the hardest problems is what I was told
Damn man I'm really sorry to hear that. I start basics next week is there anything you suggest I hit really hard studying going through class to hopefully be prepared for the eval surprises?
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