cross country and the NSS

[pocketsizejesus]

I've heard it said that everyone takes a big hit on the ol' NSS after a cross country. One of the instructors was even saying everyone can count on taking a 6-10 point hit. Any truth to this? Has anyone has an NSS go up?

 

[NavyLonghorn]

Soap Box removed. I stand corrected.

 

[pocketsizejesus]

Actually, I am complete, but the grades from my CCX aren't in yet. Overall it went pretty well, especially considering the 13 HOUR notice I was given for it (Hurrevac). But anyway, now that I'm done, I figure I've earned the right to start thinking about grades. With no flights on the horizon, there's nothing else to think about.

 

[nittany03]

If you're complete, you can't do anything about it. That said, it depends largely on your instructor.

 

[pocketsizejesus]

Point taken, but like I said, it's harmless to think about it now, and hard not to. So, getting back to my original question, does anyone here think there's any truth to that "NSS always drops after CCX" statement?

 

[nocal80]

From my personal experience, and from what I've heard from others, cross countries were always better for grades than doing the flights locally. Usually the instructor is happy to be going somewhere cool(hopefully) and has a good time, and is more apt to hook you up. I've never really ever heard of cross countries being worse for grades than local flights, not to mention they are way better learning experiences.

 

[beau]

Havent heard of that...but I have heard of a general drop in RI's...which is just natural because MIF is so high compared to early stage stuff. The only reason NSS would generally go down would be a Higher MIF in stage. That being said the sims always seemed to be the place where one would take a hit....the flights were only worrysome if your IP turns out to a stickler on grades on the Cross Country (cause Making only MIF in later stages will kill anyones NSS).

The lesson to be learned is that the more money you make in Fams the Higher the NSS....everyone takes a hit by the time they hit RI's and late stage stuff...so the Higher your NSS(read grades) going in, the better chance of a Higher NSS at the end.

Getting a Hard grader as an On-wing for FAMs makes getting a high NSS very hard...unless you're truely **** hot and can salvage the damage. Or maybe you suck and you desevre the grades you got....the way you can tell is how others grade you.

Yeah this is the worst part of Primary/flight training/being in the Navy to this point for you my friend. Sure it feels like a million bucks to be done with primary....but you are still waiting for Selection.....enough to drive anyone crazy just thinking about where you will be in a month.....and the next 10 years of your life. You start second guessing yourself about how well you did during training and wonder if there is anyway to figure out your NSS early...or why it dropped so much. So many things out of your control go in to that score that it changes month to month.

The worst thing you can do is to check your NSS early....before everything is in....I checked it before RI's and when I finished the program....I had lost 10 points from that score. Lesson: NSS is not a NSS until the week you select. you should never have a warm and fuzzy about your NSS even if it is higher than the norm....because that does not necessarily translate to getting what you want because of the Biggest factor....needs of the Navy/MC.

 

[BugDriver]

IPs might be easier on CCX, but MIF gets harder...

If by "CCX" you are referring to the instrument flights I4202, I4203, I4204 & I4390 along with the visual nav flights N4001 & N4002, then yes, you can expect your NSS to come down from any previous projection. I flew these flights on my cross country, got fine grades, and mine still dropped a couple points.

Basis for my generalization? The MIF for the I42xx and I4390 flights is very high. On my I4390, for example, I had zero 3's, thirteen 4's and five 5's for a cumulative score of [77] and so only beat MIF [71] on the flight by a ratio of 1.085. (My understanding is that a cumulative ratio of 1.15 equates ROUGHLY to an NSS of about 52.) Therefore, I would've needed TEN 5's and EIGHT 4's just to average 1.15 on the flight. Not impossible, I'm sure, but I'm definitely not that smooth.

That said, since MIF on the N4001 & N4002 VNAV flights is relatively low, so if you flew VNAV -- or better yet, VNAV AND Night NAV -- on your CCX, you might make some money. Or, if you're an instrument all-star pulling more 5's than 4's, then please disregard my ramblings and accept my humble congratulations...

Lastly, for everyone else waiting to jump in with the "quit worrying about grades" lecture, save your keystrokes. I'll be the first to advocate simply working as hard as possible in Primary (particularly in early-stage sims and flights where MIF is low), but you gotta throw some food for thought at the guy who's complete and sitting around waiting for the Gods to decide his fate!

 

[nocal80]

Lastly, for everyone else waiting to jump in with the "quit worrying about grades" lecture, save your keystrokes. I'll be the first to advocate simply working as hard as possible in Primary (particularly in early-stage sims and flights where MIF is low), but you gotta throw some food for thought at the guy who's complete and sitting around waiting for the Gods to decide his fate!

I agree, anyone saying "don't worry about your grades", or "don't worry about selection" either selected so long ago they forgot what it felt like or is full of $hit. The only way I couldn't worry about selection the night before was to get absolutely $hit-faced, it was also the only way I would have gotten any sleep.

 

[pocketsizejesus]

The NSS is in! Dropped by a mere 2 points. I got the grades I want, so right now nothing else matters. I put rotary first, but I'd be happy with anything. All I really cared about was knowing I had the grades that in theory could get me what I wanted. Now it's just like waiting for Christmas til I find out what I get. Damn, this is cool.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Amazing....simply amazing. People ask questions. But instead of answers, they get lectures. Just an observation on my part.

 

[kray1395]

Amazing....simply amazing. People ask questions. But instead of answers, they get lectures. Just an observation on my part.

Amazing?? Surely you are kidding Mr. Wilkins. And you probably are. I hate to get off topic, especially since this is a great thread with a great question. I happen to be in the same situation as Mr. Jesus with my CCX happening this weekend.

There are a number of people on here who love to lecture. Examples: This thread, anytime anyone asks a question about preparing for API, or selection in general (service selection, airframe selection, etc.). It is very easy for people to say don't worry about it, it's out of your control, you should just worry about how much you're going to drink, you don't need to study ahead, go to the beach, etc. Some of these suggestions are valid, but no more valid than the answers that the poster is looking for to the original question. So if you can't or won't answer an individual's original question....... do as someone suggested earlier, and save yourself the keystrokes. Find some other way to increase your post count so that you can look like an airwarriors all-star.

 

[Fly Navy]

Depends on the IP, sometimes they pad your grades and help you out... sometimes you get hurt. I guess you'll find out what you had

 

[beau]

Some call it Lecturing...some call it gouge. I see no harm in passing the knowledge I learned in the past on to others and for them to take it in however they want. Gouge/learning from the mistakes(Blood) of others is how you survive in Aviation land.

 

[Fly Navy]

The lesson to be learned is that the more money you make in Fams the Higher the NSS....everyone takes a hit by the time they hit RI's and late stage stuff...so the Higher your NSS(read grades) going in, the better chance of a Higher NSS at the end.

Getting a Hard grader as an On-wing for FAMs makes getting a high NSS very hard...unless you're truely **** hot and can salvage the damage. Or maybe you suck and you desevre the grades you got....the way you can tell is how others grade you.

While the part about going into late-stage with good FAM grades is correct, the part about dropping in RIs is not. RIs is the money-maker in Primary. That's where jets or no jets can really be decided, if all things are equal in FAMs. Myself and many others went up in RIs. Maybe it's a Corpus thing?