drew0203 said:
Hey Go4the8,
What MOS did you receive? And did you see a correlation between guys who stayed around to put in extra work and their class rankings? Thanks
drew
I got an air contract before I went to TBS, so I didn't have to worry about MOS assignment. There are three components that make up your overall average at TBS and thus your final ranking amongst your peers. These three components are: 1. academic average 2. leadership average 3. military skills. The one thing that you could do well on by putting in extra work would be your academic average and a portion of your military skills average. Both require studying, though the majority of your military skills comes from the rifle range, pistol range, land navigation (day/night), etc., so studying for them isn't going to help you so much since they are practical applications and not multiple question tests. The leadership portion comes from how you handle various biilet positions whether in the field, in garrison, or whatever event you happen to be in charge of. You can study for the event and have an awesome operations order (aka 5 paragraph order) and know what you are doing with regards to that particular "operation", but you really can't study leadership. You learn that from experience.
I can use my roommate, who finished #2 in the company, as an example. On the weekends he would go north to the outlet mall area and go to Barnes and Noble to study. He studied all the time. He made flashcards, wrote out explicit notes from class and typed them into his computer, and practiced giving his 5 paragraph order to himself in the mirror. As a result he was well-prepared for all his leadership positions, with respect to knowledge, and thus he could focus more on leading rather than the details of the assignment he was given. He made 100's on every test, except one where he made a 98 or something like that. Though he is a fine example, I can't say that doing what he did will guarantee the same results. All I can say is do your best, cause that's all you can do. If you are worried about ranking due to being able to get your MOS choice, don't worry too much about it, because the Marine Corps will give you the MOS they want you to have, unless you are in the top 10% (I believe that is correct) and they give you your first choice. Everyone in our company, except one, got one of their top 5 choices. The one that didn't got his 6th choice. Another factor you have to take into consideration is your SPC. He/She can "help" you by getting you the MOS they think you should have.