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Grades in API?
- Thread starter DCLegal
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The only way that you will not go to primary is if you totally fail out or can't pass the pool training. Each class has one final exam, and you have to pass it with an 80%. If you fail a test, you get a pink sheet and you take it again the next day. The second time you fail a test, you usually get rolled into the next class. The third failure will probably send you to an academic review board to find out what the problem is.
API is a pass/fail deal. If you get an 80% on every test nobody will say anything to you and you will go right on to your primary squadron just like you would have if you had made 100's on every test. Your final API grade goes in your training jacket, but it does not count toward your NSS or selection of platform after primary.
People do actually fail out of API. I don't know how, but it seems like there is one in every class who just can't cut it. The one from my class was lazy and didn't really want to fly anyway, so she just took her 3 pink sheets and went on to something else. Just make sure you don't fail anything so you don't have to show up to your primary squadron with a pink sheet in your record. Other than that, don't worry to much. API is easy.
API is a pass/fail deal. If you get an 80% on every test nobody will say anything to you and you will go right on to your primary squadron just like you would have if you had made 100's on every test. Your final API grade goes in your training jacket, but it does not count toward your NSS or selection of platform after primary.
People do actually fail out of API. I don't know how, but it seems like there is one in every class who just can't cut it. The one from my class was lazy and didn't really want to fly anyway, so she just took her 3 pink sheets and went on to something else. Just make sure you don't fail anything so you don't have to show up to your primary squadron with a pink sheet in your record. Other than that, don't worry to much. API is easy.
easiest (for me:
systems
metro
hard(eh, not really):
aero 2, nav can be a b1tch is you didn't do IFS.
averages were in the mid 90's. no one in my class hit the 80's twice in a row. one coastie failed nav twice and was rolled. one guy missed one question in all the tests. does it matter? Only if you do bad in Primary will they look back at API pink sheets. Otherwise, just get through it. Having all 100%'s matters not.
systems
metro
hard(eh, not really):
aero 2, nav can be a b1tch is you didn't do IFS.
averages were in the mid 90's. no one in my class hit the 80's twice in a row. one coastie failed nav twice and was rolled. one guy missed one question in all the tests. does it matter? Only if you do bad in Primary will they look back at API pink sheets. Otherwise, just get through it. Having all 100%'s matters not.
The only test that I made below a 90 on was the Flight Rules and Regs test (the last one) and that was because I had totally dropped my pack. They will scare you the first couple of weeks with stories about how hard things are, and everyone in the class will overstudy. You will know Aero I so well that the test will probably take 15 minutes.
I finished 12th in a class of about 40, and I was a political science major in college. There is a lot of information in a short ammount of time, but all of the questions are direct from the books, so it is not very tricky at all. The Nav test is probably the hardest one, but if you do all of the questions and sample problems from the book you will be fine.
I finished 12th in a class of about 40, and I was a political science major in college. There is a lot of information in a short ammount of time, but all of the questions are direct from the books, so it is not very tricky at all. The Nav test is probably the hardest one, but if you do all of the questions and sample problems from the book you will be fine.
DCLegal said:
Don't sweat API. It will be the easiest part of flight school (IFS aside). You'll hear all sorts of horror stories about every aspect of the program, from the run, to the tests, to swimming, to the helo dunker, the pressure chamber, and parasailing. But for every horror story, there are 20 or more people telling boring stories that only involve people passing whatever the evolution was.
Perhaps your friend needs to change study habits. Are they studying with a group? Sometimes I found I learned the material better telling it to someone else than just cramming it in my head by myself. Just a thought.
DCLegal,
If your friend is putting all of these hours in and still just getting by, he probably needs to study smarter instead of harder. All the way through flight school you will find that there are times that you can spend 4 hours in a book trying to learn something that can be explained in 15 minutes by someone who is only a couple of weeks ahead of you in the program. Like Nittany said, study in groups is good but you have to study some yourself ahead of time to contribute to the group. This type of study is really important later on in flight school because the volume of information is so much bigger. The big pitfall of studying alone is simple, you don't know what you don't know. You can study for a briefing item and think that you have it all down but then find out in the brief that there was something about it in a different publication that you had no idea about. Group study will fill those gaps. It's a lot better to have a friend expose the holes in your knowledge than an instructor pilot.
If your friend makes all 80's on his tests, he will be fine. He just has to get through the 4 weeks without failing a test and he is on his way. They don't drop guys for not setting records. There are minimum standards for a reason.
If your friend is putting all of these hours in and still just getting by, he probably needs to study smarter instead of harder. All the way through flight school you will find that there are times that you can spend 4 hours in a book trying to learn something that can be explained in 15 minutes by someone who is only a couple of weeks ahead of you in the program. Like Nittany said, study in groups is good but you have to study some yourself ahead of time to contribute to the group. This type of study is really important later on in flight school because the volume of information is so much bigger. The big pitfall of studying alone is simple, you don't know what you don't know. You can study for a briefing item and think that you have it all down but then find out in the brief that there was something about it in a different publication that you had no idea about. Group study will fill those gaps. It's a lot better to have a friend expose the holes in your knowledge than an instructor pilot.
If your friend makes all 80's on his tests, he will be fine. He just has to get through the 4 weeks without failing a test and he is on his way. They don't drop guys for not setting records. There are minimum standards for a reason.
when i was in API i had a guy in my class that just could not get the studying thing. he could swim like a fish, run like a Marine, but just could not get the academic thing. Failed the same test numerous times. I was bad in the water and he wished that he could trade my academics for his water wings. Just the way it goes sometimes..i seriously dont think he made it through.
I had a guy in my class who performed marginally through out all of API (test scores in the 80-85% range), he was given a NATOPS pink sheet at the end of API for marginal performance. Moral of the story: the navy is cracking down on bottom-feeders in flight school.
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