Introduction: Hello, my name is DCC Randy M. Barkman. I have been in the Navy Reserves since Feb 18, 1987. I currently drill in Ebensburg, Pa. I wanted to increase my chances of making Chief, and one of the things I learned was how to improve my exam score. I changed my approach entirely to how I studied and prepared for the exam and the selection board. I received the honor of being selected as Chief by the selection board in July 2003. I found success with the changes I made in my studying habits and I realized that what I had learned could help others and their approach to taking the exam. One of my current goals is to do what I can to help fellow shipmates achieve their Navy advancement goals. By the way, no matter which exam you are taking, E-4 through E-7, or whether we are in the same unit or at the same reserve center, or if you are active duty, in the reserves, shore duty, or ship duty: We are all shipmates. We all bear the awesome responsibility and honor of serving our country in the greatest Navy in the world, and regardless of where you are in the world, I sincerely want to see you succeed. My hope is that the information and notes contained in this site will help you improve your exam scores and reach your advancement goals. There is a substantial amount of information contained in these pages, please feel free to use this resource either online or print out the study notes for your personal use. You will find the links to all the notes I have compiled from the BMR, MR 3&2, MR for 1st, and MR for CPO at both the top and bottom of this page.
Cost: I am simply trying to help shipmates and I do not make any money from this site, or any of the other sites I have published. This is a free web site, hosted by Tripod. I have absolutely no control over the adds and pop-ups on the site, as that's how Tripod makes their money in order to provide this free space to me. I use a free host so that I am able to keep it at no cost to you! I will never ask you to donate money to keep the site going, as everything here is done on a volunteer basis. I do not sell books to get a commission or any "informational" CD's filled with stuff you could have gotten elsewhere for free. There are no financial costs for using any materials on this site for your personal use, no rip offs, and no commercial endevors. If you find the notes on this site and the lessons on my other sites helpful, all I ask is that you tell two shipmates about them so that others may benefit as well!
Feedback: If you would like to contact me or if you have feedback (which is always appreciated) or even an idea for something you would like to see added to the site, feel free to sign my guest book at the bottom of this page!
Bibliography:On this site you will find some good advice, hints, and good info on PMK, as well as links to other web sites (see more important information about that below). The first thing you will need to do is make sure you are eligible to take the exam. Then you will need to get a copy of your Bibliography. Getting your Bibilography is the most important advice I can give you. You can print out a copy of your Bibliography at The Navy Advancement website. Your BIB will tell you what to study, both for your rating as well as the PMK references. BIBs are made available six months before the exams. Be sure to get yours as soon as possible once they come out in order to give yourself ample study time!
Military Requirements: This web site was developed to help those taking the Navy Wide Advancement Exam. This website covers military requirement information. The military requirements questions are now referred to as Professional Military Knowledge (PMK) questions. I do provide links to sites that will help you with your further studying that should be very helpful.
PMK Questions: About 90% of your PMK questions come from military requirements courses, ie BMR, as well as Military Requirements for 3 & 2, 1, and Chief. What the exam writer will do is go through those courses and pick out questions that they feel you should be knowledgable about. I cannot tell you which questions will be on your exam. What I did was go through each chapter and made notes of what I would study if I was taking your exam, or what questions I would choose to put on the exam if I was the writer. Remember the higher you advance, the more PMK questions will be on your exam:
E-4: 50
E-5: 65
E-6: 85
E-7: 100
A lot of people do not do very well on the PMK questions. This is where you can make up a lot of points. Also note that every PMK question is exactly the same for each rate. If you are a DC3, IT3, or a BM3, taking the E-5 exam, all of your PMK questions will be the same.
Ordering Courses: The next thing you may want to do is order the military courses that are listed on your BIB. You can do that on the Navy Courses Website. You will also want to visit these sites if you are unable to obtain a copy of the BMR or the Military requirements for your rate prior to your test, as you will have the ability to study and review the chapters you need online. You will also have the ability to print out your selected chapters right from these Navy Advancement sites. I highly recommend doing this if you do not have a copy of your course books, as while the notes here on my site are in depth, there will be times I will refer you to the chapters or certain pages for review.
*Note: You can only order up to four courses at a time. You only have one year to complete the courses.
In Rating Studying: For your in-rating studying you may want to try the North Star Study Guide. They have been providing service to the fleet since 1978. Their study guide costs approximately $44.00. You can visit their website or order the guides at www.northstarstudyguides.com
Other Bib References: When you get your Bibliography, you will see a list of course chapters to study for your PMK questions. Sometimes, there may also be suggested study material that does not come from the military requirments courses that are covered on this site. To help you access that material, should it appear on your Bib, I have listed these links below:
Navy Uniform Regulations 15565
Navy Directives
Joint Pub 3-07.2, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and procedures for Antiterrorism, Appendix B&J (PDF file)
Navy Doctorine for Antiterrorism/Force Protection
Study Tips:
Here are the next three most important things to do, in order:
1. Study!
2. Study!
3. Study!
If you have a shipmate who is taking the same exam as you are, study together. If your shipmate has a different rating but you’re both going for E-5 you can still study your PMK questions together. Make time to study. Take notes. Pay attention to charts and graphs in the courses. Make flashcards (this really helped me). You can take your flashcards just about anywhere you go. By using your Bib, by studying your courses, you will improve your score. I improved my last FMS by 20.96. That’s a lot of points! And that doesn’t count award points or PNA points.
Is there anything else you can do?
Sure.
Every point counts. So make sure any award you have earned is in your service record and that it is on your work sheet the day you take your exam. Those taking E-4, E-5, exams can earn up to 10 points for awards and E-6 can earn up to 12 points. (Note: not every ribbon/medal you have is worth points. Check with your personnel office).
Make sure your eval marks are correct. The day of your exam check your worksheet and if there is something wrong tell your proctor. Also make sure any earned PNA points are on your worksheet as well. You can earn up to 30 PNA points.
The exam will have 200 questions and you will have three hours in which to complete it. Use all the time you need. If you studied well, the exam should be fairly easy. If you use these methods of studying it should be very helpful. The advancement exam is very competitive and this should get you ahead.
Evaluations Are extremely important when it comes to your advancement. To find out more valuable information on how evaluations play a role in your advancement and how to improve your evaluations, please visit my other website
Evaluations Made Easy at http://evalsmadeeasy.tripod.com. I believe you will find this step by step instruction very easy to use and a great reference!
Future Chiefs: If you are an E-6 and getting ready to take the advancement exam for Chief, I have another web site called Who Wants to be a Navy Chief. When you are going up for Chief, it is the only time in your Navy career when you will have to both take and exam and go before a selection board. Making Chief can be very competitive, and not everyone who makes the Navy a career will be selected Chief. This site contains step by step information on how to increase your chances for making Chief. Even if you will not be eligible to take the exam for a few years, there is information on my Chief site that can help you start increasing your chances now.
Overmanned Rating: What should you do if you are in an overmaned rating?
If you are in an overmaned rating and there isn’t any room for advancement, then run away, run away and never return! In other words, if you’re eligible, crossrate. This is what I did, and I went from E-3 to E-6 in 4 years. This is a decision only you can make, of course. Check with your career counselor for more information and advice. There is also more information on overmanned ratings, and ratings currently needed for reservists at
www.navalreserve.com
There is one last thing you need to know, and you won't get this from another website:
Believe in Yourself
Set your goals. Set them high but achievable. Then, accomplish your goals.
If you took the time to log onto this site, and read this page, then you have proven to me that you have the desire and determination that it takes to succeed.
I wish you luck,
To accomplish your goals
To realize your dreams
To achieve success
means nothing...
unless you can inspire
others to do the same.
---DCC Barkman