Top Tips
Join Date: Jun 2001
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If you're female, you've already set a tone/made a statement by calling yourself "PinkFlyer". Get a new username before you're identified and treated as a pink fluffy girlie....................unless that's what you want, in which case some will appreciate it and some won't.
I might be wrong on both counts.
I might be wrong on both counts.
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Ant,
That would make more sense. I guess the first time pass rate would be something like the 'old' one of about 60 or 70% with the stragglers getting through on R or Back Course (or whatever it is that happens now)?
MT
That would make more sense. I guess the first time pass rate would be something like the 'old' one of about 60 or 70% with the stragglers getting through on R or Back Course (or whatever it is that happens now)?
MT
So 'Ant' has agreed that the figure I had heard of 94-96% passing IOT is correct, albeit for an 'eventual' pass rate?
Once again I would ask if anybody truely believes OASC gets it right on 94-96% of occasions (I know I don't!!)!! If so all the OASC staff should quit and go and work for industry in recruitment, they would be paid a fortune if they could repeat that success rate (read on up industry recruitment. They use interviews, psychometric testing, group work, etc, I believe if they get it 60% right they think they are doing very well!!).
Once again I would ask what top tips you need for IOT when (effectively!!) everyone passes it! Top tips for making life there more comfortable for yourself maybe, but not for passing!!
Once again I would ask if anybody truely believes OASC gets it right on 94-96% of occasions (I know I don't!!)!! If so all the OASC staff should quit and go and work for industry in recruitment, they would be paid a fortune if they could repeat that success rate (read on up industry recruitment. They use interviews, psychometric testing, group work, etc, I believe if they get it 60% right they think they are doing very well!!).
Once again I would ask what top tips you need for IOT when (effectively!!) everyone passes it! Top tips for making life there more comfortable for yourself maybe, but not for passing!!
Join Date: Oct 2002
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top tip, dont be a medal hunter. winning the sword wont necessarily count for much in your career. let your goals be more along the lines of passing, learning as much as you can, and making the best friends that you will probably ever have, you've got to remember what is important at the end of the day. if you do well enough to have an honour bestowed upon you then be proud, but to go into the process with that being the main aim is, i believe, slightly misguided. good luck and enjoy 
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Pinky - ignore the miserable bugg3r juliet. If you really want to get the Sword Of Honour, go for it. It means you get a better seat for your proud mum & dad at the Grad Parade, you are seated front, middle of the Sqn Photo, your folks are included in the VIP Drinkies before the Grad Lunch and you get to march alone to get yer sword during the parade - AND your name gets read out over a loudspeaker.
Please ensure proper breeding, choice of Branch and history of UAS antics before lining up for an attack on the Blade.
Anyone else on the same Course as Pinky? LOVE to hear the progress
Please ensure proper breeding, choice of Branch and history of UAS antics before lining up for an attack on the Blade.
Anyone else on the same Course as Pinky? LOVE to hear the progress
Was back at Cranners today at the GAPAN do (which was well sorted by 'Lady in Red'). But where were the aeroplanes? Just the one Tupperware Trainer was all we saw all day. Where once the racket of the less-than-mighty Viper would have been incessant, there was just the dull fart of whatever elastic band powers Das Teutor!
But what a good bunch the few cadets I saw seemed to be. And, err, dashed pretty - even in cabbage kit - it has to be said!!. The girls, I mean - and sorry if that upsets the political correctos!
PinkFlyer- the very best of luck to you - and to the rest of your intake who are too shy to ask the questions you've bothered to ask!
But what a good bunch the few cadets I saw seemed to be. And, err, dashed pretty - even in cabbage kit - it has to be said!!. The girls, I mean - and sorry if that upsets the political correctos!
PinkFlyer- the very best of luck to you - and to the rest of your intake who are too shy to ask the questions you've bothered to ask!
96% pass rate?!?!?!?!?!!!!!
Well thats the RAF down the tubes then.
Hell, that makes IOT a "can't fail" course then. What a big difference to a decade ago is all I can think.
Is this really true?
Cheers
WWW
Well thats the RAF down the tubes then.
Hell, that makes IOT a "can't fail" course then. What a big difference to a decade ago is all I can think.
Is this really true?
Cheers
WWW
Short Blunt Shock
Join Date: Jul 2003
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It would appear so. Recently spoke to a mate who is a current IOT Flt Cdr - apparently it is virtually impossible to chop a stude nowadays, unless you have a paper trail a mile long documenting all of their shortcomings in detail!
It seems now that studes do not have to prove their worth to the RAF; Instead, Flt Cdrs have to prove that they're NOT worth having! I suspect that heinous, crippling piece of legislation, the Human Rights Act, has something to do with this. Or maybe it's just politics - I always thought having selection and training under the same roof would prove to be disastrous........
It seems now that studes do not have to prove their worth to the RAF; Instead, Flt Cdrs have to prove that they're NOT worth having! I suspect that heinous, crippling piece of legislation, the Human Rights Act, has something to do with this. Or maybe it's just politics - I always thought having selection and training under the same roof would prove to be disastrous........
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Hmmmmm - subtle, but I take it that WWW never got through the doors of Crandiz 10 years ago then? Or got in & then out again before the other boys? I wonder.................
Hmmmm....
Better hope that one of the criteria for the award of the sword isn't humility......
P.S Why don't you watch the film 'An Officer and a Gentleman', specifically the bit where Richard Gere has the choice between finishing the obstacle race in a record time, thus obtaining individual glory, or turning back to help a team mate....!!
Better hope that one of the criteria for the award of the sword isn't humility......
P.S Why don't you watch the film 'An Officer and a Gentleman', specifically the bit where Richard Gere has the choice between finishing the obstacle race in a record time, thus obtaining individual glory, or turning back to help a team mate....!!
No - I never did start day one of Cranditz. Many good friends did so and I had been preparing for a number of years. I was very aware of the demands of IOT at the time and the chop rate then prevailing.
Not quite 10 years on I am frankly and honestly staggered how things seem to have changed.
Never having been 'in' I have no right to comment. Nevertheless I can only think it is 'a bad thing'.
Cheers
WWW
Not quite 10 years on I am frankly and honestly staggered how things seem to have changed.
Never having been 'in' I have no right to comment. Nevertheless I can only think it is 'a bad thing'.
Cheers
WWW
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Here's a tip:
If you are keen on the sword, just rock up and do the best you possibly can. Suggest you keep your desire to yourself as we all know that, just like school, over-ambition leads to unpopularity. If you get the sword, great. If not, you don't look a prick for going on about it and then not getting it.
Also suggest UAS people who reckon they're going FJ don't count their chickens, based on rumour control's latest. And it seems if you do end at up Linton, you're playing for big-boy stakes. Chop does mean chop.
Dave.
If you are keen on the sword, just rock up and do the best you possibly can. Suggest you keep your desire to yourself as we all know that, just like school, over-ambition leads to unpopularity. If you get the sword, great. If not, you don't look a prick for going on about it and then not getting it.
Also suggest UAS people who reckon they're going FJ don't count their chickens, based on rumour control's latest. And it seems if you do end at up Linton, you're playing for big-boy stakes. Chop does mean chop.
Dave.
Join Date: Feb 2004
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As someone who has seen IOT from both sides (Stude and Instructor including a stint as a Trg Officer) I have a somewhat different opinion to some posted here. The IOT 'system' is about as fair as it can be, taking into account that there are people involved. The course is designed to train Cadets in leadership and the other skills that they will require to perform as effective junior officers in the RAF, nothing more and nothing less. If you start IOT with the attitude that you are going to get as much out of it as you can and you have the maturity to recognise that the system is not flexible enough to be a bespoke course for your own needs then you will not go too far wrong.
As for the point that it is almost impossible to 'chop' cadets who are failing to make the grade without a long paper work trail - how can that be a bad thing? The difference between now and 10 years ago is that the cadet will get a copy of virtually anything written about them. This means that Flt Cdrs have to honest and fair in their reporting (not a bad thing). This does not make it any easier when a cadet who your gut tells you is not right for that RAF has managed to scrape along at the bottom and just make the grade for graduation. However, in my limited experience I can honestly say that the vast majority of cadets that I had a hand in helping to graduate fully deserved their commission. I would even go as far to say that I was proud to see most of them march up the steps at the end of the parade.
The main weakness in the IOT course will always be the people, both on the cadet side (not approaching the course in a positive manner and seeing the course as a game to be played), and on the Flt Cdr side (poor instructing and managing exercises in a manner that makes life easier for themself but does not deliver the training required by the individual cadet).
The long and the short of it is that you should enjoy the course so long as you approach it with realistic expectations and (fingers crossed) get a good Flt Cdr.
Final thought - the output from IOT is a reflection of the society that we live in - not necessarily the strengths/weaknesses of the selection / training process. The traditional officer outlook is not as common as it was a few years ago - OASC and IOT can mitigate the 'decline' in standards but cannot realistically arrest it.
As for the point that it is almost impossible to 'chop' cadets who are failing to make the grade without a long paper work trail - how can that be a bad thing? The difference between now and 10 years ago is that the cadet will get a copy of virtually anything written about them. This means that Flt Cdrs have to honest and fair in their reporting (not a bad thing). This does not make it any easier when a cadet who your gut tells you is not right for that RAF has managed to scrape along at the bottom and just make the grade for graduation. However, in my limited experience I can honestly say that the vast majority of cadets that I had a hand in helping to graduate fully deserved their commission. I would even go as far to say that I was proud to see most of them march up the steps at the end of the parade.
The main weakness in the IOT course will always be the people, both on the cadet side (not approaching the course in a positive manner and seeing the course as a game to be played), and on the Flt Cdr side (poor instructing and managing exercises in a manner that makes life easier for themself but does not deliver the training required by the individual cadet).
The long and the short of it is that you should enjoy the course so long as you approach it with realistic expectations and (fingers crossed) get a good Flt Cdr.
Final thought - the output from IOT is a reflection of the society that we live in - not necessarily the strengths/weaknesses of the selection / training process. The traditional officer outlook is not as common as it was a few years ago - OASC and IOT can mitigate the 'decline' in standards but cannot realistically arrest it.
P-XD
Reference your comment..'the output of IOT is a reflection of the society we live in'. Given that the RAF is very small these days, and getting smaller by the minute, presumably the number of IOT students required is also small and shrinking. Can we not find enough young men and women, given the numbers we need, with the right sort of attitude, even if they are not a reflection of the majority of society.
I have no desire to be 'classist', or to fill the RAF with 'hooray-henry's', but children educated in private schools often have the sort of ethos the services are looking for, team spirit, loyalty, confidence, a willingness to muck in, etc. These are not all upper class knobs! Many middle class families in Britain these days make sacrifices to have their children educated privately, and several of my RAF friends have their kids at boarding school courtesy of BSA!
But maybe kids educated privately these days have higher aspirations than to join the armed services!!
Reference your comment..'the output of IOT is a reflection of the society we live in'. Given that the RAF is very small these days, and getting smaller by the minute, presumably the number of IOT students required is also small and shrinking. Can we not find enough young men and women, given the numbers we need, with the right sort of attitude, even if they are not a reflection of the majority of society.
I have no desire to be 'classist', or to fill the RAF with 'hooray-henry's', but children educated in private schools often have the sort of ethos the services are looking for, team spirit, loyalty, confidence, a willingness to muck in, etc. These are not all upper class knobs! Many middle class families in Britain these days make sacrifices to have their children educated privately, and several of my RAF friends have their kids at boarding school courtesy of BSA!
But maybe kids educated privately these days have higher aspirations than to join the armed services!!
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Biggus - I hope you are fishing here. Northern scum & proud of it. Possibly gave me more motivation to prove I was worthy as I have been given nothing, assumed nothing and expected my future to be in my hands. Remember giggling drunkenly with an ex airman at one of those cheese & wine affairs at Crandiz - all those ex LUAS types and us poor people in the same room, then on the same parade square!
Currently doing OK - IMHO. Love the idea of regressing back to the trenches of WWI.
I thought the Army attracted all those privately educated types?!
Currently doing OK - IMHO. Love the idea of regressing back to the trenches of WWI.
I thought the Army attracted all those privately educated types?!