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EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL
- Enlisted Non-Resident Training
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ENLISTED NON-RESIDENT TRAINING
One half of the system by which enlisted personnel acquire the skills and knowledge they need to advance to the next higher pay grade. (The other half is Enlisted Professional Military Education, or E-PME.) The system is illustrated here.
This half of the system, which began with correspondence courses in about 1927 and hasn't changed much since then, is undergoing a major transition. This half of the system has never had a specific name, so I'll refer to it here as The Old Version. Replacing it is the Enlisted Rating Advancement Training System (ERATS), which became official policy via ALCOAST 577/11. The MST, OS, and aviation ratings have completed the transition from the old version to ERATS. The current plan is that all others will have completed the transition to ERATS by the end of 2015, but this date is not fixed. ALCOASTs will be published announcing each rating's transition.
Both the old version and ERATS use on-the-job training (OJT) to supplement book learning and to verify that the servicemember can perform specific tasks and knowledge associated with the next higher pay grade within his/her rating. This diagram illustrates how the old version and the ERATS relate to each other.
The old version (which will still be in place for many ratings for a number of years into the future) has three components:
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Rating Performance Qualifications (RPQs) which the candidate must have signed off by someone within his/her rating who's senior to him/her by at least one pay grade.
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a rating course ("correspondence course") called a Performance Qualification Guide (PQG), which is based on the RPQs, and
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a rating advancement test (RAT) the candidate takes after demonstrating his/her proficiency by completing the PQG and all RPQs for the next higher pay grade.
Rating Performance Qualifications (RPQs)
What are colloquially called "practical factors" are actually Rating Performance Qualifications (RPQs). For ratings which have not yet made the transition to the ERATS, they provide performance standards to enable the enlisted workforce to perform their jobs and prepare for advancement. These RPQs are concise descriptions of job tasks that enlisted personnel in a specific rating and pay grade are expected to be able to perform. They
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serve as a “work order” to training centers that will develop curriculum and training;
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serve as a permanent record of an enlisted person’s attainment of the required rating and military qualifications;
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are used as a standard for making enlisted advancement recommendations;
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provide analysts with a baseline for a workforce’s required performance standards; and
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provide force managers, program mangers, facility managers, assignment officers, etc., a catalogue of performance factors.
RPQs for ratings which have made or are making the transition to ERATS ( to quote ALCOAST 033/11),
. . . are the core performance requirements of each rating and pay grade that a member must successfully perform to be eligible for advancement.... The RPQ provides more specific guidance and direction to both the performer and the supervisor than the RPQ. In addition to the task to be performed, the RPQ includes required steps to perform the task, conditions under which the task must be performed, and the standard to which the task must be performed. References required are linked to each step of each task....
You can view and download them from the Coast Guard Portal.
You must demonstrate proficiency in each RPQ by actually performing the task listed for your supervisor, who will then date and initial the item. If new RPQs for your rating are created in the future, you will be required to demonstrate proficiency in them, but you won't need to get signatures for RPQs previously demonstrated. These RPQs must be signed off by your supervisor or Professional Development Coach before you may take a RAT and qualify for advancement.
For more information on how the PQG and RPQs relate to each other, and the supervisor's role in each, you can download the brochure "The Supervisor & the Performance Qualification Guide (PQG)".
Performance Qualification Guide (PQG)
In the not-too-distant past, an enlisted person received a course from the Coast Guard Institute and was on her own to complete it. There was no formal guidance or structure for completing it or otherwise preparing for what was then called the rating advancment test (EOCT).
Old-style courses were replaced by courses in a new Performance Qualification Guide (PQG) format. Each new PQG is a self-paced tool that's based on RPQs. PQGs are realistic instruction-learning tools and provide structure for on-the-job training. The PQG format employs a more interactive approach to learning that embodied in the old correspondence courses. You will work with your Professional Development Coach (PDC) to demonstrate mastery of your PQG and RPQ materials and tasks. To make it easier to keep track of your progress, most PQGs include a monthly tracking sheet.
The different volumes of each PQG are training aids to prepare you for the next higher pay grade in your rate. The information you learn and skills you perfect with the help of the PQG probably won't be easy to master. This is because it's college-level material. By this I mean that the knowledge you gain from the course is the equivalent of knowledge you'd gain if you were taking a college course. The American Council on Education periodically evaluates all PQGs and determines how many college credits you likely would have earned had you taken college courses to learn the material in your PQG. To find out how many and in which areas these credits fall, you can check out ACE's Military Guide Online.
To get the most out of your PQG/course, check out the step-by-step guide elsewhere on this web site.
To get a course/PQG, send your employee ID number with your request to your ESO. The PQG will be sent directly to you at your work address or, if you're a Reservist, at whatever other address you provide. Although the Institute quotes a delivery time of four to six weeks, courses often arrive in two to three weeks or even less. You can also download the PQGs as PDF files from CGPortal.
You must complete demonstrate to your PDC or supervisor your ability to perform each item in each lesson of your Performance Qualification Guide Certification Pamphlet before you may take a RAT and qualify for advancement.
For more information on how the PQG and RPQs relate to each other, and the supervisor's role in each, you can download the brochure "The Supervisor & the Performance Qualification Guide (PQG)".
For each rating that's completed the transition to the ERATS there are no PQGs. Completely updated RPQs for each rating cover everything an enlisted person needs to know or be able to do to advance to the next higher pay grade under the ERATS.
Rating Advancement Tests (RATs)
The purpose of the Rating Advancement Test (RAT) is to ensure you know and can do what someone in your rating at the next higher pay grade is supposed to know and be able to do.
Many units (both ashore and afloat) maintain a library of RATs for each rating and pay grade, as well as for a number of other Coast Guard Institute non-resident training courses. This means you don't have to request that your ESO order the test from Institute; merely schedule a time to take the test with your ESO.
Coast Guard personnel at library units submit RATs to the Institute for scoring using an on-line answer form.
Immediately after the on-line answer form is submitted, your test is scored and the Institute's computer sends you an e-mail that gives you your unofficial score. If you passed, the e-mail will give you your "unofficial qualifying score". If you didn't, it will list your "unofficial non-qualifying score."
Official results are posted in DirectAccess (under "Test Results") within a day or two after you take a test. Only these results are considered official. A few days after your official results are posted, you and your ESO will receive an e-mail to which is attached a PDF letter from the Coast Guard Institute either congratulating you for passing or, if you didn't, detailing what percentage of questions in each test section you got right. These letters are for your information only; it is the score shown in DirectAccess that is used to determine whether you qualify for a particular school, program, or duty.
Before you may take a RAT, you must show your ESO that Part VII (Record of Completion) of your RPQ document has been filled in by your PDC.
Some RATs are open-book tests. The Coast Guard Institute has published rules for administering (and taking) these tests. You should familiarize yourself with these rules before you make arrangements to take your RAT.
Open/closed-book rules for Deck Watch Officer and Nav Rules tests are somewhat complicated. Click here to learn more about them.
Once all ratings have completed the transition to ERATS, RATs will be administered on-line unless Internet connectivity problems make that impossible.
Before You Take an EOCT or AQE …
How to Pass Your RAT the First Time Using the PQG