<p>My name is James - I was on here a lot last year because I was the kind of kid that wanted to know everything about what I was getting into. Now I’m a cadet in CS-07 and would really like to give back to the group if I can.</p>
<p>SO - if you have questions that UNcynical doesn’t answer or if you want the underclassman’s opinion, I’d be more than happy to help with that. Uncynical helped me out tons last year and now that she is moving on, I would like to help too.</p>
<p>Basic: Basic was just about what I expected it to be - it was hard physically (at some points) there were A LOT of restrictions on "training" that's AF speak for PT - First beast was definitely harder than 2nd beast for the simple fact that you are bored out of your mind - your cadre are bored out of their mind and this sometimes leads to "games". Our basic squadron was really good - we performed well but our cadre loved to play mind games with us. One example - mail becomes like your favorite thing in the world during basic. One night they brought the entire squadron down to do a mail check and they let us get our letters and bring them back to the hallway by the mailroom. Then they let us look at the envelopes but not open them. Then we were made to put them back into our mailboxes because we hadn't earned them. That was pretty hard because you knew that someone important was writing to you and you couldn't read it. Also in first beast - don't worry too much about the boots, you hardly wear them at all the first week. So they broken in over time.</p>
<p>2nd beast: the change of command was swift and ominous. Our new cadre were TOTALLY different than what we had in 1st beast. They were physical and had something to prove - most of our flight would be destined to go into Shadow Seven, and most of our cadre were either from 7 or had been in 7 their freshman year and thus wanted to make sure we were up to snuff. The PT picked up dramatically from 1st beast, the ratio of beat minutes to rest minutes changed to 15 minutes of beat with 5 mins of rest so our flight would do the beat and then get up and do knowledge for 5 mins and then back down. It was good and it bonded us together - by the end of basic we knew quotes that no other flight knew and they showed up on the first month of k-tests during the acc year. We were visited and beaten by other members of 7 throughout Jack's Valley phase and it seemed like no one else was getting beaten when we were. When Jack's ended we were supposed to do a "warrior run" but rain apparently creates too many problems for warriors - so we had a warrior picnic where they gave us food but didn't let us eat it. Then we put the tent flaps down and had some fun with our cadre for what must have been an hour or so - then we ate our meals one piece of food at a time at the instruction of our cadre. </p>
<p>(All in all, basic is more a mind game than anything else - your body will carry you where it needs to go, it's your mind that will break you 100% of the time)</p>
<p>1st semester was very different immediately - we could go places on our own, we could do anything outside of the cadet area - a lot of the upperclassmen treated us well and tried to get to know us, others still "hated our guts" and liked to train us. There were a lot of beat sessions in the beginning but as you learn what to do and what not to do - your group figures it out and things get better for you. It moves from a very directive type situation where they tell you where and when and how to do everything to a goal and expectation situation where if you don't meet the goal or excepctation you get punished, but if you do, you get rewarded. The biggest things for my squadron are decorum in the squad, cadet area, tables for lunch, knowledge test scores, and togetherness. Every squadron is a little different with how they treat their 4 degrees - a non-approved term of address for fourth class cadets - 1st group tends to be the most stract and 4th tends to be the laxest... you'll hear different things so it's best not to worry about it..</p>
<p>Academics weren't that much harder than high school for me but I went to a rather difficult college prep school. What makes it really hard are all the little things that get added to your day which take up your time. Time becomes your greatest commodity and so if you can find ways to streamline things you will become a god - spreadsheets that control certain things like table procedures for each lunch table in your squadron will help out your classmates and in turn, will help out you by keeping the beat sessions away. </p>
<p>Military: k-tests and inspections will make up most of your military portion of life. Drilling will be easy and you will drill better than most of your upperclassmen having just made it out of basic. There will be a lot of training for the entire squadron leading up to the fall training event currently named "commandant's challenge" and i'm assuming there will be similar training leading up to the current "pinnacle". It's not rediculous - squdaron runs, workouts, knowledge study sessions, that sort of things. Eventually you will be broken into event teams and then you'll train with them to get ready for your individual event.</p>
<p>Athletics: you need to keep yourself in shape and manage your time wisely. You'll take one of two PE classes (males) boxing or wrestling then physical development (females) self defense "kiya class" and then physical development.</p>
<p>The biggest thing that is bothering the 4 degrees right now is that we lost our Superintendent and our Commandant at more or less the same time so EVERYTHING is changing. They are talking about bringing Recognition back and all this training and so many things but the bottom line is that no one knows for sure what is going to happen, just that it is going to go back towards the "old days when it was hard" and that there will not be the same sort of privelege system for us freshmen as there were the last 2 years (as evidenced by us not having movies, music, doors closed, or at ease on the Tzo.</p>
<p>Hope that was good - if you want more specifics, by all means reply.</p>
<p>2nd beast came right after first - the change of command was in the afternoon, said goodbye to old cadre and said hello to new ones at dinner. Academics are odd for me - small classes good, but taking regular AF Officers to teach classes on things they might not even have had a degree in bad.</p>
<p>Holiday break started right after your last exam (could be as late as the 22nd) and ends on wednesday.</p>
<p>My experience - yes. Our 2nd BCT Cadre were hard on us, harder than any other flight i saw. In the Valley i would give you winning odds that if you saw a flight getting beat it was ours. We got it enough that the other flights in the squadron stopped coming out to support us... what does that say to ya?</p>
<p>JSF09, I welcome the help and I'm glad you seem to be doing well. </p>
<p>While I think that I have a slightly "bigger picture" view of how the Academy runs, the pendulum of change, and such, I definitely think that the perspective of four degrees is important, especially to soon-to-be cadets. While I distinctly remember four degree year, the system has changed, so what I went through that year is not all relevant to new cadets (although the general foundation and purpose has not changed). Also, by nature, of course a four degree and firstie are going to see things at the Academy differently, with no view really being "wrong."</p>
<p>I will make a short reference here to the new Supt and Comm. I've seen a lot of change during my time there, but more than usual toward the very end of my four degree year. Regardless of what changes occur, realize they're being made with your best interests in mind, even if you can't see that at the time.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the long and detailed explaination. I cant tell you how much your words of experience mean to everyone here. You can never take advice from just one person and expect to succeed, but when you get advice from many people each with different angles, you begin to see more of the big picture.</p>
<p>As as interested mom, of a potential student what is a "beat session" referred to in post #5?</p>
<p>And maybe a little bit more of an explanation of the "mind games" that are also mentioned?</p>
<p>I am clueless to some of the lingo, so take that into consideration. My boys have played football for many years so I do understand some of the physical part of the training, i just am not familiar with those particular terms with regards to athletics or academics.</p>
<p>I'm so sorry - the academy, and most of the military, is in love with shortening things as well as coming up with our own terminology. I was going fast to respond and sort of forgot - usually i'm better about that sort of thing.</p>
<p>Beat session: I thought I noted that it is a primarily PT - Physical Training - there will be many pushups (wide, narrow, regular, diamond), situps (full and crunch), flutter kicks, leg lifts - more or less anything that doesn't involve moving from one place. A derivative of a beat session is a SAR Session - SAR = Squadron Assembly Room and is a large room on the Terrazo for vandy and inside the squadron for sijan, where the entire squadron can come together for a briefing or something of that nature. These training sessions are more intense and can last 1 to 2 hours. Usually it is used as a punishment where the upperclassmen break into groups and then train the freshman in a rotation of sorts. In addition to the normal exercises I have done 250+ jumping jacks, sprints, long jumps, TV Watchers (also known as the bridge where you get on your toes and elbows and maintain a straight back), with whatever the upperclass can think of. They usually ask for some sort of quote or knowledge tidbit, and individuals aren't supposed to be singled out for "special training" though it happened a lot in my squadron.</p>
<p>Mind games: as I mentioned in one of the posts the biggest mind game was the mailroom incident (refering to an isolated moment) the other things mostly had to do with control. In basic you are stripped down to your core and then given everything you need to include clothes and toiletries, decorum and responses. Some mind games include the knowledge poems (each person says the next word in the quote and if you mess up you do some pushups and then start all over again) we did, or just putting people on the spot. There's a lot of programed responses such as "no excuse sir/ma'am" to any "why" question. I.e. we're learning to take responsibility regarless of who's fault it actually was. Not knowing what time it is was really hard for me but you seem to figure it out based on the sun position (at least i was able to), how tired you are, and meals. By the end of 1st beast, i was able to tell what time it was based on the sun and perceived time past within 30 - 45 mins which might not seem like much but it's a lot better than nothing. Another thing that got me was that no matter how perfectly you did something, it was never good enough - example: I know how to polish shoes pretty well and have taught many of my classmates in the flight during beast, but despite the fact that they beat the pants off of some of our cadre, i still was yelled at for it. If you are different, you are yelled at, if you talk or otherwise try to socialize anywhere but your room you were yelled at (this included the showers)... So it's nothing damaging, just VERY different than anyone is really used to.</p>
<p>JSF09-
Thank you for the info. That cleared up a lot.
What are your academic classes? How does your math and science classes compare to your high school classes? Did you feel prepared? Are they what you expected content-wise and with respect to rigor?</p>
<p>Did you validate any classes and if so, which ones? Would you do anything different with regards to academics?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance, I sincerely do appreciate you taking the time to answer.</p>
<p>BS110 which is intro to behavioral sciences (Psychology) and I really enjoyed that class. It was more or less all powerpoint driven lectures that sometimes got boring. When it came to exam time that was mostly a memorization course for me - read the outline and you do well.</p>
<p>Chem141 That's the intro to chemistry class that almost all freshmen take. I found it extrememly challenging but the entire course is curved 10 points - and believe me, people still fail it.</p>
<p>Math 152 which is advance placed calc because I validated calc 1. My instructor wasn't really what I had hoped for but I learned a few things for sure.</p>
<p>Compsci 110H - This was an honors class that I placed into and it really was a great course. I learned a lot. Instead of using the flowchart language raptor, we learned command line programming that I found muhc more useful.</p>
<p>Engineering 100 - THe survey course for engineering that integrated many disciplines of engineering into one class. You worked in groups the entire semester to accomplish a rocket, a glider, a launch platform, digital logic circuit and a boost glider. It was hard to coordinate everyone's schedules but we worked it out in the end.</p>
<p>Validation: Like I said, I validated calc one. I also validated freshman english so I will be taking english 211 next semester. Additionally I placed into honors computer science. My advice towards validation is take it as much as possible because it's going to make your life better later on - more flexibility in your schedule and the chance to take some classes you're interested in later on.</p>
<p>Expectations and preparation: I felt very prepared coming from a small private school where my class size was about 15. We learned how to write and how to analyze there so I wasn't playing catch up. I had AP classes that dealt with a lot of the same concepts that freshman year addressed. In other words - if you took the absolute hardest classes you can in High School, I do not think you should be worried about the academics at the academy. They won't kill you. the one thing that will be important is to use your friends and upperclassmen - many are willing to tutor you in whatever area you're struggling in. I took quantitative chemistry in HS and it addressed some of the work that chem 141 did but it was still a stretch for me. My calc and calc based physics classes helped a lot with the calc 2.</p>
<p>"the one thing that will be important is to use your friends and upperclassmen - many are willing to tutor you in whatever area you're struggling in."</p>
<p>That's an accurate assessment. I think that asking for help in general is a contributing factor in the low grades some people experience their first year. In high school, there's a good chance that relying on other people and asking for help on assignments was unnecessary. There are many resources available in the realm of academics, but even when they know about them, pride gets in the way sometimes. </p>
<p>I'm going to be the academic officer in my squad next semester. One of the first things I'm going to do (which is what I did last year when i was ac nco) is get a list together of what every person in my squad is willing to tutor and get that out to people. For the past 2 or so years, I've also volunteered to tutor behavioral sciences (including a final exam study session) for the entire course, as it is my major. The vast majority of people are willing to help out if they have knowledge of what you're confused about.</p>
<p>Thank you both for replying. I use the boards here on CC to help navigate the college process for my 5 kiddos. Kiddo #4 is the one applying so my questions were with respect to him. He does most everything on his own but does ask for my opinion most times. And I am trying my best to be informed, especially with regards to the academies.</p>
<p>Thank you for the specific answers to my questions. Was the validation for your calc 1 class due to a specific AP or IB exam score? Son does have a few APs so I was wondering how this would fit in at the academy. There is a huge difference in how the APs are received from his prospective schools, varying from not accepting any APs regardless of the score, to only 5s with a cap on credit, to a mix with elective credit to our state uni matriculating him with 78 units!</p>
<p>He has tried to explain it several times for me and I think I am getting it now. Only to learn the new terms of "validation".</p>
<p>Did either one of you apply to other schools besides the academies and if so, if you don't mind sharing, which ones? What helped you with your final decision? Did you also apply for a ROTC scholarship?</p>
<p>I think the peer tutoring is a very valuable resource. Besides being a great tool for academics it is another wonderful example of teamwork.</p>
<p>I also have a quick question on validating. I remember (can't find it on the new site) somewhere in the AP section stating you could validate a maximum of 3 classes or something. Sounds like that's not the case. Could yall clarify? Thanks!</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this answers your question, but AP scores are not the only way to validate a class. It can also be done with high enough scores on the placement tests that are taken in BCT.</p>
<p>I didn't apply to any other schools as the Air Force Academy is the only one I had a desire to attend, and I was willing to go to extreme lengths to gain acceptance. This caused a slight issue the first year I applied as I got disqualified a week before BCT was to begin (already had my appointment but it was due to an unresolved medical thing). I ended up going to a local community college for that year while I went through the whole application process all over again. That was interesting too, as getting disqualified seemed like the worst thing in the world when it happened. In retrospect, though, the extra year I spent around home and at the local college wasn't bad and I love how things turned out (despite that I would have already graduated if I'd have stayed in the class of 05). I do believe everything happens for a reason.</p>
<p>The Wing just granted all of those privleges that were mentioned earlier upon coming back from break. They include at ease on the T-Zo (we don't have to run the strips or greet, but we still can't talk), movies, music and doors closed (means you can sleep in). As always though, everything depends on your squadron. My squadron commander just this morning took all these privleges away from us. He admits we are doing very well, especially compared to other squads, but I think he resents the changes that have taken place since he was a four degree and wants it to be just as hard on us.</p>