Naval Education and Training Professional Development Center: FAQs

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Advancement to E7 requires selection board action. In order to qualify for selection board
consideration, candidates must meet eligibility requirements in Chapter 2 of BUPERSINST
1430.16F.

PO1s who are eligible to advance to Chief Petty Officer are rank-ordered against peers with
only two Final Multiple Score (FMS) elements: 1) the candidate's performance mark average,
and 2) their exam standard score (SS). Each candidate's FMS is rank-ordered against all other
E7 advancement-eligible candidates in the examination rate/competitive group. The
advancement-eligible candidates who have an FMS that falls in the top 60 percent will be
selection board eligible (SBE). The records of all candidates who have an FMS that falls in the
bottom 40 percent (in each rating) will not be forwarded to the board for consideration.

Under the new FMS formula outlined in NAVADMIN 114/14, the performance metric
(evaluations) are 60% of the E7 FMS, and the exam SS is 40%.

The Navy Advancement Center (NAC) posts the two years or more of advancement results
for Active Duty and SELRES cycles on the Navy Advancement Center's (NAC) link on MNP
under Exam Statistics By Rate.

For E4/5/6, the data is displayed with the following fields:

ERATE - Examination Rate
GRP - Competitive Group
TOTAL - Number of candidates in examination rate/competitive group
ADV - Number of candidates advanced
ADV % - Percentage of candidates advanced
PNA - Number of candidates that passed the exam, but did not advance
ADV PNA % - Percentage of candidates that passed the exam, but did not advance
FAIL - Number of candidates that failed the exam
FAIL % - Percentage of candidates that failed the exam
DISC - Number of discrepant candidates
DISC % - Percentage of discrepant candidates
ADV SS - The average exam standard score of candidates who advanced

For Active Duty cycles, OPNAV N132 provides monthly pay increment quotas. These quotas
are loaded into the Navy Enlisted Advancement System (NEAS) monthly and spread across all
examination rate/competitive groups by pay grade. For E4/5/6, selectees are advanced by Final
Multiple Score, not exam Standard Score (SS). For E7/8/9, selectees are advanced by
Selection Board seniority ranking. For SELRES cycles, BUPERS-32 provides pay increment
quotas. These quotas are loaded into NEAS and pay determination is established for all
increments at the same time.

Monthly increments are generated by the first of the month. Once your pay date is determined,
your Profile Sheet will be updated with the actual date of advancement.

The pay increments for each exam cycle are as follows –
JAN (Active Duty) and FEB (SELRES) E7 has 12 pay increments - Sep (current year) through
Aug (following year)
FEB (SELRES) and MAR (Active Duty) E4/5/6 has 6 increments - Jul (current year) through Dec
(current year)
AUG (SELRES) and SEP (Active Duty) E4/5/6 has 6 increments - Jan (following year) through
Jun (following year)
NOV (Active and SELRES) E8/9 has 12 increments - Jul (current year) through Jun (following
year)

Typically for Active Duty cycles, the majority of Sailors will advance in the final month of the
advancement cycle. Typically for SELRES cycles, advancement is spread evenly for each
increment

Since E4/5/6 Navy-wide advancement exams are administered twice a year, there are six
monthly increments. Since E7/8/9 selection boards are held once a year, there are 12 monthly
increments.

If you missed the Navy-wide advancement examination while you were in an IA
(Congressionally Designated Combat Zones and Approved Contingency Operations Area)
status, the first thing you need to do is contact your ESO and take the next available
examination. When your ESO sends the examination answer sheet to be scored, they will also
send in an Advancement-in-Rate or Change of Rating worksheet for the exam missed that
includes what your PMA, awards and SIPG would have been if you had taken that exam. Your
FMS from the exam taken is not used to compare with the Final Multiple required of the exam
missed. To recalculate your FMS for the missed exam, the Navy Advancement Center (NAC)
takes the standard score of the exam you took, the PMA, awards and SIPG from the missed
examination worksheet and recalculates your FMS for the examination missed. If that FMS
equals or exceeds the Final Multiple required for the examination missed, you will be advanced
off that exam. If not, you may receive PNA points. A new profile sheet will be created for the
examination missed for you to view and print at the Navy Advancement Center's (NAC) link on
MNP.

Refer to BUPERSINST 1430.16F for further directions.

NAVADMIN 336/07 establishes criteria for E7/LDO candidates in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn
of Africa who may be waived from participation in the CPO advancement exam. Although
Sailors may be waived from taking the CPO exam, they ARE NOT automatically Selection
Board Eligible (SBE). SBE waiver validation must be completed by the eligible Sailor's
permanent command using a validation answer sheet transmittal letter. Refer to NAVADMIN
336/07 and the Advancement Manual, Chapter 6 for additional information and specific
requirements.

Sailors who do not have a valid profile sheet for the Active Duty or SELRES CPO selection
board are not SBE. A candidate may verify their selection board eligibility on the Navy
Advancement Center's (NAC) link on MNP. Failure to comply with established policy and
procedures will result in a missed advancement opportunity.

None, both Active Duty and SELRES have similar Navy-wide advancement examination content
and are scored the same. Reserve personnel are required to have the same knowledge as their
active duty counterparts. The only difference is the advancement opportunity or quota. OPNAV
N132 provides quotas for Active Duty cycles and BUPERS-32 provides quotas for SELRES
cycles.

A raw score cut value is applied to each Navy-wide Advancement Examination (NWAE) rate to
determine whether a candidate passed or failed to pass the NWAE. If a candidate’s raw score
(the number of questions answered correctly) falls below the applicable cut value, then the
candidate “fails” to pass the NWAE and is eliminated from competition for advancement.
Currently, the raw score cuts for a 175-item NWAE (without deletions) are 49 for E4, 55 for E5
and 61 for E6 and E7.

Your advancement opportunity is based on two primary factors; first is your individual Final
Multiple Score (FMS) and next is number of vacancies which create quotas. Every examination
rate/competitive group has different quotas and advancement opportunity.

Exam Stats by Cycle can be reviewed to determine and review how your examination
rate/competitive group has performed historically. The Navy Advancement Center (NAC) uses
the FMS to rank-order Sailors to fill available quotas in each rate.

The Navy-wide advancement examination is only one part of the FMS, but Sailors have the
opportunity to increase their advancement opportunity by scoring higher than their peers taking
the same exam (see note "What is the standard score? How is it determined?"). Mastery of the
exam comes down to how well you know your job. Learn as much as you can about your rating
from all sources. Study the references listed in your bibliography. Bibliographies are examspecific, so be sure to download and review the material listed for the correct cycle.

Bottom line, the two primary things you can do to get advanced are to maintain stellar
performance on the job and know your job well enough to score higher than your peers on
advancement exams.

Quotas are the total number of test-takers who will be advanced. Quotas, or vacancies, within
each rating community and paygrade are determined by the Chief of Naval Personnel,
Commander, Naval Reserve Force, and Enlisted Community Managers.
Advancement opportunity and career progression are directly linked to a rating's manning level.
Personnel in undermanned ratings have greater opportunities for advancement than those in
over-manned ratings.