First Year Hints and FAQ
07/08 Performance Evaluation Schedule
We will be discussing ibewhourpower website, check it out.
Your "license" or more properly your training certificate is a legal necessity. DO NOT LET IT LAPSE. This is critically important. You cannot legally work without a valid training certificate, you and the employer are subject to fine if you do so.
Look at your schedule and note how many weeks have "TEST" as the activity. YOU won't be in for all of those days, but do check to see which day YOU will be in before YOU schedule a vacation.
We will be doing conduit labs so have appropriate sturdy shoes.
Call or come in for help prior to your week of school if needed. We are experimenting with different format of homework check, and MAY use an open book test to check if you have completed your lessons. So putting "don't know" or other nonsense in the blank in hopes we will see something written and skip it will hurt you. REALLY DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK.
Read the lesson objectives, use the information sheets as tools and templates in problem solving, read the lab introductions and summaries, you will find a lot of great info there.
Week 1
There are 23 Lessons associated with the Sections covered in week 1. If you have problems figuring out the syllabus or aren't clear about the assignment CALL. If it takes you one night to get your homework done you don't understand the assignment.
Do your tech math workbook in its entirety prior to Week 2, and the more you do long hand the better off you will be. We will not be testing on number conversions, boolean algebra or logarithms. Using a calculator will not be allowed on the tech math test. Do the square roots long hand and show work. Tech math is a go/no-go test. You will have two chances to pass and two failures will result in being dropped, don't let that happen to you. The first tech math test will be right off the bat Monday morning of WEEK 2 so be prepared. Come in for help prior to your week of school if needed. See the contacts and links page for more links out to math resources if you need them.
Note that you recieved a typed "Scheduled Lesson Outline" showing which lessons are planned for each week. Every group goes at a different pace and encounters different challenges. The outline is a rough plan which we will modify as needed. DO NOTE that in the first week there are lessons that we skip. Do work for Sections One, Two and Three only. DO THE LESSONS BEFORE COMMING IN, ALL OF THEM FOR THE WHOLE WEEK ARE DUE MONDAY MORNING.
Also note in the syllabus J208A1.H there is a lesson outline which shows which lessons go with each test. If there is any question about what lessons go with which test, check the Syllabus. Please record your own scores and track your average. 75% is passing, but a GPA of less than 80% is to be avoided.
We will be doing conduit labs so have appropriate sturdy shoes.
Lesson 3; references are your Agreement and Standards, both of which you receive when indentured.
Sections 2 and 3 in the syllabus cover tools, knots and safety. We will work on the OSHA-10 course this week, which is a prerequisite for many jobs. First Aid Class, this is mandatory, do not miss it. Note that on Lesson 25 in the J221 book the references should include Article 430 of the NEC, and that questions 38, 39, 43, and 46 can be skipped and we will cover it in class.
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Week 2
Do your tech math workbook in its entirety prior to Week 2, and the more you do long hand the better off you will be. We will not be testing on number conversions, boolean algebra or logarithms. Using a calculator will not be allowed on the tech math test. Do the square roots long hand and show work. Tech math is a go/no-go test. You will have two chances to pass and two failures will result in being dropped, don't let that happen to you. The first tech math test will be right off the bat Monday morning of WEEK 2 so be prepared. Come in for help prior to your week of school if needed. See the contacts and links page for more links out to math resources if you need them.
Lessons 24 through 38; show work means Formula, Substitute, Solve and Label. Test questions will be wrong without work. As you do the tech math book there are instructions on how to use your calculator. Fractions, Trig and use of parenthesis are important for later. More information on your calculator is available as a downloadable pdf.
Week 3
Beginning DC Theory, Use the Computer Lab and/or come in for help BEFORE the week of school.
Week 4
More DC Theory. Tests 8 and 9
Week 5
Tests 10, 11, 12 and Semester 2. Combination circuits, Kirchoff and Thevenin, magnetism, generators, Code. READ all references including Information sheets. There will be hands on proficiency evaluations this year, we may get some of them done this week. Look at your schedule and note how many weeks have "TEST" as the activity. YOU won't be in for all of those days, but do check to see which day YOU will be in before YOU schedule a vacation.