Sorry, I couldn't think of a good term for it at the time, but the grade you need to make to pass FA BOLC. For the longest time it was always 70%, but for the past year or so and now ending with the incoming classes it has been 80%. Just imagine FA BOLC as a semester of school because that's essentially what it is, where you are taking 3 classes (PL/CAD, Gunnery, and Fire Support) and each class is split into multiple blocks throughout the "semester." You'll start with Block 1 CAD, PL, FS, and Gunnery (yes, all at the same time) and after a few weeks take your Block 1 tests. You must get atleast an 80.00% to pass, a 79.99% is an F. If you fail, you get 1 retest the next day, and even if you get a 99% on the retest, you only get a 80% in the grade book for that block. Long story short, after all those tests you must have an overall 80.00% to pass and graduate. Anything less and you get to go plead your case to the BTRY, BN, and BDE commanders on why you should be allowed to recycle (they can and have separated LT's from service for failing). The standards, curriculum, etc. change as commandants and commanders come and go, and I guess the current one has determined that going back to 70% is the right move as roughly 20% of FA BOLC classes are currently recycles from previous classes.
There are 4 blocks to both Gunnery and Fire Support, 2 blocks to CAD, a safety exam (this standard will remain an 80%), and a Block 5 Comprehensive exam. Gunnery is what kills people in the course. A 80% average probably doesn't seem too hard, but this course requires extreme attention to detail and precision, and is just simply a very difficult course (most people don't know/understand this). To give you an idea, all of our tests are open note, open book, open computer (minus Internet), and just about everyone will fail a test at some point and not because they can't reference an FM.
I'm sure that's 100 times more info than you were wanting, but someone will probably read it.
June 12 FA bolc for my daughter
