reef points - what to memorize?

Ricer, the person whom they asked the question to hasn't been on this forum for 4 years. There is no list. The items folks posted on here a good starting point.
 
Here's the truth of the matter - having familiarity with the material in Reef Points ahead of time definitely affords some advantages. People will say that it does not. People will say that they went through Plebe Summer having no prior familiarity and did just fine. Among many of the challenges of Plebe Summer, memorizing and being familiar with Reef Points is part of the challenges. I was one of those who went through Plebe Summer not knowing any of the required (to be memorized) material in Reef Points in advance. Memorizing it so well that I could recite it flawlessly under pressure took time - time that could have been spent making my room looker tidier and my shoes shinier.

Here's a dirty little secret - one of the reasons NAPsters do so well (at least, get off to a good start in Plebe Summer) is that they get a lot of this information ahead of time; not officially - but they do get the information. They are even familiar with the order in which the information needs to be known. But, once the academic year begins, they discover that there is no "Reef Points" for knowing the "quotient rule" for differentiating a complex mathematical expression nor a "Reef Points" for calculating the equivalent number of oxygen atoms to the number of carbon atoms with a mass of 8.0 grams.

In the long run, knowing the latter is much more beneficial than being able to memorize Teddy Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" quote.

Some people are simply better at memorizing than others. Those who are good at it have no difficulty. Those who aren't - well - they sometimes have difficulties. Knowing your rates well is often the first impression the detailers get of you. And, you know what they say about first impressions ...
 
DS just ordered one from the USNA midshipmans store. Navyonline.com. I think it was about $28
 
I recall in the PTR packet you'll get at least one page that must be memorized before I Day. I think it includes the Navy chain-of-command (sorry if I'm using incorrect terminology).
 
Detailers were once plebes too. They know the ins and outs of the system. I wouldn't be shocked if, when the detailers recognize someone who already memorized reef points, they either grill those individuals on much harder information or find a weakness in another area. Standing out is NOT something you want to do in plebe summer. Standing out in good or bad ways normally draws consequences for your squad, platoon, or company mates (not sure if they still do writing assignments). While memphis talked about an advantage...I guarantee most of your companymates aren't arriving to Annapolis already having memorized portions of reef points. NAPSters are expected to know most of the information in reef points (not everything) -- in fact, detailers will hold them to this standard and if they aren't helping out their companymates, then they will encounter some difficulty, as well.

Honestly, as memphis correctly pointed out, you can game the system for the six weeks in your life or you can enjoy the time up to it. Plebe summer is only six weeks...it will eventually end, even if you aren't the stellar memorizer. If you want to get familiar with Naval customs by reading online literature, I see no issue...but don't go and try to memorize the "Laws of the Navy," "Man in the Arena," etc.
 
usnabgo08 said:
Detailers were once plebes too. They know the ins and outs of the system. I wouldn't be shocked if, when the detailers recognize someone who already memorized reef points, they either grill those individuals on much harder information or find a weakness in another area.
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Well, you have to be smart about it. There's no point in flaunting how well you know your rates. Don't volunteer to give information that isn't asked of you. You certainly don't want to recite rates that are not even required. Simply know what you're required to know - and you'll be fine. There are Plebes who know their rates very well without getting a copy of Reef Points ahead of time. The detailers know that there are going to be sharp Plebes. There is no reason to suspect that a Plebe who knows his/her rates very well "cheated" and got a copy of Reef Points ahead of time. Besides - why is it considered cheating? Why do they sell Reef Points in the Midshipman Store if it's supposed to be "confidential" information? If you were going to take a college course, got the book ahead of time and familiarized yourself with the material - should the professor think that you are "cheating" when you come to class more prepared than the average student?

You give detailers too much credit. They're not that analytical. They work with the Plebes for only three weeks and then move on to the next training block or go on leave.
 
It starts becoming very obvious...when significant amount of material is easily memorized (i.e. Laws of the Navy, Man in the Arena), but then menus, newspaper articles, or other professional knowledge is asked to be memorized with little notification and all of sudden becomes a lot harder. Doesn't take that much thinking to put two and two together. Not all rates come out of reef points. One of the main reasons of plebe summer is the adversity...to have to do "impossible" things quickly and learn how to react to them...memorizing items from RP starts to erode some of that purpose and cheats oneself. If the sole purpose was ONLY to memorize the passages, then USNA would have included it in the permit to report package. This where the analogy of getting a textbook ahead of time fails...the value added isn't only the knowledge...it is the skill of learning how to quickly (under stressful conditions) memorize passages. No one really cares after plebe summer if you can recite the Laws of the Navy (in fact, I have never been asked that since plebe summer)...but learning how to commit other knowledge quickly is useful and sometimes needed (plebe pro-knowledge might be a close example following PS). I can't imagine there has been any plebe dropped from plebe summer because they had memorization issues.

It is up to each candidate to ultimately decide...I would suggest they consider the reason and purpose of why rates are asked during PS.

BT

I thought the MIDN store was limited to USNA-affiliated patrons. I wasn't aware that anyone could buy from the Mid Store or navyonline.
 
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These are all very interesting perspectives on the OP's inquiry and I'll take the liberty of adding yet another.

I was one of those parents who offered to purchase a copy of Reef Points for my kid for all of the reasons noted herein (BTW...MIDN store issued cards for parents to use and then subsequently issued hard credit card type ID for all future use which I do regularly). At any rate, when I posed this idea to DS he gave me a reply that surprised me even now when I think about it. He said rather sternly and some dismissiveness "I'm not interested....what's the point? I thought the whole idea was to address these kinds of things when they were presented to you as a Plebe...I can't validate Plebe year...can I?" Just one kid's idea of it.

I let it go right then and there.
 
Sydney C. said:
These are all very interesting perspectives on the OP's inquiry and I'll take the liberty of adding yet another.

I was one of those parents who offered to purchase a copy of Reef Points for my kid for all of the reasons noted herein (BTW...MIDN store issued cards for parents to use and then subsequently issued hard credit card type ID for all future use which I do regularly). At any rate, when I posed this idea to DS he gave me a reply that surprised me even now when I think about it. He said rather sternly and some dismissiveness "I'm not interested....what's the point? I thought the whole idea was to address these kinds of things when they were presented to you as a Plebe...I can't validate Plebe year...can I?" Just one kid's idea of it.

I let it go right then and there.
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I like that kid ;)
 
I know this is an older thread but this topic comes up all the time.

Instead of memorizing rates, for the love of god memorize some good marching or running cadences. The same ones over and over again get horribly boring.
 
mb1395 said:
I know this is an older thread but this topic comes up all the time.

Instead of memorizing rates, for the love of god memorize some good marching or running cadences. The same ones over and over again get horribly boring.
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I left my wife with 48 kids and only one hamburger left...your left...your leftyour right...
 
Just remember...you can't have any gender specific terms (i.e. man, him, her, etc.) in your cadences anymore! Person, specialists, Sailor, Marine, all ok!
 
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