These requirements may change from time to time, but usually you must:

1. Have a certain amount of time in pay grade.

2. Demonstrate knowledge of the material in your mandatory rate training manuals by achieving a suitable score on your command’s locally prepared and locally administered test, or by successfully completing the appropriate nonresident career course (NRCC), or in some cases, by successfully completing instruction in an appropriate Navy school.

3. Complete all Personnel Advancement Requirements (PARS), NAVPERS 1414/4. These include required schools, performance tests, occupational standards, and correspondence courses for the next higher pay grade.

4. Be recommended by your commanding officer.

5. Demonstrate knowledge of military subjects. This is demonstrated by passing a locally administered Military Leadership Examination based on the naval standards (from NAVPERS 18068 series). Military leadership examinations are applicable for advancement to pay grades E-4 through E-7.

6. Demonstrate knowledge of the technical aspects of your rate by passing a Navywide Advancement Examination based on the occupational standards applicable to your rate (from NAVPERS 18068 series, those standards listed at and below your rate level).

Remember that the occupational standards can change; check with your division officer or training officer to be sure that you know the most recent standards.

If you meet all the qualification requirements, you become a member of the group from which selections for advancement are made.

WHO WILL BE ADVANCED?

Advancement is not automatic. Meeting all of the requirements make you eligible, but does not guarantee your advancement. Some of the factors that determine which persons, out of all those QUALIFIED, will actually be advanced in rate are the score made on the advancement examination, the length of time in service, the performance marks earned, and the number of vacancies being filled in a given rate.

If a number of vacancies in a given rate exceeds the number of qualified personnel, then ALL of those qualified will be advanced. More often, the number of qualified people exceeds the vacancies. When this happens, the Navy has devised a procedure for advancing those who are BEST qualified. This procedure is based on combining three personnel evaluation systems:

Merit rating system (Annual evaluation and commanding officer’s recommendation)

Personnel testing system (Advancement examination score—with some credit for passing previous advancement examinations)

Longevity (seniority) system (Time in Rate) Simply, credit is given for how much the individual has achieved in the three areas of performance, knowledge, and longevity. A composite, known as the final multiple score, is generated from these three factors. All of the candidates who have PASSED the examination from a given advancement population are then placed on one list. Based on the final multiple score, the person with the highest multiple score is ranked first, and so on, down to the person with the lowest multiple score. For candidates for E-4, E-5, and E-6, advancement authorizations are then issued, beginning at the top of the list, for the number of persons needed to fill the existing vacancies. Candidates for E-7 whose final multiple scores are high enough will be designated PASSED SELBD ELIGIBLE (Pass Selection Board Eligible). This means that their names will be placed before the Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Selection Board, a Naval Military Personnel Command (NAVMILPERSCOM) board charged with considering all so-designated eligible candidates for advancement to CPO. Advancement authorizations for those being advanced to CPO are issued by this board.

Who, then, are the individuals who are advanced? Basically, they are the ones who achieved the most in preparing for advancement. They were not content to just qualify; they went the extra mile in their training, and through that training and their work experience, they developed greater skills, learned more, and accepted more responsibility.