We had 3 days of instruction from an outfit to help us get thru the testing . We are lucky in one respect . The union picked up the tab on the whole deal .
This is personal opinion but I think the hall was afraid if they didn't have certified people ready that the contractors would slide operators in and push the drivers out .
Load Charts , Not sure if you consider it sneaky or evil genius . With the multiple choice answers , One is correct and 3 are mistakes . Whatever the 3 most common mistakes are , They will be the 3 wrong answers . So if a guy does his figures and looks down to see the same answer he came up with , He better be right . Don't assume that just because you see your answer there on the answer sheet you are home free .
That was brought home when I was doing load charts . I missed a deduction for a stowed jib . That answer was there . Got to the end of the test and still had time so I run back thru the charts . 2cd chart question I caught the mistake and corrected it .
Another Evil Genius Chart question was on line pull . I run my numbers , looked down and that answer was there . Then looked at the parts of line and it didn't add up . Figured the line pull and made my deductions from there and that answer was there too .
Some pretty smart/Evil people have put this thing together .
One thing that upset me with this testing was what some of the contractors did . They sent guys down to do the testing cold . These guys just barely could spell boom truck , Let alone run one . I have no clue how they thought that was going to work .
Poor guys just had no way to understand what was going on .
It's not a training course , It's a Certification test . Unless you are an old hand with years in the saddle , It ain't easy .