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Have a question about conductor school car written midterm and written final


KBest87

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How is the written midterm and final?

 

Is it hard?

 

And what topics do i really need to study for the written midterm and final

 

i take my 1st written midterm next week and im hella nervous

 

all advice and tips will be appeciated

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Study everything. Know the rulebook, know your definitions, and know your operation. Understand how things work, and be familiar with the equipment (especially circuit breakers). Know signals.

 

If you've been doing the reading, asking questions on what you don't know, and keeping up to date on what's being taught in the class (and you're doing the work) getting a passing score should be a breeze.

 

If you get a question that stumps you, stop, take a deep breath, THINK, use common sense, and pick the right answer. Don't panic and overcomplicate things and pick the wrong one.

 

If you've been doing the work you won't find the tests hard.

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It's nothing hard at all. Study the bulletins they always go over, and there are the answers to the questions.

 

Also, before picking an answer, read all the choices. Trust me, they're not trying to get rid of people with these exams, they just want to make sure you retained the information that your instructors have been teaching. I don't think retained was the proper word to use but it was best I could come up with lol.

 

You'll do fine!

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"Know signals."

 

So conductors have to take the same signal exam as T/Os? Ouch.

 

Not what I said...

 

Conductors have to know signals. They can be expected to be asked questions on quizzes, their midterm, their final, and even possibly during their practicals (at the discretion of the superintendent). They should EXPECT to be asked about signals while being evaluated in the field doing their operation - and that includes while posting. Any wrong answer WILL be viewed as a "problem", how big or small the problem is depends on your other answers in general. You will be expected to know your job, and that goes beyond the end of schoolcar. So if a TSS rides your train 8 months into probation and asks you to describe the 3rd rail jumper procedure, you'd better be able to do it. You'd better be able to explain how to cut out a door on every car class in your division. Name the circuit breaker that probably tripped if presented with a situation verbally. And answer questions about signals, because you never know when you may have to flag a train. Hook a stop arm. Throw a hand switch.

 

However, conductors do not have to take a "signals test" with required passing score of 100. That's only for Train Operators.

 

Know your job it will make you better at it, enable you to protect your job if you ever need to explain something you did in a G-2, and convince other people you know your job so they will leave you alone and let you do your thing. Make no mistake, if you look timid and uncomfortable when you go on your own, you WILL have supervision all over you until they feel comfortable you know what you're doing.

 

I don't say this to scare you, but so that anyone in schoolcar knows what's up. If you know what you're supposed to know, and do what you're supposed to do (in time you'll learn the way the road works and what's different about it B)) you'll do alright.

 

But there are certain things you ALWAYS must do and you'll see those too, and the most important is you must POINT, you must NEVER open up where there is no platform, you must NOT drag anyone, you MUST make proper announcements complete with "stand clear of the closing doors please" before doing so, and you must operate the emergency brake when the situation calls for it (Learn this bulletin COLD! - "Conductors in charge of trains - unsafe train operation")

 

Passing schoolcar is a good accomplishment, but the battle does not END there it STARTS there.

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Thanks for the insights subwayguy. Conductors have to know a lot more information that I thought they do.

 

Do they teach ALL conductors proper flagging procedures in school car, or just the conductors who work flagging jobs?

 

They will teach you full flagging, but you won't have to practice setting it up. They can give you questions about it on midterms and finals (and verbal questions on evaluations) and that includes questions about distances. You absolutely must know how to read and react to flagging signals in the event that you have to flag a train from the front if a train operator has to operate from other than head end (can be due to a train with mechanical problems).

 

Conductors with enough seniority to pick flagging get an additional qualification to be a flagger that covers setting up and removing flagging in more detail and requires them to actually do it. It also covers more complicated situations like high speed areas, curves, river tubes, and how the placement of stations affects the flagging.

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And just to add to the sound advice from SubwayGuy & RTOMan-- continue to review your rulebook and bulletins, especially those pretaining to your door operation and door cut-out procedures. It is all explained exactly the way it is supposed to be done, regardless of what some guy might have told you in a crew room, the bulletins are what really matter. After schoolcar, it's easy to forget some of that since you won't be dealing with all of it everyday and when the time comes and you've got a train full of people watching you who aren't happy that they're delayed because of the door problem, you will be glad that you reviewed the procedures and remained familiar with them. That way you'll be in control of the situation and handle it correctly. And if you're unsure about something that was taught or maybe something comes up which they weren't clear about, make sure you ask a TSS about it. They will be glad to explain it to you rather than you get stuck in a position not knowing what to do.

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And just to add to the sound advice from SubwayGuy & RTOMan-- continue to review your rulebook and bulletins, especially those pretaining to your door operation and door cut-out procedures. It is all explained exactly the way it is supposed to be done, regardless of what some guy might have told you in a crew room, the bulletins are what really matter. After schoolcar, it's easy to forget some of that since you won't be dealing with all of it everyday and when the time comes and you've got a train full of people watching you who aren't happy that they're delayed because of the door problem, you will be glad that you reviewed the procedures and remained familiar with them. That way you'll be in control of the situation and handle it correctly. And if you're unsure about something that was taught or maybe something comes up which they weren't clear about, make sure you ask a TSS about it. They will be glad to explain it to you rather than you get stuck in a position not knowing what to do.

 

yup all sound advice right there...

 

to add, if there's a specific procedure you're having trouble remembering after schoolcar (I don't think it should come to this but JUST IN CASE), make flash cards with the procedure and carry them with you for easy reference. Even if you don't think you'll need them.

 

It's one thing to do a procedure in front of a superintendent and a TSS who WANT to see you pass (you will not be helped nor will you pass if you don't deserve it...but they would prefer it if you passed - they're on your side! they'd hate for MTA to have "wasted" money training someone who flunked out of schoolcar, and they hate having to explain it to their bosses too). However, it's entirely another thing being on a train by yourself with a whole bunch of angry and confused strangers, who may be asking you questions, who may be complaining, who may even yell or swear at you...and trying to do the exact same procedure. ESPECIALLY if you're one of those who "tends to panic" write stuff down so you can take a deep breath, slow down, have reference at hand if you need it, and most importantly do it right.

 

It's not an SAT test where consequences are only on paper, remember you are responsible BOTH for the lives of the people on your train and maintaining safe and on time service, and for maintaining your own job and your stream of income.

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  • 4 months later...

Hey everyone, for those of you who already took the conductor midterm, is there any advice you can offer other that what has been posted above? I've been reading all the bulletins, rules, etc.

 

Also, for the benefits, you get one vacationd ay a month, up to 2 weeks, for the first 2 years? Is that right?

 

Thanks!

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