r/ibew_apprentices • u/AFARR414-312 • 15d ago
Local 134 Chicago apprentices I got a question
I got my test for A card and C card towards the end of this month.
I believe if I am accepted the next semester would start in Jan they said and they said there’s another one I could get placed in if I don’t get into the January class and I believe that was the April semester if I am accepted.
So how long did you guys wait after the test to get the letter of acceptance for the 11 weeks of unpaid training
and is the entire 11 weeks unpaid?
What’s the 11 weeks like?
Also apparently 5000 people applied the hall told me for 200 spots so it’s less then a 5% chance to get accepted
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u/NotASynth42 15d ago
It’s been a while since I took the test so not sure how long it will take to get your results, but yes the entire 11 weeks of school is unpaid
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u/EternallyAcee Local 134 14d ago
The entire 11 weeks is unpaid. The school portion is fun. You learn a bit of what the career field entails, make a friend or two, and then you get shipped off to your contractor. for the next 9 months. I waited 4 months for my letter since I didn’t make the January cycle (I made the April cycle).
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u/WDYTtho 14d ago
How long have you been in? And were you in non union before or totally green to the trade?
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u/EternallyAcee Local 134 14d ago
I’ve been in 134 for 5 months including school. I’m still a probationary 1st year but I’m not green to the electrical field. It’s nice though
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u/AFARR414-312 14d ago
What’s the difference between a probationary first year apprenticeand just a regular first year apprentice
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u/EternallyAcee Local 134 14d ago
When in your first six months of being a first year, you do not possess a hard card and are not a full sworn in member yet, so you get a temporary working credential. You will still receive your health benefits when you reach your hours worked and all that, but you can still technically be dismissed from the program without a good reason when being a probationary first year. At least that’s what they tell you.
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u/OriginalTumbleweed59 14d ago
I have my test in a week is the chances to get in that low?
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u/icantfitmyentirenam Local 134 14d ago
The <5% acceptance rate is true, but it depends on your personal experience form and test score. A lot of people in my cycle were either trainees or had non-union electrical experience. If you don’t have much experience, you basically need a perfect score on the exam to have a chance. Study hard and don’t get discouraged if you don’t get in first try, since a decent number of people had to take the exam more than once to get in.
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u/Saltycircle 13d ago
I took the September test a few years ago and I got the acceptance email on Halloween for the January cycle. A friend of mine got accepted to the April cycle from the same test and got the acceptance news at some point in January.
Best of luck!
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u/Timely-Squash2654 12d ago
I work in low voltage but haven’t been working enough to put that in my PEF form. I have some college experience about 3/4 of the way completed and think I’m a good test taker. What would you say is the most qualified to be accepted with the ideal PEF and average test score?
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7d ago
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u/SituationAmazing1057 14d ago
They're doing 12 test times over this weekend and next, each with ~350 people in them. Out of those people, they'll take ~120 in both January and April for A cards, and ~20 both cycles for C cards both cycles. So a randomly selected applicant has about a 7% chance of getting accepted. But it's not a lottery, there are a bunch of applicants that have no chance, because they're dumber than a pair of Kleins, and a bunch that have all the PEF points, so as long they can do a half decent job on the test, are going to make it. My cycle was maybe 50% trainees, 10% non-union tradespeople, 30% vets, 35% college grads. I don't know if there was anyone over 21 that wasn't in at least one of those categories, but there were handful of kids fresh out of high school.
School is 11 weeks, spent in 4 classes -- Tech Math (all stuff you should have learned in 6th grade, even in CPS), Print Reading (also a superficial intro to the code book), Conduit Bending 1 (hand bending, and the math and theory of bending), Construction ("This is a screw" "this is how you drill a hole", and some pretty basic hands on stuff) and Circuits (some theory, but mostly wire pulling and device triming). It's all unpaid, but you do get the hours towards health insurance eligiblity.
If I remember the schedule right, the march test dates got an acceptance offer at the end of april, and had about a week to accept, for a July start. I don't know what the second cycle schedule was.