OT: Naval Reactors Aptitude Test

CTMike

Naval Reactors (NR) is the Navy’s equivalent of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Much like the NRC, NR is charged with designing,  monitoring, and overseeing the Navy’s nuclear power plants, and those who operate them. 

Their official mission statement “is to provide militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensure their safe, reliable, and long-lived operation.” 

As such the folks at NR tend to be very serious people, and aren’t known for their humorous side, especially Adm Hyman G Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy, and the first head of NR. 

So I was very surprised when I got to my first boat in 1982, and was perusing one of the classified NRTBs (Naval Reactors Technical Bulletins), and saw this:

Naval Reactors Aptitude Test 

Instructions: Read each question carefully. Answer all questions. Time limit 4 hours. Begin immediately. Work in numerical order. Equipment remaining from question #1 may prove useful in questions #3 and #6.  
                         

1. Medicine.  You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of 
scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have 15 minutes.  

2. History.  Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day. Concentrate especially but not exclusively on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.  

3. Public Speaking.  Two thousand drug-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin and Greek.  

4. Biology.  Create life. Estimate the difference in subsequent human culture if this form of life had been created 500 million years earlier. Pay special attention to its probable effect on the English Parliamentary System.  

5. Music.  Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat. 

6. Engineering.  The disassembled parts of a high power rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual printed in Swahili. In 10 minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel is appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.  

7. Sociology.  What sociological problems might accompany the end of the world? Construct and experiment to test your theory. 

8. Management Science.  Define management. Define science. How do they relate? Create a generalized algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions. Assuming a Cray X-MP supercomputer supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm, design the communications interface and all necessary control problems.  

9. Psychology.  Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustration of each: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, and Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man’s work. It is not necessary to translate.  

10. Economics. Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan on these areas: Cubism, The Donatist Controversy, and the wave theory of light.  

11. Epistemology.  Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.  

12. Classical Physics.  Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.  

13. Modern Physics.  Produce element 119. Determine its half-life.  

14. Energy Resources.  Construct a working fusion reactor.  

15. Philosophy.  Sketch the development of human thought. Estimate its significance. Compare this with the development of any other kind of thought. 

16. General Knowledge. Describe in detail, briefly.  

17. Extra Credit. Define the universe. Give three examples.

Back in 1982, the newest element was around 106 or 107 (Seaborgium and Bohrium respectively), so this has obviously been updated for question 13. 

Anyhow, an instructor back in Nuclear Field A School would administer this exam to each new class. He states must students would get a laugh out of it, but only one student ever turned in answers:

FN Wolfe 9403-M

Some of his answers:

1. He removed the appendix from his A-2 Manual.

3. Claimed a new life form was living at the bottom of his locker.

8. Management is the art of forcing your will upon others without fear of retaliation. Science is the art of convincing lesser-minded individuals that, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, your point-of-view is correct. Both were used by such great leaders as Attilla the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, and the Papacy.

This kids answer to #8 is sheer genius. 

JohnInCarolina

"Science is the art of convincing lesser-minded individuals that, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, your point-of-view is correct."

The story of my life.  

Ozzie_Isaac

CTMike said:

Naval Reactors (NR) is the Navy’s equivalent of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Much like the NRC, NR is charged with designing,  monitoring, and overseeing the Navy’s nuclear power plants, and those who operate them. 

Their official mission statement “is to provide militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensure their safe, reliable, and long-lived operation.” 

As such the folks at NR tend to be very serious people, and aren’t known for their humorous side, especially Adm Hyman G Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy, and the first head of NR. 

So I was very surprised when I got to my first boat in 1982, and was perusing one of the classified NRTBs (Naval Reactors Technical Bulletins), and saw this:

Naval Reactors Aptitude Test 

Instructions: Read each question carefully. Answer all questions. Time limit 4 hours. Begin immediately. Work in numerical order. Equipment remaining from question #1 may prove useful in questions #3 and #6.  
                         

1. Medicine.  You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of 
scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have 15 minutes.  

2. History.  Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day. Concentrate especially but not exclusively on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.  

3. Public Speaking.  Two thousand drug-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin and Greek.  

4. Biology.  Create life. Estimate the difference in subsequent human culture if this form of life had been created 500 million years earlier. Pay special attention to its probable effect on the English Parliamentary System.  

5. Music.  Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat. 

6. Engineering.  The disassembled parts of a high power rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual printed in Swahili. In 10 minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel is appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.  

7. Sociology.  What sociological problems might accompany the end of the world? Construct and experiment to test your theory. 

8. Management Science.  Define management. Define science. How do they relate? Create a generalized algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions. Assuming a Cray X-MP supercomputer supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm, design the communications interface and all necessary control problems.  

9. Psychology.  Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustration of each: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, and Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man’s work. It is not necessary to translate.  

10. Economics. Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan on these areas: Cubism, The Donatist Controversy, and the wave theory of light.  

11. Epistemology.  Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.  

12. Classical Physics.  Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.  

13. Modern Physics.  Produce element 119. Determine its half-life.  

14. Energy Resources.  Construct a working fusion reactor.  

15. Philosophy.  Sketch the development of human thought. Estimate its significance. Compare this with the development of any other kind of thought. 

16. General Knowledge. Describe in detail, briefly.  

17. Extra Credit. Define the universe. Give three examples.

Back in 1982, the newest element was around 106 or 107 (Seaborgium and Bohrium respectively), so this has obviously been updated for question 13. 

Anyhow, an instructor back in Nuclear Field A School would administer this exam to each new class. He states must students would get a laugh out of it, but only one student ever turned in answers:

FN Wolfe 9403-M

Some of his answers:

1. He removed the appendix from his A-2 Manual.

3. Claimed a new life form was living at the bottom of his locker.

8. Management is the art of forcing your will upon others without fear of retaliation. Science is the art of convincing lesser-minded individuals that, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, your point-of-view is correct. Both were used by such great leaders as Attilla the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, and the Papacy.

This kids answer to #8 is sheer genius. 

This list of impossible exam questions is a masterpiece of humor and satire, poking fun at the sometimes absurd expectations of academic rigor. Each item blends intellectual challenge with a dash of the surreal, creating a clever commentary on the nature of expertise, problem-solving, and the limits of human capacity.

Thank you for sharing, this is a Top 3 post for me!