He's a couple of lessons into Book 4 of the cirriculum, which covers motors and motor control. The first third or so of Book 4 covers motors in general--understanding their construction and how and why they work the way they do. The rest of the time is spent on motor control, a topic which gives many electricians, myself included, that "A-ha!" moment where things REALLY start making sense and you feel like you've got a pretty good handle on things. Finally, at the end of Book 4, each apprentice creates a motor control diagram on their own to solve a "problem" presented by the teachers. It's super cool--you have to apply everything you've learned in class in order to create a workable diagram. The sense of accomplishment is huge!
Anyway, I did my best to help my buddy out at work. I remember very clearly the test he's about to take: it required reading quite a bit in the motors textbook as well as answering a lot of questions out of the workbook.
Going to class that one day every two weeks can be kind of nerve-wracking, to be sure, if only because the first thing you do when you walk in the door is take that test to see what you have learned. So I could understand Tommy's nervousness. And although everybody's study-habits are different and some weeks present you with more material to cover than usual, you always go in knowing that you've had a solid preview of the lessons the class before. That's one thing I tried to remind him of. You've also got the readings and the workbook problems to review, plus the slide-sheets that the teachers presented in class.
I don't know how much of the reading Tommy had already gotten through, but I think he felt better just talking about motors for a little while. That's another great thing about the apprenticeship: chances are you'll have plenty of men and women around you who have been through the exact same thing several times before. And my buddy was going one step further: after work he was headed over to the hall for the extra tutoring that's available all week. I'm sure he'll do fine come Thursday.
