Thread: Enlisting as an officer- the rough guide

Righto lads and ladettes, I've tried to put the process and criteria for joining the British Army as an officer into nice simple terms, just so people understand what the requirements are, and what they mean. Although I am perfect most of the time, I sometimes make rather human errors, so do NOT take what is written below as any kind of gospel, more as a guideline. Here we go...

Minimum Requirements
anybody who wishes to join as an officer must be at least 17 years and 9 months old, and must start the commissioning course at Sandhurst before their 29th birthday. The minimum academic grades required are as follows- 7 GCSE passes at grade C or higher, including English language, maths and a either a science or foreign language. In addition, you must have a minimum of 180 UCAS points*, that must include 2 A Levels (or equivalent) at Grade E or above. Normal rules for medical conditions that apply to soldier entry also apply to officer entry.
* UCAS points will be covered later in the post.

First point of contact
To begin the process of joining as an officer, you should first go to your local AFCO (Armed Forces Careers Office) or ACIO (Army Careers Information Office), and speak to a recruiter. After speaking to you about the job choices available to you, and filling an initial contact proforma (form 711) with you, they will then pass you on to the ACA (Army Careers Advisor), who will then speak to you in more depth about joining.

AOSB (Army Officer Selection Board)
The AOSB carries out formal assessments of all Army Potential Officers. There are two assessments- AOSB Briefing and the AOSB Main Board. The AOSB Briefing lasts for two days and assesses how ready you are to attend the AOSB Main Board. The briefing also gives you an insight of what to expect at the Main Board. The AOSB Main Board lasts for four days and you can only go once you have completed the AOSB Briefing. The main board is the final assessment you will go through, and so long as you do well, you are then offered a place at Sandhurst.

RMAS (Royal Military Academy Sandhurst)
This is when you begin your career properly, no more waiting. THe comissioning course takes 44 weeks, and is where you undergo all of your training- drill, first aid, navigation, fieldcraft. Not only your individual skills and drills, but also military and leadership training needed to command a Troop/ platoon of soldiers. Now, you will likely have a regiment or corps decided upon when you go through, but your chosen unit still need to say if they want you or not- you saying you want to go to the Royal Engineers is not to say that you will go there automatically. The decision will be made at what is known as the ASB (Arms Selection Board), and will take place in the third term of your time.
Visit the RMAS website by clicking HERE.

UCAS points
(Disclaimer- I am no guru at all on UCAS points, I have simply read up online what it all means, and have written an idiots guide as to how I interpret it to be)
UCAS points have been devised to basically place academic qualifications into a points system, dependant on the level of qualification and the grade achieved by the student- Plain example, a grade A at A-Level will be worth more UCAS points than a grade A at GCSE in the same subject.
What happens is all of your grades are put together, converted into points and then added up. once they are all converted and added, the sum of your points must be at least 180 in order for you to be eligible for direct officer entry. The majority of qualifications can be converted into UCAS points to count towards your total, and a list of the qualifications recognised by the scheme, along with more information, can be found on the UCAS website HERE.

Final word
As stated at the beginning of this post, this is a ROUGH guide to becoming an officer in the British Army- It is by no means an exhaustive account, and should not be looked on or reffered to as such.
If you want to know anything that has not been made clear on here, then I suggest that you initially use the search function both in here and in the Officers Forum. If you can't find an answer, by all means post and ask. It goes without saying, however, that the most accurate and up to date information can be gained by going into your local careers office and speaking to the staff.

(Edited for dodgy spelling and dodgy spacebar)

It's a start and a good one at that

This is a very good guide, link already passed to one member of clan jeep. Just seems a pity that the MOD haven't put this sort of thing together rather than rely on a motivated recruiter.

(fawn over)

Hithankyew.

Thankyou for this; exactly what I needed.

Where it says you need A-Levels; is that A levels or are AS Level passes ok? I'd assume not but just checking.

Thanks, great guide

Originally Posted by Bordtea

Where it says you need A-Levels; is that A levels or are AS Level passes ok? I'd assume not but just checking.

I'll be brutally honest, I don't know. I joined up aged 16 straight after secondary school, and to be truthful I don't know the difference between A levels and AS levels. If I were you, I'd click the link for the officers forum in the first post and do a search, I would be suprised if the answer cannot be found in there.

Originally Posted by young_lofty

Originally Posted by Bordtea

Where it says you need A-Levels; is that A levels or are AS Level passes ok? I'd assume not but just checking.

I'll be brutally honest, I don't know. I joined up aged 16 straight after secondary school, and to be truthful I don't know the difference between A levels and AS levels. If I were you, I'd click the link for the officers forum in the first post and do a search, I would be suprised if the answer cannot be found in there.

Okey dokey. Thanks for your help

Moved from the JU Forum.

Originally Posted by young_lofty

The minimum academic grades required are as follows- 7 GCSE passes at grade C or higher, including English language, maths and a either a science or foreign language. In addition, you must have a minimum of 180 UCAS points*,

Negative, 5 Grade C GCSE inc Maths and English or equivalent (this includes the Government backed Certificates in Adult Numeracy and Literacy), no science or language is required (but they like it)

150 UCAS points is minimum

Trust me, this will suffice for the CV and get you to Briefing if you've got a bit of 'life experience'.

Originally Posted by Bordtea

Thankyou for this; exactly what I needed.

Where it says you need A-Levels; is that A levels or are AS Level passes ok? I'd assume not but just checking.

Thanks, great guide

When I left the TA and tried to go regs, my application was rejected as the only take A levels which are D or above. They also except certain other qualifications but they dont accept all of those stated on the UCAS website.

Just to add that even though ucas points are designed to allow entry to university, degrees or masters degrees do not count towards UCAS points even though they are higher qualifications. Im still waiting for an answer as to why that is.

Originally Posted by sarge_massage_my_passage

Originally Posted by young_lofty

The minimum academic grades required are as follows- 7 GCSE passes at grade C or higher, including English language, maths and a either a science or foreign language. In addition, you must have a minimum of 180 UCAS points*,

Negative, 5 Grade C GCSE inc Maths and English or equivalent (this includes the Government backed Certificates in Adult Numeracy and Literacy), no science or language is required (but they like it)

150 UCAS points is minimum

I have 170 UCAS points and still got told no. Although mine are made up of NVQs one good and one dodgy a level and an as level.

Trust me, this will suffice for the CV and get you to Briefing if you've got a bit of 'life experience'.

Originally Posted by Nutter

Just to add that even though ucas points are designed to allow entry to university, degrees or masters degrees do not count towards UCAS points even though they are higher qualifications. Im still waiting for an answer as to why that is.

Technically, you're right, but then your comment is like saying, "A levels are classed as a 'higher' echelon than degrees", we know this isn't the case but as long as you are nearing the end of your degree, and have the points towards your degree (300 points for foundation degree, 360 for degree (Hons) then you should be fine...

Originally Posted by Nutter

I have 170 UCAS points and still got told no. Although mine are made up of NVQs one good and one dodgy a level and an as level.

This last comment shed's more light as to why you're 170 isn't ticking the boxes. Look, AOSB will let certain things slide in lieu of other benefits that you can bring to the service. You've admitted that your points consist of NVQ's, a 'dodgy' (?) A level plus one A/S level. You can get points for getting crap scores, the scores are still looked at by AOSB's Education Officer.

Points don't always win prizes, substance can count for more. It's obvious that the subjects that you've undertaken don't give them a warm fuzzy feeling.

Originally Posted by sarge_massage_my_passage

Originally Posted by Nutter

Just to add that even though ucas points are designed to allow entry to university, degrees or masters degrees do not count towards UCAS points even though they are higher qualifications. Im still waiting for an answer as to why that is.

Technically, you're right, but then your comment is like saying, "A levels are classed as a 'higher' echelon than degrees", we know this isn't the case but as long as you are nearing the end of your degree, and have the points towards your degree (300 points for foundation degree, 360 for degree (Hons) then you should be fine...

Originally Posted by Nutter

I have 170 UCAS points and still got told no. Although mine are made up of NVQs one good and one dodgy a level and an as level.

This last comment shed's more light as to why you're 170 isn't ticking the boxes. Look, AOSB will let certain things slide in lieu of other benefits that you can bring to the service. You've admitted that your points consist of NVQ's, a 'dodgy' (?) A level plus one A/S level. You can get points for getting crap scores, the scores are still looked at by AOSB's Education Officer.

Points don't always win prizes, substance can count for more. It's obvious that the subjects that you've undertaken don't give them a warm fuzzy feeling.

Your proberbly right, I blame the booze for my above mongness. Still my dodgy a levels got me my degree and postgrad.

Just one point. I didnt say A levels were higher then a degree, I was told that by the guy who phoned me from the AFCO who had been told that by those on a higher payscale.

Originally Posted by Nutter

Just one point. I didnt say A levels were higher then a degree, I was told that by the guy who phoned me from the AFCO who had been told that by those on a higher payscale.

I know you never said it like that, I was just trying to emphasise a point. Listen, if you're still interested in a Commission there are other routes:

Why not join the TA - stay with me here - and after a couple of months ask to apply for a Commission in the TA. You'll go through the same processes as regular Potential Officers (PO's) which will give you a good heads up, you'll also be doing activities that appeal to the AOSB and proving your worth with recommendations from senior Officers.

OR, join the ranks:

Soldiers with very little GCSE's get through the Commissioning process because someone has identified that, even though they don't have the 'all singing all dancing educational pieces of paper', they've got something about them. They get onto the selection boards to be an Officer because they'd have proven themselves worthy in a working enviroment.

OR

Do another A level/required GCSE's, get yourself onto the Duke of Edinburgh if you're young enough, do some voluntary work etc. You could do all this sort of thing for a year and you'd stand a much better chance.

There's always a way, ask the AFCO what you need to do.

Originally Posted by sarge_massage_my_passage

Originally Posted by Nutter

Just one point. I didnt say A levels were higher then a degree, I was told that by the guy who phoned me from the AFCO who had been told that by those on a higher payscale.

I know you never said it like that, I was just trying to emphasise a point. Listen, if you're still interested in a Commission there are other routes:

Why not join the TA - stay with me here - and after a couple of months ask to apply for a Commission in the TA. You'll go through the same processes as regular Potential Officers (PO's) which will give you a good heads up, you'll also be doing activities that appeal to the AOSB and proving your worth with recommendations from senior Officers.

OR, join the ranks:

Soldiers with very little GCSE's get through the Commissioning process because someone has identified that, even though they don't have the 'all singing all dancing educational pieces of paper', they've got something about them. They get onto the selection boards to be an Officer because they'd have proven themselves worthy in a working enviroment.

OR

Do another A level/required GCSE's, get yourself onto the Duke of Edinburgh if you're young enough, do some voluntary work etc. You could do all this sort of thing for a year and you'd stand a much better chance.

There's always a way, ask the AFCO what you need to do.

Cheers, great post mate. Should be useful for those who are in the same boat as me and dont quite make the entry.