The following information was obtained from the 2012 Officer Candidates School Student Outline. Learning the material provided can significantly reduce the amount of studying you will have to do during Marine OCS. Of course, when the night before your test comes around don’t just rely on the information you think you learned months beforehand. Read these to get a general idea of what is taught, but you will need to know the details for the tests.
GMK 0170 Environmental Hazards
GMK 1010 Customs and Courtesies *
GMK 1016 Uniforms 2
GMK 1021 Marine Corps Mission and Organization II
GMK 1036 Law of War
GMK 1044 Marine Corps History 4
GMK 1045 Marine Corps History 5
GMK 1046 Marine Corps History 6
GMK 1050 Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
GMS 1025 Interior Guard *
GMS 1060 Close Order Drill *
LDR 0151 Leave and Earning Statement (LES)
LDR 2095LP Patterns of Conflict
LDR 2096LP Introduction to Warfighting
TACT 3008 Land Navigation 4 *
TACT 3019 Introduction to Fire and Movement
TACT 3021 The Operation Order – Part 2 (BAMCIS)
TACT 3023 Offensive Combat 2
TACT 3026 Field Skills 2
VALU 2000 Moral Leadership
VALU 2020 Core Values II
VALU 2040 Core Values IV
WPN 1001 Introduction to the Service Rifle/Carbine
WPN 1002 Safe Weapons Handling
WPN 1003 Introduction to Weapons Maintenance
Note: Titles with an asterisk were taught during the PLC-Junior program, and are provided for review only. You will not be re-tested, but are responsible for the information.
I am still working through getting the rest of these up. Let me know if there is anything in particular you want first.
Hello sir,
I am currently applying to OCS and was wondering what your run time was? I am currently running a 2230 which is a no go. Do you have a schedule or program you can offer to help me improve? Thanks
Ben,
I commend you on your desire to one day lead Marines. 22:30 is not going to be a great time for an applicant. At OCS, I would say the average is around 20:00 – 21:00. You will likely be slightly slower at OCS due to sleep deprivation and a change in diet (much less food … and practically no meat). Applicants definitely need to perform well, especially now in the midst of downsizing and cutbacks. I will put together some workouts this week so you can follow me on social or just check back later. However, I would like to leave you with a small quote from the most hard core SNCO I have ever known, “Workout plan? Just go out and f**king run”
Thank you sir. Where will you post it when you do?
Also, will you have any advice on leadership?
Thanks. I hope to be where you are one day. I hope you understand my anxiety.
Ben,
Your anxiety is definitely understood. Even the prior enlisted Marines at OCS with 5+ years of real experience find themselves being challenged.
I have been reorganizing the main OCS page to make it easier to navigate. You should be able to find what you need, and I will continue to add leadership/fitness related content.
Good evening sir,
Thank you for putting all of this together, I have exactly two months until Seniors and the following knowledge is going to be extremely helpful and might actually save me an hour or two of rack time.
I was curious about the specifics in each section and if you are going to put the rest of the Environmental Hazards up along with the others? I have a senior book laying around somewhere, but I prefer your more concise versions to the actual book.
Thanks again and have a good night.
Yes, I do plan on putting the rest up. However, I don’t think any of the other ones have tests associated with them (except uniforms and organization which I’ll add next), so I wouldn’t focus too much on those. They take a while to format so I’m just trying to do one every week or so. Environmental Hazards deserves zero attention. It just outlines some of the things that you might expect as OCS like bugs and snakes. It is one of the first classes you get and then never have to refer back to. The history classes are the most time consuming, because there is one test that covers all three sections.
This is awesome! Thanks so much. Looking forward to the info to come.
Good Evening Sir,
I am shipping out to PLC Seniors in two weeks and have a question for you sir.
1) It is well noted that the knowledge provided on this site is from 2011, and it is subject to change. However, I was wondering if the history portion has changed at all sir? My PLC juniors knowledge stopped at the end of the Korean War. Will seniors start again from the Korean War like the knowledge provided on this site, or will it start from the Vietnam war sir?
Unfortunately, I do not have a concrete answer.
Good evening, Sir,
I leave for Seniors in roughly a month and a half. I’ve noticed that some of the knowledge is still missing. I see that in a previous reply you’ve stated the ones up are the ones that deserve attention and the ones that are not, deserve no to little attention. I was curious if that was still the case, and if so do you plan on putting the remaining knowledge up?
It’s a real pain converting the text such that it’s readable and organized. Also, the material I have is about 4 years old now. You will be fine learning the other material when you get there.
Good afternoon Sir, I am a fully trained candidate and I am currently creating a website similar to yours for a class. I have no intention of launching it, or trying to compete with yours. I was wondering if I could use some of the resources you have up. In particular the knowledge. I am trying to make a resources page, but I could only find a few pieces online.
No problem. Go ahead and use what you need.