first year requirements and expectations

[Canucklehead]

Sorry, this will be a long question and I may have posted in the wrong forum...
I'm a student at a Canadian Community College doing a pre-apprenticeship training course, something that is becoming more neccesary ( at least up here in Canada ) as more and more outfits are excluding entry level personnel who don't have the foundation training. We cover the fundamentals, math skills and many of the workplace skills ( recovery, brazing etc )

The course is newly offered by the college and not fully 'fleshed' out in the curriculum, but was available 'NOW' instead of the 2 year wait to get into BCIT in Vancouver.
At the end of the course I will be sitting the first year apprenticeship exam,
the refrigerant recovery ticket and will apparently have work place applicable hours for the trade..

Our prof is a very good and knowledgeable tradesman, but not so confident as an instructor in a class room ( gets stressed/tongue tied, and doesn't finish/tie in topics and concepts to a base framework ):confused:

My question ( in as short a form as possible ) would be :
What concepts and skills are required/expected of a first year tech ?;
what is neccesary for the first year apprentice exam ?

Is there a web page out there that can summarize these details ?
I'm not sure how much the American and Canadian aspects of the trade differ, so a Canadian bent on the subject is what I need, but I'd be happy to read what is expected of our American cousins as well.

Cheers and thanks in advance for any insight.

[monkey spanners]

Hi Canucklehead,

I don't know, i'm in the uk so haven't a clue as to what required in Canada.

I guess if i were looking for a apprentice i would like someone who admits when they don't know something, is not afraid to ask questions, has a passion for the job and isn't just looking for a wage.
You don't need to be the best tech, whats needed is to be thorough. taking twice as long on site to do something is still cheaper than getting called back, both in finacial terms and to a customers impression of the company you work for.
I used to tell the two guys who trained working with me to try and prove me wrong all the time, its a good execise in learning, and when they did catch me out on something i learnt which is good also!

Jon