As most of you know the way to get promoted to Sgt or Cpl in the Marine Corps is a fairly straight forward process.  You work your ass off to get a high composite score and when it is above the cutting score for the month you get promoted.  The thing is unfortunately many Marines are not 100% sure how to calculate their composite score so we are going to look into it.

There are many things that go into getting your composite score up.  Your average Proficiency and Conduct marks in grade are multiplied by 100.  Your Rifle score and PFT score are given numeric values which are averaged and multiplied by 100.  Months time in grade (TIG) multiplied by 5 and months Time in Service (TIS) multiplied by 2.  If you have attended MSG, DI, or Recruiter school you get 100 points.  Any MCIs that have been completed are multiplied by 15 and any college courses you have completed are multiplied by 10 for a maximum of 100 education points.  If you were able to get some guys to join the corps you get 20 points for each one again up to 100 points.

So let’s use this example.  A Cpl came into the Marine Corps on August 1 2005 and was promoted to Cpl on March 1 2007.  He shot a 223 on the rifle range and runs a 259 PFT.  His average Proficiency is 4.7 and his average conduct is 4.6.  he has complete 6 MCIs and 3 college courses.  He has not attended DI, MSG, or recruiter school, but he did help recruit 3 people while on recruiter’s assistance.  We will use the below table to calculate his composite score.

Line No.

Rating

1. Rifle Marksmanship score

 223

= 4.6

__________ Date of qual YYMMDD

Score

2. PFT

 259

=4.7

__________ Date of qual YYMMDD

Score

3. Subtotal (line 1 + 2)

=9.3

4. GMP score (line 3 divided by 2)

=4.65

Score

5. GMP score (from line 4)

4.65 x 100

=465

6. Average duty proficiency

4.7 x 100

=470

7. Average conduct

4.6 x 100

=460

8. TIG (months)

17 x 5

=85

9. TIS (months)

37 x 2

=74

(Computed from AFADBD for USMC / AR and PEBD for USMCR)

10. DI / Rctr / MSG bonus

0 x 1

=0

11. Self education bonus (Max 75 pts)

a. MCI

6 x 15

=90

b. College / CLEP / Vocational

3 x 10

=30

(max 100 pts)

12. Command Recruiting bonus

3 x 20

=60

(max 100 pts)

13.Composite score (sum of lines 5 – 12)

=1714

Using the above scenario you can see that the Marine in the above situation will get promoted when the cutting score for his MOS is at or below 1714.

How are cutting scores determined?

Now that we know hoe to determine ones composite score let us look at how cutting scores are figured by the Marine Corps.  Determining cutting scores is purely a numbers game.  Headquarters looks at how many Sergeants rated in each MOS in the Marine Corps.  They then dtermine how many more they need based on how many they have.  They then go to the list of Marines eligible for promotion and count down the number that they need and that is the cutting score for the month.

So lets say that the marine Corps has determined that they need 83 Sgts in the 0411 field and that there are 79 Sergeants currently in the MOS.  They go to the list that has Marines eligible and count down 4 and that score is the cutting score for the MOS that month.

Smith Motivator         1665

Puller Chesty             1663

Hays Michael             1635

Jones Ray                  1627

Sanchez Jose             1626

In this case Cpls Smith, Puller, Hays, and Jones will get promoted to Sgt and Cpl Sanchez will not.

Now you know how to calculate your score as well as how the cutting score is calculated each month.  Remember just because you missed the score by one point this month does not mean you are going to get promoted next month.  HQMC could determine that no Sgts are needed in your MOS next month and the score is “locked out”.  Also there could be a Marine below this month that jumps ahead of you by scoring a higher PFT, Rifle Score, doing more MCIs or any other things that can raise his score.  So just because you are close doesn’t mean you need to keep working hard.

Related posts:

  1. December Cutting Scores
  2. July Cutting Scores