Ima 5th year apprentice plumber. Local 46
My whole apprenticeship wasn't the greatest. The first couple years I was material handling and it set me back what I should know as a plumber and how to perform tasks. I never had a journeyman to invest his time and knowledge so I may use it to make my career the best it can be. By year 3 and 4 I was slowly introduced to hammer drills and bandsaws. Putting in shots for hangers. Every 3-6months I'd get laid off because the I didn't have the knowledge when asked to do a certain task. Instead of just teaching me how to do the task right, I would be easily replaced and it got me worried. By the time a reached 5th year I've done schools, highrise buildings malls, doing more labor work then doing the duties of a plumber. Not only that, the 3 levels of trade school was knowledgeable and I had a better understanding how the plumbing system worked, but the questions we were taught in trade school were not the same or even close to the questions you would see on the cfq. There needs to be a better way to be more prepared for the cfq exam. I even bought the red seal exam practice exam. 1500 questions and every 10 questions I see the same question repeated in different writing. It wasnt that helpful. There are things in the plumbing industry I still haven't seen as a 5th year apprentice considering the 5th year of my apprenticeship i was in a shop. I need a tutor that teaches what we need to know for the exam itself only.