Can someone help me comprehend navy promotions?

If otherwise qualified E-4, 5 and 6 take an examination twice a year in March and September, E-7's exam in January and if they pass go before a selection board, E-8 and 9 no examination but do go to selection board...........................

there are no cops in the Navy. MA has little to do with law enforcement.

every rating has a twice yearly exam. March and September. you must have a certain time in Grade( current paygrade) before you are eligible to take the exam. each cycle a different number of people will be promoted. in March that number could be 6.. and in September that number could be 16. or 2. they will take the first however many they need starting from the top scorer.

In the Navy, there are various requirements for promotion. You will need to successfully complete various PQS tests. These help determine if you are qualified to do the job being promoted to. Basically, to promote to the ranks of E4 through E9, there will first need to be a vacancy...then everyone eligible for promotion will compete for that slot. For now, you need to only be concerned with lower ranks....through E4. http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/navypromotions/a/na...

No in the navy you must go in front of a board for promotion and you usually have to complete required training in order to be promoted google: navy promotion average year and you'll get the average time in between promotions