What would YOU do in the Kobayashi Maru test?

[Phantom Renegade]

If there's say a thousand different scenarios, with the Kobayashi Maru and perhaps a few others taken by all Cadets (and a few more chosen at random), would Cadets realise that everyone took the Kobayashi Maru test and that it was unbeatable? For all they knew it could just be one scenario amongst many.

Is there any dialogue that specifically states that all Cadets take that particular test? The only scene that springs to my mind is in the Genesis Cave - Saavik knew that Kirk had taken the test. If the test was a big secret, it seems a bit irresponsible of Starfleet to award Kirk a commendation for beating it - I'd imagine a fair amount of Kirks career would be studied by Cadets, surely someone would notice spot his commendation and find out what it was for.

Well, maybe...you know what? I got nothing. How do they keep it a secret? Simple:

[Graham Kennedy]

There's nothing I know of to prove that all cadets take the test, and in fact thinking about it we know that they don't. Remember Spock's "I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now..." line.

On the other hand, Saavik did automatically assume that Kirk had taken the test.

What surprises me is that they let him take it three times. I imagine that his reaction to failing the first two was an angry "I don't care what anybody says, there must be a way! There's ALWAYS a way!" Perhaps the instructors then decided to let him have another go because they wanted the lesson that you can't always win driven home...

[Phantom Renegade]

There's nothing I know of to prove that all cadets take the test, and in fact thinking about it we know that they don't. Remember Spock's "I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now..." line.

On the other hand, Saavik did automatically assume that Kirk had taken the test.

Maybe it's limited to command track students like Kirk or Saavik, while Spock was a scientist

What surprises me is that they let him take it three times. I imagine that his reaction to failing the first two was an angry "I don't care what anybody says, there must be a way! There's ALWAYS a way!" Perhaps the instructors then decided to let him have another go because they wanted the lesson that you can't always win driven home...

Boy, great job they did there.

[kostmayer]

I'd forgotten about Spock not taking that test, perhaps he was testing Brigs (they really should have got someone like him to test the TNG era Brigs)

Troi did retake that last Commanders test on her own initiative - not sure that should have been a pass though, the Enterprise had to be destroyed about 7 times before she thought about killing Geordie.
The difference in that case was that her test taken on the holodeck, after which they just had to reset the program. Each time Kirk retook the test, someone had to go in and repair everything. I can't imagine he could retake the test on his own initiative - not unless he talked a bunch of his drinking buddies into playing the other parts.

[Graham Kennedy]

Hard to say Spock wasn't on a "command track". He WAS the Enterprise Captain in Star Trek II, a position he reached without doing the KM test.

[kostmayer]

He was also Second in Command for a number of years - I would hope someone supervising Cadets through their training would have had the same training themselves. Though that wouldn't neccesarily be true.

[Phantom Renegade]

Hard to say Spock wasn't on a "command track". He WAS the Enterprise Captain in Star Trek II, a position he reached without doing the KM test.

My thinking is that he wore a science uniform so he started out as a scientist but rose up the ranks before becoming a ranking officer, probably took the test to be of the higher commander and captain ranks and the the Kobayashi Maru test is only given to command track cadets at the acadamy. That's just a theory of course.

[Graham Kennedy]

I always wondered what the "command track" was. The name implies that science, engineering, tactical... offers in these fields are expected to go so far, then just stop? But there are special officers who are destined for command, and who normally... work where? Do what?

My expectation would be that you would work in any field, like science or engineering, until you reached department head, then after a few years there would go to Exec, then on to Captain. Having a special "command track" seems kind of strange to me.

[Mikey]

I could see it for cadets who exhibit talent for command, but certainly not as an exclusive business. After all, how many captains did we see who came from one of the more typical specialties? Spock, Scotty, Sulu, etc.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

I always wondered what the "command track" was. The name implies that science, engineering, tactical... offers in these fields are expected to go so far, then just stop? But there are special officers who are destined for command, and who normally... work where? Do what?

My expectation would be that you would work in any field, like science or engineering, until you reached department head, then after a few years there would go to Exec, then on to Captain. Having a special "command track" seems kind of strange to me.

Now here's a good one: what did Jim Kirk, youngest captain in the fleet (at the time) do before he was en-captain-ated?

You can picture him popping out of the womb wearing his captain's rank insignia and reporting to HQ for his assigned command.

[Phantom Renegade]

I always wondered what the "command track" was. The name implies that science, engineering, tactical... offers in these fields are expected to go so far, then just stop? But there are special officers who are destined for command, and who normally... work where? Do what?

My expectation would be that you would work in any field, like science or engineering, until you reached department head, then after a few years there would go to Exec, then on to Captain. Having a special "command track" seems kind of strange to me.

I could see it for cadets who exhibit talent for command, but certainly not as an exclusive business. After all, how many captains did we see who came from one of the more typical specialties? Spock, Scotty, Sulu, etc.

Well, I think(could be wrong) that in some militaries you can have the rank of captain but be subordinate to a lower rank of officer commanding the ship. I'm not sure of the specifics and I actually only read it in one novel, but my thinking is the command track is specifically to be commanding a ship some day while scientists may have different ambitions then commanding a ship.

I know it sounds stupid to us but then again so does putting a bridge on top of a ship.

[kostmayer]

I bet he was wearing a Toupee too.

[Mikey]

Well, I think(could be wrong) that in some militaries you can have the rank of captain but be subordinate to a lower rank of officer commanding the ship. I'm not sure of the specifics and I actually only read it in one novel, but my thinking is the command track is specifically to be commanding a ship some day while scientists may have different ambitions then commanding a ship.

IIRC, a superior officer can't be subordinate to an inferior officer; the skipper of a ship (who may or may not have the rank of "captain," even though his position is captain) has say in matter of the ship's operation, but that's not the same as being superior to another officer.

[Phantom Renegade]

Well, I think(could be wrong) that in some militaries you can have the rank of captain but be subordinate to a lower rank of officer commanding the ship. I'm not sure of the specifics and I actually only read it in one novel, but my thinking is the command track is specifically to be commanding a ship some day while scientists may have different ambitions then commanding a ship.

IIRC, a superior officer can't be subordinate to an inferior officer; the skipper of a ship (who may or may not have the rank of "captain," even though his position is captain) has say in matter of the ship's operation, but that's not the same as being superior to another officer.

Maybe I just misread it or it's a now out of date and rarely used system. It sounded stupid in any case.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

BTW, do we really know much about what Kirk did before he rose to command? What his service was?