Star Trek: 10 Things You Should Know Before Applying To Starfleet Academy

10. The Entrance Exam

Getting a place at Starfleet Academy is tough. You should think about whether you want to put yourself or your child through the gruelling application process in the first place. To apply as a non-Federation citizen, you'll need a letter of recommendation from a command-level officer, so start sucking up to anyone with a few pips on their collar (latinum also lasts forever). After that, you'll face the Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program which, unironically, you'll have to prep for.

All candidates must sit the entrance exam: a series of assessments so challenging they make the Klingon Rite of Ascension look like a walk in the park. Someone once said, "the only person you are truly competing against is yourself". When there are other people in the room and only one place at the Academy up for grabs, that's clearly not the case! Don't worry, though! It took some digging, but we found out that even the great Jean-Luc Picard failed the first time.

From what GTN could glean from former students, you can expect the following during the exam: the hyperspace physics test (heads up: it's always 1:1), the dynamic relationships test (know your vector coordinates), an interspecies interactions test (don't be afraid to insult a Zaldan, you despicable Mellanoid slime worm!), and to be quizzed on your knowledge of everything from astrometrics to quantum theory.

Last but not least, there's the dreaded, and frankly traumatising, 'psych test' in which you will have to overcome your biggest fear. Plus, make sure you're word perfect on your early Starfleet history, but not enough to bore the pants off any Q who might be listening in.

Knowing all that, do you really want to take the entrance exam?