Not true... push-button E-4 still needs 12 months Time in Rate (TIR) to advance to E-5. Because there are only two TIR dates though (Jan 1st and Jul 1st), and you don't really start getting paid until at least 6 months after taking the exam, it's possibly to graduate and put on E-4 in April-June, and then test in September during the next cycle.
To provide an example... my graduating class from VP-30 was the first week of July... admin being admin, got about half the class' advancement paperwork done at the end of June, and the rest done right before graduation in July. So some of us had a Jan 1st TIR date and got to take the test that following September... while the others had a July 1st TIR date and had to wait until the following March. One of my buddies with the July 1st TIR was able to take the test anyway, but it came back invalid from BUPERS due to insufficient TIR.
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