What is the proper way to fill out a 4100?

Being an MP, my natural instinct was to say, "completely, top to bottom, left to right." That being said, your comments to others' answers to your posts sheds more light on what you need.

Just as important as what you put on the 4100 is the documentation that you attach to it. Verify everything you list on the front of the 4100 is documented in iPerms. For everything that is NOT in iPerms, you will need to provide a copy so that it can be Iperm'ed. Start this process early...if they tell you that your 4100 is due in NOV, don't wait until NOV to turn it all in at once. Typically, there is a layered approval process for iPerms (unit, BN, BDE, State). If anyone along that approval train doesn't approve one of the documents, they will kill the batch and NONE of it gets iPermed (and there is no email that gets sent to the unit notifying them of the problem). This is why so many Soldiers are surprised when the list comes out and their points are not as high as they should be. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own career...educate yourself on the process, be proactive & FOLLOW UP. Good luck!

There is an actual guide that talks you thru each section and each item, at least we have that in WA.

Actually, your squad leader should have a pre-printed list of the E4's that are promotable and coach you to get your packet ready early so you will not have to rush to beat the deadline. And the readiness or S-1 admin would call you in to review your packet. This what I do for my soldiers.

AR 600-8-19 should cover it. I hope your S-1 should be well versed in this. The issue I had with this when I was enlisted was knowing what awards went on it. I was told that several of my awards from Active duty, i.e, Parachutist Wings and Airborne school, would count towards points. They were wrong and I did not obtain the points that I should have got.

Try looking at AR 600-8-19. That might help you. Your Squad Leader or your TL should be able too as well.

First of all, if you meet the requirements for promotion recommendation and are subsequently recommended for promotion you should receive a 4100 printed out with what admin data you currently have in the system (unless your state has a different approach) so you don't necessarily "fill it out" per se but make pen and ink corrections supported with documentation.

You can also download the manual version of NGB Form 4100-1-r-e from the NGB Publications website to get an idea of what your admin points (overall points minus board points) will look like. Here is a link to the NGB Form 4100-1-r-e from the NGB forms website. It shows the different categories and how many points you get for each at the bottom.

http://www.ngbpdc.ngb.army.mil/forms/adobe/ngb4100_1_r_e.pdf

Lastly, You will want to ensure that if your state has a supplement to AR 600-8-19 (California does) you will want to familiarize yourself with it. Good luck.

Couple of questions (I'm a little confused)

A. Your 4100 should already be pure filled out with EVERYTHING. The Centralized promotion board system took care of that? Does your State not do that?
B. If you are having to manually fill one out your Full Time Readiness should be assisting you with that. Is that not happening?

I don't remember that last time I've had to actually hand jam a 4100.

Other than that MSG Webb summed it up very accurately. Can't emphasize it enough to check your IPERMS!!!

All Army forms of you read the top portion of the form will tell you the reference AR.