I currently have a Chief Limited Oceans with unlimited horsepower and a 2nd assistant. I’ve been approved to test for my 1st assistant. Does anyone have any advice on some good study material? I’ve made it this far on hawspipe, but there is an overwhelming amount of questions to study and the worse part is its so scattered out. For example: I would rather study compressors as a whole then thermal expansion valves as a whole etc… Where as hawspipe is too shuffled.
I’m using the mass maritime marine engineering workbooks. There is 3 volumes and all of the sections and and related questions are grouped together. When I studied for my thirds tests I used them and the hospipper. Com cd. The cd tests let me see what sections I needed more time studing and I crossed referenced over to the MMA books for that. On a side note congratulations on the the firsts test, I’m going to charleston this week to add the c/e limited n/c to my license. It kinda sucks that they won’t issue my seconds untill I pass the limited test, but oh we’ll at least it will be in the mailbox when I get back from this next hitch.
Yeah the Mass books I studied for my 3rds is the same books I used for my 1st. I remember a website called seasource? that was pretty good and free. However in the end the books was all i needed. Lets face it, the test aren’t too see how much you know, but how much you can remember. Also go back and refresh your self on navigating CFR’s. I was able to answer half the questions in the safety section just by looking them up. Good luck
Thanks guys! When I get home next time I’ll get the books.
Just took the 1st AE test last month. The books from Mass are definitely good…used the same ones from my 3rd’s test a few years back. They weren’t the newest ones either (mine have the blue cover). Couldn’t find anything newer and couldn’t justify spending the money. Anyway, my tests were pretty basic. Know firefighting, ship construction, stability, and CFRs for safety, refrigeration for generals (the second generals I had was almost all refer questions). Motors was a piece of cake (a lot of governor questions), but electricity was the kicker. All new illustrations. Some used from the Mass books, but almost every one is new. New questions everywhere. Know your electronics! Diodes, transistors, etc. Diesel electric propulsion was huge. I’m not exaggerating when I say the illustrations at the back of the electrical test booklet had more pages than the questions. The test booklet was 3/4" easily! Be familiar with reading electrical diagrams too. The illustration of the winch/crane controller had at least five questions on it. Overall the tests weren’t very difficult if you studied. I started around 9am and finished the five tests by lunch. The CFR-referenced questions weren’t exactly gimmes either…the questions were “Per CFRs (Part 46), what is required…” Not out of reach, but it would be easier to memorize or know those instead of spending 15 minutes trying to find the answer. I would recommend www.uscgq.com but you already had Hawsepipe, so it’s the same. www.seasources.net will let you break down the questions by subject in each module (refrigeration in generals, theory in motors, etc). You have to register (free) but worth your time if you want to study. Hope it helps.
I had some new stuff on the juice exam as well. I had a few questions on a cpp diagram that was not in the book. I have the blue books as well. Luckily I have sailed on a few cpp ships to understand the controls. I had a handful of resistor questions as well. Know how to read the bands. Also even if the question doesn’t start with “as per CFR” chances are you can still find the answer in the CFR’s. I scored a 90 on the safety and I didn’t study it that much, that was higher than my original test. But I learned from my last test that I needed to know how to look at the CFR’s.
Thanks for the heads up on the elect test. I start testing in the morning.
I just finished my tests and you where correct about there being new drawings and a lot of diesel electric questions in the elect test. Now I just have to wait for my new 2ae - c/e limited to arrive now!
Our second is studying for his 1sts and I’m studying for my 3rds at the moment. He brought a usb flash drive from mariner advancement which is pretty cool, and is quite a bit better than hawsepipe. You can have it show only the correct answers for rapid memorization, and you can search by key word or illustration. The illustration search is huge for me, I’m reading through the Mass Maritime books, skipping looking at the drawings, then going back and looking at the drawings on the mariner advancement program. Streamlines the process quite a bit. http://marineradvancement.com/ChiefUnlimited.html
In hawsepipe you can search by key word, if you want to look at the compressors questions just type compressor in the search box. Came up with 237 for me. Hawsepipe is great for finding out if you’re ready to test, but its not very good for studying as it takes far too long to go through every question.
Hopefully the electrical part isn’t too much different, but it is definitely good information.
The Mariner Advancement study material is a great study tool. I used it as a basis for taking practice test, and found it to be extremely helpful in studying for my Chief OSV. I was so impressed with it that i am using it again along with some other helpful textbooks that i found to study for my Chief Limited Oceans. I would definetaly recommend there study materials for whatever grade license you are seeking. Also in the new version they have come out with they now offer detailed explanations, so now your not just trying to memorized questions, you can also see corresponding text wich explains subject matter thouroughly
By the way, went down and tested a few weeks ago, ended up passing quite handily with the method I mentioned above. One thing though was that people weren’t lying when they said the electrical part of the test is much different. I saw maybe 2-4 questions on the whole test that I had seen before in my studying. Absolutely none of the illustrations were the same, though many of them were similar, just more up to date. Studying the current questions and illustrations will help, but make sure you know the concepts behind what you are reading and studying, especially in the illustrations, and you will be fine.
Hi,
I’m working on one project right now and I would just recommend to start using studiesleak.com. It’s made for sharing study materials. If you have any essays or test or something, you can upload them there.