Chief Mate Unlimited Upgrade

I currently hold a 2nd mate unlimited and I want to upgrade to Chief Officer. At first I was under the impression that I would need to take the classes as outlined in Policy Letter 04-02 (Advanced Navigation, COLREGS, meteorology, stability, ship handling etc… Now I am hearing that those classes are no longer required if you are successful in obtaining the onboard assessments. Does anyone know if this true?

Thanks!

It is true that the classes are no longer required.
The STCW assessments can be done onboard, and are unchanged in policy letter 04-02.