@exsubguy: That is unfortunate that people feel that way. I know that I am the type of person that needs to get my hands dirty in order to truly learn and understand a concept or piece of machinery for the most part. However, manuals also play an integral part in my learning process by enhancing my ability to fully understand how something works. How do you possibly become the best at repairing or troubleshooting without arming yourself with as much knowledge as you can? Manuals were made to be read, not just to sit on a shelf and collect dust.
I think you missed the part where I said I was hitting the books a lot latelyâŚand that memorizing test questions alone is not a sound foundation for success. I am primarily a hands on type. In the absence of being able to get my hands on something, I get my hands on books. I probably lean more toward your camp at any rate.
[QUOTE=tengineer;82131]My feelings arenât mixed at all. In any other endeavor having access to the questions and correct answers before the examination is called cheating.
In any case it is a dumbing down of the process which makes the license not so valuable which is one reason I got somewhat amused when people were complaining that the USCG did away with the license suitable for framing.[/QUOTE]
AhhâŚyou havenât been to a public school lately, have you?
[QUOTE=exsubguy;82153]On some ships I took a lot of heat for going to the manuals. I was told that I read too much.[/QUOTE]
I never did get that mentality. Iâm hands-on but also a big time book worm. Whoever it pisses off, câest la vie.
The tests should be current and relevant and preform a useful screening function that gives some indication of competence, otherwise why even bother with the tests at all?
Currently, the tests in some areas are more of an ancient history exam that is not relevant, there are too many just memorizing questions, and they have dumbed down the competence of mariners. Our licenses have been devalued, no wonder the Europeans do not take our licenses seriously.
With STCW, we should just toss out our antiquated licensing system and adopt the British licensing model (used in much of the world), including the oral exams.
Hello! So I figured it was time to start studying for 1st Engineer Unlimited and to my surprise the NMC has a totally different website and alsoâŚI can not locate the test questions anywhere on the web. Are the questions still public info? Does anyone have the link? I am looking for just the questions and answers not a program or anything.
Thanks!
Theyâve been removed for a while now. There are sample tests on the NMC website, but thatâs all youâll find now that theyâve redone the question banks.
1 Like
Just a thoughtâŚHow did so many of us pass the exams before the question pools were available?
There were no exams back then, they pulled you off the beach gave you a wrench and said âhey your a third engineer now!â
1 Like
The questions were removed because Congress amended the Freedom of Information Act to specifically allow the Coast Guard to withold the questions.
1 Like
You can always count on Congress, canât you? To me, it seems that removing the bank from public access has done nothing to change the likelihood of prospective mariners from memorizing questions. What it has done, is made businesses like Lapware and Capt. Joeâs more viable and made it even more expensive for mariners to get licensed. I have never used a paid service to help study for my exams, but Iâm comfortable with other mariners using whatever method works for them. I only wish that the option was still available for those that wish to avoid having to pay for what was given freely to the businesses that now charge for the Q&Aâs.
The exam questions never should have been made public. Thatâs nuts. It turned licensing into a scam with lots of know nothing licensees out on the water. I welcome the long overdue return to sanity.
1 Like
One could argue that courses that substitute for the exam are a greater risk. Many provide their question pools to the students to study for the final exam, and often their ppol is significantly smaller than the Coast Guardâs. Also, you will never hear something that used to be common in prep classes âthe Coast Guard may ask you aboutâŚâ The school made the exam, are they going to prep you for a question that isnât on the examâŚ? The copncept may not be flawed per se, but it takes diligent oversight (money and staff) to oversee and preserve the integirty of the process.
4 Likes
Porttofdc makes an interesting point as well, but not just the software, the academies used to have the students coming out fresh from the test reguitate as many questions and answers as possible, so the schools had a pool of Q & A available.
You are correct. I think it is a travesty that weâve taken this responsibility away from the RECs and turned it over to for-profit organizations that have an incentive to make sure every imbecile that pays the fees passes the test. I was just up at REC Baltimore in February and was very sad to see that I was the only one in the entire testing room sitting for an exam. The REC was staffed by three or four civilians that had absolutely nothing to do. When I asked them if they were concerned about the future, the response was that they were just waiting for retirement. They also believed that the RECs will be phased out entirely. USCG may move towards full private testing or online testing or some combination.
Why not phase out NMC and rebuild the RECs instead? I will sorely miss the expertise that used to exist only at the RECs.
1 Like
Allowing for profit schools, and company owned schools, to administer courses and exams that subtitute for real USCG exams is a total scam. Most schools make sure virtually everyone passes. Many schools are in effect selling USCG licenses.
All exams should be honestly administered by the USCG. Lack of funding is not an excuse. A USCG license either means something, and serves its intended regulatory purpose, or it doesnât. The USCG needs to return to taking the license exams seriously.
1 Like
Oh I wasnât complaining in the slightest @jdcavo. On the contrary I am glad they did.
No more spoonfed answers in the schools. Now you either know how to work the problems or you donât. The possible subjects a person can be tested on (with references) have been posted for a long time.
Thatâs not quite how I remember itâŚbut then again, Iâve destroyed a lot of brain cells since then!
Itâs made it nearly impossible.
Are you daft?
The businesses arenât given the questions eitherâŚ
Iâm confused. Have you taken a test at an REC lately? The questions are the same ones that had been in the public domain back in the 90âs minus any negligible percent of new questions CG has added over the decades. Iâve never tried Lapware or Capt. Joeâs, so I might be misinformed about what types of tutorial they provide above and beyond the complete bank of Q&Aâs that used to be available on the CG web site. But why is it they are constantly recommended for those intending to test? Is it for instruction or for access to the test questions?
But they were. Now that the questions are no longer posted in an easily accessible free domain, the fastest way to get them is to pay for them. I also am fairly sure that these services have a system in place to review the questions periodically that have shown up in more recent tests and augment their test banks as required.