I am just finishing my courses to upgrade to 500Ton Master, and I decided (much like many of you) to give Capt. Bruce a call only to find out that he is no longer accepting new students because he is retiring on February 27, 2015. While I am happy for him that he is getting to enjoy the remainder of his years in peace, I am a little disappointed. I have been looking forward to his course for some time now. My question to you is whether to search out another prep course and pay double, triple, even quadruple the price of Capt. Bruce’s course, or to acquire study material and try to teach myself. Do any of you have experience with other prep courses? Or home study? How have they worked out for you?
What do you currently hold for a license? If you have a 500 or 1,600 ton mates license I would highly recommend just self studying. It’s just building on what you already should know and a few other things you can pick up easily. Upgrading from a 100 ton would require learning a lot of new material and a class would probably be good.
Lapware, Lapware, Lapware. That is absolutely all that I used to go from Master 100 to Master 500. 100% on all exams.
Thanks guys! z-drive, I currently hold a 100 Ton. I have been researching prep courses in the area. The issue is that there really are none nearby that are reasonably priced. I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet if I decide to go that route.
On the other hand, captaint76, I will research this Lapware of which you speak so highly.
Thanks again for the recommendations!
[QUOTE=mlschoeffler;146584]Thanks guys! z-drive, I currently hold a 100 Ton. I have been researching prep courses in the area. The issue is that there really are none nearby that are reasonably priced. I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet if I decide to go that route.
On the other hand, captaint76, I will research this Lapware of which you speak so highly.
Thanks again for the recommendations![/QUOTE]
Lapware is great. However, if I had the means of doing a prep course (money, getting time off, etc) I would do the prep course. I personally do better with structure and even though lapware shows you problems worked-out it’s still a herculean task doing the upgrade by yourself. My own personal experience, not gospel.
Did you look at all the info here? http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/500-ton-master-upgrade/
I tried Lapware and Capt. Joe. Capt. Joe worked better for me.
[QUOTE=mlschoeffler;146584]Thanks guys! z-drive, I currently hold a 100 Ton. I have been researching prep courses in the area. The issue is that there really are none nearby that are reasonably priced. I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet if I decide to go that route.
On the other hand, captaint76, I will research this Lapware of which you speak so highly.
Thanks again for the recommendations![/QUOTE]
Sea School in Bayou La Batre , call them. They have taken down their web site which was different than Sea Schools. They used to give the 500t prep course. Their price includes room and meals. Not the best place to stay but can’t beat the price.
Capt. Bruce is retiring in February?! I’m in the course now but was under the impression that he would be around until the end of the spring semester, at the least, since the course is valid for one year from the date you start. I’m also upgrading from 100 to 500 ton and hoping to test this spring. That being said, I’ve heard good things about the Lapware program.
[QUOTE=mlschoeffler;146568]I am just finishing my courses to upgrade to 500Ton Master, and I decided (much like many of you) to give Capt. Bruce a call only to find out that he is no longer accepting new students because he is retiring on February 27, 2015. While I am happy for him that he is getting to enjoy the remainder of his years in peace, I am a little disappointed. I have been looking forward to his course for some time now. My question to you is whether to search out another prep course and pay double, triple, even quadruple the price of Capt. Bruce’s course, or to acquire study material and try to teach myself. Do any of you have experience with other prep courses? Or home study? How have they worked out for you?[/QUOTE]
I took capt bruces class and tested in September and he is by far the most knowledgable guy teaching this course. I mainly used his class only for the plotting and the terrestrial which I passed both with 100’s. I did use the material he gave me for the other modules but I mainly used mariner advancement’s thumb drive. it was only like $90 I think and was a lot of help. I also used “upgrade u” app which also was worth the money. It was only $20 I believe. I tried using lapware and it wasn’t for me due to all the modules were confusing and I wound up studying for more things than I should of which equaled wasting time to me. plus it was $100 a month and you had to have internet connection all the time. I work a 14/14 schedule and within three hitches off and studying I was ready to test. Hope this info helps.
Hello, if you decide to go the self study route, this workbook covers all the types of navigation problems (celestial and terrestrial) you are likely to see in your exams.
I also recommend Lapware; it can be intimidating at first but if you stick with it, you can see how the problems are all really similar. So if you learn to solve the different types of problems, whatever they throw at you will be easy peasy. Trust your gut, though, if you learned better with an instructor in the past, it is probably worth the cost to save you the frustration of online learning. Good luck!
https://www.scribd.com/doc/146738127/The-Cutterman-s-Guide-to-Navigation-Problems-Complete-Text
Thank you all so much! You have given me enough resource options to keep me researching for days. I have decided to give the home study route a try, using several avenues you guys have suggested, for six months. If that proves to be an insurmountable task, I will suck it up and take a prep course. Also, hopefully, I will be able to recruit a few friends who went through Capt. Bruce’s course to assist me with the navigation formulas.
Thanks again! Be safe!
Sounds great. With hard work and determination anything you want can be achieved. Good luck! See you out there!
You CAN do it yourself. The only question is if you WILL do it yourself.
If your motivation and drive is high enough all the tools are available in Lapware and Capt Joes. Last I used those programs 3 years ago Lapware made better practice tests and Capt. Joes explained the long math problems better. I suggest both and when you get tired of one switch to the other, the additional cost of the second program is probably less than the difference of pay for one day at a higher position.
If there is a chance you might dilly dally and procrastinate then go take the class, many people procrastinate for years and keep coming up with excuse after excuse to do it later and later and later and then never.
I totally agree. I went from AB to 3rd Mate unlimited without a prep class. I did study for 1 week at MAMA in VA Beach for terrestrial Nav though. I used Lapware to generate practice tests and used capt Joes for the formulas. I also used sea sources.net and eCFR website to look up the code of federal regs. Everyone on this thread had great advice. Good luck to you.
Thank guys! I am definitely motivated to do this NOW!! I have procrastinated for far too long. Already, I have purchased Cat Joe’s program, signed up for Lapware, AND downloaded the Upgrade U app on my iPad. I was going to wait until the beginning of the year to take a prep course, but why, when I can start studying now? I truly appreciate all the great recommendations.
Good luck to you. It is definitely worth the effort.