I recently sat for my CM Unlimited and I failed my Q108 Navigation Problems Near Coastal exam. There were 2 new tides and currents problems I had never seen before, and I missed both questions. I am curious if any of you have tested recently and can shine more light on these? Is the USCG only doing these new types of problems now or are they still doing the old way as well? I was able to find the correct way by reaching out to the creator of Lapeware, but I am just looking for feedback from mariners who have tested recently. Thank you.
Can you be more specific as to what you encountered?
The NMC Sample Exams have new tide and current graph diagrams e.g. D056NG and D058NG which represent the quarter- tenth graphing of tides and currents. Is this what you are speaking of.
Yes. I have seen the tide/current diagrams you are speaking of on last year’s USCG sample exam on the NMC website. And I also saw them in Lapeware. The two questions I got was Diagrams D0606NG/D064NG. The questions asked were a whole different scenario than the ones from the diagrams you are speaking of. This is the reason for my confusion as well.
Utilizing various exam data bases that I have access to, I am also also stumped. Therefore, we both have the same conclusion - that the questions you encounter are new to the system.
However, Prep-schools, Lapware and the academies who are debriefing their mariners to the update the examination question database (e.g., the pony or the donkey) should be getting asking the same question you are by those who are currently testing.
Also we should expect the sample exam bank to be revising the 2024 with the 2025 updates.
Until then the problem is identifying the question style and accessing the diagram based on the copyright on the diagrams can become problematic.
I will watch the thread to see if anyone else responds to your question.
Thank you for your feedback. I wanted to create this thread to both hopefully find some answers and make other mariners aware. It seems as though quite a few others have been experiencing these same issues.
I took it and had a new type and old type. New type is way faster and easier. Allegedly the old tide problems will be gone sometime this month on future exams.
I agree the new type is much simpler; the old way was far more dependent on the intricacies of a particular presentation rather than the underlying concepts of “what’s the water doing”. Having the user act like a computer to do look-ups because paper space was limited also increased the chance of error.
I am curious though what issue the OP had with them, as any information needed should be able to be read off directly.
I’m not sure, the new style ones are what we use in the modern world, but so many mates fresh out of school show up and have no idea how to read tide/current graphs. Rightfully so? Fresh out of school? Idk. Easy to just look up the times on the phone.