Quickie review:
You do a lot of work with simulators. Line up and start systems and eventually, get “underway,” then take readings as if on watch. You will also answer bells in steam propulsion mode (if you are taking the steam module). You will parallel generators, etc.
Day four is spent at the JRRF in Fort Eustis on a self-propelled derrick that MarAd uses to tend the ghost fleet. The day we were there, the crew was prepping it for use.
You make a round through the upper and LL ER as if you are on watch. Wear your steel toes and bring your flashlight. In a storage building there are several training aids. There is a burner front mounted in a frame, a soot blower, a safety valve, and a small purifier. You will answer questions about those and take the purifier apart and put it back together.
The assessors will do a Q and A of everything; you give component names and functions, how they work, find this, find that, etc.
There are books available to take home and review. Friday is an oral board which covers the areas not covered by the simulator or the barge visit. You will have a list of topics to study.
It is not a class. You are expected to answer questions, and demonstrate actions, and they have withheld certificates from people who did not prepare themselves. But most people do fine.
There will be people with varying backgrounds there, some from the ferries, some from the GoM, some who just left the Navy.
It was well worth the week and the 1 grand, especially when you consider that a lot of people are having a tough time getting the assessment sheets signed off aboard ship.