I have been studying for a while because I am planning on moving up and testing for my 500 ton mate osv. I already have my 100 ton master near coastal and have been told that the tests are very similar with the exception of terrestrial nav. Is this true? I would assume the 500 would be mre in depth?500mordepthmuch
I hold a 100 ton master and I just tested for my 1600 ton mate. I didn’t think the 1600 ton was very hard but it was more in depth than the 100 ton.
If you have 2 years on your master get your 500 master non trader restricted instead. If you don’t have the time I would tell you to wait until you do, if you’re working a bigger boat then why don’t you you get the OICNW assessments signed off so you don’t have to get the trade restriction?
Who ever told you that they are very similar is smoking crack. They only thing they share in common is rules of the road. You have to know how to find stuff in the CFR’s and know Bowditch front to back, on top of the formulas for terrestrial.
There’s a reason they class for 100 ton is only 2 weeks and most of us spend over a month just in a test prep class plus several more month doing self study.
Thanks for the opinion sailormike . Im going to test soon for 1600 mate im glad to hear someone found the test to be easy. Or not that hard. What did you use to study?
I took the prep at MPT then when I finished I went and took the test a few days later.
What mike didn’t tell you was 2 people in the class were taking it over because they either failed the exam or felt they were not ready. One also dropped out towards the end of the class. If you know nothing about terrestrial before you start the prep you will have your hands full trying to keep up. As far as Mpt. I wasn’t impressed
Who dropped out? I never said the class was easy I said the test wasn’t that hard. I do agree if you don’t know the terrestrial part you will have a hard time.
Curry pm me your email address and I will send you some practice exams and then you can judge how ready you are. Mike so as to not embarrass anybody I will text you who dropped out.
Didn’t really expect you to post it online.
Curry a couple good websites to help study are coastguardexams.com and uscgq.com
[QUOTE=skycowboy;89101]What mike didn’t tell you was 2 people in the class were taking it over because they either failed the exam or felt they were not ready. One also dropped out towards the end of the class. If you know nothing about terrestrial before you start the prep you will have your hands full trying to keep up. As far as Mpt. I wasn’t impressed[/QUOTE]
I am looking at taking LAP at MPT in June, what didnt impress you about it?
All I know is of the 1600 Prep course. They make you buy about $200.00 in books and charts when you get there that they don’t tell you about.
You would think for $2000.00 they would have been included.
Then they give you class room work and the instructor leave the class room, so if you have a question, you have to hope somebody else in the class has figured it out or you have to wait 20 minutes for the instructor to come back to answer your question. Numerous times we were told that this was a prep course and that we should have already known the information and this was just to tune you up before the test. I don’t think a lot of people looked at it that way when they signed up for the class.
[QUOTE=skycowboy;89177]All I know is of the 1600 Prep course. They make you buy about $200.00 in books and charts when you get there that they don’t tell you about.
You would think for $2000.00 they would have been included.
Then they give you class room work and the instructor leave the class room, so if you have a question, you have to hope somebody else in the class has figured it out or you have to wait 20 minutes for the instructor to come back to answer your question. Numerous times we were told that this was a prep course and that we should have already known the information and this was just to tune you up before the test. I don’t think a lot of people looked at it that way when they signed up for the class.[/QUOTE]
I do agree, and I’ll also add that the instructor wasn’t the nicest instructor I’ve had. The charts and books that were needed did surprise me a bit for the price of the class. I did know about the books and charts that were needed before class started though.
I took at at MPT several years ago and agree with most of this. I was really annoyed with all the “surprise” books and materials as well. What we were told regarding the “already know how to do this” was referring to everything that you should know for the license that we already had (most 200gt). There wasn’t much sympathy or consideration for anyone that didn’t keep up with things over the years. They should have offered a short (2-3 day) refresher course for some of the stuff that most of us had long forgotten (I think they do now?!?!?). I don’t think MPT is a bad place to take it, but I do think that they don’t prepare you near enough before the class even starts. For example, they really didn’t put any emphasis on how much most will need to study outside of class. By the time that most people figure that out, they are already behind! If you do take the class, make sure that you plan on spending a lot of time after class studying. The library downtown is a good spot to meet up, although they have limited hours.
[QUOTE=Deuce;89181]I took at at MPT several years ago and agree with most of this. I was really annoyed with all the “surprise” books and materials as well. What we were told regarding the “already know how to do this” was referring to everything that you should know for the license that we already had (most 200gt). There wasn’t much sympathy or consideration for anyone that didn’t keep up with things over the years. They should have offered a short (2-3 day) refresher course for some of the stuff that most of us had long forgotten (I think they do now?!?!?).
Buy LAPWARE. Skip MPT for preps. Read Bowditch and work with mariners who can help you to LEARN the material. $2K for instructors that hide behind lengthy breaks and assume you should already “know” the material may leave you frusterated, I am not suprised to hear people dropped the course.
After Reading the post on MPT, I think more people may want to look at Fletcher College in Houma. Capt Bruce teaches the 1600 prep and while he may be a bit crusty, his teaching method is totally different.
Fletcher does a strictly one on one style of tutoring. You show up when you want, for as long as you want, it is up to you. What is taught is those items you never had in your 100/200 test. Such as amplitude, azmith, sunrise/sunset advance for posn and so on.
How it works is like this:
Capt Bruce shows you individually how to solve a problem, you go back to your desk and you do 20 plus test questions for that problem. After you show that you can handle that problem (azimuth, stability, whatever), then he gives you another problem (and the formula for it) you go back to your desk, do 20 plus test questions and so on and so on. Once you have done all the hard (memorize the form sheet, math formula and so forth) terrestrial/celestial problems, you then start on your nav plot. Again same thing, he shows you want you need to know, back to your desk, and do the problem/test question again and again until you got the problem down pat.
What Captain Bruce does not teach is Nav rules, basic seamanship and so forth. Those you are expected to learn on your own. There is plenty of hand outs and study material there at the college for you.
As mentioned you come and go as you see fit. The way I did the course was to show up for a 4 to 5 hour period on the day I got off hitch. Capt Bruce would show me 2 to 4 formulas. I would prove that I understood these problems and head home. I worked a 14/14 schedule, so on my on hitch time during my off watch I would redo these questions time and time again till I had it memorized. Then when I got off hitch, I did the process all over again. Since I worked in south La, but lived in FL this system worked for me in that I did not have to pay for a hotel room or board. If memory serves me right, I stopped by the college 4 maybe 5 times. Then went and took the test. Aced or near aced all modules. My recency for 1600 was out of date, so I needed to get 90 days on a over 100 ton boat anyway before I could test. If you wanted to, you could just get a cheap room and stay there in Houma for week and do the course all at once. Your call.
On items purchased, I needed to get a couple triangles and a certain type of calculator. Maybe some charts also Capt Bruce teaches all the azimuth/amplitude problems using a scientific calculator. I think I spent maybe 75.00 for what was needed
also took the MPT course,Plotting and all is alot,Study the disk for like 2 months before you go and that way youll have time to concentrate on the plots and all cause its alot.
[QUOTE=blaineatk;89086]I have been studying for a while because I am planning on moving up and testing for my 500 ton mate osv. I already have my 100 ton master near coastal and have been told that the tests are very similar with the exception of terrestrial nav. Is this true? I would assume the 500 would be mre in depth?500mordepthmuch[/QUOTE]
They’re not at all similar, Mate OSV has a lot more on it. The Mate OSV exam is the same as Mate 5900, Mate 1600, and 3rd Mate Unlimited.
Oh wow, yeah I’ll be testing out for my 1600 mate. I saw that MPT offered the prep course for quite a bit less then other places & I guess there’s a reason for it! Thanks for the heads up!
I have heard good things about Quality Marine. There was a thread going about Prep courses. North East Maritime was one to stay away from.
Blaineatk,
The 500/1600 ton mate isn’t that bad. The hard parts are of course the terrestrial, plotting w/accuracy, and sweating it out for 3 1/2 hours searching through the cfrs and bowditch to find the answers you don’t know for deck gen, nav gen, and deck safety. Not too bad of a hunt once you figure out where everything is in the cfrs. Get the 90 percenters down pat and the rest should be easy. Most people fake themselves out by worrying about how hard it will be. Study like you should and you will sail right through it.