I took all of the OICNW courses at Quality Maritime with the exception of ARPA, Watchkeeping, cargo, and shiphandling. QMT was by far the best school I went to. I said it before and I’ll say it again…if you take your training seriously, go to QMT. They have a prep course and the classes run 7 days a week. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND QMT!
I have learned the amplitude/azimuth formulas. I do need to work on sunrise and sunset and tides. All I have sea time for is the osv license but I think after so long I can upgrade that to a non trade restricted license, correct? I will more than likely go take a prep course before I go to test just to make sure I pass. It seems like good insurance.
[QUOTE=blaineatk;89422]I have learned the amplitude/azimuth formulas. I do need to work on sunrise and sunset and tides. All I have sea time for is the osv license but I think after so long I can upgrade that to a non trade restricted license, correct? I will more than likely go take a prep course before I go to test just to make sure I pass. It seems like good insurance.[/QUOTE]
If you have the time for Mate (OSV), you have the tiime for Mate 500. Apply for both at the same time.
NMC Mate OSC Checklist: http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/credentials/checklists/pdfs/MCP-FM-NMC5-70%20Mate%20OSV.pdf?list1=%2Fnmc%2Fcredentials%2Fchecklists%2Fpdfs%2FMCP-FM-NMC5-70+Mate+OSV.pdf&B1=GO!
NMC Mate 500 Checklist: http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/credentials/checklists/pdfs/MCP-FM-NMC5-46%20Mate%20500-1600%20NC.pdf?list1=%2Fnmc%2Fcredentials%2Fchecklists%2Fpdfs%2FMCP-FM-NMC5-46+Mate+500-1600+NC.pdf&B1=GO!
My assessment through my company says I only need 480 days for the mate osv? This kind of makes me wonder now. I hope I don’t need 720, I will still have a long time to go!!
Learned invaluable info here from everyones posts, thanks. Have just started home studies for 3/M O/NC. I am going to take a prep course in six months or so, should i wait to learn the formulas by instructor or tackle Bowditch now, I know a little about trig. But need to spend more time with it. Thanks again.[QUOTE=Jemplayer;89090]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.[/QUOTE]
I learned the terrestrial stuff on my own just by looking over the formulas and trying to make sense of it all. Going to class would be much easier!!! Also, I practice practice practice then forget it haha so stay up on it!!! Good luck and I wish you the best!
Good luck with you too. Have previous cnav studies but forgot alot of it, it looks familiar and have been concentration on the easier topic using lapware. Getting ahead of my strategy, I was told not to get too wrapped up in formulas. Just know where to find them. But am concerned about my weak trig and hoping that I am wrong. Seems I need advise to satisfy the question, were is the comfort zone, what level is recommended for trig. Can my TI-36 do the job?
[QUOTE=“blaineatk;89563”]My assessment through my company says I only need 480 days for the mate osv? This kind of makes me wonder now. I hope I don’t need 720, I will still have a long time to go!![/QUOTE]
The company uses a different definition of “day” than the USCG checklist. A 12 hour watch counts as 1.5 days so 480 twelve hour work days is 720 sea days.
I have found that if you study the easy stuff first (rules, deck gem, Nav gen, deck safety) then test on those subjects when your ready, you will have 90 days to retest on the terrestrial and chart plot. It will lighten your study load and 90 days to learn Terrestrial and chart plot is plenty since they are pretty much the same formulas and techniques. Those easy test have some formulas but you can still easily pass those four exams without learning the formulas. Lets face it, your trying to pass a test not learn everything from a book. All the knowledge you need to actually do the job will come with experience in the field. I would use memorization to get past all the multiple choiscr questions and lapware is the best tool to bet it done.
I found that studying up on the three 90’s to be the best way. Go over the other three good enough to be familiar. It’s easier to get the hard stuff with less chances out of the way and turn to the cfr’s for unknown things on the deck safety, deck gen, nav gen. Those are 70 percent pass.