I’m sure that Rules of the Road is first; and, I’m hoping the celestial navigation is last. I thought there was a post a while back about the test order. However, I cannot find it.
Thanks in advance.
Hi PMC…I’m actually in the testing process right now for my 1600 ton oceans. I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to jinx myself but I am on round 2 within my 90 days and have 1 test left to go (nav general) tomorrow! I’m hoping to bring myself some good exam room karma by helping you out here!!haha
First off…Where are you testing and are you testing soon? As you know on round 1 you have to take 2 per day and yes rules has to be first. What happens after that will depend on where you are testing. Some recs will let you pick your test on the spot and some go by the order of your approval letter. It should not be a problem to change the order on your approval letter but it has to be done in advance through your evaluator at the nmc. I may have more information that will help you depending on where you are testing, so let me know. Also…have you taken a celestial nav course? If not are you ready for that test? Most people turn in an approved cert in leiu of taking that test.
I’m taking the tests next week in LA. I took the exams for mate 2 years ago but I don’t remember the order. The rules test will take 20 minutes. What I don’t want is to put myself in a situation where I have to take a couple of exams int the morning and then take the celestial a day early because of the “2 a day” rule - if that is the case. I took the celestial class three years ago. And I have not done a 3-body running fix since I walked out of the test. My job does require compass corrections so its not like I have been completely removed from the process. And in a few years I will have to to another running fix if I ever go for chief mate unlimited!
By LA you are talking about Mandeville right? That is where I am testing now. The guys that run the test room there are very cool. You can walk in at anytime, and they let you pick your tests as well. I’m pretty sure that if you take 3 in 1 day that you are going to have to take 2 on the other days where as if you take 2 a day it will leave you with 1 for your last day, which is what I did on round 1 in Miami. I’m going to pm you with some additional info that may be useful to you.
You pick the order when you schedule your appointment. If you don’t specify, the default is the order they are listed in the NMC’s Deck Exam Guide.
This board is great! On this request I have gotten private message suggestions, phone calls and even an offer of help if I needed a place to stay when I take my exams. I did talk with a person at NMC who told me that I pick the order when I schedule my appointment. And then I talked to two RECs that said I can pick the order on the first morning when I arrive for the exam.
I have found the level of customer service at the NMC and the REC is better across the board that it was when I tested a couple years ago. But, from my experiences, the actual evaluation process has gotten even worse. I’ll say more about that after I have my license in hand. Last week I shared my evaluation experiences over dinner with two retired Coast Guard captains, each with 30 years of experience. They were dumbfounded as I kept saying "but wait, it gets worse…
I got to hear stories that night about how after the war the Coast Guard actively brought lots of mariner from private industry into the merchant marine inspection offices to provide needed expertise. More to say but I’ve got to get back to studying.
Picking when you schedule was a compromise. Some RECs were adamant that it had to be a set order, no deviations. The RECs do need some prep time, and in a busy exam room with a lot of people taking different exams, the would not be able to get everyone their exams on time (exams are printed on the day of thee exam, this is needed to make sure the exam remains valid. Exams may be retired when we favorably decide a protest, we retire all exams with that question.) So setting the order at scheduling was a compromise the RECs would accept. Some RECs don’t feel as strongly as this and may allow last minute decisions.
Looking at the approval letter, the tests modules are listed numerically (e.g. 1st: 054 - rules of the road; 2nd: 205 navigation problems - near coastal…) I think it would be clearer if the list of required examinations followed the standard sequential order in the NMC Deck Exam Guide. I looked at this letter and thought that I might have to take nav problems - near coastal on the first day.
Related to the above: I am one of probably not too many, who have sat for the 1600-ton mate license as opposed to going directly to master - literally, everyone else in my SYCW courses who was sitting for the 500 or 1600 ton license had enough sea time to avoid having to take the additional mate STCW coursework. So now I find myself taking the 1600 master test at least [U]three years[/U] after taking my STCW classwork. Bottom line: I don’t remember what is included in tests such as “navigation problems - near coastal”.
I go the the NMC “frequently asked questions” and there isn’t any information related to the test material. Another example - celestial navigation - I remember there were 15 different types of questions but it would be nice to be able to go to a NMC website that gave an example of what types of questions were on the test.
“Nav problems near coastal” is your terrestrial test. Do you start tomorrow?
Yep. I’m not too worried. Any mistakes will likely be reading the questions wrong. The first thing I will do once I get to the navigation and celestial is write down, in big letters, on a piece of paper in front of me: "read the question three time and do the math twice"
I was able to get my terrestrial book out of storage and have it shipped to me last week. Deuce, thanks again for your advices.