Licensing Exams

I was one of a handful that had to retake all sections. The USCG wouldn't come to us for that so we had to make the trek in to Manhattan and take them all at the REC. They told us at the end of each day if we passed or failed that day. I will never forget the moment after the last test when the USCG Chief said to me "Congratulations, you passed"

It's an amazing feeling knowing there is very little standing between you and graduation.

Advice no. 1 to all ... get some rest, don't test tired.
 
U.S. Coast Guard Licence as a Third Mate or Third Asst. Engineer with various endorsements depending on course of study, sea year assignments, and days at sea. Getting your license is required for graduation (at least it was in pre-Covid years...)
 
KPEngineer said:
I was one of a handful that had to retake all sections. The USCG wouldn't come to us for that so we had to make the trek in to Manhattan and take them all at the REC. They told us at the end of each day if we passed or failed that day. I will never forget the moment after the last test when the USCG Chief said to me "Congratulations, you passed"

It's an amazing feeling knowing there is very little standing between you and graduation.

Advice no. 1 to all ... get some rest, don't test tired.
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I managed to pass mine the first go'round. I think that most of my class did. You are VERY correct about getting rest. I remember the frantic action the night before. Some were staying up all night trying to memorize the ponies. Around looked at a few, but didn't try to memorize, but just to see if I was getting the right answers. After about an hour I felt comfortable that I knew enough, so I laid it down around 2300. . . . but I am one of those that tests well.. . . and yeah, once that was out of the way, passing those 4th quarter classes was a breeze. I spent many an afternoon with a classmate, on his boat on the southshore. . . fun times.
 
cmakin said:
I remember the frantic action the night before. Some were staying up all night trying to memorize the ponies.
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When I was in license prep Hunt told the story about how about a decade prior to us testing KP got the same chart plot as SUNY. Of course schools talk, and he had given out the SUNY exam the night before license. So the night before we tested we got an e-mail with the chart plot from Mass, he said "Look, after the SUNY thing, the Coast Guard won't give this to you, but here it is as a reference." In an effort to hedge my bet, I just did a different chart plot or two, because we certainly wouldn't get that one.

I walked out of O'Hara and I couldn't figure out how some people managed to finish so fast. When I got on facebook someone posted a meme with a submarine getting hit by a torpedo with the text "Direct Hit." Had no idea what that was about, but whatever. I went across the hall to ask a buddy what he got for answers, and I started talking about having trouble with a set and drift problem that didn't work out. He just started laughing.

We had the same test as Mass. 80% of the room had done it the night before and didn't actually have to plot anything to get the right answers. I was in the other 20%. Sigh.
 
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cmakin said:
I remember the frantic action the night before. Some were staying up all night trying to memorize the ponies
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With that said, I did adopt this strategy for the CFR look ups. I didn't open the CFRs for C/M or 3/M I just memorized as many of them as I could and rolled the dice on the rest. My lowest general for 3M was 85 and C/M everything was in the 90s except for Nav General, all without opening a single CFR. The new ones don't have an index, and they're a huge pain to use unless its something you write in the log frequently like 33 CFR 164.25.
 
I sat for my original 3rd Mates license 45 years ago this month.. Initially all our professional classes focused on preparing us to take the old essay format exam. During the middle of my second class year the Coast Guard announced they were shifting the exam to a multiple choice format. When the class a year ahead of us took the first multiple choice exam they crashed and burned, with only about 5% passing [I'm not sure what percent passed at KP that year, but I’d bet it also wasn’t very high]. As it turned out, the high failure rate was due, in large part, to bad questions the Coast Guard hadn’t culled out of the question bank.
Unlike recent examinees, my classmates and I went into our test having a only a very general idea of what the questions would be and we had almost no scoops. Knowing the percentage that had passed the first time the year before definitely added to the pressure. I don't remember a whole lot about the test, but I do remember my chart plot was on the east coast of Florida - Fowey Rocks to Alligator Reef.. Anyway, the Coast Guard must have gotten rid a lot of the bad questions because close to 90% of my deck classmates passed on the first try [myself included]. The engineers did even better with a 95% pass rate. Looking back on it I felt we were very well prepared.

One big difference between now and then was we had to wait two weeks to find out if we had passed or not. Back then the Coast Guard sent the scan-tron sheets by 'snail mail' out to Oklahoma City [of all places] to be officially scored.. Waiting for the results made for a very long two weeks…

cmakin said:
fun times.
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You got that right.. Once I passed it felt like a weight had been lifted off my back.. and it was time to 'splice the mainbrace' and 'let the good times roll'! 🍻 @cmakin remember when you used to get a license that had been filled out on an IBM Selectric typewriter and that you would actually put in a license rack?👍
 
deepdraft1 said:
I sat for my original 3rd Mates license 45 years ago this month.. Initially all our professional classes focused on preparing us to take the old essay format exam. During the middle of my second class year the Coast Guard announced they were shifting the exam to a multiple choice format. When the class a year ahead of us took the first multiple choice exam they crashed and burned, with only about 5% passing [I'm not sure what percent passed at KP that year, but I’d bet it also wasn’t very high]. As it turned out, the high failure rate was due, in large part, to bad questions the Coast Guard hadn’t culled out of the question bank.
Unlike recent examinees, my classmates and I went into our test having a only a very general idea of what the questions would be and we had almost no scoops. Knowing the percentage that had passed the first time the year before definitely added to the pressure. I don't remember a whole lot about the test, but I do remember my chart plot was on the east coast of Florida - Fowey Rocks to Alligator Reef.. Anyway, the Coast Guard must have gotten rid a lot of the bad questions because close to 90% of my deck classmates passed on the first try [myself included]. The engineers did even better with a 95% pass rate. Looking back on it I felt we were very well prepared.

One big difference between now and then was we had to wait two weeks to find out if we had passed or not. Back then the Coast Guard sent the scan-tron sheets by 'snail mail' out to Oklahoma City [of all places] to be officially scored.. Waiting for the results made for a very long two weeks…


You got that right.. Once I passed it felt like a weight had been lifted off my back.. and it was time to 'splice the mainbrace' and 'let the good times roll'! 🍻 @cmakin remember when you used to get a license that had been filled out on an IBM Selectric typewriter and that you would actually put in a license rack?👍
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At KP, for the Marine Engineering and Nautical Science classes, our tests were the same format as the license exams. That was a great help, because of the purposely confusing way the tests are worded. After 4 years of being tested like that, it was less of a shock when the real thing came along.

We also had to wait a couple of weeks to get our results. Running down to ring the bell in front of Wiley Hall was one of the high points of my tenure at the school. Too bad they have formalized it now. I felt that it was a personal moment. . .

And yeah, not only to I remember getting a paper license for the rack, they were the only kind that I ever had. When the switch was made, I had already been ashore for some time. Hell, my Z card doesn't have an expiry date. . . . .
 
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cmakin said:
Hell, my Z card doesn't have an expiry date. . . . .
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Same with my Z card.. The first one I was issued at school was for the Ordinary Seaman rating and stamped 'endorsed for emergency service'. On The reissue before graduation the CG removed the emergency service endorsement [probably due to the end of the Vietnam Sealift] and I was re-rated 'Any unlicensed rating in the Deck Department including Able Seaman'. I don't think it's still done, but we had to pass the AB's written and practical exam before we were allowed to sit for our license.. The AB's practical consisted of demonstrating the ability to do 26 knots/hitches and 3 splices, as well as rig a bosuns chair and a stage. As I recall the Coast Guard gave us that exam about a month before thirds..
 
deepdraft1 said:
Same with my Z card.. The first one I was issued at school was for the Ordinary Seaman rating and stamped 'endorsed for emergency service'. On The reissue before graduation the CG removed the emergency service endorsement [probably due to the end of the Vietnam Sealift] and I was re-rated 'Any unlicensed rating in the Deck Department including Able Seaman'. I don't think it's still done, but we had to pass the AB's written and practical exam before we were allowed to sit for our license.. The AB's practical consisted of demonstrating the ability to do 26 knots/hitches and 3 splices, as well as rig a bosuns chair and a stage. As I recall the Coast Guard gave us that exam about a month before thirds..
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For cadet shipping our Z card was as a Lifeboatman, and we had the exam at school. There was a boat on a gravity davit in the basin. I don't recall taking a specific test for our QMED rating on our Z card, though. It just states, "Andy unlicensed rating in the Engine Department, Lifeboatman"
 
What happens if a midshipman fails one part of the exam? Two or more parts?
 
My understanding is that if you fail one or two parts you can do a retake and still graduate on time. Fail more and you have to pay from your own pocket and retake the test later. No diploma until you pass the test.
 
kpmom2013 said:
My understanding is that if you fail one or two parts you can do a retake and still graduate on time. Fail more and you have to pay from your own pocket and retake the test later. No diploma until you pass the test.
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So the numbers are correct. Fail 2 and retake just those 2. Fail 3 and you have to retake all 7.

In a normal, non-covid year, you have enough time between license and graduation to retake everything if you need to. You probably just won't have your license printed in time for graduation. With past regimes you can't walk until you pass license but this changes from time to time. Honestly considering graduation is on the 20th I don't see how the coast gaurd will have everything printed in time, but maybe someone has a plan for that.
 
Bell ringing was today for those who passed license. They all had to wear a glove on their ringing hand. A few wore masks, but most did not. Has anyone heard what the pass rates were this year?
 
There was a problem for Deck cadets for the Chart Plotting exam. The majority failed it this year because the USCG module had numerous questions that had no appropriate answer. Mids were offered a make up exam on the final day of exams which was a different module and most passed it. The dean at USMMA protested the bad module to the Coast Guard but the CG refused to do anything about it.
 
1842 said:
There was a problem for Deck cadets for the Chart Plotting exam. The majority failed it this year because the USCG module had numerous questions that had no appropriate answer. Mids were offered a make up exam on the final day of exams which was a different module and most passed it. The dean at USMMA protested the bad module to the Coast Guard but the CG refused to do anything about it.
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There was a problem with the module, yet some passed?
 
cmakin said:
There was a problem with the module, yet some passed?
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18 of the 90 Deckies passed that module. There were 10 questions and so those 18 didn't get more than 2 incorrect. I understand that those who failed that module received an email on Wednesday afternoon notifying them they could retake just that module Thursday afternoon and thus could participate in Bell Ringing. If they failed more than that module, they would retake any other module on Friday. Thankful mine passed all modules the first time around and didn't have to deal with the added stress!
 
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