Where candidates go wrong
The commonest mistake is to treat the capstone week as a course that will get you through. It will not. The approved provider says plainly that the week includes classroom work on Marshall Islands law, simulator familiarisation and the assessment itself, and no examination preparation. The written papers are, in its words, essentially a Master Unlimited examination with the cargo subjects removed. Candidates who have spent a career on yachts under 3,000 GT arrive underestimating the depth of the stability, celestial and regulations papers.
The second mistake is confusing this course with the route to the certificate. Eligibility, sea service and the prerequisite courses are covered in Marshall Islands Master (Yachts) Unlimited Tonnage. This course assumes the Administrator has approved you, or will.
The written examination
The governing guideline is MI-319Y (Rev. Feb/2021), which sets out six modules:
| Module | Questions | Time (MI-319Y) | Minimum | Correct answers needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Navigation Problems | 20 | 1 h | 80% | 16 |
| 2. Practical Navigation | 20 | 1 h | 70% | 14 |
| 3. Rules and Regulations | 50 | 2 h | 90% | 45 |
| 4. Stability | 10 | 1 h | 70% | 7 |
| 5. Oceans, Winds and Weather | 10 | 1 h | 70% | 7 |
| 6. Safety and Seamanship | 30 | 1 h | 70% | 21 |
| Total | 140 | 7 h |
Look at the right-hand column. On Rules and Regulations you can drop five questions. On Stability and on Weather you can drop three each, which means one misread free-surface question costs a third of your margin.
CAUTION — two timetables MPT's course page shows the same questions and pass marks but section times of 3, 2, 2, 1.5, 1 and 1.5 hours, with a stated total of 9 hours (the figures actually add to 11). Prepare to the shorter MI-319Y times; anything more is a bonus.
Every question has four options and equal value. Scoring is right or wrong, with no partial credit for working.
Re-sits
MI-319Y: fail up to two sections and you are re-examined in those; fail more than two and you retake the entire examination, no sooner than 30 days and no later than one year from the first attempt. Up to two re-examinations are allowed, the second at least 30 days after the first. If you still have not passed after two attempts, the whole examination must be retaken, and not within a year of the last attempt. MI-118E §3.10.2 states the general rule more strictly: no re-examination earlier than 30 days after notification and not more than twice in 12 months. Fees under MI-319Y are USD 300 for the examination and USD 150 per re-take.
The simulator assessment
The provider runs it on full-mission simulators in three phases:
- Depart Port A and transit to sea.
- Arrive at Port B and moor at the customs dock.
- Depart the customs dock, transit to an in-port mooring and moor.
It is pass/fail. Automatic failure: collision, allision, grounding or exceeding the time limit. Otherwise you fail on more than 30 points of deductions for near misses, straying from the intended track by more than a set distance, landing too hard (measured by momentum) and running over the expected time.
Getting in
Pre-approval comes first. SICD-24 requires the MI-105E application with a USD 300 fee before the provider may examine you. The provider runs the week only when at least two approved candidates are confirmed.
What the assessor wants to see
- A candidate who treats the written papers as a merchant master's examination and has done months of work beforehand.
- Knowledge of the pass-mark arithmetic, so that the 90% and 80% papers get the most preparation.
- Simulator work that is planned, on time and never close to the automatic-fail events.