Got to take another test

[divezonescuba]

For those who may have been following my renewal thread.

The USCG now wants me to take the 221 Deck General, Deck Safety, and Environmental Protection at the REC.

Has anyone taken this test?

Is there any type of study guide? There are bits an pieces that I have found on the internet, but not one specifically for 221.

 

[Tortuga James]

Did you have insufficient sea time or something?

 

[mmerriman]

you know about this site? USCGQ.com - U.S. Coast Guard Questions

 

[divezonescuba]

Thanks for the link. But, that site has unlimited masters any oceans questions in it. There are some really tough questions in it that are probably way beyond what I need. There is no way to limit it to 50/100 ton questions.

I just found this:

USCG General Deck Questions: Master's License (QUESTION)`&

The MMC says I have to take the exam because my original Deck General is more than one year old. I didn't have sufficient sea time offshore at the time that I took the initial test to qualify for near coastal, so my 50 ton was issued as an inland. In the last 10 years, I accumulated enough offshore time for the 50 ton near coastal, but my deck general was 9 years out of date when I last renewed.

 

[Akyla]

Sorry to hear you are getting the invitation to come sit for a test session. There are several study guides out there that may help you out. The bud gonder books used to be pretty good but I dont know how current they are. I'm sure there are others if you search. Is there a Mariners school local to you? If so then they certainly could help you prep.

Remember these are "open book" tests with passing scores around 75% or so. Not like rules exam that takes at least a 90. But you need to have at least understanding of what they might be and where the questions come from and how to look up the ones that stump you from the resources in the rec exam room, CFR, chapmans, blue jacket Manuel, etc.

you can pass it, after all a moron like me did...

 

[divezonescuba]

I contacted Iasknmc about the test. Apparently this particular module is now closed book with 70 questions and a 70 percent pass rate. Some of the pollution questions can be very specific. If you don't know the answer you can only guess.


They said I could appeal having to take it if I could come up with a decent reason.

 

[H3LlIoN]

seasources.net has been very useful, albeit for a small fee. The is also a book by Charlie Wing called "Get Your Captain's License; The Complete Study Guide" that should have all of the deck general stuff. Good luck!

 

[Wookie]

When I was a nuke, they rarely gave us multiple guess questions, but when they did, passing was not tough. First off, if you know the answer, answer the question (of course). If you can, eliminate some obvious wrong answers. A reportable fuel spill is enough fuel to cause a sheen, no you can't use Dawn on it, and you report to the NRC, not to the nearest sector or station. Anyway, if you have say 2 reasonable choices, or you just have no idea, use the clock method. If you have no clue, look at the clock or your wristwatch. If the second hand is in the first quadrant, the answer is a. If in the second quadrant, b and so on.

I made it through nuke school on the clock method.

Now, when I took my captain's test, I downloaded from the internet the entire deck general, deck safety, basically all of the 100 ton and unlimited DDE test bank and I didn't study the test, I studied the test bank. I actually learned every answer to every question including the wrong answers. Yes, there are known wrong answers. If the test key has a wrong answer, it's in the downloaded questions. I answered the questions as I had seen them in the test bank, and I aced the 100 ton, and aced DDE except for steam plants, because I was actually a steam plant engineer, so I didn't study for the test for steam plants. Turns out that they wanted to know mostly about superheated boilers, and as I said, I was a nuke. We didn't have superheat. Or boilers. They didn't ask any reactor theory questions on the steam exam. I still don't have a steam endorsement.

 

[divezonescuba]

Hello:

Passed the module 221 deck general, safety, and environmental protection test this morning.

The test was not really closed book as I had been told. There were actually the CFRs and some signaling documents in the room. There were no references available in the room that helped with seamanship or first aid.

The test was more difficult than I thought it would be. Glad I reviewed thousands of questions in the Wing book and some other on line sites suggested here. That gave me the knowledge for about 25% of the questions in some form or another through these sources. I had to research another 25% in the CFRs. The remaining 50% was seamanship. Since the test was actually for a 200 ton masters, there were a lot a questions that a 50 ton master doing dive charters would not ordinarily be familiar with. There were some tug questions most of which I missed. There were actually no environmental questions on the version of the exam that I received.

Thanks for the help everyone.