Registered Ship Surveyor study plan

Map the IMO instrument set (SOLAS, MARPOL, LL 1966/88, COLREG, STCW, Tonnage, BWM, AFS, Load Line Protocol) to the survey tasks each one drives, and write a one-line trigger for every certificate involved

Build a personal timeline of convention entry-into-force and amendment dates that a surveyor must know to judge whether a ship's certificates and manuals are current on the survey date

Distinguish flag State, port State and recognised organisation responsibilities, and state in writing who issues each statutory certificate and who endorses it

Apply load line assignment rules to two worked hull examples: compute freeboard, tabular freeboard corrections, and verify assigned marks against the certificate

Draft a survey checklist derived from SOLAS Chapter I survey types (initial, annual, intermediate, renewal) and the harmonised survey system, listing what must be examined at each

Explain the ISM/ISPS audit interface with class and statutory surveys and describe how a deficiency is graded, recorded and closed out

Write the sequence of a statutory survey from pre-arrival document review through onboard inspection to certificate issue, naming the records a surveyor must retain

Practise writing three non-conformity statements in measurable, evidence-based language without opinion or speculation

Describe the structural role of keel, floors, girders, longitudinals, transverse frames, brackets and pillars, and explain how load paths change when one member is wasted or cracked

Interpret a midship section drawing: identify primary and secondary members and state the stress each carries (still water bending, wave bending, shear, torsion)

Explain buckling, fatigue and brittle fracture mechanisms and the structural details that concentrate stress, including hatch corners and openings

Apply a corrosion allowance and wastage assessment to a plate and a stiffener, deciding when renewal or repair is required

Explain welding procedure qualification and welder qualification, and state what a surveyor checks before accepting production welding

Identify the common weld defects (porosity, slag, lack of fusion, undercut, cracking) and match each to the NDT method most likely to reveal it

State the capability and limitations of visual, radiographic, ultrasonic, magnetic particle and dye penetrant testing, and justify method selection for a given joint

Explain material traceability, mill certificates and the acceptance criteria a surveyor applies to a hull repair

Compute intact stability parameters from a hydrostatic table: displacement, KG, GM, righting lever curve and the area criteria under the applicable stability instrument

Explain free surface effect, and calculate the loss of GM for a partly filled tank

Explain damage stability and subdivision requirements, including the probabilistic framework, and describe the information a surveyor verifies in the loading computer and stability booklet

Test a stability booklet against a loading condition to confirm the approved document matches the ship's actual configuration

Explain fire detection and extinction systems by space type, and state the inspection points a surveyor checks on a fixed CO2 or water mist system

Verify life-saving appliance requirements by ship type and describe the inspection and servicing intervals for lifeboats, davits, liferafts and immersion suits

Describe the machinery survey regime: main propulsion, steering gear, auxiliary systems, and the tests and trials a surveyor witnesses

Explain the purpose and inspection of the safety management link between machinery defects and reporting, including the effect of a machinery failure on the ship's certificates

Explain the inspection of main switchboard, generators, emergency source of power and its changeover, and the tests a surveyor requires

Describe automation and alarm systems, including the unattended machinery space notation and the alarms and safety interlocks a surveyor verifies

Explain how electrical and automation findings are graded and recorded, and when a defect becomes a condition of class or a statutory deficiency

Design a practical onboard inspection route that covers the survey scope efficiently without missing required items

Explain the surveyor's duty of care, independence and confidentiality, and describe the conflicts of interest a surveyor must declare

Describe the surveyor's liability position: what is covered by professional indemnity, what is excluded, and how contemporaneous records support a defence

State the ethical response to pressure to pass a substandard item, including escalation and documentation

Consolidate the whole syllabus by re-testing the weakest domain and re-reading the convention-to-certificate matrix from week 1