DGS GP Rating Exit Exam common mistakes
DGS GP Rating Exit Exam · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In speed/distance/time problems the candidate leaves time in minutes (e.g. 45 minutes used as '45') or adds easterly deviation with the wrong sign, giving a course that is wrong by 2x the deviation.
Mnemonics such as 'Can Dead Men Vote Twice' are memorised as a word string without the underlying sign rule, and time is copied straight from the question into a formula that requires hours.
What to do instead
Before any calculation, convert minutes to decimal hours on paper (45 min = 0.75 h) and write S = D/T with units shown. For compass work do one fully worked example forward and back, applying the check 'error east, compass least' at each step until the sign convention is automatic.
The candidate describes starting air as the air used for combustion, or says a purifier and a clarifier do the same job, and cannot state the order in which air, fuel and ignition occur in a diesel cylinder.
The engine room uses several air streams (starting, scavenge/charge, combustion) that share vocabulary, so revision by list-learning collapses them into one idea.
What to do instead
Draw a block diagram with three separately labelled air lines, noting pressure and purpose for each (starting ~30 bar to turn the engine, scavenge slightly above atmospheric to clear cylinders, charge air for combustion). State aloud the four-stroke sequence intake-compression-power-exhaust and where fuel injection falls.
The candidate places the collision bulkhead aft of the engine room, or cannot say why it is where it is, and confuses the functions of the bulbous bow, bilge keel and double bottom.
Structural members are revised as a labelled drawing to be reproduced, with no reasoning attached, so positions drift once the drawing is not in front of the candidate.
What to do instead
Learn each item with its reason: the collision bulkhead sits forward (typically 5-15% of length from the forward perpendicular) so bow damage floods one small space only; the bulbous bow reduces wave-making resistance; the bilge keel reduces rolling. Sketch a profile and annotate each with its purpose in one line.
The candidate states that widening the angle between two sling legs reduces the tension in each leg, or has no method for showing how heavy cargo is placed to keep the ship stable.
There is a common physical intuition that spreading a load shares it out; in reality tension rises as the angle from vertical increases, and this counter-intuitive result is rarely drilled with numbers.
What to do instead
Work numerical cases with T = W/(2 cos θ) for 30°, 45° and 60° from vertical and see the tension rise. For stability, anchor the rule 'heavy cargo low and near the centreline keeps GM and the centre of gravity safe', and check it against a simple loaded-draft example.
The candidate answers 'Class B' or recommends foam for a fire on a live electrical switchboard, or recites the fire triangle while ignoring the chemical chain reaction when asked about the fire tetrahedron.
Fire classes are learned as a bare A-B-C list without practice on realistic materials, and the triangle is taught first and then never updated to the tetrahedron.
What to do instead
Build a one-page table of class, example material, and permitted agent, then apply the rule 'isolate the power first, then treat the remaining fire by its material'. For the tetrahedron, name all four sides (fuel, oxygen, heat, chain reaction) and give one extinguishing method that removes each.
The candidate says a lifejacket should be inflated before jumping into the water, or describes jumping from height onto a life raft rather than into the water beside it.
Film and general-knowledge imagery dominates over the drill, and the reason for delayed inflation (protection on impact, ability to swim clear, escape from a burning surface) is never explained.
What to do instead
Learn the sequence and the reason together: wear it, cross the arms, hold it down, jump, and inflate only once clear of the ship and clear of flames. Practise the verbal sequence in the pool or at the mock-up so the order is recalled under mild stress, and pair it with the HELP position for heat loss.
The candidate gives adult CPR as 15:2 or 5:1, or says an unconscious but breathing casualty should be given water, or puts an object in the mouth of a person who is fitting.
Ratios from older or paediatric training are mixed with current adult guidance, and first-aid myths fill gaps where the candidate has never rehearsed a scenario.
What to do instead
Fix the current adult figures in memory: 30 compressions to 2 breaths, rate 100-120 per minute, depth about 5-6 cm, and 15:2 only for two-rescuer child/infant. Drill the rule 'nothing by mouth if not fully conscious, never restrain a fitting casualty, place in the recovery position once breathing'.
Asked what to do when a colleague collapses inside a tank, the candidate describes climbing in to pull them out, or says a permit to work is unnecessary for a short job.
The rescue instinct is strong and untrained, and enclosed-space drills are often observed rather than performed, so the 'never enter' rule has no emotional weight.
What to do instead
Learn the response as a fixed chain: raise the alarm, do not enter, rig the rescue equipment, use breathing apparatus only if trained and part of the rescue team, and never remove the permit controls early. Rehearse the chain as a spoken drill until the first action is always 'stop and call'.
The candidate attributes garbage discharges to MARPOL Annex IV, or cannot match Annex I to oil and Annex VI to air pollution, and confuses which operations require an entry in the Oil Record Book.
Annex numbers are memorised as a sequence without a concrete example attached to each, so any number can attach to any topic under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Attach one vivid example to each annex (I oily water, II noxious liquid in bulk, III packaged harmful substances, IV sewage, V garbage, VI exhaust emissions) and one document to each (Oil Record Book, Garbage Record Book). Then test yourself in both directions: annex to topic and topic to annex.
The candidate writes a distress message with no position or number of persons on board, answers 'yes' to a negative question, or uses 'repeat' to mean 'say it again' outside standard phraseology.
Everyday English habits transfer into radio work, and the MAYDAY format is remembered as a mood rather than as a fixed order of items.
What to do instead
Use a fixed seven-item template and write it out every time: MAYDAY three times, this is (name three times), callsign/MMSI, position, nature of distress, assistance required, persons on board, any other information. Practise readback of each received message, and treat 'say again' as the correct phrase instead of 'repeat'.