MAJ OOW Deck Exam common mistakes
MAJ OOW Deck Exam · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When plotting a running fix or transferring a position line, the candidate advances the LOP by dead-reckoning the whole run at one course and speed instead of applying the actual water track and leeway, then reports the resulting fix as if it were a true position rather than an estimated one.
Training plots often use a single course and speed over ground with no current or leeway, so candidates memorise the transfer step as a mechanical slide and never learn that the transferred line must be labelled with its time and the fix marked as a running fix, not a fix from simultaneous observations.
What to do instead
Before every transfer, write down the course and speed actually made good between the two observation times (including set and drift if known), advance the earlier LOP along that vector, label it with the time of the second observation, and annotate the intersection as 'R. Fix' with the time. Practise at least five transfers per session using a plot with a deliberate current so the difference between the water track and the ground track is visible.
In collision-regulation scenarios the candidate identifies the give-way or stand-on vessel correctly but then gives the wrong action, for example telling a stand-on power-driven vessel in a crossing situation to alter course to starboard early, or telling a give-way vessel to pass ahead of the other ship rather than astern.
Candidates memorise the rule numbers and the geometric definitions of crossing, head-on and overtaking but rehearse the required actions only for the head-on case; the crossing and overtaking actions, the stand-on vessel's duty to hold course and speed until action alone will avoid collision, and the option to sound at least five short and rapid blasts are learned as isolated facts rather than as a decision sequence.
What to do instead
For each scenario, answer in a fixed order: what is the situation, who gives way, what is my first action, what do I do if risk of collision is not resolved, and what sound signal applies. Write the sequence out for all four situations (head-on, crossing, overtaking, stand-on) and self-test with random scenarios until the action, not just the rule number, comes out first.
The candidate reads a synoptic chart or station model and states the wind direction as the direction the air is moving towards, or confuses the reported pressure tendency or isobar spacing with the actual forecast wind speed, and describes a low-pressure system as producing fine settled weather.
Wind direction is conventionally the direction the wind blows from, but everyday language uses the reverse, and candidates who have not practised with station models default to the everyday convention. Isobar spacing and pressure tendency are learned as definitions without being tied to the practical forecast, so the candidate cannot convert a chart into a wind and weather statement.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed reading routine for every chart: identify the system and its likely track, read the isobar spacing for wind strength, read the front for expected weather and visibility, then state wind as 'from' with a compass bearing. Convert three or four station models per session into a one-sentence forecast, and check each against the chart's own front positions.
In stability calculations the candidate computes GM from KM minus KG but then uses the fluid GM in a free-surface problem, or forgets to apply the free-surface correction at all, and treats a small positive GM as proof that the ship is safe without checking the angle of loll or the GZ curve.
The KM and KG method is drilled as a formula, and free surface correction is treated as an optional extra rather than a mandatory deduction; candidates also conflate positive initial stability with overall intact stability, so they stop at GM and never look at the righting-lever curve or the list that a negative GM produces.
What to do instead
Always write the correction line explicitly: GM fluid = KM − KG − FSC, where FSC = (total free-surface moment) ÷ displacement. Then state the resulting GM, the angle of loll if GM is negative, and whether the GZ curve shows adequate area and a reasonable range. Work through one loaded and one slack-tank condition each session and compare the two GMs.
When planning a cargo of grain, timber or a high-density bulk cargo, the candidate checks only the deadweight or the volume and never verifies the applicable stability or cargo-securing requirement, such as the grain heeling-moment criteria or the need for a lashing plan, and then declares the loading plan acceptable.
Cargo planning is often studied as a pure deadweight and volume balance exercise, so the regulatory constraints on particular cargoes are learned separately and never integrated into the planning step; candidates also assume that a cargo that fits in the hold is automatically safe to carry.
What to do instead
Build a checklist that runs before any loading plan is accepted: deadweight, volume, draft and trim, then the cargo-specific constraint (grain heeling moment versus allowable, timber deck cargo securing, high-density cargo hold strength, dangerous goods segregation). State each constraint and its numerical result in the plan, and reject the plan if any constraint is not demonstrated.
The candidate describes the firefighting or abandon-ship response in the wrong order, for example opening a compartment to fight a fire before boundary cooling and shutting down ventilation, or mustering and lowering a survival craft without confirming the abandon-ship decision, the distress alert and the craft's equipment.
Emergency procedures are memorised as a list of actions without an ordering logic, so under exam pressure the candidate recalls the most vivid action (attack the fire, launch the boat) rather than the first action (raise the alarm, contain, account for personnel). The same list is rarely rehearsed against a realistic scenario.
What to do instead
Learn each emergency as a decision tree with a fixed first step: for fire, alarm, containment and boundary cooling, then attack; for abandon ship, the master's decision, distress alert, muster and headcount, then launch. Rehearse by narrating a scenario aloud from the first action to the last, and check the order against the ship's muster list and the relevant convention requirement.
When answering watchkeeping and bridge-procedure questions, the candidate quotes the STCW rest-hour figures but cannot explain how to handle a situation where the rest hours have been breached, or describes handing over the watch without a structured handover of position, course, traffic, machinery status and outstanding orders.
The convention figures are the most examinable and easily memorised part of the topic, so candidates stop there; the practical competences of watch organisation, fatigue management and a formal handover are learned as background reading and never practised as a procedure.
What to do instead
Prepare a one-page handover template (position and fix time, course and speed, traffic and risk of collision, machinery and steering mode, weather and visibility, orders and standing instructions, outstanding defects) and rehearse it in under two minutes. For rest hours, be able to state the minimum figures, the maximum allowed exceptions and the record-keeping and reporting duty when a breach occurs.
In pollution-prevention questions the candidate states the general prohibition but not the specific numeric limit or the operational procedure, for example giving a vague answer on oily water discharge instead of the permitted oil content, the required monitoring and alarm arrangement, and the prohibition inside special areas.
MARPOL is studied as a list of annexes and prohibited acts, and the numeric limits and equipment requirements are skimmed because they look like detail; the candidate therefore cannot answer the operational question of what must be true before a discharge is lawful.
What to do instead
For each annex, build a card with the regulated substance, the numeric limit, the equipment required, the record book and the special-area rule. For oily water, learn the 15 ppm limit, the oil filtering and alarm arrangement, the prohibition in special areas and the Oil Record Book entry. Test yourself by stating the full condition for a lawful discharge, not the prohibition alone.
The candidate answers a ship's-business or legal question by naming the convention or the certificate but cannot state which party bears the obligation, what document evidences compliance or what the consequence of non-compliance is, and confuses flag-State, port-State and coastal-State responsibilities.
Legal topics are learned as a vocabulary of instrument names, and the candidate never maps each instrument onto the actors (owner, master, flag State, port State) and the paperwork, so answers stay at the level of 'the ship must comply with MARPOL' without the operative detail.
What to do instead
For each instrument, write three lines: who is obliged, what certificate or record evidences it, and what happens if it is missing or invalid. Then classify each obligation by State role. Practise by taking a random certificate from the ship's list and explaining its issuing authority, validity and the consequence of expiry before sailing.
When asked about a machinery or maintenance system, the candidate describes the component's purpose but cannot state the failure mode, the alarm or indicator that reveals it, or the immediate action required, and gives no isolation or permit-to-work step before maintenance.
Engineering systems are taught as a description of what each item does, and the diagnostic and safety-management layer (alarms, trips, isolation, permits) is treated as the engineering crew's business rather than part of the deck officer's competence, so the candidate has no procedure to offer.
What to do instead
For each system on the syllabus (steering gear, bilge and ballast, fire main, fuel and oily-water separator, inert gas where fitted), write the normal function, two credible failure modes, the alarm or symptom for each, the immediate action and the isolation required before work. Rehearse the steering-gear failure drill in particular, including the changeover procedure and the reporting duty.