Maskinbefal common mistakes
Maskinbefal · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When a calculation question gives engine power, fuel consumption and speed, the candidate computes only the fuel per unit time and stops, instead of carrying the result through to specific fuel consumption in g/kWh and then to the total consumption for the stated voyage distance or running hours.
Under time pressure the candidate treats the first intermediate number as the answer, and unit conversions between kg/h, g/kWh, tonnes and litres are done loosely or from memory rather than written down step by step.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed four-step template for every consumption question: convert all given values to SI base units, compute the required rate, convert to the unit the question asks for, then sanity-check the magnitude (a main engine is typically in the 170-200 g/kWh band). Practise until the template is automatic, and always write the unit next to every intermediate figure.
The candidate answers a stability question using only the metacentric height GM and declares the ship safe, ignoring the free surface correction, the actual loading condition and the righting-lever curve, so a condition with adequate GM but a low area under the GZ curve is passed as satisfactory.
GM is the single most rehearsed stability number, and candidates memorise 'positive GM means stable' as a rule without connecting it to the full intact-stability criteria and the effect of slack tanks.
What to do instead
For any stability scenario, list the applicable criteria explicitly (initial GM, area under the GZ curve to 30 and 40 degrees, maximum GZ and its angle, angle of vanishing stability) and state which one is at risk. Always mention free surface effect and the corrected GM when tanks are slack. Work through one full GZ-curve assessment per study session rather than isolated GM drills.
On a machinery-fault scenario the candidate jumps straight to a single component (for example 'replace the fuel injector') without first establishing the symptom pattern, the operating parameters and the sequence of checks that would isolate the fault.
Case questions reward a decisive-sounding answer, and candidates confuse decisiveness with correct troubleshooting method; they also lack a rehearsed diagnostic order for common systems.
What to do instead
Answer fault-finding questions with an explicit sequence: confirm and characterise the symptom, compare against normal parameters, check the cheapest and most accessible causes first, then narrow by system. Name the parameters you would read (exhaust temperature, scavenge air pressure, fuel rack position, cooling water temperatures) and what each reading would tell you before naming the likely defect.
The candidate describes the correct action for a MARPOL or emergency situation but omits the mandatory recording, notification and reporting chain, for example retaining oil record book entries, informing the master and the coastal state, or completing the report after a pollution incident.
Technical knowledge is studied in isolation from the administrative obligations that accompany it, and candidates treat paperwork as a formality rather than part of the required response.
What to do instead
For every pollution-prevention and emergency topic, learn a paired answer: the operational action plus the record and notification that must accompany it. Build a one-page table of which record book, which authority and which time limit applies to each event type, and rehearse it alongside the technical content.
When asked about watchkeeping, the candidate answers with general duties ('keep a proper lookout, monitor the machinery') and fails to state the specific handover content, the conditions for calling the engineer on duty, or the circumstances in which the officer must not leave the control room.
Watchkeeping is perceived as common sense, so it is under-prepared relative to its weight in the exam, and candidates have not memorised the structured lists that the questions expect.
What to do instead
Memorise three short explicit lists: what must be handed over at a watch change, the defined situations that require calling the duty engineer or chief engineer, and the conditions that make a watch unsafe to continue. Practise writing each list from memory in under two minutes.
The candidate treats the emergency generator, emergency fire pump and other emergency systems as independent items and cannot state what each supplies, how it is started, and what its independence from the main systems actually means in a blackout.
Emergency equipment is learned as a list of names rather than as a system with a defined load schedule and starting sequence, so questions that ask 'what is still available after total power failure' expose the gap.
What to do instead
Draw the emergency switchboard from memory: list the loads it supplies, the automatic start conditions for the emergency generator, the changeover procedure and the periodic test requirements. Repeat the drawing until you can produce it without prompts, then answer past-paper style questions from that drawing.
On electrical and automation questions the candidate describes what a control loop does but cannot explain the failure behaviour, for example what happens on loss of the sensor signal, air supply failure to a pneumatic controller, or a failed open/shut position on a valve.
Automation is studied as normal-operation theory, and fail-safe and fail-to-danger concepts are not connected to concrete components.
What to do instead
For each major control loop (cooling water temperature, fuel viscosity, boiler water level, steering gear), state the measured variable, the controller action, the final control element and the designed failure position. Learn the distinction between fail-safe and fail-to-danger and be able to give one shipboard example of each.
The candidate answers a leadership or human-factors scenario by naming a communication technique in the abstract ('use good communication, apply situational awareness') without describing what they would actually say, to whom, in what order, and how they would confirm the message was understood.
Non-technical questions feel like they can be answered with generalities, and candidates have not practised converting a behavioural concept into a concrete shipboard action.
What to do instead
Answer every human-factors question with a short concrete script: the specific briefing content, the closed-loop confirmation, the person responsible and the record kept. Link the answer to a named concept (for example a permit-to-work, a toolbox talk or a stop-work authority) so it is specific rather than generic.
When a question asks for the applicable regulation, the candidate gives the correct principle but attributes it to the wrong instrument, mixing up SOLAS, MARPOL annexes, the STCW Convention and the MLC, or states a requirement without the certificate, survey or validity period it entails.
Regulatory content is memorised as prose summaries rather than as a structured map of instrument, annex or chapter, requirement and evidence, and the instruments overlap in subject matter.
What to do instead
Build a one-page matrix with one row per instrument and columns for subject area, key requirement, certificate issued and validity or survey interval. Fill it from the regulations themselves and self-test by covering columns. Before answering, name the instrument first, then the requirement.
The candidate writes long narrative answers to short-answer questions, burying the required key points in prose, and runs out of time before reaching the later questions.
Essay habits from earlier education carry over, and candidates do not rehearse under realistic time limits, so they never discover how much time each mark is worth.
What to do instead
Practise with a timer and allocate roughly one minute per mark. Answer in bullet points that each contain one technical term the examiner is looking for, and leave space to return to a question rather than over-writing it. Do at least two full timed mock papers before the exam.