Posted: January 26, 2018

U.S. Coast Guard: Determining whether mariners will test under previous or current regulations


The following bulletin was released by the U.S. Coast Guard's National Maritime Center and is available online.

The National Maritime Center (NMC) has received questions from mariners regarding how to determine, from their Approved to Test letter, whether they will be testing under the previous or current regulations. In January 2014, the Coast Guard issued Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 02-14 to provide guidance regarding the transition from previous to current mariner credentialing regulations, which went into effect on March 24, 2014. Enclosure (1) of the NVIC provides information regarding whether an applicant will examine under the previous or current regulation.

If the examination code on the Approved to Test Letter is preceded by a Q, the examination module is based on the current regulation. If the examination code is not preceded by a Q, the examination module is based on the previous regulation. All Rules of the Road examination modules will be preceded by a Q, regardless of which regulation the applicant was evaluated under. The module codes are found in the Deck and Engineering Guide for the Administration of Merchant Marine Examinations on the NMC website.

Current Regulation:

Module - Q100
Module Name - RULES OF THE ROAD: INLAND AND INTERNATIONAL
Passing Score - 90

Module - Q160
Module Name - DECK GENERAL
Passing Score - 70

Module - Q161
Module Name - DECK SAFETY
Passing Score: 70

Previous Regulation:

Module - 072X1
Module Name - RULES OF THE ROAD: INLAND AND INTERNATIONAL
Passing Score - 70

Module - 073
Module Name - CHART NAVIGATION
Passing Score - 90

Module - 221
Module Name - DECK GENERAL (plus) DECK SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Passing Score: 70

Module - Q100
Module Name - RULES OF THE ROAD: INLAND AND INTERNATIONAL
Passing Score - 90

The NMC is working to update various pages on our website to more clearly reflect this information. Questions should be addressed to the NMC Call center via , by Chat from the NMC website, or by phone at 1-888-IASKNMC (427-5662).