Stability Calculations 3M Unlimited Oceans - License Exam

[nwitherly77]

I am going through the Deck Safety book by Capt Murphy. There are over 80 pages of stability and trim calculations. According to the first volume of the books, 3M/OICNW are required to know the following: Principals of Ship Construction, Vessel Structural Members, Principals of Trim and Stability, and Principals of Damage Control.

Am I correct in assuming that ANY Stability and Trim Calculation is fair game on the exam for 3M Unlimited Oceans? I got a little hung up because one of the types of questions was not in the template exam on Lapware (Metacentric Height (GM) Long form solution S.S. American Mariner). I know Lapware has a disclaimer regarding the templates saying that the exam templates do not duplicate the USCG exams (of course, right?) but serve as guidelines for helping one study. However, just as in other subjects such as celestial, the Master AGT test will have problems (ex-Meridian for example) that will not be on the 3M exam.

Should I study EVERYTHING? or trust the Lapware template?

[DeckApe]

Figure out how much of the test you can consistently pass, and use that to figure out how much of the stability you need to get down.

So if you can pass practice tests in the 80s then you would only need to lock down the 'easy' stability.

Some of the stability takes up too much time. Either memorize the answers or just figure those as part of the 21 questions to give up.

In a perfect world: learn everything. Otherwise learn enough to pass.

[rshrew]

Figure out how much of the test you can consistently pass, and use that to figure out how much of the stability you need to get down.

So if you can pass practice tests in the 80s then you would only need to lock down the 'easy' stability.

Some of the stability takes up too much time. Either memorize the answers or just figure those as part of the 21 questions to give up.

In a perfect world: learn everything. Otherwise learn enough to pass.

Exactly what I was going to say, well put.

[Oldsalt206]

Worked for me!

[New3M]

They already beat me to it, but just hope for the best on stability. I think the average is like 7 questions per test...if you can get 3 of them you're probably doing pretty good. Only need 49 to pass!

[Diesel]

Figure out how much of the test you can consistently pass, and use that to figure out how much of the stability you need to get down.

So if you can pass practice tests in the 80s then you would only need to lock down the 'easy' stability.

Some of the stability takes up too much time. Either memorize the answers or just figure those as part of the 21 questions to give up.

In a perfect world: learn everything. Otherwise learn enough to pass.

What 21 Questions to give up? In a 50 question General module you can only miss 15 Questions and still achieve a passing score. You will have approx 5 stability questions some will be basic GM,CF,CG, metacenter type of questions, some will be derived from stability letters and tables. These will be pretty easy to learn. A few will be long form, but honestly are not worth the effort it will take to get down the formulas. You should know how to do them given the formulas, but given the time constraints most of us are under probably not worth the time for testing purposes. From what I am told CM/management level is a horse of an entirely different hue. Best of Luck.

[DeckApe]

What 21 Questions to give up? In a 50 question General module you can only miss 15 Questions and still achieve a passing score.

On the 70% 70 question test it's 21 to throw away for 3M/2M ocean.

Am I correct in assuming that ANY Stability and Trim Calculation is fair game on the exam for 3M Unlimited Oceans?

[silverbk]

From my experience you will only get a few stability questions on you exam like others have said. Many of them involve identifying GZ.

My advice is pick c and move on.

This is also the advice of SUNY maritime. Here you have to take and pass three semesters of stability for them to tell you this in license seminar.

[Diesel]

On the 70% 70 question test it's 21 to throw away for 3M/2M ocean.

70 Question Module. There lies the rub. My mistake.

[Archimedes]

From my experience you will only get a few stability questions on you exam like others have said. Many of them involve identifying GZ.

My advice is pick c and move on.

This is also the advice of SUNY maritime. Here you have to take and pass three semesters of stability for them to tell you this in license seminar.

If you can't answer the stability questions after "three semesters of stability" that ain't bad advice.