Captain’s License Study Guide: Your Roadmap to Passing the Exam

You’ve been boating for years, and you’re ready to get your captain’s license. You’ve got the sea time, you understand the requirements, and you’re motivated to take the next step.

But one part of the process still gives you sweaty palms — the captain’s license exam.

You haven’t taken a test in years, and questions are flooding your mind. Just how hard is this exam? Will you need a captain’s license study guide? Where do you even get one? What if you’re just not cut out for test-taking anymore? What if you never were?

If this is you, you’re not alone. I’ve worked with over 200,000 students of all ages, and I’ve heard just about every fear imaginable. The thought of going “back to school” after years away stirs anxiety in even the most accomplished of individuals. 

That’s why I personally built Mariners Learning System the way I did. If you’ve got the motivation and you put in the time, you will pass — guaranteed. 

So, let’s talk about the captain’s license exam, what it takes to pass, and what kind of captain’s license study guide will help.

Understanding the Captain’s License Exam Format

The first step to passing the USCG exam is knowing what you’re walking into. The Mariners test for the OUPV/Six-Pack license has four sections:

• Chart Plotting: 10 questions; passing score is 90%
  
• Navigation General: 50 questions; passing score is 70%
• Deck General/Safety: 50 questions; passing score is 70%
• Rules of the Road: 50 questions; passing score is 90%

All questions are multiple choice, giving you four potential answers to choose from. Once you begin our online testing process, you have five business days to complete all modules, with 3.5 hours allotted for each section.

The Mariners Difference: Mastery Over Memorization

At Mariners, we’re proud to say our students have a 98.7% passing rate. Why? One of the biggest reasons is this: We aim to teach genuine understanding, not just memorization.  

If you know an answer is “B,” but you don’t know why when you’re out on the water, that’s a problem. While many schools focus on drilling answers into your head for a passing grade, we focus on teaching you why those answers are correct through methodical, well-organized lessons.

Each course module has quizzes throughout and a test at the end, so you always know how well you’ve absorbed the material. Captain Tim Joyner, a Mariners graduate who now runs his own charter business, put it this way:

“I think that was really big in preparation for the actual exam. I can’t tell you how many times I went through those testing modules within each section to make sure I had it down pat before moving forward.” 

Tim — and other students — often used missed end-of-module questions to create a personalized captain’s license study guide in addition to the materials provided with the course. By the time they reached the actual captain’s license exam, they could be confident they had the mastery necessary to pass.

Another major factor in Mariners’ high passing rate is that you don’t go elsewhere to take the USCG exam after finishing your course. 

The Coast Guard’s exam pulls from a bank of 10,000 questions on an incredibly broad array of topics, not all of which are necessarily related to captaining a boat. So, years ago, I started the painstaking process of seeking — and receiving — approval for a captain’s license test I developed for Mariners.

Today, both your Mariners course and final proctored exam have been specially approved by the USCG and the National Maritime Center. Because we wrote the course and the exam, every lesson, review question, and practice quiz carefully prepares you for the captain’s license exam you’ll actually take. 

Your Captain’s License Study Guide: 5 Key Strategies

At Mariners, we recognize people study in different ways, so we’ve built our courses to accommodate multiple learning styles and paces:

Watch, Listen, and Learn

Whether you learn best by watching videos, listening to audio, or reading text, Mariners has you covered. Each lesson includes visuals, narration, and on-screen explanations to accommodate every type of learner and make complex topics easier to digest. 

Use Flashcards and Course-Specific Guides

Our electronic flashcards are a favorite among students as a fresh and convenient way to absorb material and test themselves on it. You can study on your laptop, phone, or tablet, making it easy to review wherever you’re comfortable.

Captain’s license study guides are available for each section of the course, so you can zero in on the areas that matter most.

Take Practice Quizzes (But Stay Off Google)

Every module includes practice quizzes to reinforce what you’ve just learned. These also provide a helpful gauge for how well you’ve mastered the material and opportunities to dig in further where needed.

When the final test comes around, students are sometimes tempted to search for additional study questions online, but that can lead you astray. External captain’s license study guides may not align with the Mariners exam format or scoring. Worse, they could cause confusion or anxiety over irrelevant material.

Go at Your Own Pace

Unlike schools that try to cram everything into intensive weekend courses, our self-paced format helps you master each concept before moving forward.

You have 12 full months to finish your course, so there’s no need to rush. If a module proves particularly challenging, you can simply step away, let the information settle, and return when you’re ready. 

Some students finish in a few weeks, and others take nearly the full year. We designed our program to be completely self-paced, so you can learn in a way that fits your schedule and comfort level.

Ask for Help When You Need It

Struggling with chart plotting? Can’t make sense of a navigational rule? Every Mariners student has access to our instructors via a help desk or one-on-one phone conversation. 

Former student Captain Lane Martin shared this about his experience: “There were a few times I called the school and had a question, and it was easy to just immediately get somebody on the phone who could answer.” 

We’re not just here to sell a course. We’re here to help you succeed.

What If You Struggle With a Specific Section?

Even with the best captain’s license study guide, not everyone breezes through every topic. Chart plotting tends to be the biggest challenge for many.

Captain Billy Self, who earned his Master’s license to continue his family’s sailing business legacy, initially worried about his dyslexia affecting his ability to study. But he found success by taking advantage of all our available learning resources:

• Video walkthroughs
• Printable lecture notes
• Visual aids for plotting problems
• Real-life scenarios for Deck General questions
• Live support if you get stuck

With Mariners, you’re never on your own. With the right mix of tools and support, even the toughest sections become manageable. 

Your Success Is Built In

Everyone, of course, wants to pass their captain’s license exam. But the bigger goal is becoming a knowledgeable, safe, and trusted leader on the water.

When that fog rolls in, or you’re managing passengers in rough conditions, you won’t be thinking about test scores. You’ll be relying on your training and the confidence that comes from truly understanding your craft. That’s what this process is really about.

If you’ve been searching for a captain’s license study guide because you’re anxious about the test, let me say this:

The fear is normal. But it doesn’t have to stop you.

You don’t need to be a straight-A student. You don’t need to be tech-savvy. You just need the right tools, the right plan, and a little patience with yourself.

Follow the program. Use the resources. Ask questions when you need to. And when the day comes to take your exam, you’ll know not just what the right answers are, but why they’re right.

That’s what makes a true captain.