Product Description

Get Your Captain's License offers the best test-prep resource available for the U.S. Coast Guard captain's exams. This fully updated and greatly expanded new edition covers the exams for the most popular captain's ratings, including the "Six-Pack" charter boat license and the 100-ton Masters license.

Includes an interactive CD-ROM for unlimited, random practice testing; written text coving all 9,000 questions/answers that could appear on the Six-Pack and 100-ton exams; and 200 additional pages of tutorials on seamanship and navigation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99841 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 832 pages

From the Back Cover
Know you'll pass before you take the exam.

Here's the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to prepare for the U.S. Coast Guard captain's ratings exams required for anyone who takes paying passengers on a boat, and useful for serious boaters who want to save money on insurance. This complete study tool includes:

• The six-passenger "Six-Pack," Master and Mate Inland, Master and Mate Near Coastal, and Sail/Auxiliary Sail Endorsement
• Every question and answer on the Coast Guard exams--all 9,000 of them
• An interactive CD-ROM with all 14,000 questions and answers in the USCG database, so you can take an unlimited number of practice exams

This new edition brings the book up-to-date with the Coast Guard's expanded and revised database of questions and answers, and provides 400 pages of tutorials on seamanship and navigation.

Minimum System Requirements:

• Windows 95 or later
• 200MHz or higher
• 32MB of RAM
• VGA Monitor
• 2x CD-ROM
• 30MB (minimum) of free disk space
• Mouse or equivalent pointing device

About the Author

Charlie Wing received his Ph.D. in oceanography from MIT. Wing lived aboard a cruising sailboat for six years, during which he obtained his U.S. Coast Guard Captain's license. His frustration with available study guides for the Coast Guard exams led him to create International Marine's bestselling Get Your Captain's License. He is also the author of four other International Marine books, including Boatowner's Illustrated Handbook of Wiring and How Boat Things Work: An Illustrated Guide.

Dr. Jim Austin, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served as navigator on a navy destroyer. He has taught Coast Guard license courses for many years. He is an instructor for the Ocean Navigator School of Seamanship and writes Rules of the Road newsletters for the Ocean Navigator Web site.

PEARSoft Corporation, creator of Get Your Captain's License AutoExam software, offers a number of test preparation products based on their AutoExam software engine; see them at www.pearsoft.com.

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good But Be Advised:
I used this book and CD to prepare for an inland master's exam. The CD is very helpful and allows you to rapidly practice the exam and receive a score. Two major warnings:

1) The "master and mate inland rules of the road" practice exam on the CD doesn't really test the USCG "inland only" questions. You have to set it up to do a "custom" exam and select inland only.

2) All the navigation problems on the CD were just course - speed - time problems not involving a real chart. On the real exam the problems were specific to an actual chart as in "Starting from a point two miles due East of Ferndorf Light plot a course......". You are therefore probably going to need some other source of training on the navigation problems besides this book and CD.

You'll need more than this book.
This book is frustrating because the learning consists of taking tests. There is not enough how to information. Also, the cd is supposed to randomly search the database and give a new test each time. However, after many practice tests I found that the cd did not access all the questions. Only because I also went through the written questions did I discover this. If you don't know this, you will not see all of the questions and you may need them all. On the plus side, the diagrams are what you will see in the real tests and the rules of the road are in the back of the book. I think it is very useful for drilling, not learning. This book should be considered a supplement. I recommend The Coast Guard License by Budd Gonder along with Chapman's and Dutton's for learning, and this book for practicing

Excellent Study Tool
I recently used this book to help me pass my Unlimited Master's Exam. I wholeheartedly recommend it as a study guide and as a drilling tool. I did not have access to the CD-ROM and only used the Questions and Answers Sections. I agree with other reviewers in that you must already have advanced knowledge in the subject areas to get the maximum out of this book. I like the fact that all the questions and answers are in one book and that the price is quite cheap compared to "Murphy's" 6 volumes and ... price tag. I would also recommend "Formulae for the Mariner" and getting a 1981 Nautical Almanac from the start to study with.