01Why a master and a messman sit the same test
The Marlins test measures English, not seamanship. A Chief Engineer and a wiper hear the same recordings, answer the same kind of grammar and vocabulary questions and read the same kind of notice; the test does not ask a captain about stability or a cook about menus. That is why the job adverts that say "Marlins test for 2nd Officer" or "Marlins for AB" mean the same test — with a different score attached.
The score is where the rank comes in. Marlins' help centre lists a recommended minimum acceptance score per rank: the more your job depends on giving and understanding orders, writing reports and talking to pilots, port control and inspectors, the higher it is. Employers often start from that table — ask yours — and some set their own figure. Whatever the source, it is the employer's number that counts, so read your offer — and if it says nothing, ask your manning agency before you book.
For the full story of the score itself — why the total is not an average of the sections, the cruise and Saudi Aramco figures, and how rounding works — see what score you need in the Marlins test. This page is about your rank: what Marlins recommends for it, how many points that leaves you, and where people at your level usually lose them.
02Find your rank: the minimum, the points, the sections to watch
The 23 ranks of Marlins' table fall into 6 thresholds. Points are out of 85, rounded up to the next whole point (70 % of 85 is 59.5, so you need 60). The notes on sections are ours, from writing and reviewing our practice bank — Marlins publishes no breakdown of results by rank.
| Minimum | Points needed | You can miss | Ranks |
|---|
| 85 % | 73 of 85 | 12 | Master |
| 80 % | 68 of 85 | 17 | Chief Officer · Chief Engineer |
| 70 % | 60 of 85 | 25 | 2nd Officer · 3rd Officer · 2nd Engineer / 1st Asst. Engineer · Electro-Technical Officer |
| 65 % | 56 of 85 | 29 | Deck cadet · 3rd Engineer · 4th Engineer · Electrical Engineer Officer · Trainee marine engineer · Bosun · Petty Officer Electrician · Pumpman · Chief Cook |
| 55 % | 47 of 85 | 38 | AB (watchkeeping) · AB · Fitter · ER CPO · Engine-room watchkeeping rating |
| 45 % | 39 of 85 | 46 | OS · Wiper · Galley rating · Messman |
Recommended minimums from the Marlins help centre (January 2022), grouped by threshold. Point counts are our arithmetic. Your employer can ask for more or less.
85 % — Master
73 of 85 points · miss up to 12 · spoken test (TOSE): Upper Intermediate
The highest figure in the table, because the master speaks for the ship: to pilots, port control, inspectors, charterers and, in an emergency, to everyone at once. The margin for mistakes is the smallest in the table.
Where the points usually go: Listening and Different sounds, 34 of the 85 points between them. Senior officers who read and write English every day still lose points to a fast recording with an accent they do not hear at work, and to sound-alike numbers on the radio.
What to practise: Listen every day to spoken English you did not choose — VHF traffic, news, podcasts with British and Asian accents — and do the audio items of the practice tests with only two plays. Then a full timed simulation, because one weak section is enough to fall under 85 %.
80 % — Chief Officer, Chief Engineer
68 of 85 points · miss up to 17 · spoken test (TOSE): Intermediate
Management level on deck and in the engine room: the officer who plans the work, briefs the crew and writes the reports a superintendent or an inspector will read.
Where the points usually go: Grammar, the biggest written section (30 points): reported speech, passives and tenses of the kind you use in a report ("the pump had been isolated before…"). Chiefs tend to be strong in technical vocabulary and lose points on structure.
What to practise: The grammar guide and its word-order items, then reading notices and procedures aloud. The margin is comfortable only if Listening is solid too — check it with the free tests first.
70 % — 2nd Officer, 3rd Officer, 2nd Engineer / 1st Asst. Engineer, Electro-Technical Officer
60 of 85 points · miss up to 25 · spoken test (TOSE): Lower Intermediate
The watchkeeping officers who talk on the VHF, receive the orders of the master or the chief engineer and pass them on — including the Electro-Technical Officer (ETO), who works with manuals, alarms and permits in English.
Where the points usually go: Time and numbers: positions, bearings, times in 12- and 24-hour form, channels and quantities, some of them typed from a recording. Only five points, but each wrong one is lost in full, and the same skill carries the listening items.
What to practise: The time-and-numbers guide, then every numeric item in the practice tests until you can write a dictated position without replaying it. ETOs: add the vocabulary of electrical equipment and safety isolation.
65 % — Deck cadet, 3rd Engineer, 4th Engineer, Electrical Engineer Officer, Trainee marine engineer, Bosun, Petty Officer Electrician, Pumpman, Chief Cook
56 of 85 points · miss up to 29 · spoken test (TOSE): Lower Intermediate
The largest group: deck cadets and trainee engineers starting their sea time, 3rd and 4th engineers, electrical engineer officers, and the senior ratings who lead a team — bosun, pumpman, chief cook, petty officer electrician.
Where the points usually go: Cadets usually have school grammar and lose points on shipboard vocabulary and on recordings; bosuns, pumpmen and cooks know the job words and lose points on grammar. Both groups find Different sounds harder than they expect.
What to practise: Cadets: the vocabulary guide with its maritime glossary, and the listening items. Senior ratings: short grammar sessions (modals, prepositions, "to" after must/should) and the free practice tests. The margin is generous if you know where your points go.
55 % — AB (watchkeeping), AB, Fitter · ER CPO, Engine-room watchkeeping rating
47 of 85 points · miss up to 38 · spoken test (TOSE): Elementary to Lower Intermediate
Able seafarers, watchkeeping ratings on deck and in the engine room, and fitters: the people who receive orders and must repeat them back correctly, often over a radio or across a noisy deck.
Where the points usually go: Listening comprehension — understanding an instruction and its detail (which tank, which deck, how many) — and numbers. Reading and the longer grammar items cost points too, but you can afford some of them.
What to practise: The listening items first, out loud: hear the order, say it back in your own words, then answer. Learn the names of deck and engine equipment in English. With this margin, do not spend your week on the Reading task.
45 % — OS, Wiper, Galley rating · Messman
39 of 85 points · miss up to 46 · spoken test (TOSE): Elementary
Ordinary seafarers, wipers and galley ratings including the messman: the entry ranks, where the test checks that you can follow simple instructions and keep yourself and others safe.
Where the points usually go: Numbers, times and simple orders heard once, safety words (muster, alarm, lifejacket, permit) and the basic tenses. Long reading items are hard, but the margin at this threshold covers them.
What to practise: Numbers and times every day — say them, write them, hear them — plus the safety and galley words of the vocabulary guide. Galley staff on cruise ships may be asked for the Cruise Ship Staff test instead: check which one your agency books.
03Support, operational, management: those are STCW levels, not Marlins ones
Job adverts, crewing forms and computer-based knowledge tests such as the Crew Evaluation System (CES) often sort seafarers into three levels. Those levels come from the STCW Code, section A-I/1, which defines them as levels of responsibility:
| STCW level | Who it covers (in short) | Marlins minimums for those ranks |
|---|
| Management level | Master, chief mate, chief engineer officer and second engineer officer: responsible for a whole area of the ship. | 70–85 % |
| Operational level | Officers in charge of a navigational or engineering watch, duty engineers and radio operators, working under the management level. | 65–70 % |
| Support level | Ratings who carry out assigned tasks under the direction of the operational or management level. | 45–65 % |
Levels: STCW Code as amended in Manila, section A-I/1 — text published by the Hong Kong Marine Department. The right-hand column is our mapping of Marlins' ranks onto those levels; Marlins' own table lists ranks only.
So if your agency writes "Marlins, operational level", it is speaking STCW. Translate it to your rank and read the minimum above — and notice that the operational level alone spans 65–70 %: a 3rd Engineer and a 2nd Officer are both operational, and Marlins recommends them different scores.
05Questions about the test and your rank
Is there a different Marlins test for officers and ratings?
No. Officers, ratings and galley staff on merchant ships all sit the Marlins English Language Test for Seafarers, 85 questions with a recommended 60 minutes. Only the recommended minimum changes with the rank, from 45 % to 85 %.
What Marlins score does a Chief Engineer need?
Marlins recommends 80 % (68 of 85 points, so you can miss 17) for a Chief Engineer, the same as for a Chief Officer, with an Intermediate level in the spoken test (TOSE). The company you join can ask for more.
What Marlins score does a deck cadet need?
Marlins recommends 65 % (56 of 85 points, so you can miss 29) for a deck cadet and for a trainee marine engineer. Cadet programmes and companies sometimes set their own figure, so check your offer.
What score does an OS or a messman need?
Marlins recommends 45 % (39 of 85 points, so you can miss 46) for an OS, a wiper and a galley rating or messman, with an Elementary level in the spoken test. It is the lowest threshold in the table.
What score does an ETO need?
Marlins recommends 70 % (60 of 85 points, so you can miss 25) for an Electro-Technical Officer, the same threshold as a 2nd Officer and a 2nd Engineer. An Electrical Engineer Officer is listed at 65 %.
Does "operational level" mean a Marlins level?
No. Support, operational and management are the three levels of responsibility in the STCW Code. Marlins recommends a score per rank, not per level, and ranks of the same STCW level can have different Marlins minimums.
I am being promoted. Do I need to take the test again?
Not because of the promotion as such: the certificate shows a percentage and the test date, with no rank and no expiry. If your old score is under the minimum for the new rank, or your company accepts only recent certificates, it will ask you to sit it again.
