Nauti Test ProIndependent practice for the Marlins English Language Test for Offshore Workers
The Marlins English Language Test for Offshore Workers is the Marlins test for oil and gas and offshore wind: 80 screens worth 85 points in about 60 minutes, covering Listening, Grammar, Vocabulary, Time and numbers and Reading. Marlins publishes no minimum score for it. The one employer requirement its help centre quotes is Saudi Aramco's — 80 % overall and 70 % in every section for a Master, Chief Officer or Chief Engineer. The article does not say which version of the test it applies to; it is shown here because it is the employer rule Marlins' help centre quotes.
874 original questions set on rigs, platforms, FPSOs, supply vessels and wind farms — 180 with audio recordings of radio calls, briefings and alarms — plus a 60-minute timed simulation with the section weighting Marlins publishes, word-order tasks, a typed dictation and the six-gap reading task, scored per section against the Saudi Aramco minimums.
Marlins has a separate English test for people working offshore — oil and gas installations and the vessels and wind farms around them — for every position. It is taken on a computer, has a recommended time of 60 minutes and 85 points, and the result is a percentage. It measures whether you understand English at work, in the setting of the offshore industry; it does not test technical skills. The reading section is a single text with six gaps, each worth a point, which is why the sections below add up to 80 screens and 85 points.
| Section | Points | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Listening comprehension | 28 | Radio calls, drill-floor and crane exchanges, briefings, alarms and PA announcements — and hearing the difference between similar words — each recording played at most twice |
| Grammar | 28 | Prepositions, tenses and question forms — including putting words in order to make a sentence |
| Vocabulary | 17 | PPE, areas of an installation, tools and lifting gear, jobs, procedures, first aid |
| Time and numbers | 6 | Times, depths, weights, channels and quantities — how to say them, and typed from a recording |
| Reading | 6 | A job description or a procedure with six gaps to complete |
Marlins publishes no minimum scores for this test, and each operator decides. The one employer requirement Marlins' help centre quotes is Saudi Aramco's — the article does not say which test version it applies to. It is an overall score and a minimum in every single section, so a strong total with a weak Listening still falls short. Our simulation reports each section against those floors.
| Rank | Overall | Every section |
|---|---|---|
| Master | 80 % | 70 % |
| Chief Officer | 80 % | 70 % |
| Chief Engineer | 80 % | 70 % |
| 2nd Officer | 70 % | 60 % |
| Second Engineer | 70 % | 60 % |
Source: Saudi Aramco's requirement as quoted in the Marlins help centre (January 2022), which speaks of the approved Marlins tests without naming a version. Other operators set their own; there is no pass mark. How the points add up, section by section: what score you need.
160 recordings with British voices: a crane lift stopped by the wind, a helicopter delayed by fog, an H2S alarm, a shift handover, and sentences where you must hear the difference between similar words. Two plays before you answer, as in the test.
Multiple choice, word order with the first and last word fixed, a dictation you type, and the six-gap reading task with a point for each gap — the formats you meet on the day.
60 minutes, 85 points: 28 Listening, 28 Grammar, 17 Vocabulary, 6 Time & numbers and 6 Reading. Pick your rank and the result marks any section below Saudi Aramco's minimum.
Every question explains why the answer is right and why the closest option is wrong — in English, Spanish or Portuguese, picked by your country and switchable on the question itself.
Tap an option to check it. The free demo has more, no sign-up needed.
How deep is the well now?
Plays left: 2
Who supervises the drillers and the rest of the drilling crew on a rig?
Which word means 'the lowest main deck of a platform, below the drill floor, where the wellheads usually are'?
Marlins gives it 85 questions and a recommended time of 60 minutes: 28 Listening comprehension, 28 Grammar, 17 Vocabulary, 6 Time and numbers and 1 Reading task. The reading task is one text with six gaps, each worth a point, so on screen you see 80 questions and the score is out of 85.
Marlins does not publish minimum scores and there is no pass mark: each operator decides. The one employer requirement Marlins' help centre quotes is Saudi Aramco's — the article does not say which test version it applies to; it is shown with the Offshore test because it is the employer rule Marlins' help centre quotes: 80 % overall and at least 70 % in every section for a Master, Chief Officer or Chief Engineer, and 70 % overall with 60 % in every section for a Second Officer or Second Engineer. Check the figure in your own offer.
No. The questions are set in the oil and gas and offshore industry — drill floors, cranes, permits, helicopters, muster — but they test whether you understand English, not how to do the job. You never need to know how a piece of equipment works, only what is being said about it.
Yes. 180 of the 874 questions are audio-based: radio calls, briefings, alarms and conversations recorded with British voices, sentences where you must hear the difference between similar words, and dictations where you type the number you hear. You can play each recording twice before answering, like in the test.
It draws 80 screens in 60 minutes with the section weighting Marlins publishes, including the six-gap reading task, and reports your percentage per section so you can see which one would fail a per-section minimum. It is practice written by us in the format of the test — not the test itself, and not its questions.
No. Nauti Test Pro is an independent practice tool, it is not a Marlins test centre and a result here is not a Marlins certificate. Our questions are written by us in the format of the test and are not the test's own questions.
Each practice — a unit, a drill or the full simulation — costs one token. International accounts start with 10 free tokens and get 5 more when the email and the phone are verified; after that you buy small packs by card, with no subscription.
Working on a merchant ship or a cruise ship instead? See Marlins test for seafarers or Marlins test for cruise ship staff.
Below: three free practice tests in the format of this test, ten questions each with two recordings and every answer explained — and the series for the other two written tests, in case your employer asks for a different one. Before you book, read what score you need, section by section, how to pass the Marlins test and what it costs, how to book it and how long it is valid.
All 12 tests on one page, grouped by test and theme: Marlins practice tests.