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We are building practice tests for the Coast Guard exams for the OUPV ("six-pack") and Master up to 100 GRT licenses. They are not available yet. If you want them, join the waitlist: we will email you once, when they launch — and how many people sign up decides whether we build them.
| Who issues it | The U.S. Coast Guard, through the National Maritime Center (NMC), as an officer endorsement on your Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC). |
| OUPV ("six-pack") | Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels: uninspected vessels of less than 100 GRT carrying six or fewer passengers for hire — 46 CFR 11.467. |
| Master up to 100 GRT | Master of self-propelled vessels of less than 100 GRT, issued in tonnage steps of 25, 50 or 100 GRT depending on the boats you have served on — 46 CFR 11.428, 11.457 and 11.422. |
| Sea service | OUPV: 12 months (360 days). Master less than 100 GRT, near coastal: 2 years (720 days). At least 90 days of it in the last 3 years. |
| The exam | Multiple choice, in modules. Rules of the Road and Chart Plot need 90 %; the other modules need 70 %. |
| Where | At a Coast Guard Regional Exam Center (REC) after the NMC approves you to test, or through a Coast Guard–approved course that replaces the exam. |
Sources: 46 CFR 11.467, 11.428, 11.201 and the NMC Deck and Engineering Examination Guide. Checked on 21 October 2026. Rules and exams can change — confirm with the NMC before you apply.
"Captain's license" is the everyday name for an officer endorsement on a Merchant Mariner Credential. For small boats there are two common ones, and the difference is mostly how many paying passengers you want to carry and what kind of boat it is.
The OUPV — Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels — is the "six-pack": it lets you carry up to six passengers for hire on a boat of less than 100 GRT that the Coast Guard does not inspect. It is the usual first license for fishing charters, sunset cruises, water taxis with a small boat and sailing lessons. A near coastal OUPV covers domestic waters up to 100 miles offshore, the Great Lakes and inland waters; an inland OUPV covers inland waters except the Great Lakes.
The Master endorsement for vessels of less than 100 GRT is the next step. It needs more sea time and a longer exam, and it is what you need to command an inspected passenger vessel — the boats whose Certificate of Inspection allows more than six passengers. The tonnage on the license (25, 50 or 100 GRT) depends on the size of the boats in your sea service: under 46 CFR 11.422 it is the higher of the largest boat on which you earned at least 25 % of your time, or 150 % of the largest boat on which you earned at least 50 % of it, rounded up to the next step.
| License | Passengers | Sea service | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|---|
| OUPV near coastal | Up to 6, uninspected vessel | 360 days, 90 of them on ocean or near coastal waters | 18 |
| OUPV inland | Up to 6, uninspected vessel | 360 days on any waters | 18 |
| Master < 100 GRT near coastal | As the vessel's Certificate of Inspection allows | 720 days, at least 360 on ocean or near coastal waters | 19 (25 GRT or more) |
| Master < 100 GRT inland | As the vessel's Certificate of Inspection allows | 360 days on any waters | 19 (25 GRT or more) |
From 46 CFR 11.467 (OUPV), 11.428 and 11.457 (Master less than 100 GRT), 11.422 (tonnage) and 11.201(e) (age). A month of service is 30 days, which is how 12 months becomes 360 days. Officer endorsements need U.S. citizenship; the one exception is an OUPV for vessels that are not documented under U.S. law.
Most people who apply have spent years on the water; the hard part is proving it. The Coast Guard counts sea service in days, and a day is normally 8 hours of watchstanding or day work. On vessels of less than 100 GRT the Coast Guard can accept a shorter day when the boat's schedule makes 8 hours unrealistic, but never less than 4 hours (46 CFR 10.107). Time on your own boat counts if you can document it; the NMC has a small-vessel sea service form for that.
Recent service matters too. At least 3 months (90 days) of the required service must be within the 3 years before you apply (46 CFR 11.201(c)). An application is valid for 12 months after the Coast Guard approves it, so plan your exam inside that window.
Besides sea service and the exam, the general requirements in 46 CFR 11.201 include:
The Coast Guard exam is multiple choice with four options, split into modules. Each module is scored on its own, and each has its own passing score: you do not pass by averaging a strong module with a weak one. Rules of the Road needs 90 % — 45 of 50 — because a mistake there is a collision. Chart Plot also needs 90 %, but it has only 10 questions, so one mistake is all you can afford.
| Module | Questions | To pass | You can miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q100 · Rules of the Road: International and Inland | 50 | 90 % | 5 |
| Q170 · Deck General/Safety | 50 | 70 % | 15 |
| Q171 · Navigation General: Near Coastal | 50 | 70 % | 15 |
| Q172 · Navigation Problems: Chart Plot | 10 | 90 % | 1 |
| Module | Questions | To pass | You can miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q100 · Rules of the Road: International and Inland | 50 | 90 % | 5 |
| Q160 · Deck General | 50 | 70 % | 15 |
| Q161 · Deck Safety | 50 | 70 % | 15 |
| Q162 · Navigation General: Near Coastal | 50 | 70 % | 15 |
| Q163 · Navigation Problems: Chart Plot | 10 | 90 % | 1 |
If you already hold a near coastal OUPV and raise it to Master less than 100 GRT, the guide lists a single module instead: Q165 Navigation and Deck General/Safety, 50 questions, 70 % to pass. Inland routes use their own exam codes (the Great Lakes and Inland OUPV is GLI07), where you may be offered an Inland-only Rules of the Road module — easier to study, but it puts a COLREGS limitation on your license, so you could not run a boat outside the demarcation lines.
What the modules cover, in short: Rules of the Road — the International (COLREGS) and Inland rules: steering and sailing, lights and shapes, sound signals, restricted visibility. Deck General and Safety — seamanship, knots, anchoring, boat handling, firefighting, man overboard, abandon ship, lifesaving equipment, maritime law and radiotelephone procedure. Navigation General — piloting, aids to navigation, compass error, tides and currents, weather. Chart Plot — working real problems on a training chart: courses, distances, fixes and running fixes, dead reckoning, set and drift.
Module lists, question counts and passing scores from the NMC Deck and Engineering Guide (August 2014), which the NMC still links as its examination guide, and the NMC exam pages for ONC07 and ONC06, at the time of writing (October 2026). "You can miss" is our arithmetic. Your own approval letter lists the modules you must take.
You apply to the NMC first. When it has checked your sea service, medical and the rest, it sends an Approval to Test (ATT) letter. Then you book an appointment at a REC and pay the exam fee. You get 3½ hours per module.
Many maritime schools run Coast Guard–approved courses that can be taken in lieu of the exam: you take the course's own tests, and the certificate replaces the REC exam. The NMC publishes the list of approved courses. It costs more and saves the trip to a REC.
Fail one or two modules and you can retest them twice within the next 3 months. Fail three or more, or do not pass the retests in those 3 months, and you take the whole exam again (46 CFR 11.217). Miss a module by one question and you may challenge up to two questions before you leave the room.
Can you study the real questions? No — and nobody honest can sell them to you. Since the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015, the Coast Guard no longer publishes its exam questions and illustrations. What the NMC publishes instead is a topic outline and one sample exam per module. Use them: they show the style and the level. Our practice tests will be written from scratch to the same topics, and we will not copy questions from the NMC samples.
Sources: NMC Examinations FAQ (approval to test, courses in lieu of exam, why the questions are no longer public, challenges), NMC examination guide (time per module, retest policy), 46 CFR 11.217 (retests) and the NMC Examinations page (sample exams). Fees and procedures change — check the NMC before you book.
Written by us in the style of the exam: four options, one right answer. Tap an option to see if you were right and why. Four are Rules of the Road, two are navigation.
Rules of the Road · Crossing
1. Two power-driven vessels are crossing and there is a risk of collision. You see the other vessel on your starboard side. What must you do?
Rules of the Road · Lights
2. At night you see, dead ahead, one white light with a red light and a green light below it. What are you most likely looking at?
Rules of the Road · Sound signals (International)
3. International Rules. A power-driven vessel in sight of you sounds two short blasts. What does it mean?
Rules of the Road · Restricted visibility
4. In fog, a power-driven vessel that is making way through the water must sound…
Navigation · Aids to navigation
5. You are returning from sea into a U.S. harbor. How should you pass a red buoy with an even number?
Navigation · Speed, time and distance
6. You run 14 nautical miles in 1 hour and 45 minutes. What was your average speed?
1: B · 2: D · 3: A · 4: C · 5: C · 6: A
Rules of the Road questions follow the International Regulations (COLREGS) unless they say otherwise; the Inland Rules are close but not identical, as question 3 shows.
This product does not exist yet. If enough people ask for it, we will build a full bank for the OUPV and Master less than 100 GRT exams: every module, Rules of the Road drills to the 90 % line, and timed practice exams scored module by module. Leave your email and we will write once, when it launches. No newsletter, and we never share your address.
No. They do not exist yet. This page measures how many people want them; if enough people join the waitlist we will build them and email everyone on the list once, at launch. Nobody is charged anything for joining.
It is the everyday name for the OUPV endorsement — Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels. It allows you to carry up to six passengers for hire on an uninspected vessel of less than 100 GRT (46 CFR 11.467). To carry more passengers you need a Master endorsement and an inspected vessel.
12 months, which the Coast Guard counts as 360 days. For a near coastal OUPV, 3 months (90 days) of it must be on ocean or near coastal waters. At least 90 days of your service must also fall within the 3 years before you apply (46 CFR 11.201(c)).
90 % in Rules of the Road (45 of 50) and in Chart Plot (9 of 10), and 70 % in the other modules (35 of 50), according to the NMC examination guide. Each module is scored on its own, so a strong module cannot make up for a weak one.
No. You can take it at a Regional Exam Center after the NMC sends your approval-to-test letter, or take a Coast Guard–approved course whose certificate is accepted in lieu of the exam. Check the NMC list of approved courses before you pay for one.
No. The Coast Guard stopped publishing its exam questions after the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015, and we would not copy them anyway. Our questions will be written from scratch to the topics the NMC publishes, with an explanation for every answer — like the six samples on this page.
Keep it on the waitlist and send you one email when the practice tests launch. No newsletter, no sharing with anyone. Write to hello@nautitestpro.com at any time and we will delete it.