This NavRules Practice Exam is designed to help mariners study for the US Coast Guard Navigational Rules exam. This exam is part of the qualification process for a merchant mariner Master's (Captain's) or OUPV (6-pack) license, Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary Coxswain qualification and other similar certifications.
There are currently 1,287 multiple-choice questions in the practice exam. They will be displayed randomly, one at a time, along with four possible answers. Select the best answer by tapping or clicking on it. When you're comfortable with your selection, tap or click Check Answer.
Each question starts by indicating whether it should be answered in the context of the International Rules, Inland Rules, or both. Always start by reading this line, then read all the answers offered. There are sometimes answers which are right in one context, but wrong in the other!
The system will keep score, giving you the number answered and the percentage correct. You can tap Restart at any time to reset the counter and score.
The questions were all taken from a file which was floating around the internet in 2006. This site makes no guarantee that all the quesions and answers are correct and current. Feel free to report incorrect answers. Be sure to include the question number above the question.
There are no "trick" questions, but there are questions which require you to know the interactions between several different rules. What appears to be a good answer may actually not apply because of the specific wording of the question.
In US waters, there are a number of Laws, codes, acts and treaties which govern vessel operation on navigable waterways. These can be broadly grouped into two categories.
"International" rules apply primarily in open waters outside major harbors and rivers. These closely follow international treaties including the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, or COLREGs, effective since 1977.
These rules apply outside of "demarcation lines" defined in 33 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations), Chapter I, Subchapter E, Part 80. These lines are typically drawn across the entrances to major harbors and rivers.
These rules apply to U.S. waters inside the demarcation lines. These derive from the Inland Navigation Rules Act of 1980. and are codified in CFR 33, Chapter I, Subchapter E, Part 83.
Within the Inland Rules, there are special rules which apply only to the "Western Rivers" and Great Lakes. The Definition of Western Rivers is very specific. (See 33 CFR, Chapter I, Subchapter L, Part 125 § 125.06.):
"The term western rivers as used in the regulations in this subchapter shall include only the Red River of the North, the Mississippi River and its tributaries above the Huey P. Long Bridge, and that part of the Atchafalaya River above its junction with the Plaquemine-Morgan City alternate waterway."
For Navigation Rules, the term "Great Lakes" include the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters. Questions pertaining to the Western Rivers and/or Great Lakes will have those specific terms in the question.