Revising for your MCA Oral Exam: Our Three Top Tips

From OOW Unlimited to Chief Engineer, the MCA oral exam can be a daunting challenge but having helped thousands of deck and engine candidates since 2017, these are three of our top tips to make sure you smash it on the day!

1) Don’t forget that it’s an oral exam.

We often see people who have put a huge amount of effort into learning all of the information but they haven’t practiced the ability to express themselves and explain themselves clearly out loud.

It’s incredibly important that as well as spending time learning the information,you also build in regular group or private sessions to help you gain confidence talking out loud and explaining yourself.

2) Don’t learn scripts.

The MCA Oral Exam is about explaining complex content and being able to convince the Examiner that you know what you’re talking about. The candidates that just rely on learning a script and repeating a script are often the ones that suffer because if the Examiner deviates from the script that they’ve learned, they don’t know what to say. 

It’s great to stick to a structure to organise the content of your answer but you must first fully understand the answer itself, in order to be prepared for any curve balls that come your way.

3) You’re not alone.

Particularly post-pandemic, with the exams being online and a lot of the prep work being done remotely, it’s not uncommon to have candidates that are sitting at home trying to study alone.

Although they keep studying, they are not really sure what they’re trying to achieve or if they’re doing it right. The good news is; you’re not alone.

We want to help you smash this exam so please do reach out, ask questions and join us for some of the sessions. We are on your side.