Your MCA Oral Exam: Time For A Reality Check
If you’re preparing for your MCA oral exam, you might feel like you’re inside of a long, dark tunnel, not really sure when or if you’ll ever see the light at the end of it.
We get it! Preparing for these exams can be a very intense and stressful experience but we’ve been preparing candidates for many years and we have a few pearls of wisdom that we’d like to share with you.
They might not be the final light at the end of this process but they are certainly guiding beacons of hope.
The Examiner Wants You To Pass
The Examiner’s only job is to assess whether or not you’re ready to receive your certificate of competency. They need to make sure that the next time you go to sea, you, your team and the ship are all going to be safe.
The Examiner is not there to find a way to fail you. In fact, the Examiner wants you to pass. So, bear that in mind when you sit down for your oral exam. Don’t be afraid of your Examiner; relax and rest assured that while the Examiner is not your friend, they don’t need to be your enemy.
The Examiner Was In Your Place At Some Point
It’s easy to forget, right? The person that today seems so intimidating to you, was feeling exactly like you are feeling now a few (or many) years back.
The point of remembering this is to try to peel off a few layers of intimidation from the imposing figure of the Examiner. They are just a person and not a monster.
You Don’t Have To Be Perfect
Let us say it again: the Examiner is there to assess if you’re worthy of the certificate of competency. That means that, apart from a few critical, safety-related questions, you can stumble a bit through an answer and still be in good shape to pass.
If you feel that your answer wasn’t perfect, don’t dwell on it. Pick yourself up, sit up straight and take a sip of water. Every question is a new exam and it doesn’t pay to ruminate on what you said twenty minutes ago.
You Will Make Mistakes
By now, you must see a pattern forming; you don’t have to get it all perfectly right during your exam. In fact, you’re not even expected to know everything that there is to know about a particular subject.
While there are some trip-wire subjects in safety-critical areas, most of the oral exam is a holistic test of your overall level of knowledge and competency. To pass, you are expected to know enough to demonstrate you are able to perform the tasks associated with your ticket, while keeping the vessel and everybody onboard and around it safe.
You will make mistakes and you will not know everything, so it’s better to own that up front.
It’s OK To Be Nervous
Well of course it is! There is a lot of build up approaching your oral exam; a lot of anticipation, effort and emotion before the big day arrives. So, when you unavoidably feel nervous, don’t beat yourself about it or try to fight it. Let it flow, go for a walk, take some deep breaths. Be kind to yourself and carry on.
Even Great Candidates Fail Sometimes
Chances are you know quite a few people that failed their driving test the first, or maybe even the second and third times, they tried. Yet, today, they are the happy owners of driver’s licences.
So, if you happen to fail your exam, there’s no doubt that you’ll feel pretty crap about it. Allow yourself to feel those feelings for a bit and work through them. Then, pick yourself up and give it another go. Even great candidates have bad days and most people who don’t pass the first time, smash it the second time!