More exams, and more things

This last week saw the end of lecturing for phase 5, next week is taken up with exams where we shall try to regurgitate the previous 5 months teachings. I feel well prepared for most of the exams, plenty of practice over the weekend ought to bring me up to speed with the ones I am less confident about. Unfortunately no amount of revision over the last few weeks prepared me for one mock exam we were given this last week. It was for the subject "NaRaSt Theory", which was to teach us the theory behind all the electronic aids to navigation (Echo sounders, Gps, Radar, Logs, Loran, AIS). However the mock paper may as well have been written in Greek, as I certainly didn't understand it! A little extract for you...

Question 5: If the identifier of a Loran C chain is 7950 then the GRI of the same chain is ............. .

I can answer this question, its 79,500 microseconds. But why would I ever need to know that?! Loran C isn't used anymore, in fact I don't think my last ship was even capable of receiving the signals. Why would it be.

I, unlike most other cadets here, am delighted to be taught how to use a sextant, how to do a manual radar plot, how to calculate a great circle sailing with a bit of paper, pen and a calculator. But I don't see the point of memorising infinite quantities of facts about out of date position fixing systems.

However, remember them I must and pass that exam.

I noticed on board that some Officers have vast knowledge of the contents of technical books and manuals, can quote all the performance standards for ARPA, know rule 38 so well you would think they had written it, etc etc.
However the other Officers seemed to fix more accurate positions, logged everything correctly, followed proper hand over procedures, kept the vessel beautifully on track whilst executing a turn, followed the rules confidently and knew which books to refer to should someone wish to know the altitude, quantity and orbit of Navstar satellites.

I know which of the above I strive to be like.

Rob