The classroom should be confirmation.
The OOW classroom modules move fast, and they assume nothing — which means half of each week is spent introducing methods you could have met at anchor, on your phone, weeks earlier. These tracks teach the core method of each module before you go, so the classroom week consolidates instead of introduces.
Radar & ARPA — five-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over five study days: radar as equipment (how it sees, the controls, the limitations and errors), the relative-motion plot (CPA/TCPA and the OAW triangle), ARPA as a system (acquisition, vectors, the trial manoeuvre and its errors), and AIS with radar for collision avoidance under the COLREGS — with the radar-plot trainer built in.
5 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · radar-plot trainer embedded
Chartwork & Navigation — five-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over five study days: directions and the TVMDC conversion, the chart itself (scale, datum, symbols, publications and buoyage), position fixing (position lines, three-bearing, mixed and running fixes), and working the ship's track (DR/EP, the course to steer against a tide, coastal navigation and pilotage) — with the chartwork trainer built in.
5 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · chartwork trainer embedded
Tides — five-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over five study days: why tides happen and the vertical language (chart datum, height of tide, range), heights at a standard port (the tidal curve both ways and the rule of twelfths), secondary ports and clearances (under-keel and overhead), and tidal streams (the atlas, tidal diamonds and the computation of rates) — the half of tides the old track never covered, with the tidal-curve workbench built in.
5 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · tidal-curve workbench embedded
Passage Planning — five-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over five study days on the biggest single topic on the ticket: the SOLAS V/34 duty and the four stages (appraisal, planning, execution, monitoring), berth to berth — the ship's constraints, hazards and controlled areas, laying tracks with margins, no-go areas and wheel-over points, contingencies, the master–pilot exchange, the ocean passage, and the lessons of the groundings.
5 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · appraise–plan–execute–monitor
Celestial Navigation — four-day course
The exam is four calculations — a full reduction and plot, an azimuth compass check, a latitude, and an amplitude. Eleven lessons teach the exam-room method (almanac card, daily pages and increments, Pub 249, z to Zn) with the interactive sight-reduction workbench built in.
Sextant corrections · Almanac · Pub 249 · The four questions
GMDSS — five-day course
21 lessons and 210 check questions across five study days: the system end to end, sea areas and carriage, DSC and the spoken procedures, frequencies, MSI and beacons, watchkeeping and records. Every lesson gated by a ten-question check; progress saved.
5 days · 21 lessons · 210 checks · MAYDAY builder embedded
General Ship Knowledge — five-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over five study days: the examinable definitions, hull structure and subdivision, flotation and the load line, MARPOL annex by annex, COSWP, bilge systems and stern gear — with the definitions trainer, hull labeller and load line diagram built into the lessons.
5 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · trainer + labeller embedded
ECDIS — six-day course
20 lessons and 200 check questions over six study days: what makes an ECDIS legal, ENC vs RNC and how far to trust the survey (CATZOC), the safety contour and the settings the groundings turn on, alarms and updates, the sensors and position integrity behind the symbol, route monitoring and the alarms list, operator tools and radar/AIS overlays, and familiarisation — with the safety-contour workbench built in.
6 days · 20 lessons · 200 checks · contour workbench embedded
Already past the classroom? The oral prep hub covers the other end of the pipeline — 23 study modules, the AI examiner, drills and simulators for the MCA oral itself.