MCA oral exam
The oral is the last gate between your sea time and your Certificate of Competency. Here is how it works today — the Notice of Eligibility, the online exam, Part A, resits and appeals — summarised from the MCA's own notices and linked to them below.
It is the final assessment for a UK Certificate of Competency (CoC). An MCA examiner questions you on the oral syllabus for the certificate you have applied for, looking for whether you can apply your knowledge to the routine, non-routine and contingency situations an officer at that level would face — not whether you can recite it.
You sit it once everything else is in place: your sea service, courses, any written or professional exams, and your medical.
Apply to the MCA on the form for your certificate — MSF 4343 for yacht deck officers, MSF 4274 for merchant deck officers — with the fee and the documents the form lists. For a yacht CoC that includes your ENG1 (or accepted equivalent), an attested passport copy, photos, and proof of your yacht and watchkeeping service.
If you meet the requirements, the MCA issues your NOE by email; it is no longer a PDF. The NOE is your offer of an oral exam and is valid for 5 years from issue.
Yes. Orals are held on Microsoft Teams and recorded. You need a laptop, desktop or tablet with a camera — not a phone — and a reliable connection (the MCA recommends at least 10 Mbps).
Log in at least 10 minutes before your start time. Microphone and camera stay on throughout, and background effects and headphones are not allowed. Sit in a quiet room on your own: taking the exam from a public place forfeits it.
Only two: OOW Unlimited (II/1), and Master (Code vessels less than 200 GT) / OOW (yachts less than 500 GT). For those, Part A is an online, proctored, computer-based exam of 15 questions, each with four test points, and you have a maximum of 40 minutes.
You must pass Part A before you can book Part B, the oral with an examiner. A Part A pass is valid for 1 year, and Part B must be completed within 12 months of passing Part A. Every other deck oral — OOW Yachts <3000 GT and the Master Yachts orals included — is a single online oral.
Three of the 15 questions each cover the COLREGs, IALA buoyage and navigational procedures; the other six come from the rest of the syllabus. You need at least 90% in the Collision Regulations, 90% in IALA buoyage and 80% in navigational procedures, plus 50% in each of the other topic areas.
The MCA states that these minimums are not negotiable, and an appeal based on narrowly missing one will not be considered.
3 years. Your oral pass must still be in date when your Certificate of Competency is issued, so don't let the rest of your paperwork drift.
You apply for a resit and pay a resit fee. The minimum waits are the same for Part A and for the oral: the second attempt at least 2 weeks after the first; the third at least 6 weeks after the second; the fourth and any later attempt at least 3 months after the previous one.
From the third attempt you must first submit all the other documentary evidence for your CoC, and before an NOE for a fifth or later attempt there is a mandatory 3 months of further sea service. Whenever you apply for a resit you also need at least 6 months' seagoing service within the last 5 years.
As listed in MIN 690 Amendment 6: £159 to resit the oral or Part B. For Part A, the first attempt has no extra charge, the second costs £159 and later attempts £84. If you fail Part B more than 12 months after passing Part A, you pay for both a Part A and a Part B resit. Check the current notice before paying — fees change.
Yes. A Part A appeal must be about the content of the exam and be made within 10 working days. Part B and oral appeals are considered by a panel of examiners reporting to the Chief Examiner, who review the video recording; the MCA aims to decide within six weeks.
You can't apply for a resit while an appeal is open, and if the panel finds an appeal unfounded it can bar you from booking a resit for up to three months.
Work from the published oral syllabus for your certificate — it is the examiner's list. Then practise out loud. The oral rewards clear, structured spoken answers and sensible follow-through when the examiner changes the scenario, and that is a different skill from knowing the answer on paper.
Give the COLREGs and buoyage particular attention: they carry the highest pass marks in Part A, and every deck syllabus asks for a thorough knowledge of the Collision Regulations.
Bridgedeck Study runs spoken mock orals with an AI examiner that asks follow-up questions, built around the MCA syllabus for your ticket, and has Part A practice for the two exams that include one. The COLREGs drills and flashcards are free. It is practice — it cannot sit the oral for you, and the MCA examiner decides the result.
No. Bridgedeck is independent and not affiliated with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency or any flag administration. These pages summarise the MCA's public notices; the notices themselves are the authority.
The notices change. Always check the current version on GOV.UK before you apply or book.
Study and Logbook are both live on the App Store. Open either to get started.
