43 New Revision Cards, Straight From the Real MCA Syllabus

We've spent this session working through four real MCA source documents — MSN 1853 (Boatmaster's Licence), MSN 1856 (M+F) Amendment 1 (deck officer certification), MIN 653 (M) Amendment 1 (the deck oral exam syllabus) and COLREGS 1972 as amended — and turning them into bite-size revision material. Here's exactly what's new, with no rounding up.

What's Actually New

• 43 revision cards, split across: Boatmaster's Licence Tier 1 Level 1 (12 cards, MSN 1853 Annex 9), Boatmaster's Licence Tier 1 Level 2 (16 cards, MSN 1853 Annex 10), Deck Officer / OOW certification (7 cards, MSN 1856 Amendment 1), legislative compliance — SOLAS/MARPOL/ISM/MLC (2 cards, MIN 653), magnetic and gyro compass theory (2 cards), and STCW short courses — PSSR, Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting, Security Awareness, PSCRB (4 cards)
• 39 new Knowledge Check questions — 8 closing specific gaps in the MIN 653 orals syllabus (blind pilotage, Morse distress signalling, SMCP, the Enhanced Survey Programme, SOPEP/SMPEP) and 31 expanding COLREGS coverage across rating, OOW and Chief Mate/Master level, each with a full explanation and the real rule it's grounded in
• 4 new decision simulator scenarios, built from real MAIB investigations — Kingfisher (MAIB 12/2025), Calypso 2 (MAIB 6/2025), Channel Queen (MAIB 7/2024) and Key Bora (MAIB 15/2021) — each one a genuine branching scenario, not a flat quiz, with the report's real outcome as one of the endings

What This Actually Is

This is bite-size study material lifted from the regulator's own syllabus documents — not a substitute for your college course, your Training Record Book, or the hours you put in with an instructor. Think of it as what it says on the tin: revision cards. Read one on a break, work through the Quick Self-Check at the end, and use the linked Knowledge Check to see if it actually stuck. If you're studying for the Boatmaster's Licence or an OOW Certificate of Competency, this is meant to sit alongside your real training, not replace it.

Why We Built It This Way

Every card cites its source document by name — MSN 1853 Annex 9 or 10, MSN 1856, MIN 653 — so you always know exactly what you're revising against, not a paraphrase someone's memory of the syllabus. The decision simulator scenarios go a step further: each one is built from a real MAIB investigation report, with the actual outcome included as one of the branches, clearly labelled so you know which ending is fiction and which one happened.

Test Your Knowledge

Think you've got this covered? Put it to the test in Crew Connect's free Knowledge Checker — try a quick round and see how you score.

Related Reading

• The Full Boatmaster's Licence Revision Library — All 28 Cards, Tier 1 Levels 1 & 2
• OOW Revision: The Deck Officer Certificate Ladder — where to start on the OOW cards
• Orals Revision: SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM & Legislative Compliance
• Kingfisher — one of the four incidents behind the new decision simulator scenarios