Crush
New Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2011
- Messages
- 3
It seems the famous gov't cash grab is much, much more difficult than the original test after the CBC accused people of cheating.
For those looking for updated information on the current 2011 test, I'll tell you what I know.
You pretty much have to go to http://www.boaterexam.com/canada/ website if you want to take it online. Thankfully the gov't didn't setup a new dept to take care of the testing (less unions, civil servants). They just want the cash only from private authorized testers so you are pretty much stuck with the boaterexam website. I don't know anything about the tents. All I know is the whole thing is shady.
Here is how it works for online testing:
-For all intensive purposes you must use boaterexam.com to get your license.
-The online test cost $39 after tax and only when you use this discount code for $15 off: TIBS 439
-There is no valid online answers that I am aware of. You would have to find someone that knows all the answers. Anything online is useless and out of date and will barely help you on the final test.
-The website tries to make you read through 7 chapters.
-The website has a 25 minute count down timer so you can't finish a chapter and move to the next one. You have to click on each sub heading and it will mark it as 'read'.
-At the end of each chapter, there is a 10 question test. Probably 1 in 10 of the questions at the end of each chapter are on the actual test. The questions at the end are useless for the final test. If you FAIL the test at the end of the chapter, you have to start again with a 25 min countdown timer.
-When you finish ALL the chapters AND pass the practice tests at the end of each chapter with 80%, you can take the real test. It actually takes you to a gov't website for the 'real' test.
-The real test has 50 questions, and you need 75% to pass.
-The real test is open book (in the sense that you ARE allowed to open another boatsmart web browser to reference), but each question has a 1:30 countdown timer! You can NOT search through the boaterexam website for keywords so this essentially makes the open book useless. For instance, it may ask about a certain publication, and you will have to manually 'know' the area of the site to look for where the info is located. There is probably over 50 different chapters and sub chapters. You would need to drill down to one of these URL's in a minute and a half.. You can NOT copy and paste the contents of the website and then search a word document later. The copy and paste is disabled on the boater exam website.
-This is NOT the sort of test like a driving test where you pick the most 'common sense answer'. The test is at a University level and there are NO hints of the correct answer. Often many answers will be correct. It is a very, very poorly written test.
-If you fail the test (and you will unless you have a photographic memory), you will get another retry, but after only 24 hours. The second test seems to contain about half of the questions on the first test. The questions seem to be randomly generated from a pool of about 150 questions or so.
-When you retry, and you fail that test a second time, you will have to do the whole boatsmart online booklet with test questions and 25 minute count down all over again and start the whole thing all over.
-The test questions are not all about boat safety per say, but they ask about which gov't departments make which documents or which document or publication contain certain useless information. So if you know how to drive a boat, it doesn't mean you'll pass the test.
I'm on my second fail and feel victimized by the gov't and this joke of a process. I especially feel bad for other people who have trouble with reading/writing and studying like the elderly as this is not an easy test.
For those looking for updated information on the current 2011 test, I'll tell you what I know.
You pretty much have to go to http://www.boaterexam.com/canada/ website if you want to take it online. Thankfully the gov't didn't setup a new dept to take care of the testing (less unions, civil servants). They just want the cash only from private authorized testers so you are pretty much stuck with the boaterexam website. I don't know anything about the tents. All I know is the whole thing is shady.
Here is how it works for online testing:
-For all intensive purposes you must use boaterexam.com to get your license.
-The online test cost $39 after tax and only when you use this discount code for $15 off: TIBS 439
-There is no valid online answers that I am aware of. You would have to find someone that knows all the answers. Anything online is useless and out of date and will barely help you on the final test.
-The website tries to make you read through 7 chapters.
-The website has a 25 minute count down timer so you can't finish a chapter and move to the next one. You have to click on each sub heading and it will mark it as 'read'.
-At the end of each chapter, there is a 10 question test. Probably 1 in 10 of the questions at the end of each chapter are on the actual test. The questions at the end are useless for the final test. If you FAIL the test at the end of the chapter, you have to start again with a 25 min countdown timer.
-When you finish ALL the chapters AND pass the practice tests at the end of each chapter with 80%, you can take the real test. It actually takes you to a gov't website for the 'real' test.
-The real test has 50 questions, and you need 75% to pass.
-The real test is open book (in the sense that you ARE allowed to open another boatsmart web browser to reference), but each question has a 1:30 countdown timer! You can NOT search through the boaterexam website for keywords so this essentially makes the open book useless. For instance, it may ask about a certain publication, and you will have to manually 'know' the area of the site to look for where the info is located. There is probably over 50 different chapters and sub chapters. You would need to drill down to one of these URL's in a minute and a half.. You can NOT copy and paste the contents of the website and then search a word document later. The copy and paste is disabled on the boater exam website.
-This is NOT the sort of test like a driving test where you pick the most 'common sense answer'. The test is at a University level and there are NO hints of the correct answer. Often many answers will be correct. It is a very, very poorly written test.
-If you fail the test (and you will unless you have a photographic memory), you will get another retry, but after only 24 hours. The second test seems to contain about half of the questions on the first test. The questions seem to be randomly generated from a pool of about 150 questions or so.
-When you retry, and you fail that test a second time, you will have to do the whole boatsmart online booklet with test questions and 25 minute count down all over again and start the whole thing all over.
-The test questions are not all about boat safety per say, but they ask about which gov't departments make which documents or which document or publication contain certain useless information. So if you know how to drive a boat, it doesn't mean you'll pass the test.
I'm on my second fail and feel victimized by the gov't and this joke of a process. I especially feel bad for other people who have trouble with reading/writing and studying like the elderly as this is not an easy test.
