- What This Cheat Sheet Covers (and What It Doesn't)
- The Five-Module Map at a Glance
- Q100: Rules of the Road Must-Knows
- Q160: Deck General Must-Knows
- Q161: Deck Safety and Stability Must-Knows
- Q162: Navigation General Must-Knows
- Q163: Chart Plot Must-Knows
- Route Awareness: Which Modules Apply to You
- A One-Week Review Sequence Built Around the Modules
- Common Traps in the Published Topic List
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The original Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT exam draws on five modules: Q100, Q160, Q161, Q162 and Q163.
- The Coast Guard National Maritime Center governs the exam; official percentage weights are not published, so treat modules as unweighted prep groups.
- Stability and trim topics live inside Q161 Deck Safety, not in a separate stability module.
- Q165 is a separate OUPV-to-Master raise-of-grade module and does not belong in the original five.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers (and What It Doesn't)
This is a one-page style review of National Master 100 NC (NM1N), the Coast Guard credential for Master Near Coastal on vessels under 100 gross register tons. The exam is administered under the United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC), and the facts below follow the published NMC exam module pages and the NMC Examination Guide, whose regulations are effective 2014-03-24.
Two honest caveats before the content. First, the NMC does not publish official percentage weights for these modules, so nothing here tells you "X percent of the exam is navigation." Second, this is not a new 2026 exam specification. It is a review organized around the published module and topic catalog, to be used alongside the current NMC module-topic index and your individual approval to test. If you want the broader picture first, start with What Is NM1N Certification? or the full NM1N Exam Domains guide.
The Five-Module Map at a Glance
The original full exam for Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT uses five modules. Here is the whole structure in one table.
| Module | Domain Name | Core Flavor |
|---|---|---|
| Q100 | Rules of the Road: International and Inland | Watchkeeping, COLREGS, Inland Navigational Rules |
| Q160 | Deck General | Seamanship, emergencies, fire, lifesaving, vessel handling, documents |
| Q161 | Deck Safety | Stability, construction, damage control, man overboard, emergency towing |
| Q162 | Navigation General: Near Coastal | Piloting, compass, aids to navigation, weather, tides and currents |
| Q163 | Navigation Problems: Chart Plot | Chart work: fixes, running fixes, distance off, dead reckoning |
Notice what is not on this list. The older split headings such as "Deck General Part I / Part II" and a standalone "Stability Problems" module belong to a different, larger-vessel module pattern. They are not the structure of NM1N. The stability material you need is real, but it is carried inside Q161.
Q100: Rules of the Road Must-Knows
Q100: Rules of the Road: International and Inland
The published topics are watchkeeping, COLREGS, and the Inland Navigational Rules. The trap for most candidates is that both rule sets are examined, and they differ.
- Know which rule set governs where you are operating, and why the demarcation matters.
- Keep International (COLREGS) and Inland rules separate in your head: signals, lights, and some right-of-way language do not map one-to-one.
- Watchkeeping principles: proper lookout, safe speed, and risk-of-collision judgment.
- Be able to apply the steering and sailing rules to a described situation, not just recite them.
Q100 also shows up in pathway planning. For the Published guide increase-in-scope from Great Lakes or Inland to Near Coastal, the module combination is Q160 plus Q162, and Q100 is added where a COLREGS limitation applies. In other words, Q100 is the module that tends to follow your operating limitations. Details on who qualifies are in NM1N Requirements.
Q160: Deck General Must-Knows
Q160 is the widest module by topic count, which is why it deserves a structured approach rather than a read-through. The published catalog groups into several clusters.
Seamanship and Vessel Handling
- Seamanship, marlinspike seamanship, and purchases, blocks and tackle
- Vessel maneuvering and handling, including turn circle, pivot point, advance and transfer
- Wake reduction and its practical meaning for a small-vessel master
Emergencies and Lifesaving
- Collision response, temporary repairs, and passenger and crew safety in emergencies
- Abandon ship procedures, survival at sea, and lifesaving appliance operation
- Rescuing survivors from a ship or aircraft in distress
Fire
- Classes and chemistry of fire
- Basic firefighting and prevention, and fire prevention and firefighting appliances
- Fire or explosion response
Business, Communications and Systems
- Ship's business and the certificates and documents required aboard
- Communications and radiotelephone procedures
- Signals: storm, wreck, distress and special
- Vessel power plants and small engine operations and maintenance
Q161: Deck Safety and Stability Must-Knows
Q161: Deck Safety
This module carries the stability content for the original exam. The published topic list is: stability, construction and damage control; passenger and crew safety in emergencies; principles of vessel construction; fire or explosion; trim and stability; abandon ship procedures; vessel power plants; rescuing survivors; small engine operations and maintenance; man overboard procedures; fire prevention and firefighting appliances; and emergency towing.
- Trim and stability: understand how weight, free surface and damage affect a small vessel's behavior.
- Principles of vessel construction: the structural vocabulary that damage control questions rely on.
- Damage control: what you do in the first minutes after flooding or collision damage.
- Man overboard procedures: recovery maneuvers and the decision sequence.
- Emergency towing: the practical and safety considerations of towing and being towed.
Because Q161 overlaps Q160 on several emergency topics (abandon ship, fire, rescue), you get a study dividend: strong emergency fundamentals pay off in two modules. Keep your stability notes organized under Q161 so you do not mistake them for a separate exam section. For a view of how hard this material tends to feel, see How Hard Is the NM1N Exam?
Q162: Navigation General Must-Knows
Q162 is the knowledge side of navigation, meaning concepts, publications and instruments rather than plotting on a chart.
- Piloting and position: navigation and position determination, distance off, bearing problems, fix or running fix, dead reckoning
- Charts and publications: chart navigation, charts, navigation publications and Notices to Mariners, aids to navigation
- Compass: principles of the magnetic compass, magnetic and gyro compass, magnetic compass error and correction, determination of compass error
- Instruments and observation: instruments and accessories, terrestrial observation
- Weather and water: meteorology and oceanography, characteristics of weather systems, ocean current systems, weather charts and reports, tides and tidal currents
Key Takeaway
Compass error is the most transferable skill in Q162 and Q163. If you can reliably apply variation and deviation and determine compass error, you protect yourself on both the conceptual questions and the chart plot work.
Q163: Chart Plot Must-Knows
Q163 is the hands-on chart module. Its published topics overlap with Q162 in name but differ in demand: here you actually construct the answer on a chart.
- Navigation and position determination and piloting
- Distance off and bearing problems
- Fix or running fix
- Chart navigation and dead reckoning
- Electronic navigation
- Instruments and accessories (parallel rulers, dividers and plotting tools)
- Aids to navigation, plus charts, navigation publications and Notices to Mariners
Because Q163 is a skills module, reading about plotting is not enough. Practice it with pencil, plotters and a real or printed chart, then compare against a worked solution. The NM1N Study Guide covers how to build that practice into your schedule.
Route Awareness: Which Modules Apply to You
This is the part most cheat sheets get wrong. There is no single mandatory examination that every NM1N candidate takes identically. The module groups are unweighted, route-aware preparation groups, and your approval to test determines what you sit.
| Pathway | Modules Referenced | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Original Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT full exam | Q100, Q160, Q161, Q162, Q163 | The five-module structure used throughout this article |
| Increase in scope, Great Lakes or Inland to Near Coastal | Q160 + Q162, plus Q100 where a COLREGS limitation applies | Published guide pathway |
| OUPV to Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT raise of grade | Q165 (Navigation and Deck General/Safety) | Separate module; not part of the original five |
Do not add these pathways together. A candidate on the increase-in-scope route does not "also" owe Q161 and Q163 because they appear in the original five, and a raise-of-grade candidate is not studying a hybrid of everything. Confirm your own module list in your NMC approval to test, and verify against the current NMC module-topic index. Fees and scheduling also vary by situation, so rather than trusting a universal number, check NM1N Certification Cost and NM1N Exam Dates for the framework, then confirm specifics with the NMC.
A One-Week Review Sequence Built Around the Modules
Since there are no published weights, sequence by dependency and overlap rather than by guessed importance. This is a compact final-review pass, not a full study plan.
Q163 and Q162 together
- Drill compass error, fixes, running fixes and distance off first, since errors here cascade
- Then review aids to navigation, publications, weather and tides
Q161 then Q160
- Q161 first: trim, stability, damage control, man overboard, emergency towing
- Q160 next: seamanship, fire, lifesaving, documents, signals, radiotelephone, engines
Q100
- Side-by-side review of COLREGS and Inland rules, focused on where they differ
Mixed timed practice
- Run mixed sets on the practice test, log misses by module code
Navigation goes first because chart work depends on accurate habits that take repetition to rebuild, while the rules and safety modules respond well to focused recall near the end. Adjust the order to your own weak list.
Common Traps in the Published Topic List
- Importing the wrong structure: older or larger-vessel module patterns with separate Deck General parts and a standalone Stability Problems section are not the NM1N structure.
- Adding Q165 to the original five: Q165 is the OUPV raise-of-grade module, a different route.
- Summing pathways: upgrade routes are alternatives, not a stack.
- Assuming weights: without published percentages, "which module is biggest" is a guess. Cover everything.
- Studying Q162 and Q163 as duplicates: similar topic names, different skills. One is conceptual, the other is plotted.
- Treating this as a 2026 rewrite: the guide is tied to regulations effective 2014-03-24, so always cross-check the current NMC index.
If you are weighing whether the effort is worthwhile for your career, Is the NM1N Certification Worth It? walks through the decision, and NM1N Jobs covers where the credential gets used.
Frequently Asked Questions
The original Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT full exam uses Q100 (Rules of the Road), Q160 (Deck General), Q161 (Deck Safety), Q162 (Navigation General: Near Coastal) and Q163 (Navigation Problems: Chart Plot).
No. For NM1N, stability and trim topics are part of Q161 Deck Safety. A separate Stability Problems heading belongs to a different, larger-vessel module pattern and is not the NM1N domain structure.
Not in the sources this review draws on. The five modules are best treated as unweighted preparation groups, so plan to cover every published topic rather than guess at proportions.
Q165 (Navigation and Deck General/Safety) is a separate module for the OUPV-to-Master Near Coastal under 100 GRT raise of grade. It is not part of the original five-module exam and should not be added to it.
The published guide lists Q160 and Q162 for that increase in scope, plus Q100 where a COLREGS limitation applies. Confirm your exact list through your NMC approval to test, and see the passing score guide for how results are framed.