Taking the ASA 101 and ASA 103 Written Exams

Since we finally decided on a school that is affiliated with the American Sailing Association for our next course, we just completed the ASA 101 (Basic Keelboat) and ASA 103 (Basic Coastal Cruising) written exams with our current school.  Now, it's been a little while since I've taken a test and even longer since my wife has so we weren't quite sure what to expect.  Add in that our last classroom lecture was close to 4 months ago and we were a little nervous.

After work we make the trek across town to take the test.  As we're grabbing a quick bite to eat before we start the test we realize that we left the navigation chart we were supposed to bring at home.  This was not starting so well.

The ASA 101 test was a 100 question, multiple choice test and wasn't very difficult. It contained questions on identifying parts of a boat, right of way, knots, basic sail handling and points of sail.  Nothing too technical.  I breezed through the test fairly quickly, only really questioning my answers on a couple of the questions.

The second test, ASA 103, was another 100 questions and they were a little more technical. Buoys and channel markers, safety requirements and equipment, sound signals and lighting, as well as more boat part identification and more questions on knots.  It had a few questions on basic chart markings, but nothing that I think required us to have the chart.  Overall it was more difficult, but I think we did well enough.

Both tests took about 2 hours.  We don't know how we did yet...but I think we both managed passing grades (80% or better).  Hopefully should know pretty soon.

Update: We did get our grades and I posted them in this entry.