- The NMC determines your assigned modules; your approval to test, not a public calendar, controls when you can sit.
- The full Great Lakes and Inland route uses five modules: Q100, Q340, Q341, Q342 and Q343.
- Q100 and Q300 are alternatives for Rules of the Road, never simultaneous requirements.
- Chart Plot (Q343) is required in the full-exam structure and cannot be skipped from your plan.
NM2GI Exam Dates 2026: What "Dates" Actually Means for This Credential
If you are searching for a calendar of fixed test days for National Master 200 GL and Inland (NM2GI), the first thing to understand is that the credential does not work like a seat-limited certification with published sittings. The governing body is the United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC), and the scope is GLI05, covering Master or Mate less than 200 GRT on Great Lakes and Inland routes. Your timeline is driven by your application and the approval to test the NMC issues for you, not by a single national exam date.
- What "Dates" Actually Means
- How Scheduling Works Through the NMC
- Your Module Set Shapes Your Timeline
- Route Differences That Change What You Schedule
- Q345 and Q346: Modules That Are Not Part of This Route
- Sequencing the Five Module Groups
- Deadlines, Validity and Planning Around Them
- How to Verify Anything Before You Book
- Frequently Asked Questions
Key Takeaways
- The NMC determines your assigned modules; your approval to test, not a public calendar, controls when you can sit.
- The full Great Lakes and Inland route uses five modules: Q100, Q340, Q341, Q342 and Q343.
- Q100 and Q300 are alternatives for Rules of the Road, never simultaneous requirements.
- Chart Plot (Q343) is required in the full-exam structure and cannot be skipped from your plan.
- Q345 and Q346 belong to separate upgrade routes and are not extra Master-original modules.
How Scheduling Works Through the NMC
For this credential, scheduling begins with the Coast Guard process rather than a commercial testing window. You apply through the National Maritime Center, and once your application is reviewed, the NMC determines which examination modules apply to you. The document that matters is your approval to test. It lists your actual assigned modules, and it is the only authoritative statement of what you must pass.
That has a practical consequence: a "testing window" for you is the period during which your approval is valid and you can arrange to sit the assigned modules. It is not a season, a quarter, or a fixed national date. Anyone quoting you a universal "2026 exam date" for the whole credential is describing something this system does not publish. If you are still working out whether you qualify to apply at all, start with the NM2GI requirements and eligibility guide before thinking about timing.
Your Module Set Shapes Your Timeline
The number of things you have to schedule depends on your route. The published full-route structure for this credential is five module groups. These are issuer-published examination modules, and they are presented here as unweighted, route-aware preparation groups. The count is not a universal figure for every applicant, because separate upgrade, raise-of-grade and route-extension modules are handled differently.
| Route | Full-Route Module Set | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Great Lakes and Inland | Q100, Q340, Q341, Q342, Q343 | 5 modules |
| Inland | Q100 OR Q300, Q340, Q341, Q342, Q343 | 5 modules |
Notice that the Inland row contains an either/or choice. That alternative does not turn the route into six requirements. You take one Rules of the Road module or the other, depending on your applicable limitation. For a closer look at what each module covers, see the complete guide to all five content areas.
Route Differences That Change What You Schedule
The most common planning error is treating Q100 and Q300 as two separate hurdles. They are alternatives. Great Lakes and Inland uses Q100. Inland may use Q300 when the applicable COLREGS limitation is accepted. If your route and limitation point to Q300, you do not also owe Q100.
Domain 1: Rules of the Road, Inland and International (Q100)
This is the Rules of the Road module used for Great Lakes and Inland, and it is the Inland default as well unless the Inland-only alternative applies.
- Q300 is the Inland-only alternative for the applicable restricted route.
- Only one of the two appears in your assigned module set.
- Confirm which one your approval lists before you start studying.
Because this is the only module with an alternative, it is the first line to check on your approval. Studying the wrong Rules module wastes weeks you cannot easily recover when you are trying to hit a personal deadline.
Q345 and Q346: Modules That Are Not Part of This Route
Two module numbers cause consistent confusion because they appear in the same published materials as the core five. They are not additional domains for a Master-original applicant.
Separate Upgrade and Raise-of-Grade Modules
These belong to different applicant situations and should not be added to a full-original plan.
- Q345 Navigation and Deck General/Safety: a separate module for a Master less than 100 to Master/Mate less than 200 raise of grade.
- Q346: a separate route for an OUPV moving to Mate less than 200.
- Neither is an extra Master-original module.
If you are an original applicant, you should not budget time for either one. If you are upgrading, your approval will say so, and your module list will differ from the five-module table above. Either way, the rule stays the same: separate upgrade, raise-of-grade and route-extension modules are not extra domains of the full-original exam, and alternative Rules or Navigation General modules are never counted together as simultaneous requirements.
Sequencing the Five Module Groups
This is the one place a study calendar earns its keep, and it is tied directly to how the modules relate to each other. The published structure does not assign percentage weights to the modules, so sequencing should follow dependency and your own weak spots rather than any imagined scoring weight. For broader preparation strategy, the NM2GI study guide goes deeper.
Rules of the Road (Q100 or Q300)
- Lock in the rules first because they underpin navigation judgment later.
- Confirm the correct module against your approval.
Deck General (Q340) and Deck Safety (Q341)
- Pair these because they draw on overlapping seamanship and safety material.
- Keep notes by topic so you can review across both.
Navigation General (Q342)
- Work the Great Lakes and Inland navigation concepts before applying them.
Chart Plot (Q343)
- Schedule this last and give it the most hands-on repetition, since it is required and cannot be omitted.
The logic is simple: the Rules module and the Navigation General module feed the plotting work, so doing Chart Plot last lets earlier modules reinforce it. If chart work is your weak area, the difficulty breakdown explains where candidates tend to struggle.
Deadlines, Validity and Planning Around Them
Because the NMC issues an approval to test, the deadlines that matter are the ones attached to your own application and approval. Rather than guess at figures, read the validity terms directly on your approval and in current NMC guidance. The sources reviewed for this article include the NMC pages on Great Lakes and Inland endorsements and the GLI05 Master/Mate less than 200 GRT module page, plus the published deck and engineering examination guide. That guide reflects regulations effective March 24, 2014 and is not a newly issued 2026 blueprint, though current indexed NMC matrices corroborate the same module headings. The relevant published reference is guide section 2.1.2.3, printed page 27.
Build your personal deadline backward from your approval's validity period and from any career milestone you are targeting, such as a hiring season for operators on lakes and inland waterways. If employment is your driver, the overview of NM2GI jobs and the ROI analysis can help you decide how urgent your timeline really is.
How to Verify Anything Before You Book
Treat this as a short checklist you run before committing money or leave time.
- Read your approval to test. List every module it assigns and compare it to the five-module sets above.
- Identify the Rules module. Confirm whether you owe Q100 or Q300, and make sure you are not preparing for both.
- Rule out upgrade modules. If you see Q345 or Q346, you are on a different route than a Master-original applicant.
- Check current NMC pages. Module headings and topic matrices are publicly published, so use them as your syllabus.
- Cross-check cost and validity. Fees and validity can change, so confirm them at the source rather than from a blog post.
Key Takeaway
Your schedule is personal. Build it from your approval to test, order your study so Chart Plot comes last, and never count alternative modules as simultaneous requirements. For hands-on repetition across the module topics, use the NM2GI practice tests alongside the official NMC topic matrices.
If you are new to the credential and want to confirm what it actually is before planning dates, the explainer on what NM2GI is covers the basics. When you are ready to measure readiness against the module topics, the practice test site lets you drill each area, and the one-page cheat sheet is a handy final-week review.
Frequently Asked Questions
No fixed national date is established in the materials reviewed. The National Maritime Center determines your assigned modules and issues an approval to test, so your timeline follows your application and that approval rather than a public calendar.
The full-route structure for Great Lakes and Inland is five modules: Q100, Q340, Q341, Q342 and Q343. Inland uses Q100 or Q300 in place of Q100 alone. The count is not universal for every applicant, so rely on the modules listed on your own approval.
No. They are alternatives. Great Lakes and Inland uses Q100, while Inland may use Q300 when the applicable COLREGS limitation is accepted. Only one appears in your assigned set.
No. Q345 is a separate raise-of-grade module for moving from Master less than 100 to Master/Mate less than 200, and Q346 is a separate route for an OUPV moving to Mate less than 200. Neither is an extra Master-original module.
The materials reviewed do not establish current fees or a population pass rate, so confirm fees with the NMC directly. For discussion of outcomes, see the pass rate article and keep in mind its limits.