Is General Navigation (061) Hard? And Can You Memorise It?

Great-circle and rhumb-line navigation, map projections, time, compasses, dead reckoning, GPS, inertial navigation and RNAV.

Two hours for 60 questions — the ratio alone tells you the calculations are substantial.

For the full topic-by-topic syllabus breakdown, see the General Navigation subject guide.

Any single number here would be false precision, so we won’t give one. As a rough planning figure, most self-study candidates allocate 40–80 hours per subject, and students report General Navigation typically sitting toward the upper end of that range. A long, calculation-heavy exam with a conceptual core — plan for the upper end of your per-subject budget.

Your own figure depends on background, maths comfort and whether you are studying full-time — treat the range as a budget to adjust, not a target to hit.

This is the subject our community is most emphatic about. In a student’s words: "I would not recommend to memorize answers without understanding the minimum theory even if they are banky." Convergency, conversion angle and projection properties generate endless numeric variants — the method transfers, the memorised answer does not.

What is worth memorising: the standard formulas and the properties of each chart projection, cold. Then drill applications until they are fast.

“I would not recommend to memorize answers without understanding the minimum theory even if they are banky”— a student in our community, on GNAV, RNAV and Instrumentation

Sit General Navigation with Radio Navigation (062) — the seeded navigation pair. The chartwork and maths of 061 sit naturally alongside the aids and systems of 062.

How the pairings fit into a full plan — and why order matters — is covered in the recommended order of study, with the sitting mechanics in sittings & limits.