🔍 Key Concepts

• Use of the Light List to find geographic and nominal ranges of lights • Difference between geographic range (based on height of light and observer) and luminous/nominal range (based on brightness and visibility) • How to interpret tabulated ranges in nautical publications rather than trying to calculate them from scratch on an exam question

💭 Think About

• Which U.S. Coast Guard publication would list Little Gull Island Light and give you its nominal or geographic range directly? • For this specific question, are you expected to do a height-of-eye calculation, or to recall/use the listed range from the Light List or chart? • Look at the pattern of answer choices: are they close together or widely spaced, and what does that suggest about relying on an exact listed value rather than rough mental math?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you are thinking about the range shown in official publications, not the distance at which you personally might see it • Confirm in your mind whether exam questions about specific named lights usually want the published range, not a computed one • Verify that you are not confusing the light’s height in feet with its range in nautical miles when comparing to the choices