The courses in sequence are:

• Seamanship includes basic seamanship, marlinspike, anchoring, rafting, docking, rules of navigation, basic boat care and maintenance, and handling emergencies on the water.
• Piloting is the first and most basic navigation course, covering chart reading, course plotting and basic coastal or inland navigation, including basic GPS usage. There is more detail in this course than the charting information covered in the public boating course.
• Advanced Piloting covers more advanced coastal navigation techniques, navigation in tides and currents, and more advanced GPS usage.
• Junior Navigation introduces basics of offshore navigation, including basic celestial navigation using the sun and offshore course planning.
• Navigation is the most advanced navigation course taught by USPS, covering more advanced celestial navigation techniques, emergency navigation, additional sight reduction techniques and the use of digital charts and courseware for planning offshore voyages.

• Engine Maintenance covers the operating principles and basic care and maintenance of outboard and inboard engines, including diesels.
• Marine Electronics covers installation and maintenance of both boat electrical systems (AC and DC) and marine electronics (VHF radio, RADAR, GPS, etc).
• Cruise Planning covers topics of interest for boaters planning a cruise – whether a weekend or a year – including preparation and planning, anchoring, security, chartering, and cruising outside of the US.
• Weather covers weather forecasting and reading weather patterns on-board.
• Sail covers everything from the basic elements of how a sailboat works to sail trim, rig tuning and sailboat racing.
• Instructor Development teaches effective communication skills for instructors or anyone making presentations. The course covers various methods of organizing and presenting information to others and making effective use of audiovisual aids including using PowerPoint presentations with the use of computer and multimedia projection.