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Author Topic: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available  (Read 12866 times)

narvin

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #45 on: April 05, 2012, 07:30:02 am »
Well, bad news for you may be good news for me.  I'm 9th on the wait list for the tasting exam.  Maybe enough people will drop out or not pass the online exam.

And, I did the qualifying exam last night out of curiosity and also to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's time  :) I passed.

Offline thetooth

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #46 on: April 05, 2012, 11:18:58 am »
Narvin and Tooth, any exam site can set the rules they want. I don't want someone wasting my time taking up an exam slot for which someone else is already qualified.

My rules going forward are starting to look like:
A $50 deposit in addition to full exam fees with the deposit retured after the exam has been given. I'm tired of people backing out at the last minute. It's a waste of my time.

So for any prospective BJCP judges, if you sign up for an exam site, be darn sure you show up.

And yes, I may be slightly bitter. ;)
I can't say I blame you Mike, I've gotten screwed by people backing out too many times.

That sucks, and I understand not letting people sign up for the exam until they have passed the online entrance test.  I just think the test results shouldn't expire in 12 months if there is no way the BJCP can facilitate testing in your area within that time frame.

I'd be happy with passing the entrance exam and immediately being given the next available testing date in my area... even if that's 2 years out.  At least I'll know that I didn't waste my time and money taking an entrance exam that is worthless by the time I can take the next exam.

I definitely think you should charge for the exam up-front, so you are at least paid if some people don't show up.  It's obnoxious that people sign up to take up hours of your time and don't bother showing up.  I'm sure that's part of the reason the exams are apparently so hard to get into.

To be honest, I thought the BJCP needed judges.  The only reason I started looking into this was to be able to help out with some local comps... assuming I'm qualified and pass the exams.  If that's not the case, I can just hang back and let the people who are dying to call themselves a BJCP judge jump through the hoops.

Offline MDixon

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #47 on: April 05, 2012, 02:42:05 pm »
The BJCP needs judges willing to have more than a title and wanting to be active in judging. I can remember back in the day when NC had less than 50 judges in the entire state and we have 100 counties. Today we have 86 active judges. Judges become inactive when they have not judged or participated in 2 years. It's pretty easy to get busy with life and not have time to make a competition in two years although we have plenty of judging opportunities lately. At one time not too long ago SC had 5 judges and now they are at 21. TN has 48 and could certainly use more. Mississippi only has one person.

So yes, in some areas the BJCP needs judges. In almost all areas high ranking judges with experience are needed.
It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!

Offline thomasbarnes

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #48 on: April 05, 2012, 11:51:37 pm »
I will add the BJCP documents do suggest one sign up for the tasting before taking the online exam.

Given the current demand, it's silly to take the qualifier exam until you have a slot reserved for the tasting exam.

Possibly the new exam structure will discourage people from backing out. If you've already got skin in the game, even if it's $10, and a time limit of 1 year before you have to start over from scratch, you might be more motivated to show up for the tasting exam.

I can't take people bailing out the exam that personally. For some folks it's change of interests, attacks of nerves or lack of preparation - if they're not prepared, why waste everyone's time by forcing them to write a crummy exam.

Other people get sick or have Serious Stuff crop up. Given the lead time to get an exam seat, you can't predict what's going to happen to you in the meantime.

What is polite, though, is to RSVP. People who know they're going to have to bail should give at least 2 weeks notice, preferably a month.

Let's just hope that the new exam structure gets more graders back in the system, so the number of scheduled exams can be increased. Right now, everyone's watching and waiting to see how the new exam structure affects things.

Offline thomasbarnes

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #49 on: April 05, 2012, 11:53:39 pm »
And, I did the qualifying exam last night out of curiosity and also to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's time  :) I passed.

Congratulations. Let's hope that you get a seat.

Offline thomasbarnes

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Re: BJCP Entrance Exam is now available
« Reply #50 on: April 05, 2012, 11:56:15 pm »
First (directed at an earlier post T made), I will not allow anyone to even waste my time signing up for the taste exam unless they have passed the entrance exam.

I agree. I was just pointing out that the BJCP is trying to be flexible when dealing with experienced judges who were planning on retaking the legacy exam.

Second, the format for the written exam is spelled out:
http://www.bjcp.org/docs/BJCP_Exam_Structure.pdf
Quote
five questions with each comprising 20% of the total score. Of the five questions, two are style-related, one is a recipe question, and two are technical questions related to ingredients or brewing process.

Thanks for catching that. I knew I'd seen it somewhere.