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Author Topic: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?  (Read 10262 times)

Offline gmac

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BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« on: September 10, 2012, 01:19:37 pm »
Did anyone else run way short on time doing the exam?  I only got about 150 of the 200 questions done.

Offline Mark G

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2012, 02:44:03 pm »
I finished, but had to crank through about 50 questions in the last 10 minutes.  Luckily I still passed. It is not an easy exam, and thinking you have time to refer to the BJCP guidelines or any other materials is a mistake.
Mark Gres

Offline jlo

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BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2012, 03:51:28 pm »
I finished and passed.  I would do a quick pass and answer the questions where you know the answer and flag the rest for follow-up so you could know how much time you have for the heady questions.

Offline a witty man

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2012, 03:53:12 pm »
I did the same as jlo, and I passed as well. I think the key is to bank as many points as you can, saving those questions that take a bit of though for a second pass.
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Offline philm63

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2012, 06:18:43 pm »
If I may so inquire; what is the fee to take this on-line test, and what would you say is the minimum required level of understanding (how many months/years brewing or batches brewed, how many books read, how many beers tasted, comps, etc.)?
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Offline gmac

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2012, 09:04:03 pm »
It's 10 dollars.
As for the amount of knowledge, you would need a basic knowledge and the ability to look stuff up quickly. I started the exam without any reference material cause I thought that would be cheating but quickly realized that there was no way that anyone could remember all the style differences that they were asking for.

Offline jlo

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BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2012, 09:04:47 pm »
I would head in over to http://www.bjcp.org/ and check it out.  I'm not sure what the minimum would be, but for me I listened to all the episodes of The Jamil Show where he covered all I the styles.  I also read through the BJCP style guidelines quite a few times.  Brewing Classic Styles also helped me with learning and brewing styles I was not familiar with.

I've been brewing for about 2 years and have approximately 80 batches so far.  For me it really solidifies the book knowledge when I actually brew a couple of beers in the style.

Offline gmac

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2012, 09:07:59 pm »
I'm not sure what a passing grade is. I did pass with only 150 answered but my list of topics I failed was pretty short.

Offline udubdawg

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2012, 09:28:25 pm »
It's 10 dollars.
As for the amount of knowledge, you would need a basic knowledge and the ability to look stuff up quickly. I started the exam without any reference material cause I thought that would be cheating but quickly realized that there was no way that anyone could remember all the style differences that they were asking for.

I'm glad you passed, though I certainly don't agree with this statement.
ability to look up things quickly is not knowledge.

Offline phunhog

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2012, 09:37:36 pm »
It's 10 dollars.
As for the amount of knowledge, you would need a basic knowledge and the ability to look stuff up quickly. I started the exam without any reference material cause I thought that would be cheating but quickly realized that there was no way that anyone could remember all the style differences that they were asking for.

I'm glad you passed, though I certainly don't agree with this statement.
ability to look up things quickly is not knowledge.

True...looking stuff up is not necessarily knowledge but c'mon it is a beer judging exam.  I have heard that even experienced judges bring a copy of the style guidelines with them.  Far better to look something up and be right then to just "know it" and be wrong.

Offline punatic

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2012, 02:12:37 am »
there was no way that anyone could remember all the style differences that they were asking for.

I'm glad you passed, though I certainly don't agree with this statement.
ability to look up things quickly is not knowledge.

Knowing how to efficiently use reference materials is essential knowlege.  Trying to memorize everything is a waste of time and mental hard drive space.  Unless you are one of the few gifted with an eidetic memory.   
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Offline theDarkSide

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2012, 08:03:08 am »

Unless you are one of the few gifted with an eidetic memory.

I forget what this means...so I guess not  ;D
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Offline jlo

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BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2012, 08:13:12 am »
From what I understand there are no reference materials available during the tasting or written parts of the exam.  The online exam is only the first part of the testing process.

When judging you are able to have the BJCP guidelines on your mobile device or some competitions will provide printed copies.  When judging and trying to provide feedback according to style for the entry the guidelines help inform and provide information to the judges. 

Offline denny

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2012, 09:12:31 am »
I have heard that even experienced judges bring a copy of the style guidelines with them.

And if you don't bring your own when you judge they are provided for you.
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Offline udubdawg

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Re: BJCP On-Line Exam - did you finish?
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2012, 10:25:15 am »
off on a tangent, but OK; my fault.
knowing how to look things up = extremely useful.  It's what I call "on the frontier of my knowledge" - I know that I don't know it, and know where it can be found. 
Still, I don't know it, and when someone asks for the "minimum required level of understanding" it seems silly to me to include something you don't know.

I would assume that anyone taking the online exam is preparing for a written/tasting exam, where they will have ZERO reference materials.  Rote memorization can be a waste, but once you pass online you're going to have 12 months to know the material whatever method you use...

If someone answers ALL the questions they (think they) know, and uses the rest of their time to find as many answers to questions they don't know as possible...sounds like a good plan.  jlo and a witty man did this and perhaps the OP did too.

If someone doesn't get a chance to answer certain questions they might know because they were spending too much time looking up other answers, then I call it poor time management.
I am simply stressing that you only have 18 seconds per question including the time to read it and answer it or mark it - don't waste time and possibly miss a single question you knew.

...I should have just avoided this discussion and echoed Mark G:  "It is not an easy exam, and thinking you have time to refer to the BJCP guidelines or any other materials is a mistake."

cheers--
--Michael