Thanks dkfick! All these dates are all filled up!!! Also I send a few e-mails and no replies yet! How do I host a test here where I live?? We have several qualified judges that I am sure could Procter. Anyone know???
The calendar does not indicate if the exams are full, only that the exam calendar is full. Read the statements at the top.
Thanks MDixon. I will try and blacker e-mail all of them and see who replies. Frustrating to say the least!!
Open judging exam seats in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia appear to be in short supply through this time next year. Maryland will not have any open judging seats until at least March of 2016 because Bill and Jim were unable to schedule exams in 2015 due to the schedule being full. While stranger things have happened, I seriously doubt that Bill will get very far into the waiting list for the September exam in Frederick due to the fact that everyone around here knows that it is a speak or hold your peace until at least March 2016 moment. Plus, I am ahead of you! 
Seriously though, your best bet is the exam in Pittsburgh in December. The waiting list for that exam was relatively short when I inquired. You can forget about the exam in Philadelphia in November. Aimee cut the waiting list off at 20 people. I do not know about the exams in New York. That’s farther than I want to drive at this point in time.
I am assuming that you are are Pennsylvania. If you are willing to drive to Pittsburgh, the waiting list was relatively short when I inquired. Having to book a seat a year or more in advance is probably why there are so people who cancel at the last minute.
The reason people drop is they sign up for multiple exams since it is pretty far out and then when one materializes they drop. There are a handful who cannot pass the entrance exam and have to drop and then there are the people who do not show. When that happens I keep the exam fees and the deposit. I typically charge a $50 deposit for the seat and the exam is $40, so the dude who stood me up lost $90. I hope that taught that person a lesson!
Ninety dollars is chicken feed in the grand scheme of things. What I hope that person took away from the experience is that he cost someone else an opportunity to sit for the exam. If he did not want to sit for the exam, the responsible thing to do would have been to contact you in time to allow someone else to sit for the exam.
Oh, it’s much more than $90. You see the people giving the exam are probably judges in the program who know one another. In our area there are really four people. We talk. Someone can get blacklisted in a heartbeat for a no show. I did not do this in this instance, but the closest exam this person will ever find will be at least 2-3 hours away since they will never be allowed to sit for an exam I give and for the last 10 years or so I’ve been the only one giving them in this area.
When people have skin in the game they typically show up, and 90 beans is plenty of skin for most people. An easy litmus test to prove that is to place $90 on the table and walk away never to return. Until you can do that you care about the $90. 
I care about $90; however, then again, my wife always jokes about moths flying out my wallet when I open it. ;D
;D ;D
I’ve been waiting over 26 weeks for my exam results. Is this normal? Are they really backed up right now?
Update:
I spoke too soon. I just got a response that the grading was completed and should see results shortly.
Just an FYI it is fairly normal for it to take that long too since there are a lot of exams and only a few volunteer graders. I have not yet graded but I do plan on it in the future.
Please do! There’s been quite the grader shortage lately. I started grading this year and have found it rewarding, although fairly time consuming. I can now see how easy it is for exams to take longer to grade than expected.
I’ve told my examinees to expect 4-6 months and be very happy if they come back sooner (2-3 month turn arounds do happen, too. You just don’t hear about them as often as the “I took the exam 6 months ago. Where are my results?!” posts).
I’m still waiting on my mead exam results from NHC back in June. Luckily, I’m not anxious for that exam like I was over the beer exams.
Yes, we need all the graders we can get.
Steve
Is grading experience a requirement for Master? Maybe if they were?
Seems like the organization is in a growth catch 22. In time hopefully it works out.
No, but it’s required for Grand Master since it awards Grand Master Service Requirement credits. 50 points for each GM level must be from grading.
I do not know if it is true or not, but I recently heard that the RTP has been pared down in an attempt to streamline the grading process.
Yes. I haven’t seen it but I hear much less writing is required for the new version.
It’s good to see that steps are being made to reduce the level of effort that is required to grade a beer judging exam. Even with this reduction, it is still a laborious process due to the non-black and white nature of the exam. The written exam has to be fairly laborious to grade as well.
Yes, it has been reduced a LOT.