Why not just retake at NHC anyways? $15 bucks and a bit of time isn’t much to waste if you don’t need the score
You can’t retake the exam if you have one pending being graded already. I could cancel my first exam and retake… but I don’t really see the point in that… as I could have passed it with my needed 75. At this point I don’t really care about going > National.
Exams are distributed across the entire country. The backlog is most likely volunteer grading time when it comes to exam turnaround.
I’ve never seen this rule anywhere, can you point it out to me?
No clue if it’s posted somewhere. I was told this directly. I did find this where it states it’s strongly discouraged and that they may implement a policy where they throw the new exam out… This is basically what I was told would happen… so maybe said policy was in fact put in place. lol.
http://www.bjcp.org/news/2014Q1/2014Q1_ExamProgramUpdates.html
[quote]We strongly discourage people from retaking the same exam when the results of a previous exam are still pending. We’ve discussed having a policy that says a retake while a pending exam hasn’t completed grading will just be ignored (just thrown away and not graded). We may well need to officially say that.
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EDIT: I don’t mean to say I don’t understand it… Why make an already bogged down system of graders grade multiple exams from the same person when for sure ‘one of them’ is going to be overrided by the other…
EDIT: I don’t mean to say I don’t understand it… Why make an already bogged down system of graders grade multiple exams from the same person when for sure ‘one of them’ is going to be overrided by the other…
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I figured it would be discouraged so you don’t take up seats and potentially taking the spot of a new judge waiting for an exam, with the expanded set at NHC there shouldn’t be an issue with number of spots. Of course they do all still need to be graded.
I’m still waiting on results from a tasting last year to decide if I’m going to retake either of the tests at NHC this year.
I don’t think that policy was made official yet. Regardless, last year there were empty spots at the Philly tasting exam. If you want to take it and you’ll be there, I can’t see it would hurt to ask to be put on the list - even if you ask to be at the end of the waitlist. Or just show up that morning and see if there are openings.
Well I have a slot for the written exam but they told me I needed to have my first exam graded or ask to have it dropped before I could take the exam.
I did pretty much decide to just skip it as it would be the only reason for me to drive there a day early and pay for an extra day at the hotel…I would also miss my carpool… so maybe for the best… I’ll just retake it in 2015 if needed (hopefully not)
Oh, then maybe they did add the policy.
Written should be easier to get a spot for in the future with the quarterly exams.
I’m kind of in the same boat as you though, that would be the only reason to go over on tuesday and I’d have to deal with a ride
Yeah getting a spot was kind of my issue the first time I took it… I was the only person that took the exam. Normally the exam shouldn’t be given if less than 3 people take it. The other 2 were no-shows on the day of the exam. Because my exam is abnormal I have to wait for it to be tacked onto another exam to be graded as I understand it… so this results in my exam not even started being graded 5 months after I took it…
We’ve had a lot of problems getting folks to follow through and actually take the written exams.
I administered one a couple months ago where the examinees list slowly whittled itself all the way down from 14 a few months before to 3 on exam day.
That exam set had to be combined with another set the same way yours did.
Part of the problem is the length of time we have to schedule ahead of time.
Folks think they will be available for study and to take the exam, but things happen, work gets in the way, etc, and before you know it, nearly everyone who said they were going to take the exam reports back saying they can’t take it.
Another problem is that you need “critical mass” to hold an exam prep class. Its a big commitment to attend as well as to teach. The number of written-qualified examinees is far smaller than the pool of folks who want to take it for the first time, so even in my region (Seattle area) where there is a relatively high number of qualified people, folks still don’t go to the classes because its simply too far to drive to get there on time week after week.
A bit off topic- but to all those interested in becoming a judge: don’t let anything stop you from pursuing it. It’s a great opportunity to understand beer and brewing more and serve the homebrewing community by judging. I have to say the feedback I get from certified judges in competitions has always been more thorough and helpful than that from pro brewers who are invited to judge. Not because the pros are any less able to taste and judge, but because they aren’t trained in properly filling out a judging sheet.