About Jonathan Foster: ‘I’m Jonathan, a trainee patent attorney in our Leeds office. I have a background in Physics, Nanotechnology & Biophysics, and am particularly interested in the use of physics in the medical field. Alongside my training, I am also the Welfare Officer to the CIPA Informals, a committee member of the Institute of Physics Early Career Members’ Group, and an advisory board member for the charity Jonathan’s Voice.’
Every exam is stressful. I don’t believe (or rather, I envy) anyone who says otherwise.
But this year’s exams added an extra layer of stress; namely, that no one had a clue what to expect!
Having sat the UK exams in October, which twisted and changed as exams got closer and closer, it was good to see the EQEs using a system that at least has the potential to be a permanent fixture in the future. This was to be expected, with more time for the eEQEs to be prepared, and the UK exams, looking back, running fairly smoothly.
Putting aside the stresses of multiple FAQs, changing information, and the constant nightmares of fluctuating IT requirements, the eEQE seemed very well-suited to the true/false nature of the pre-EQE.
Some people will inevitably have had unforeseeable issues, but for me, the exam ran without major problems.
While splitting the exam into four parts made for a much longer exam than normal, I found the bitesize chucks very civilized, and being able to get a coffee and go out for a walk between sections was really nice. As a result, I probably had more clarity in answering the questions, akin to real life, where a tricky draft or response might be helped by simply stepping away for a short while.
The invigilators were responsive, and the software (for me, at least) didn’t freeze, crash or waiver in any way.
A minor gripe that would lead to massive improvement of the overall experience of the exam, would be to simply allow candidates to view the exam entirely in English, French or German. Having to scroll between questions and background information is hard enough, without having to sift through blocks of different languages. I know this problem would be further exacerbated if you could read (or worse, partially read) the questions in the other languages, leading to further confusion in your mind.
Overall, I would be happy to sit the exam in this way again, and further would actively choose this method. I certainly can’t imagine the days of carrying ten folders and eight books across the country and into a cold exam hall.
Saying all this, it could be that the AI software detecting ‘suspicious activity’ has disqualified me for accidently pressing the windows home key, making the start menu triumphantly emerge over the supposed ‘lockdown’ browser, and throwing me into a state of frozen panic. That, or the sound of my partner on a work call, talking about tech issues that couldn’t be further from reciting Rule 49bis.1(c) PCT (no, I’ve no idea what that is either).
Either way, here’s to hoping that a general level of common sense prevails, and that these minor changes are made to allow this form of examination to continue and improve.
