Advice on the 17th Edition Electrical test please anyone..

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Well at least you've learnt something Big Tone, use your time up wisely!
If you have 20 minutes left, you double check for errors and go over the dodgy answered ones. If it's a mock or real time, you treat those imposters both the same.
I never submit or hand my papers in, until I am absolutely sure I can not improve on it!
I think someone may be treating themselves to your hole, come Friday

 

[JohnW2]

If you have 20 minutes left, you double check for errors and go over the dodgy answered ones. If it's a mock or real time, you treat those imposters both the same.
I never submit or hand my papers in, until I am absolutely sure I can not improve on it!

I agree, but the one thing you have to be very caregful about is not changing (improving upon') any of your previous answers unless you are pretty sure that the initial answer was wrong and the revised answer right - it's not at all uncommon for correct answers to be changed to incorrect ones in the panic of the last few minutes of exam time. That applies particularly to questions that you're not really sure about (even when re-visiting them) - in such cases your 'first stab' will often prove to be the correct one (maybe the subconscious at work!), so you should have a very strong reason for changing such answers.

Good luck on Friday!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Big Tone]

Thursday’s child has far to go...

I failed the second mock test.

Fortunately for me it’s not quite all bad news. The teacher said that it was deliberately made hard to ‘push us’ and get us used to the good book. In fact he said that although it’s something he can obviously get right, even he had to do quite some searching through the pages. (I'm paraphrasing there).

So I did well to get a better score this time of 43, (so he said), although it still makes me feel lower than a snakes belly that I’ve failed again TBH.

Today ended with yet another mock paper to test us, (or break me), which gives absolutely no indication where in the book the answer is.

We could have either stayed there and worked over-time to finish it or take it home, along with the answers. I decided, like most, to take it home to avoid Birmingham City Centre’s ridiculous peak traffic.

It would be foolish of me, or anyone else, to cheat because you need to know how and where to find these answers on the day, so I’d better get off this forum and get busy. (My stress level is through the roof!)

Please don’t be cruel to me if or when I fail; I seriously have grave doubts about my chances here because of the time and way I have been put on the course. I feel if I’d had both of the ‘good books’ weeks ago, and they’d paid for the full seven week course for me, I’d pretty much have breezed towards the required 80% I need by now.

Oh, the golf clubs are very nice btw; he was true to his word.

I think I'm going to need them to cheer me up over the weekend, although if it's anything like how today feels...


"FOUR!"

 

[Big Tone]

Getting late now and feeling fed up and tired...

You know that state of mind you reach when you get to a certain point and just think f**k it? (not sure what smilie to insert)

Time for bed now and another restless night no doubt.


Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up being loved by women who just use me for my incredible body...

Seriously, I'm

 

[ban-all-sheds]

(not sure what smilie to insert)

Well...

Since you bring it up....

I for one find your use of so many very annoying, and I wish you'd stop using them altogether.

On a serious note, the more you use them instead of proper words to express yourself the more your ability to use words will atrophy, and that includes reading. As the exams you want to take use words and not smilies to ask their questions you're just building yourself a handicap.

 

[Big Tone]

Noted thank you.

On a serious note, the more you use them instead of proper words to express yourself the more your ability to use words will atrophy, and that includes reading. As the exams you want to take use words and not smilies to ask their questions you're just building yourself a handicap.

We will just have to agree to disagree on that one Dr Sheds, since I know me far better than you do.

They are used on forums to add emphasis and convey a multitude of feelings and expressions which cannot necessarily always be done face-to-face or avoid particular remarks being taken the wrong way.

At other times they simply bring a little levity; at least that is my intention. I can assure you there is nothing wrong with my vocabulary but even if there was your comment is at best unhelpful and at worst unkind, especially at this moment, so thanks for nothing.

(See, there it is again and I hope it helps you understand a little better how your post has made me feel at this sensitive and stressful time)

I see many posts where the grammar is awful or nonsensical and at times they come across more as English abusage than usage, but I tolerate them because maybe there is underlying reason I don’t know of and the person is actually quite sincere, dyslexic, Aspergers.....

Others here have been kind and very helpful. If my style bothers you so much consider just ignoring me in future...

Now if you don't mind, I've got a big day ahead of me and some last minute studying to do.

 

[Big Tone]

I'll leave this place alone now untill after my exam. (I don't want any more negativity).

Thanks again to all who have tried to help me. If I pass this thing it will be, in no small way, for the help and tips I've had here.

Another two coffees and I'll be on my way. I hate exams!

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Might be too late for you to view this message before you take your exam!
Not sure the time you take it?
But good luck with it, be positive and read the questions correctly, understand them before you jump in with an answer.
Remember you can skip them and come back to them later.
I'm sure you will do well.
I'll have my fingers crossed for you pal!

 

[Big Tone]

Might be too late for you to view this message before you take your exam!
Not sure the time you take it?
But good luck with it, be positive and read the questions correctly, understand them before you jump in with an answer.
Remember you can skip them and come back to them later.
I'm sure you will do well.
I'll have my fingers crossed for you pal!

Very nice of you to say bud. I didn't get your well wish in time soz but cheers mate. I'm pleased and relieved, (and surprised TBH), to say I passed.

I got in at 8:00 and we started the exam at about 10:30. We could have gone through the morning with more learning beforehand but we all just wanted to get on with it, so we started it early. I was so burnt out from studying through last night and early this morning I don’t think my brain could have took much more in of any worth anyway, so I was more than happy to get started too and get it over with.

It's was the most stressful thing I've done in a long time! The two hours pass so quickly and towards the end I could see I wasn't the only one to go into panic mode. It isn't so much that the exam is very hard, per se, it's just that I personally had so little time to get enough studying and familiarisation leading up to it.

It didn't help today that I forgot to take my reading specs and thought I'd lost my wallet when I got there, which was actually also left behind at home. (Duh). It also didn’t help that I had a question which, after I called the teacher over, found that the 'main man' didn’t know the answer either. In fact after he spoke to another professional there he came back and wrote it down from my screen to find out later, so that was annoying and made my panic worse. I lost at least eight minutes over that one question alone! He said I should have just guessed it but I had it in my mind that it could make or break me, so a stared and fumbled through page after page looking for something more that simply wasn't there.

The pass certificate doesn't give how many you get wrong or an overall percentage, it has a black horizontal bar graph with percentages next to each of the eight sections. I got a few at 100% and nothing less than about 70%. Even though I passed I wouldn’t trust myself to do much heavy electrical work because I still feel I need much more practice and learning. I think of it a bit like the driving test, it’s not until after you have passed that you really start to learn how to drive. As I mentioned, I still need to find out if my work will fund the Inspection and Testing side which is another week’s course. So it may well not be all over just yet. (Oh no, not again!)

Cheers again

Tone

 

[JohnW2]

Very nice of you to say bud. I didn't get your well wish in time soz but cheers mate. I'm pleased and relieved, (and surprised TBH), to say I passed.

Great. Well done. I reckon you now deserve (or need!) a pint or three!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Big Tone]

Very nice of you to say bud. I didn't get your well wish in time soz but cheers mate. I'm pleased and relieved, (and surprised TBH), to say I passed.

Great. Well done. I reckon you now deserve (or need!) a pint or three!

Kind Regards, John.

Thanks John, maybe later I've got some newly-acquired toys I want to play with first involving a £3 or £4 bucket of balls..

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Well done Big Tone, I was always confident you could pull it off.
You don't get an overall percentage mark as it is either pass/fail but you can work it out.
If you can be bothered.
As you gain more experience and deal hands on with problems, you get to know the book better, you don't need to know it inside out, as it is a reference book, a place to go to make sure the work is compliant.

Is the next course Inspection, Testing and Certification 2391-10?
If it is, I would hold off a little longer and get some hands on testing done and get used to the forms for EICs, PIRs and MW.
You will also need to know about Zs compliance, IR fault finding, Initial Verification and compliance. Plus you will need to do PIR on a rig with about 10 circuits on it.
Then a 2 and a half hour written examination.
It's no where near as easy as the 2820-10
Not trying to put you off, but major prep and experience is needed.
If you want some passed papers and I can email them you in PDF.

Anyway well done pal!

 

[Big Tone]

Well done Big Tone, I was always confident you could pull it off.

Thanks PrenticeBoyofDerry, I seriously wasn’t - especially during the exam. I confess I was close to tears when he told me I'd passed and handed me the certificate with that magic word next to "Provisional Grade'. (I’m such a softy). Must have been a combination of stress, shock and sleep deprivation but after my awful mock tests it appears that I saved the best to last. I still think there was an element of luck involved, but I’m not complaining.

You don't get an overall percentage mark as it is either pass/fail but you can work it out.

I think I will later but at a glance it’s somewhere around 80% I think, maybe even just under, so I think I may have only just scraped through. That said, I saw someone else’s certificate who’d visibly done worse than me yet he passed too, so it suggests to me the pass rate is in fact lower. I have a sneaky suspicion they said 80%, or rather didn’t deny it as the absolute pass figure, to get us to try harder. (Fair enough I guess, if somewhat cruel)

As you gain more experience and deal hands on with problems, you get to know the book better, you don't need to know it inside out, as it is a reference book, a place to go to make sure the work is compliant.

.Yes, now that I’ve got this far I’m spurred-on to get better and I intend to keep dipping into the good books, in between my other books. Even if I only pick it up for half an hour or less each day it will still help inculcate with ‘what’ is roughly ‘where’.

Is the next course Inspection, Testing and Certification 2391-10?

I think you may have asked me this before sorry, and I still haven’t found out. I know the guys on the full seven week course have been referring to the test they are on next week as Inspection and Testing but if there are different levels then I’d better find out what I need. I wish I was on it with them TBH, I’ve found out that electricians are a good laugh and nice people.

If it is, I would hold off a little longer and get some hands on testing done and get used to the forms for EICs, PIRs and MW.
You will also need to know about Zs compliance, IR fault finding, Initial Verification and compliance. Plus you will need to do PIR on a rig with about 10 circuits on it.

I’m pretty good with the hands-on stuff because of my electronics/mechanics engineering background. As long as I understand what it is I’ve got to do or measure I should be okay and more relaxed than I was today. One lesson I’ve learnt is whether you have to beg, borrow or steal the books - you absolutely must have them to read long before the exam. That would have been so very helpful, as indeed you and others said just after I first posted.

If you want some passed papers and I can email them you in PDF.

That’d be great thanks bud. Forewarned is forearmed and I really appreciate the help and support from you and others. Now I'm going to take up John's idea, long overdue and well deserved

If I post anything after about 9 p.m. tonight please forgive me, I'll be ****ed and in-between phoning old friends to tell them how much I love them.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If your going down the inspection and testing route, two publications you must have, are the "guidance note 3" and "Practical guide to inspection, testing and certification of electrical installations" by Christopher Kitcher.
I am made up for you, that you passed. I know how I felt at the time and I went in quite confident, prepared and clued up.