I Just did my 18th edition exam and I will share my thoughts with those that haven't yet taken it, and although I ordered the 18th bs7671 book last summer, it sat in a cupboard still wrapped in the cardboard it was delivered in until about 5-6 days before my exam. I watched the sparkyninji video where he goes through 60 exam mock questions using the bs7671 book for the answers and I found that very helpful (I didn't pay for any courses). I did spend a good few hours a day going through the book whilst reading mock exam questions which were free online, and probably 20% of the mock questions came up in the exam.
I passed with 52 correct questions out of the 60 (86.7% I think). The exam was possibly a little more difficult than the 16th and 17th, but if you know how to navigate your way around the book then you will nail it.
I am not the best person to study as I get bored very quickly and have a fairly low attention span to this type of thing (what normal person gets excited reading bs7671). I frankly just wanted to pass and wasn't trying to match the 100% results some on here got in their exams (poor excuse by me because I've never got 100% in any exam).
I would advise you spend longer than I did studying for it, and despite the short time I gave myself I had no interruptions from family or kids screaming as many others might have.
I have read of sparks paying to do a 1, 2 or 3 day course to prepare themselves for the exam and most things I've read is that the classroom courses haven't been worth the cost.
Sadly the exam proves very little of someones ability to do the actual job of a spark, but is more of a test of how well you can find answers to questions in a book.
So as above, I found it very useful going through mock exams and using my bs7671 book to find the actual answers to each question. Even if I knew the answer I still used bs7671 to find the answers to get me used to navigating the book, and that worked well for me.
Fortunately this will be my last exam, because I won't be doing the 19th edition whether that comes out in 5 years or 10.
I passed with 52 correct questions out of the 60 (86.7% I think). The exam was possibly a little more difficult than the 16th and 17th, but if you know how to navigate your way around the book then you will nail it.
I am not the best person to study as I get bored very quickly and have a fairly low attention span to this type of thing (what normal person gets excited reading bs7671). I frankly just wanted to pass and wasn't trying to match the 100% results some on here got in their exams (poor excuse by me because I've never got 100% in any exam).
I would advise you spend longer than I did studying for it, and despite the short time I gave myself I had no interruptions from family or kids screaming as many others might have.
I have read of sparks paying to do a 1, 2 or 3 day course to prepare themselves for the exam and most things I've read is that the classroom courses haven't been worth the cost.
Sadly the exam proves very little of someones ability to do the actual job of a spark, but is more of a test of how well you can find answers to questions in a book.
So as above, I found it very useful going through mock exams and using my bs7671 book to find the actual answers to each question. Even if I knew the answer I still used bs7671 to find the answers to get me used to navigating the book, and that worked well for me.
Fortunately this will be my last exam, because I won't be doing the 19th edition whether that comes out in 5 years or 10.
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