Level 1 was bought in and used by colleges who's pass marks on the Level 2 were to low, Level 1 is used to gauge if a student is capable of progressing to level 2, colleges wont waste their time/money on a student entering him for L2 only to see him/her fail if they cant do it, ths making the college stats look bad.
There are NO exams for Level1, it is just some practical assignments in the workshop that you must complete, such as one way/two way pvc/pvc lighting, an A3 radial wired in2.5mm, a plug top!, and some simple fabrication like a 90 degree conduit bend.
We have had students complete it in 3 weeks or(18 hours) but others still have not completed after 17 weeks, that tells you that those particular students would not be up to three phase, Cable tray, complex steel conduit bends, Trunking, Pvc conduit, 4 mm SWA, FP 200, Inspection&Testing, A1 Final Rings ect ect, hence they cannot go on to level 2
once completion of Level 1 is attained (6 weeks max) then the student automatically goes to L2 and thats when the GOLA exams start and the practical exam
There is a Level 1 certificate available for the student who completes L1, that way both student and college look good!