on line exams

[whats an rb4]

is it possible to do my 17th and part p on line without doing the courses i feel sure i would pass by just sitting exam if so can anyone point me in right direction many thanks in advance

 

[j.mawer]

You can't sit 17th edition online as it has to be at a C&G approved centre. Speak to local college they may let you do exam without course (although I guess it would have to tie in with their course dates) at a reduced cost. Some training providers may also let you do it, contact them direct.
City and Guilds 2382-10 exam - IET Electrical has a list of dates/places for sessions run by IET cost £132 inc vat but they are not very regular

For "Part P" it depends on what you are talking about as there is no single "part p" exam you need to pass.

 

[pushrod]

For me at least it has never been about "just passing" i would want to do the training as well so that i could feel confident that i knew a bit about the subject. To my mind you can scrape through all these exams with huge gaps in your knowledge. I would at least have wanted the opportunity to fill in some of these gaps even if it didn't all stick. When you're out there working you don't want to be thinking "s*** that's the bit i never understood".

Maybe i'm being too idealistic

 

[j.mawer]

Nope I think I'm with you on that one pushrod.

 

[mikeymoo]

I had the same problem. I paid £580 for 17th Edition to sit in a class for three days reading question & answer sheets, nothing else.
Afterwards i heard of a test centre in cumbria that will let you book just the online exam. £140.00 approx. Cant remember name of hand but will look it up.
To be honest i felt robbed at the so called training. And after speaking to many other guys its the same at other training centre's also.

 

[B6 7BU]

is it possible to do my 17th and part p on line without doing the courses i feel sure i would pass by just sitting exam if so can anyone point me in right direction many thanks in advance

You could do "Virtual Reality Training"

[video=youtube;9UM3RUEUink]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UM3RUEUink[/video]

 

[SMB]

Hi Mikeymoo. Your experience sounds awful, it sounds like your course was just designed to teach people to pass the exam......but not to actually teach people.

I guess I was lucky, my experience was very different. There were 7 of us on the course. There were 4 very informed and experienced people. The discussions were interesting and the tutor did his best to address any question that was brought up. It was a great 3 days.

In regard to the OP's question......the 17th edition online exam can be done without doing a 1 day or 3 day course. This can cost as little as £50.

Regards.

 

[j.mawer]

Depends on several things, level of experience, quality of teaching, cost of course. Mine was 400 for 5 days at local college, my background was electronics rather than electrical as I have said in previous posts I think everyone on our course learned stuff and discussed stuff even experienced sparks. Now they might argue that for £400 they didn't learn that much (especially if you factor in lost trade) but as I said everyone learned some stuff. For example we discussed why horses/cattle need special measures (not just that they did) months before Newbury race course showed a practical example.

The fact that the exam is relatively easy and open book is what leads me to feel cheated rather than the course, essentialy it is difficult to know how much you learned because that is never tested essentialy the exam is only about indexing a book!

£580 is a bit steep though!

 

[pushrod]

When i did my 17th i did it over 6 weeks, one evening session every week. I always tried to read what we were doing the next week, in the week approaching so i had a chance to see what was difficult. I asked the guy loads of questions and he was happy to stay at the ends of sessions and answer more (the only thing he said was he wanted questions about the regs - not how to do the job you were currently on lol). Some guys never asked a single thing or bothered to do the few homework questions we were given!

I think, to a large extent, you get out of these courses what you put in. I think it also pays to ask a few questions and do a bit of research (on here for example) before you sign up and pay your money. After all you wouldn't buy a car without reading a few reviews about them first.

 

[Steve1412]

Did mine over 4 days at a cost of £540. sat in a classroom with a guy who just went through the BRB verbatim....then attempted a basic cable calc which he got wrong......did the online test and got 100%....I would expect most lads on here with their experience of the old regs and a day or so to browse the 17th to walk through the exam...its all just about finding the right page in the regs?????

 

[ian.settle1]

Oh no here we go again, another one who has been dropped on his head and thinks Part P is a Qualification and not a BUILDING REGULATION

 

[whats an rb4]

i realise it is a section in the building regs as i have a full copy of regs in a huge box so if its not a test of competency what is it i have my test and inspand have had for probably around 15 yrs and many others when is sat my 16th i just turned up for exam no problem ... was acctually quite funny as when i got there my boss was sitting aswell and did the whole course he went very quite when someone dropped the bomb shell he was a storeman in the army only 18 months earlier feels like 25+ years counts for nowt and i will have to sit in front of some spotty kid probably knows less about the job than half the people attending and then pay x amount for 98% of what i already know .so what is it if its not a test of competance what is it how i dont understand how can anyone be evaluated without being tested ????

 

[whats an rb4]

am not gonna go on about it but it used to be if you did not take notice in lessons you did not know and that was it .... i see on these forums the more experianced sparks are answering questions for apprentices and they are just getting copyed parrot fashion and not getting ant real depth of knowlege .... we are breeding a set of fitters knowing what is wrong and how to fix it but not understaning the route cause of the initial problems with the potential risks involved i personally do not think it is a good idea to wet nurse these people, may be it would be better to post question with answer and to basically just tell em yes thats ok ish or no completly wrong nobody seems to want to put the work in and learn properly nowadays .... does anyone else agree with me on this .......

 

[j.mawer]

As I see it if someone asks for help then its reasonable to give it to them if they appear willing to learn. I have helped people previously and suggested that they provide answers / workings for their best guess at the answer. In general people seem to have gone along with that in their followup posts. I also, personally, think that when answering the question you should provide workings/reasoning/regs rather than just answers in the (maybe vain) hope that people will read and learn rather than just write down the letter (in the case of multi choice)

Putting your comment in a post where someone has asked for this "wet nursing" might be more appropriate as then the people who do it will see it!

As for your part P question you would be tested on your knowledge of part P when you join an organization which allows you to self certify your work. If, as you say you have been sparking for 15 years and have a qual in test and inspect then you should be fine on an assessment (if you know part p) getting a certificate to show you know part p is not relevant. Save yourself the money. If you have 16th Ed, as you say you have, the upgrade course is usually one day + exam and is likely to be around £150 at a local college, neither a big deal nor a huge amount of money.