2009 Past Papers

[PJW]

I am indebted to Raj for pointing this out to me as I hadn't noticed that the 2009 papers- including the layouts 1 & 3 but not 2 (Metro) for some reason- have now been placed on the main IRSE website for download, replacing those for 2008. I am hoping that this will now be a regular action, ideally making them available before the Exam Review in January, but I certainly welcome them; better late than never!

Just click on IRSE in header on any page of this webite and it takes you directly to the IRSE's page re the exam from where the various question papers are just a click away.
The answers take somewhat longer; it is down to the student population to make their attempts and post them on this website to get feedback, and make available to others to provoke discussion.

[nicklawford]

Thanks for highlighting this.

I downloaded modules M4 M6 M7 and after a cursory skijm through them I have a question.

M4 M6 and M7 exams have the same time and structure - time limit 1.5 hours and answer any 3 questions with all questions carrying equal marks.

Can anyone answer why M7 answer 3 from 10 but both M4 and M6 are more restricted to 3 from 7 questions ?

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Nick

[PJW]

Thanks for highlighting this.

I downloaded modules M4 M6 M7 and after a cursory skim through them I have a question.

M4 M6 and M7 exams have the same time and structure - time limit 1.5 hours and answer any 3 questions with all questions carrying equal marks.

Can anyone answer why M7 answer 3 from 10 but both M4 and M6 are more restricted to 3 from 7 questions ?

--
Nick

I think that the question papers themselves would be easier to answer than that one. Take your pick between:

a) like much else in railway signalling, "because it has always been like this"- there may have been a good reason once but it is lost in the mists of time and may not be relevant anymore anyway. Similarly why some modules have such questions marked out of 20 whilst others mark out of 25 ......

b) because M4 and M6 get few candidates, the examiners really don't think it worth the bother of setting more questions as most won't be answered by anyone

c) because M7 is to be attempted by people with a wide range of backgrounds (notably Signalling AND Telecomms) and some questions are specific to one and therefore not available to others so a wider range of questions is needed. Presumably M4 and M6 have a narrower syllabus and the candidates are more homogeneous. This sounds like the right answer until you compare it to the M3 writtten questions where one might assume the same logic would apply ......

d) none of the above

[nicklawford]

I think that the question papers themselves would be easier to answer than that one.

Thanks.

[b] I thought of, [c] plausible but then again to encourage comms engineers then need wide base to draw from, [a] perhaps.

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Nick