I agree with Peter; I actually think the examiners themselves must resent the work that they no doubt have to do on the weekends leading up to Christmas when such a large percentage of what they are ploughing through is well off the mark.
Having said that I do agree with the main point that Alastair was making. It is time to correlate the results with facts. For all we know the pass rate for "new entrants" may be staying constant and it may be those who failed last year added to those who failed the year before, added to those who failed the year previously that are gradually accumulating a mountain of "exam rejects"; since mod 1 is the compulsory paper, the same people could be coming around and around and around again failing every time. In truth this probably is not a major factor (although I am sure there must be an element of it); the point Alastair was making is that we don't know, yet the data to be able to know would be available to the IRSE and it is probably high time that somone tried to analyse it and indeed seek to obtain additional info from the students themselves.
I think Jerry also has made some very sensible points; in general I agree that many attempt without enough length of experience- there are always those who are good at exams, prepared to devote a lot of time to studying and who have benefited from a comprehensive training scheme that can do after about 3 years in the industry, but for the majority of the others then I think 5 years' experience is a realistic minimum. This then raise the question: "why are people in such a hurry?"- I wonder whether it is the expectation of employers and the HR managers, annual performance reviews etc.....
Having said that I do agree with the main point that Alastair was making. It is time to correlate the results with facts. For all we know the pass rate for "new entrants" may be staying constant and it may be those who failed last year added to those who failed the year before, added to those who failed the year previously that are gradually accumulating a mountain of "exam rejects"; since mod 1 is the compulsory paper, the same people could be coming around and around and around again failing every time. In truth this probably is not a major factor (although I am sure there must be an element of it); the point Alastair was making is that we don't know, yet the data to be able to know would be available to the IRSE and it is probably high time that somone tried to analyse it and indeed seek to obtain additional info from the students themselves.
I think Jerry also has made some very sensible points; in general I agree that many attempt without enough length of experience- there are always those who are good at exams, prepared to devote a lot of time to studying and who have benefited from a comprehensive training scheme that can do after about 3 years in the industry, but for the majority of the others then I think 5 years' experience is a realistic minimum. This then raise the question: "why are people in such a hurry?"- I wonder whether it is the expectation of employers and the HR managers, annual performance reviews etc.....
(06-01-2012, 12:06 PM)Peter Wrote:(06-01-2012, 11:34 AM)AlastairHayden Wrote: I guess as far as the IRSE is concerned, they are still making money from applicants and would not want to deter people from applying (and for multiple attempts).
I think that it a little cynical. The change in the fee structure a couple of years ago was to discourage people from applying for more than they were ready for. It used to be a larger fee for one paper and then a small increment for additional papers whereas now it is simply a fee multiplied by the number of papers, so there is no financial penalty for spreading your sittings.
I don't know the numbers, but I do not think that the IRSE runs the exam to make money and taking into account the paid admin and the modest honararia paid to exam volunteers, I would be surprised if there is any surplus to speak of.
PJW