Attached is an attempt which I have recently received for this layout; for those with access to the sub-forum note that an alternative solution to this same paper has also by coincidence recently been posted there.
This attempt has adopted a 3-aspect solution; although this is argued just to meet the headway requirement, it would probably have been a good idea to have used some 4 aspect signalling in the vicinity of the main station in order to have permitted sensible signal positioning and being able to achieve the requested standage and other operational requirements. Alternatively some additional 3 aspect signals could have been used but with suitable approach release ("modified 3-aspect sequence") so that adequate warning of stop signals could be given to the driver. However even without looking in detail at the particular layout constraints I think that the calculations showed that spacing signals within the min/max criteria for 3-aspects would be improbable in anything but plain line.
Overall it shows a reasonable level of completion and that the candidate has got he general idea; however there are quite a lot of errors, some particularly serious, some pretty trivial but demonstrating a lack of attention to detail that could so be easily have been learnt. In particular it has not addressed many of the specific operational requirements.
Therefore I doubt that it would rate a pass- there are just too many defects which seem to reveal that the candidate has not really understood all the concepts nor actually prepared for the exam adequately. However it is not hopeless; the candidate is actually a long way there and just needs to address their areas of weakness in order to be able to pass.
There are 25 days left; you'd probably get your car serviced before putting it in for an MOT, so if you don't want to suffer an avoidable failure yourself then make sure you schedule an adequate pre-exam check-up to tighten up on a few things that might otherwise let you down........
This attempt has adopted a 3-aspect solution; although this is argued just to meet the headway requirement, it would probably have been a good idea to have used some 4 aspect signalling in the vicinity of the main station in order to have permitted sensible signal positioning and being able to achieve the requested standage and other operational requirements. Alternatively some additional 3 aspect signals could have been used but with suitable approach release ("modified 3-aspect sequence") so that adequate warning of stop signals could be given to the driver. However even without looking in detail at the particular layout constraints I think that the calculations showed that spacing signals within the min/max criteria for 3-aspects would be improbable in anything but plain line.
Overall it shows a reasonable level of completion and that the candidate has got he general idea; however there are quite a lot of errors, some particularly serious, some pretty trivial but demonstrating a lack of attention to detail that could so be easily have been learnt. In particular it has not addressed many of the specific operational requirements.
Therefore I doubt that it would rate a pass- there are just too many defects which seem to reveal that the candidate has not really understood all the concepts nor actually prepared for the exam adequately. However it is not hopeless; the candidate is actually a long way there and just needs to address their areas of weakness in order to be able to pass.
There are 25 days left; you'd probably get your car serviced before putting it in for an MOT, so if you don't want to suffer an avoidable failure yourself then make sure you schedule an adequate pre-exam check-up to tighten up on a few things that might otherwise let you down........
PJW