IRSE Exams 2012

[ansuya]

Hi,

Is anyone doing module 4 or 6 this year?

[Jerry1237]

For some reason, telecomms people seem thinly spread! Good luck though.

[AlastairHayden]

You could try Nick Lawson, Firas Al-tahan or Mark Ennew - all went to study groups last year. I think they are members on here so you may be able to PM them. If you cant find them, let me know and I can get in touch with them offline to find out if they plan on sitting either 4 or 6.

[ansuya]

Hi Alastair,

Thank you for the reply. Do you have the emails of any of them. I dont know how to contact them.

Thanks

[PJW]

Use the Members facility to send an email to them. Search for:
nicklawford
Mennew.

Firas however isn't registered here in a readily identifiable manner, but there is a link to an email that should reach him at http://www.irse.org/nearyou/publicyms/yo...mbers.aspx

Hi Alastair,

Thank you for the reply. Do you have the emails of any of them. I dont know how to contact them.

Thanks

[AlastairHayden]

Thanks Peter.

Ansuya - One of those guys PJW mentions will have the contact details of a telecoms guru (John Stafford) who helped us out last year and may be willing to do so again if you ask him nicely. Failing that, I passed Mod 6 last year so may be able to help a bit with that (it has been a while since I looked at mod 4 though)

[ansuya]

Hi,

I have emailed Nick. Waiting for a response. Thank you for the help.

Any help is most welcome. So far I only have the reading list from the IRSE website and the exam papers that were posted on the forum. Can you tell me about whats the right way of preparing for the IRSE?

Thanks.

Regards,

Ansuya

[AlastairHayden]

I think the right way depends on you and your background. I was strong on radio stuff, but for things like Voip, SPTs, station telecoms I had to research. I would read the sylabus on the IRSE website. There is an IRSE telecoms book - its already fairly dated in terms of the technology, but the prinicples apply. A quick google search will bring up thousands of pages on most of the modern technologies, but the book will help you know what you are looking for.

Look through the past exam papers online - they go back to 2004 and will give you a good idea of the type of questions which come up. Also, practice the questions - post some answers on here for some feedback/critique on your answers

Don't under estimate the importance of exam technique - I'll be the first to admit there are gaps in my mod 6 knowledge, but that doesnt mean you can't have a good go at 2 questions, then pick up a few marks on a third.

Start now - I would aim to get your knowledge up to scratch in the next couple of months, then use August/September to nail the exam tecnique.

Don't take on too much - there is more sense in doing 1 or 2 modules well, than attempting 4 and failing them all. It depends how committed you are likely to be over the next 6 months - we all have lives outside work, but you have plenty of time to prepare (at least for 1 or 2 modules if you have not started yet)

I'm sure there are plenty of posts of here about general exam advice.

[nicklawford]

Hi,

I have emailed Nick. Waiting for a response.

....

Ansuya

Hi Ansuya

Did you mean you emailed myself Nick Lawford (not Lawson as written upthread).

I do not recall seeing email from yourself, sorry, but to answer the question, no, I am not doing any exams this year, nor other involvement.

I had studied and registered for 2011 M4 and M6 and was all set, but that very hot weather when the exams took place set off my hayfever type allergy at a time when not on anti histamines, and come the exam weekend I was in no state to sit anything, and had I turned up I would have been a significant distraction to others, so I aborted it the day before.

Following that, even though I missed 2011's exams, I already knew 2012 would be near impossible to find time to study because of other commitments.

In turn, I have not been following this board. Indeed, it was only Peter Woodbridge's "busmans holiday" India report in the latest IRSE News that reminded me today to look in here. So apologies for not replying sooner. Just too busy this year, not even found time to attend one single IRSE (or IET) event this year either :o(



Following on Alistair's comments, being myself well out of exam technique, I found past papers essential, but for myself I needed pointing in the right direction of exam thinking - something that John Stafford did admirably.

I know the subject well enough, but had forgotten how to sit an exam, and, big problem, forgotten how to use a pen and paper for long periods !!!

Read the question,
think about it,
read ALL the questions,
do not dive in without reading and thinking,
look at the exams marks breakdown,
plan your answer,
and (in my case) go back to first principles,
and (especially in my case) try not to let 25 years of industry anecdotes and events cloud my thinking.

After downloading the 2011 past papers from IRSE.org long after the exam, I can say I would have been confident to have answered 4 from each of M4 and M6, not only that, there was enough there in M7 to have tackled. All this was due to John Stafford reminding me about first principles and exam technique, so huge thankyous to John for that.

--
Nick

[ansuya]

Hello Alastair,

Hope you are fine. I am currently revising for modules 4 & 6. I only got the model answers for 2007. Do you have the model answers for any other years?

Am struggling to find information on the radio planning of GSM-R for tunnels. Can you please tell me where I can find some good notes for GSM-R radio planning.

Regards,

Ansuya