I think 3 years is a somewhat arbitrary choice; I would much prefer to allow candidates to take the exam earier -- if and when they are ready for it, for example as early as 2 years after having begun their careers as European patent practitioners.
Rather than a period (which will always be arbitrary) the key indicator should be "exam readiness". This could be determined for example by a (much) more intelligent pre-exam (the pass rates of the present pre-exam appear much too high for that purpose, and since the pre-exam presently only tests passive skills it gives no indication as to the productive skills of a candidate -- this would have to change).
"Exam readiness" could also be determined by the supervisor (or, if there is no supervisor, by demonstrating a minimum of N European cases the candidate has personally drafted and signed under Art. 11(2)(a)(ii), where N could for example be 50 and needs to include own patent applications filed with the EPO and own office action responses filed with the EPO and preferably also activities in oppositions).
Or a combination of the criteria above, and/or any other suitable means of assessing "exam readiness".
Rather than a period (which will always be arbitrary) the key indicator should be "exam readiness". This could be determined for example by a (much) more intelligent pre-exam (the pass rates of the present pre-exam appear much too high for that purpose, and since the pre-exam presently only tests passive skills it gives no indication as to the productive skills of a candidate -- this would have to change).
"Exam readiness" could also be determined by the supervisor (or, if there is no supervisor, by demonstrating a minimum of N European cases the candidate has personally drafted and signed under Art. 11(2)(a)(ii), where N could for example be 50 and needs to include own patent applications filed with the EPO and own office action responses filed with the EPO and preferably also activities in oppositions).
Or a combination of the criteria above, and/or any other suitable means of assessing "exam readiness".