e.EQEL Duration of the final exam

e.EQEL Duration of the final exam

by - Anonymous -
Number of replies: 0

In the discussion paper it has been proposed to reduce the duration of all exam papers to 2 hours, and therefore, complexity of the parts may be lowered to fit this time-limit. This seems to be inadequate for several reasons. 

The assumption is that a digital exam cannot be carried out otherwise, because candidates cannot sit longer before the computer. In real life, it is part of the professional life to work long times before a computer and, in meetings or hearings where you have to be focussed and concentrated not only for two hours but the whole day (for example oral proceedings). 

A digital exam can have a longer duration. For example, a paper provide a complex situation with different questions, where one part of the questions is visible in the first part, the questions are closed after two hours for a break and new questions become visible after the break. 

If in contrast to the planned format for sitting at home/in the office, other formats are introduced, a time-limit of 4 or 5 hours (as in many final exams) is no problem. For example, if sitting in exam centers like the MOC shall be avoided because of the cost (can cost be a limiting factor for such an important exam?), other premisses could be considered where invigilation is not a problem and breaks are possible, such as national patent offices, rooms in patent firms or patent departments.  

It is not acceptable to lower complexity, and thus the level of the exam. It is real life to study complex scenarios, high amount of documents in short time, to draw conclusions and to provide advice or argumentation. Testing only small aspects, is not enough.