Is this really the state of the industry?
That would be knowledge of the regs, rather than understanding. I'm not sure that I can tell you the clause numbers but I know broadly which topics are in which chapter. I suspect many of us are the same.
But there should be a jolly good feel for what looks sensible or what needs checking in the detail and that ought not to need to the big book. It is not the easiest thing to carry up a stepladder after all.
I'm inclined to agree that if I was setting it there would be some simpler questions 'blind' to check absolute knowledge, perhaps about gross current handing and voltage drops just to weed out the dangerously clueless, and then some more obsure questions with the book to test navigation and correct use of the index. (adiabatics discrimination diversity etc.)
More generally I'm not too surprised - but this is fine for what I would consider to be skilled fitter, mostly recipe following, rather than designer of novel things from 1st principles, and it may be that the level of detail is not that critical . One can always 'phone a friend' if there are only a few hard cases, you just have to know when to do that.
(Mind you, to cross refer another thread, I would wonder how well those chaps would do trying to EICR some of the stuff I have specced over the years. )
Mike.
To my simple mind I imagine that to show an understanding of the regs to a 70% pass rate then each one of us should be able to answer to pass rate without referring to the book . We really should have enough knowledge before attempting the Regs questions exam.
However, in the Inspect and test exam I believe it is reasonable to imagine that in real life the candidate might actually have relevant text books on site in a real situation or at least back at the office when doing relevant paperwork.
I would say the other way around.
If I am designing an installation, I can take as long as I want to look up e.g. CCC of 6 mm² T&E.
Granted you may need to check your test results against the BBB, but I&T is more I than T and my experience of the practical exam was that there wasn't time to look anything up. And if you didn't demonstrate safe isolation at the beginning, or indeed safe working during, you didn't get that nice certificate with the hologram.
Why would anyone be taking an exam demonstrating their understanding of the Wiring Regulations without having a copy of the book as a reference, as they would in real life?
I can show you loads of people who haven't got the book, they turn up for the exam never having read even the first page. Quite a few turned up with the "Onsite Guide", their only reference, which is not allowed so had to borrow a copy of BS7671. Others didn't know how to use an index, so we spent an hour making sure they understood that. As we only discussed the changes from the 16th, those who had never seen the book had more of a problem but in a day course, nothing else was promised. To start at the beginning would probably take 2 weeks and no one would pay for that, even for a price that they themselves would not work.
Quite seriously, when I did the 16th Edition at the back of the Wiring Regulations there was an index of the index.
When I did the 18th the trainer said he was going to teach us to start at the front and work our way in, rather than diving to the back of the book.
What in 2 minutes? You have to be joking! I assume this was a whole BS7671 training course, which given time might be OK, but day to day one uses the index, much quicker.
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