I did the course and exam over twenty years ago when everyone had the same questions and you had to hand write the answers, it was a three hour exam and I didn’t complete the full exam because I physically couldn’t hold the pen and write due to severe writers cramp. The tutor, who was the Head of Department at Dudley College, sat next to me to take the exam having tutored us without actually having the qualification himself had exactly the same problem.

We both passed despite this problem of not being able to physically complete a three hour exam that required hand written answers.

Is it now completed onscreen with every entrant having a different set of questions like other C&G exams?

Andy

I do not know how you managed to do the 2396 20 years ago as the first exam was in  2012. I know this as I had to get it myself as at the time my college had a policy of you had to have the qualification to teach it so I sat the exam and did the project myself.

You may have sat the Level 3 2400 exam 20 years ago but the 2396 Design and Verification has bits added to it and is now a Level 4 (Foundation Degree level ) qualification.

It is good old fashioned 3 hour written exam where you are able to use set books as reference sources to do the exam. Afterwards you have to complete in your own time without assistance a project having been given a brief and drawings. If your project does not fill an A4 lever arch file then you have not done enough!

I did my C certificate 100,000 years ago. I still have some sample questions many of which would be more complex than those appearing on the current 2396. I am sure the criteria for designating the level of qualifications have been modified over the years so I am not so sure that Andy’s 2400 level 3 is necessarily of a lesser level of complexity than the 2396 level 4.

plenty of folk failed the 2400 and many fail the 2396, so if you have either qualification, I think you should have a well-deserved pat on the back!

in any event, it is great to see guys coming back for qualifications that are stretching and not demanded as some minimum standard by the industry. 

I did my C certificate 100,000 years ago. I still have some sample questions many of which would be more complex than those appearing on the current 2396. I am sure the criteria for designating the level of qualifications have been modified over the years so I am not so sure that Andy’s 2400 level 3 is necessarily of a lesser level of complexity than the 2396 level 4.

plenty of folk failed the 2400 and many fail the 2396, so if you have either qualification, I think you should have a well-deserved pat on the back!

in any event, it is great to see guys coming back for qualifications that are stretching and not demanded as some minimum standard by the industry.