At the YM AGM yesterday, the date of the Module 2/3 study weekend held at Signet Derby was confirmed.
It has been deliberately decided to hold this earlier in the year than has traditionally been the case and to publicise well in advance in order both to encourage good attendance and prior preparation.
The 2013 exam paper appears to have presented candidates with particular problems- the feedback at the exam review was that there was at least one good answer to every question but the average answer received to almost every one of the written qestions (i.e. non Control Table, non aspect sequence) was a FAIL, with the best average being a NEAR MISS- clearly the vast majority of answer papers fell far short of what was required. There did not seem to be particular questions which caught people out.
Perhaps the precise topics of some of the questions tended to probe areas where many candidates had limited experience, but a lot of the problem seems to be that many either didn't really know how to set about answering the style of question or had too limited an experience of railway signalling to draw upon to be able to recognise what was needed and come up with some relevant information.
The usual plea: READ the question, answer EXACTLY what was asked rather than giving general information about the vague topic area and make sure you get plenty of PRACTICE.
Details of the event are still to be worked out, but the above is likely to be a main focus.
Last year the event was held much closer to the exam date and, had quite low attendance (probably down to a clash of dates and relatively short notice via IRSE News) and very few of those attending offered attempts prior or opted for the sessions discussing such questions. I haven't looked back at the records carefully, but there does seem to be a correlation between those who did and those from the UK who passed / got the one Credit.
It has been deliberately decided to hold this earlier in the year than has traditionally been the case and to publicise well in advance in order both to encourage good attendance and prior preparation.
The 2013 exam paper appears to have presented candidates with particular problems- the feedback at the exam review was that there was at least one good answer to every question but the average answer received to almost every one of the written qestions (i.e. non Control Table, non aspect sequence) was a FAIL, with the best average being a NEAR MISS- clearly the vast majority of answer papers fell far short of what was required. There did not seem to be particular questions which caught people out.
Perhaps the precise topics of some of the questions tended to probe areas where many candidates had limited experience, but a lot of the problem seems to be that many either didn't really know how to set about answering the style of question or had too limited an experience of railway signalling to draw upon to be able to recognise what was needed and come up with some relevant information.
The usual plea: READ the question, answer EXACTLY what was asked rather than giving general information about the vague topic area and make sure you get plenty of PRACTICE.
Details of the event are still to be worked out, but the above is likely to be a main focus.
Last year the event was held much closer to the exam date and, had quite low attendance (probably down to a clash of dates and relatively short notice via IRSE News) and very few of those attending offered attempts prior or opted for the sessions discussing such questions. I haven't looked back at the records carefully, but there does seem to be a correlation between those who did and those from the UK who passed / got the one Credit.
PJW