Study Help

[Will_D]

Ok its about to become 2014

That means THE exam is less than 6 weeks away.

We all need to have passed the online exam by then so what are the study tips?

Anyone got some ideas?

I know one suggestion is to memorise the style guide but at my age and low brain cell count (due to the subject matter) I need all the help I can get so lets start adding some hints and tips!

[johnrm]

I sat the online one and failed.
I'm either the first to fail or the only one to admit it.
I'm in the low brain cell camp when it comes to study too.
There's an online for dummies section on the BJCP site. It's a good place to start.

[Hop Bomb]

I listen to a lot of the brewing with style podcasts from the brewing network. Its the only reason I passed.  http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show

[brenmurph]

I sat the online one and failed.
I'm either the first to fail or the only one to admit it.
I'm in the low brain cell camp when it comes to study too.
There's an online for dummies section on the BJCP site. It's a good place to start.

I wanted to make some comments on the BJCP for a while now and am open to debate and some explanations / clarifications from anyone.

@ John
dont worry John, me and Kellie had a look to get a feel for it. We have no idea of results  which is ridiiculous in my opinion and is antiquated method of education/teaching and no excuse for it. 

@ everyone involved

200 questions in an hour 18 seconds per question and some questions have a tricky way of wording and multiple answers some of which are debatable like 'does a wooden spoon cause infections'... a sterilised wooden spoon dosent so if its autoclaved its fine however do you or anyone believe there is a right answer to it so would you answer yes along with the other 4 options or not. They didnt ask for an essay answer to the wooden spoon question , which would allow a student to display his understanding of the subject, however we have to say yes or no. the answer is no if the spoon is sterile, however ( having debated this with several people) the commonly presumed expected answer is Yes it does cause infections but it doesnt if its sterile.

to me  questions like this are not justifiable.

From a 'modern' teacher's point of view the exam is old school and not very up to date I feel because as Will rightly points out it is VERY MUCH memory dependant and as TOM pointed out on last sat if ur on a slow and unreliable internet connection ( like us in kildare)  the pages are slow to change only by a second or two but that 200 x a second or 2 and in some cased up to 10 seconds to change to the next page and its not a slow pc its the internet line which is similar during normal web browsing.
Modern education certainly EU wide is pretty much based on 'skills and competencies' and ability to work things out showing an understanding of the topic in question rather than the old fashioned (well documented) downfall of memory tests which bias those with better memory but lower IQ. The whole European Qualifications Framework under which pretty much all EU vocational education is based is structured around skills and competancies.
Go to Cambrige brain sciences for more links, references to these type of topics. To further backup my above paragraph my M.Sc dissertation involved cognitive function testing and I am no stranger to variation in people's memory function which varies year to year, day to day and hour to hour depending on stress levels, food consumption, previous sleep patterns and numerous other factors.

Flaws in the BJCP online exam and why it should be modernised

1:   depends on a fast internet connection to some degree
2.. is based on memory which is different for everyone especially me @ 52 Will at whatever age he is ( as he admitted above his brain cells arnt as speedy)and others compared to computer geeky well pc adept whizzkids in their early 20's who have superfast broadband and very quick fingers on a keyboard. In my and kellies attempt we didnt get to over 20 questions on our shitty excuse for broadband and the fact that its a speed test rather than a understanding the subject matter. Notwithstanding the fact that we freely admit we would struggle even with quicker pc skills and connection so John you are not alone.
3: There is no Rational for asking students to memorise the 60 page boooklet ( coz thats what they are asking) and re the style guide, all judges have a style guide beside them as well as an off flavours booklet if required. Thats like asking science students to leave their periodic table at home with their calculator, which clearly does not happen. Allso GP's arnt expected to memorise every drug, interaction, safety note and so on....they have a drug and drug interaction handbook on their desk.

4:   It is very much a speed test which varies from person to person and when judging it is very much not a speed requirement and manuals are on-hand for the style and flaw notes the judge then concentrated on the sensory aspects. im am well aware the speed requirement is so that people dont have time to refer to manuals for answers, however it is discrimninative as it makes the test very much a test of speed, reaction and reasoning speed, which again is very different for everyone.
Ask 20 people to read the same 6 line paragraph in a book and you will get 20 different times which will vary by a huge amount from a skilled scan reader to someone with poorer reading skills. many of the questions are multi lined questions which under normal circumstances arnt a problem butb with 18 seconds per question it is a significant issue

5: Comments welcome

[brenmurph]

@ tube...is that the only thing u can say?  so u 100% agree or 100% disagree which is it

@ will and all concerned

I was suggesting to host a quiz night all brewing / beer related. Maybe people will absorb some more info if its done in a more social way. we could have teams of 3 and  have  18 seconds per question this will allow debate and we unlike the BJCP we can tell people where they went wrong and why they were wrong.. Thats TEACHING PROPERLY where your teacher explains where you went wrong and how to fix it,  unlike the BJCP who for some reason wont give feedback on your attempts..perhaps to get people to keep paying tenners till they eventually pass which they eventually will based on the memory effect, just like on saturday past I ( for the first time)  REMEMBERED everybodys name on the course, thats about 8 meetings later. So really maybe BJCP want us to pay 80 euros

[Will_D]

+1 Brendan. I think when we get the chance to discuss the BJCP stuff with Gordon this should be mentioned.

BTW: I still haven't remebered all the peoples names. I am hopless with names and faces!

I can remeber the names its the faces I forget

[brenmurph]

will, glad someone agrees with me..  will do Ill keep this post on a file in my brewing folder. I think its definatly worth debate and consideration of bringing it into the 21st century and making it fair and in line with best education principles.

[irish_goat]

I was suggesting to host a quiz night all brewing / beer related.

Brewing related quiz night is a good idea in general!

[brenmurph]

Kildare Study day proposed  25th jan (brewday and quiz night including practical tasting questions)

REMEMBER GREEN BUS 5 EUROS DUBLIN -KILDARE Luas red cow- Kildare  (10 euros to or from airport)

We are having our next brewday which is a big one. Proposed 2 brews, one is the ladies dublin club and the other will be my one for one of my many comp entries. The plan was to suggest a quiz ( which I promoted verbally at the off flavour day) . The quiz evening will be at 6 pm when all the brewing is finished we will be having our usual feast of healthy food and it could be a fantastic evening of social / education / beer tasting.
I have 11 or 12 quality beers on hand, some good, some great, and some nationals contenders so we could also have a blind taste test on the beers many of which are 23a so will really challenge your taste buds.

Im offering this as our ( south kildare ) push on the 'develloping our own judge panel' quest and in response to Will'd's request for study help.

Once again can I emphasise that as a club, in general,  we really dont engage enough in things like ive just suggested. Myself and Kellie are dissapointed that so much home brewing meetups are in pubs and the actual meetups and brewdays are often very poorly supported.
We have had about 14 public brewdays in 2013 (most promoted via NHC) where NHC members were involved, introduced hundreds of people to NHC, have entertained hundreds in total with free feasts of food and drink, we have asked for nothing in return. We have also attended pretty much every public event re brewing and attended Lucan and Northsiders as well as several beoir meets. In addition we have had our own local beer and food appreciation group for years before NHC was formed. We are true and true fans of homebrew and real beer & food and want to try to encourage more people to engage with brewdays (which are improving in numbers but still few) and enjoy the face-to face brewing scene rather than the  sometimes less than nice forum interactions, which pretty much everyone knows we dislike as the main club activity.
So in line with this thread, we have contributed significantly to education of new and existing brewers and gained insights from our travels to others events and want to continue.

So brewday is 25th all day with blind tasting quiz  and paper quiz evening. Someone please promote this among the BJCP students if there is an email list.

This is a Dublin ladies brewday where up to 10 will be here + a few regular brewday members so among the BJCP contenders please spread the word. If there are enough to make it a tasting night I will try produce a 100-200 question quiz that will challenge us to think about our answers. As an educational tool I propose that theres no absolute correct answer to some questions which will stir a debate to come to a conclusion e.g. does a wooden spoon cause infections Also we would have blind tasting where you have to guess the colour of the beer based on taste alone, this will devellop your apprecation of the darker malts.

As its a ladies beer club day it may be a chance to attract more W&GS to the world of brewing
So a practical tasting and theorethical quiz night.....Whos in??

[johnrm]

Sounds great Bren, I love your positive outlook.
Unfortunately I can't make it, I have a commitment in Cork on the 25th.

[brenmurph]

no worries ...this weekend is on anyway so Tube ur the course leader can u email all participants? refer them to the post above? wud appreciate

[johnrm]

I would be on for that all right.
You can PM me - johnrm  :

[brenmurph]

ill check with padraic. he  bulk mailed the group several times. tanx