Tuesday, March 01, 2022 New instructions to candidates for EQE 2022, new myEQE notice, comments on Wiseflow (annotation)

 In the Official Journal published yesterday, two new notices in respect to the EQE were published:

• Instructions to candidates concerning the conduct of the European qualifying examination - OJ 2022, A20 (superseding OJ 2021, A13 per 4/2/2022; which superseded the Instructions in OJ Suppl 2./2019)
   
• Notice from the Examination Secretariat for the European qualifying examination (on MyEQE) - OJ 2022, A21 (superseding OJ 2020, A140)

I also added some observations of unexpected behaviour of the annotation function in Wiseflow at the end of this post.

Note that the Wiseflow Mocks are only available until 6 March 2022 (I assume to prevent any possible confusion between Mocks and real EQE flows)! So if you want to do some further testing in Wiseflow, do not wait until the day before your exam paper!

Saturday, February 02, 2019 Amended and consolidated REE, IPREE and instructions to candidates

Amended and consolidated REE, IPREE and instructions to candidates have been published last Friday, February 1, in OJ 2019, Suppl 2.

The REE did not change.

The IPREE was consolidated with the earlier amendments (OJ 2017, A88) as to the legal cut-off date (changed to 31 October) and the addition on GL/PCT-EPO to Rule 22(1), and further amendments with deletion of obsolete provisions.

The Instructions were amended to further provide that:
 - candidates are not permitted to bring scissors with blades longer than 6 cm (as measured from the fulcrum); therefore to cut out parts of the examination paper, only blunt-tipped scissors with a blade length of no more than 6 cm are allowed;
-  Only for the Pre-Exam: the end of the paper will be announced ten minutes before the closing signal. (For the Main Exam papers: The end of the paper will be announced five minutes before the closing signal.)

OJ 2019, Suppl 2 also include the Decision from the Supervisory Board of 17 Nov 2016 granting candidates 30 minutes extra for each main exam paper (not for the pre-exam), that was published.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 Read the Instructions To Candidates before going to the EQE 2016

A number of candidates seem unfamiliar with the Regulations on the EQE (REE), and in particular with the Instructions to candidates concerning the conduct of the EQE.

In 2015, there were some breaches of the REE with unfortunate consequences:

• Many candidates add names or initials to their answer paper – this is very disruptive to the EC’s because it has to be manually removed before marking to preserve anonymity.
• A candidate wrote the complete answer on the blank (back) sides of the EQE paper. After copying the sheets, only blank pages were submitted for marking, and the candidate was awarded 0 points. So only write on the lined side of the EQE paper provided. 
• A candidate kept writing after the stop signal was given, even after being warned. The EB decided to subtract 5 points for this breach of the rules. In future, writing after the stop signal may be more strictly enforced. 
• Some candidates were surprised that they were not permitted to have their phones with them. The rules concerning electronic devices are strict – candidates may not take any device, such as a telephone, tablet or smart watch, into the examination hall - even if turned off. They should be left at home or in the hotel. Although some examination centers may provide an envelope or lockers, these can be limited in number and should not be relied on.

Don't be surprised: read the latest version of the REE (found on the EPO’s EQE page here).