2015 Results

[StrongLifts5x5]

Eagerly waiting for Results so that I can plan for 2016 examination....

I know that they went before Council last week but also that there may be a bit more of a delay before being sent out because of personal illness - do not forget that the IRSE is very dependent upon volunteers to undertake many activities.
Overall I hear that the results across many if not all modules are disappointing with lower pass rates than 2014 so statistically the chances aren't good; however as ever some have done well so bucking the trend.

I don't think people should delay in studying waiting for results; some I know have determined to start studying for another module in 2016 taking the view that if they didn't pass those they took in 2015 then they can either decide to resist that alongside the 2016 ones or revisit in 2017- seems a sensible approach to me.

Peter I know its staffed by volunteers but its still very disappointing that it takes so long- approaching the end of the 5th month- people have lives i.e kids, holidays, careers etc that they have live, and having to think what dates can I arrange study time and exams is hard enough without fully knowing what or even if I will be studying.

The examiners are a fantastic bunch and the blame does not lie with them its with the IRSE- the IRSE has to either reduce the amount of people doing the exam by say having a pre-check as to whether a candidate is of a high enough standard to do the exam which will increase overall pass marks, or the IRSE has to increase the resources if provides for marking exams and getting feedback students!!

Sorry for the rant!!

Yes it is and I agree that it really isn't acceptable and I have indeed voiced that opinion.

The IRSE has actually significantly increased the number of examiners.  However it is partly the law of diminishing returns and this then increases the amount of co-ordinated effort between them to ensure insistence and fairness and the logistics increasing in complexity exponentially making dates even harder to agree and thus pushing out timescale for other reasons.

The answer is certainly the former; the problem is not primarily the number of modules to mark- it is their quality.  I have spoken to three different examiners over the last couple of weeks and getting the same story from all.  It takes far longer to deal with a poor quality paper than a good one.  The disparity in marks given by examiners proportionally differs far more and therefore triggers extra effort to adjudicate between the scores.  The personal motivation for people who are in the final analysis volunteers in their spare time to wade through a large pile of generally poor offerings is lowered to the extent that several are asking themselves why they are doing it.   Frankly continuing how things currently are is not sustainable.  I had a similar conversation over a pint or two yesterday evening with the Chairman of the Exam committee.

On the other hand I have helped some people over the years who have repeatedly failed one or more modules of the exam and I do have quite a deal of sympathy with their plight. In general, and there are some notable exceptions, there is not a lot of active support from employers in the workplace.  The nature of the industry in the UK (and let's admit it a very high percentage of people from places such as India who sit the exam are fundamentally in the sub-contract chain from the UK industry) is very "project delivery, achieve next deadline, minimise costs in the short term" focussed; it is not like the more long term, stable, "worth investing in people for the future, doing things that are the right thing to do even if no immediate payback" railway that I joined 35 years ago.  Not the same loyalty from employer to employee and vice-versa as there was.  I know several intelligent people who seem capable in their day job who have yet to get through the exam and in some cases have evidently given up. In many cases I put this down to lack of adequate effort and exam focussed preparation; some of this might flow from changes of expectation and the general education system. When running Study Groups I find that some 50% drop out when they realise the level of work needed as  I pile on the pressure; one could argue that this is a good thing if they subsequently don't sit the exam only to fail it. However not  everyone has someone that  keeps their nose  on the grindstone when perhaps that is what they need! Others are employed in one small niche of the industry without much opportunity to experience a range of roles, range of technology, different stages in the lifecycle; it is definitely very difficult for them. The sad thing is that they are really not in a position to be able to succeed in the exam; it is not their fault, there is little they can do about it but given their situation the hard truth is that the IRSE exam is not appropriate to their situation.  The exam is doing exactly what it is supposed to, sorting the sheep from the goats.  The same person in a different scenario could very likely find the exam much easier so it isn't so much about the innate potential as the accumulated experience and unless the person has been able to acquire that experience by having the right exposure, it is hardly surprising that when being asked to demonstrate it that they cannot.


It is certainly a complex problem and the current status is very unsatisfactory.  The IRSE most certainly recognises this; there is a small working group (including the IRSE president so very much a current focus of attention) currently trying to propose a workable way of weeding out those who are really not ready to sit the exam.  It is actually quite a tricky problem as we don't want to block anyone unnecessarily nor discourage interest.  It is also not going to be easy to construct an initial precursor paper for the following reasons:
a) there is no common body of knowledge that can readily be tested which is appropriate to people from a variety of types of railways and countries
b) it is often not the lack of basic knowledge which is actually leading to exam failure.  Far more about not being able to interpret correctly what the question requires, not being able to connect isolated facts to construct a full understanding, not being able to present an answer clearly and effectively within the time constraint.

In fact I will be attending the second such session on Friday afternoon; the recent Survey Monkey exercise which those who applied for the 2015 exam was as a result of our first meeting.  On Friday We will be analysing the outputs of this in order to see what evidence it gives to support / refute our various working assumptions.  We do have a couple of proposals, none of which is a panacea and none without disadvantages but perhaps some or all will emerge as "the least bad".

However if you have any specific suggestion to add into the brainstorm session, then please feel free and share it.

Peter

Thanks for your very detailed and informative reply, it has certainly made me think about the range of knowledge and experience of candidates, I don't want to count my chickens and jinx myself as all I need is Mod 1 to go for full membership I do have some thoughts and suggestions but I'm sure finer minds than mine  will be working on solutions.

I like your goats from sheep comments and from my own experience I had 20 years signalling experience 10 years at a managerial grade before I started the exam, maybe thought should be given to ensure candidates have a sound grounding and are not fresh out of university and looking to gain membership to further their career before they have a sound signalling knowledge, call me old fashioned. I also appreciate a candidate could be say a project manager and therefore have little signalling principles and studying for the exam will greatly tie their knowledge together as it has for an old 40 something like me!

Also someone with several years service is obviously as we used to call a railwayman and will wait until the IRSE decides they are ready to start, improving the candidates will increase marking rates and stop the examiners from getting frustrated. Just a thought as I feel too many unsuitable candidates are taking the exam, I so hope I haven't jinxed myself!

Hopefully it's resolved as its obvious the numbers seeking to start the exam will keep growing, anyway Peter thanks.