Learning from the EQE Pre-Exam

With the pass level raised to 70%, the pass rate for the 2014 EQE preliminary examination has dropped to 86%.

Obviously failed candidates have to review their answers to prepare for resitting the pre-exam in 2015.

For successful candidates, preparations for the papers they intend to sit in 2015 can begin in earnest. But the first step in these preparations could and should be a thorough revision of the pre-exam, checking the examiners report to reinforce understanding where your answers were correct, and learning by the correction of mistakes where your answers were wrong.

The pre-exam’s legal questions give a good lead-in to long-term preparation on « Part I » type legal questions for the D paper, by doing such questions one at a time at a slow pace, well spread out and correcting/improving your answers « immediately » as you go along. When reviewing the pre-exam’s legal questions always check the legal basis of the answer. Don’t forget, for the main exam you must provide the legal basis.

The pre-exam’s claim analysis questions are a powerful prelude for the A, B and C papers. They provide important insights on claim scope and the novel/not-novel boundary, important for A and B. But don’t take the pre-exam’s inclusion of « preferred/optional » claim features as a model for the claims you are expected to draft for paper A.

Seeking the basis in the description for the technical effect associated with a claim is a good apprenticeship for handling these issues in the C paper when you have to prepare to make an obviousness attack using the problem-solution approach. The pre-exam’s statements on problem-solution-effect are probably the hardest to reconcile. Pay attention to the examiners’ explanations and align your thinking. You need to master the problem-solution approach to survive the main exam !

Above all, don’t get into the mode of challenging the examiners answers ; this fosters a poor attitude to the exam and paves the way to becoming a disgruntled multiple resitter. Don’t attempt to justify your conviction that your answer is right and the examiners’ wrong. Instead, figure out the basis for the examiners’ reasoning and align to their answer. By accepting your mistakes and correcting them, you learn. By getting into a denial mode, you disperse your energy and stagnate.