Notes from the Tutors’ meeting
The yearly Tutors' meeting took place on 18-19 October 2023.
We have learnt (again) that the online exams work smoothly and that everything went well in 2023, just as planned. The number of appeals filed after the EQE 2023 was quite low, altogether 27 appeals were received.
Don't worry, I will keep my comments out of this post and focus on the helpful points, in particular regarding Paper D.
So, let's see the relevant information for Paper D candidates:
836 candidates sat Paper D in 2023 and 109 complaints related to Paper D were filed.
The pass rate of Paper D 2023 (38.3%) is regarded a normal pass rate, it is back to where it was before Covid.
Candidates cite very little legal basis, and when they do, they stick to Articles and Rules. Other legal basis, such as OJ, GL, G decisions should not be ignored! In particular, a reference to the Guidelines is expected if an element of the answer cannot be directly derived from the Article or Rule.
As most of you know, unscheduled breaks are NOT allowed in Paper D1 (so no bathroom). This will not be changed due to security reasons. Even with the increased length of D1, none of the D1 parts will be longer than 2 hours. (It was decided that 2 hours is the cut off for allowing unscheduled breaks.) However, exceptions can be made for e.g. medical reasons on request.
(Side note: when pregnant women take the UK exams, they are given additional time for rest and bathroom breaks. Maybe someday the EPO could learn from this?)The number of points per question in Paper D1 is increasing, there will surely be D1 questions for more than 10 points in EQE 2024. However, you should not worry about those questions; candidates generally do better on questions with more points, as there is less time spent on reading and more time on answering.
You should only use the information given in the question. For example, if the question says today's date is something different than the actual today's date (like last year in Pre-exam), you should use the information as written in the question.
Candidates are reminded to read the instructions and rules carefully before the EQEs.
You will be able to read the full summary about the Tutors' meeting in the edition 4/2023 of epi Information at the beginning of December.