EQE 2013 - the new C and D papers

Unfortunately, we do not yet know exactly what the C and D papers will look like in 2013. The Examination Board recently published more information:

C-paper
- A single 5 hour exam on Thursday - see schedule 
- probably no legal questions unrelated to the rest of the opposition
- possibly less prior art / fewer claims / fewer possible attacks

D-paper
- A single 5 hour exam on Tuesday - see schedule 
- with DI-style questions [roughly about 40% of marks to be done in 2 hours]
- with DII-style questions [roughly about 60% of marks to be done in 3 hours]

The best advice is to prepare to be able to do the exams of the last four years, and look through the paper before you start to determine how you are going to do it, and where you are going to spend the time. Actually, this is the same advice that I give every year because the format of these papers is always unpredictable.

The main difference in 2013 will be less time, so an appropriate strategy and good time-keeping will be essential. Good argumentation and reasoning will get you the points.

Some more details on this are available for D and for C

Congratulations to those who passed

I have posted some statistics for the D paper here

Good news: it looks like there are more candidates who got 45 or more, compared to last year.

2012
Nr candidates taking D: 1440
Score range: 0 - 83
Average score: 39.5
With 0-44: 56.5%
With 45-100: 43.5%
With 50-100: 33%

2011
Nr candidates taking D:1280
Score range:0 - 81
Average score: 37
With 0-44: 65%

With 45-100: 35.5%
With 50-100: 27%

Taking responsibility for your own success

To many candidates, the EQE seems almost impossible, particularly for those who have forgotten what it is like to prepare for an exam like this.

A good book to help you think about what you need to do [and how to do it] is:
How to Pass Your Exams, by Mike Evans.

There is also a free online version here

I recently discovered this, and I was amazed to see how many general tips match almost word-for-word with the specific EQE tips that we have collected over the years.