Report from the EQE Tutors Meeting - Oct 2018

In October, the EPO & epi arrange an annual meeting of EQE Tutors and members of the EQE Committees (EC's). Information & views are exchanged to help Tutors prepare Candidates for future exams, and to influence how future exams are made and marked. It is a good opportunity to learn about how each paper is made and tested, and to meet the EC's. In particular, anything highly relevant for the next exam (in this case EQE 2019) is communicated.
A full report usually appears in the December version of epi information (I don't make this anymore), but here are my most important conclusions:

1. ABCD: extra 30 minutes

• There were concerns that some papers (this year B and C) seemed to be longer than average, eating up the extra 30 minutes given to make the paper. The EC's assured us that the papers are made and tested based on the time limits defined in the Exam Regulations (REE). The extra 30 minutes remains extra time for candidates to make the paper, and compensates for slower reading and writing by those who do not do the paper in their native language. 
• My advice is to build & practice a methodology for doing the papers without the extra 30 minutes. You can then decide at the exam how to use this.

2. D: lower passing rate in 2018

• Only 33% of candidates got 50 marks or higher this year for the D paper (45% got 45 or higher). 

Using DII to become Fit to Practice

Every year, the EPO hosts a Tutor's Meeting where EQE tutors discuss the last exams with the Examination Committee's who made them.
This year, on 18 Oct 2018, I will talk about why the DII part (Legal Opinion) of the D paper should be embraced by trainees, tutors & mentors to make trainees a better patent attorney. And trainees should embrace DII to make passing the D Paper easier. Click here to download the presentation from my firm's website - it also includes a basic methodology to start with, instructions on how to adapt and customize it, and shows the real-life skills you should practice to arrive at your own efficient (and high scoring) way of doing DII. Some possible analysis tools and matrices are also described.