Suggested list of books and other things to take to the Main & Pre-Exam - EQE 2015

Preparation
- Read through the rules regarding the conduct of the exam (page 27-35)
- See what candidates from last year said about the location where you are taking the exam
- Be well rested in the days before the exam - many D candidates sleep badly on the Monday night
- Take a suitcase with wheels
- After doing last years papers, look at the Tutors Report on thos papers to help with interpreting the EQE Compendium - epi infomation pages 138-145
- If necessary, look at some tips for reducing anxiety at the exam
- A good book on passing exams is "How To Pass Your Exams" by Mike Evans
- Be prepared to do the exams with a relatively small (possible as small as 60cm x 90cm) space. Normally, you can place books you don't need under the table.
- Look through the EQE Study Guide for other tips

General
- Photo identification (Passport or drivers license)
- several black or blue pens (we hear that gel-pens are preferred, but they can run out quickly)
- no electronic devices: only a wrist watch with an analogue display (and without any additional options) is allowed on your desk during the exam.
- correction roller
- highlighters for use when reading the exam paper (don't use blue on anything that will be handed in as it will not copy well)
- Pre-Exam only: 1-2 black medium soft HB pencils + suitable eraser + pencil sharpener

Our FREE printable versions of the PCT Applicants Guide - available now for EQE2015

By agreement with the EQE Examination Board, the WIPO produces a printable version of the complete PCT Applicants Guide, including all the annexes, specifically for the Pre- and Main Exam. The current version can be found here. However, this version is 1800 pages and much of the information provided will never be required at the exam because it falls outside the syllabus.

Candidates already have enough to take to the exam. Based upon the EQE Regulations, past D papers and comments from the D Examination Committee, we have produced this abbreviated version to lighten the load and to save a few trees. Additionally, the WIPO provides useful overviews on its website to use at the exam, such as the PCT reservations, overviews for restoration of priority etc. which we have also included. Many candidates are unaware of their existence, and they are not even included in the official 1800 page version.

Our document of about 850 pages is available free of charge to download from the DeltaPatents website (www.deltapatents.com) – navigate to Training / Course Links and look under PCT for the “PCT references”. Please feel free to pass on the links to anyone who needs them.

To save paper when printing, it is designed to be printed with 2 pages on each side of an A4.

Basic information is included for all PCT states such as Treaty membership, reservations, national entry deadlines etc. For the most relevant states, almost all information from the Applicants Guide annexes is included:

• The top 15 receiving Offices in 2013 and the top 20 dO/eO’s in 2012 (WIPO statistics) 
• All EPC states and all extension states 
• All ISA’a, SISA’s, IPEA’s, and all Intergovernmental Organizations

Extensive information is provided for the EPO. For the other four largest patent offices - CN, EP, JP, KR, US, the complete summary of entry requirements and national procedure from the national chapter is provided (the fees and forms have been removed).

This reference is split into 3 parts:

• Part I (General) – Dec 2014 (116 pages)
• Part II (International Phase) – Dec 2014 (542 pages)
• Part III (National Phase) – Dec 2014 (196 pages)

Good luck at the EQE!

EQE 2014 - Possible Solutions for Pre-Exam and Paper D (Main Exam)

I hope the exams went as well as you had hoped.

In general, it is better just to forget about it all until the results are announced. Discussing it can make you feel worse because you only remember the things you missed instead of all the things you correctly wrote down.

Remember, no tutor, no candidate and none of your colleagues know:

• what the expected answers are
• the point weighting for each comment
• alternatives which are also accepted 

If it will not upset you, have a look at our suggested solutions, but note that these are based on the inputs of several experienced tutors::

Main Exam Paper D
Pre-Exam

Take some time off.
For the Main Exam candidates, enjoy your summer whatever your feeling about how it went.

Known errors in Main Exam Questions for Paper D - August 2013 edition

Sorry it is quite late this year, but these are the most important errors that we have discovered in the Main Exam Questions for Paper D book since it was published in Aug. 2013. Please let us know if anything is not clear.

The known errors in the Basic Legal Questions for Pre-Exam and Paper D are here

Good luck!

Suggested list of books and other things to take to the Pre-Exam - EQE 2014 [updated]

Preparation
- Read through the rules regarding the conduct of the exam (page 41-46)
- See what candidates from last year said about the location where you are taking the exam
- Be prepared to score 70 points to pass
- Take a suitcase with wheels
- After doing last years paper, look at the Tutors Report - epi infomation pages 143-152
- If necessary, look at some tips for reducing anxiety at the exam
- Be prepared to do the exams with a relatively small (possible as small as 60cm x 90cm) space. Normally, you can place books you don't need under the table.
- Look through the EQE Study Guide for other tips

General
- Photo identification (Passport or drivers license)
- 1-2 black medium soft HB pencils + suitable eraser + pencil sharpener
- no electronic devices: only an analogue wrist watch with no additional options is allowed.
- highlighters for use when reading the exam paper (don't use highlighters on the answer sheet)

Suggested list of books and other things to take to the Main Exam - EQE 2014 [Updated]

Preparation
- Read through the rules regarding the conduct of the exam (page 41-46)
- See what candidates from last year said about the location where you are taking the exam
- Be well rested in the days before the exam - many D candidates sleep badly on the Monday night
- Take a suitcase with wheels
- After doing last years papers, look at the Tutors Report - epi infomation pages 143-152
- If necessary, look at some tips for reducing anxiety at the exam
- Be prepared to do the exams with a relatively small (possible as small as 60cm x 90cm) space. Normally, you can place books you don't need under the table.
- Look through the EQE Study Guide for other tips

General
- Photo identification (Passport or drivers license)
- several black or blue pens (we hear that gel-pens are preferred)
- no electronic devices: only an analogue wrist watch with no additional options is allowed.
- correction roller
- highlighters for use when reading the exam paper (don't use blue on anything that will be handed in as it will not copy well)

Our FREE printable versions of the PCT Applicants Guide - available now for EQE2014

Every year, the WIPO provides a printable version of the Applicants Guide so that EQE candidates can take this information to the exam. Unfortunately, at 1800 pages, it adds considerably to the reference materials that most D candidates will bring with them and much of it is irrelevant for the EQE. In addition, the WIPO provides convenient overviews on their website which are not included in this official WIPO version.

Since 2007, I have produced this shortened version to lighten the load (and to save a few trees) – I leave out most of the national chapters, and concentrate on the states around which the EQE is based: the EPC countries, the EPO and the most used patent routes. Useful overviews have also been included, as well as additional information from the WIPO and EPO websites.

Unfortunately, the new layout of the WIPO web site has meant that some of the overviews now take up more pages. The current version is 820 pages, split into 3 parts. When printed double-sided, with 2 pages on each side of an A4, it will just fit into a 3.5cm binder.

New this year:

• Coverage of the top 20 DO/EO’s (increased from the top 12)
• Coverage of the top 15 RO’s (increased from the top 13)
• Some more details about the states not included (Part II – page 6 and Part III – page 12)
• Some explanation about reading the lists of states (Part II – page 4 and Part III – page 10)
• Addition of the Frequently-Asked-Questions about the America Invents Act (Part I – page 81)
• An additional overview of the EPO fees for PCT and Euro-PCT applications (Part III – page 153)
• An extra explanation and the list of states entitled to 75% fee reduction for the EPO as ISA or IPEA (Part III – page 158)

Part I - General (overviews)
Part II - International Phase
Part III - National Phase

Good luck at the exam

Tutors' Report on the meeting with the EQE committees now available

Every year, tutors from DeltaPatents, CEIPI, epi etc meet with the EQE committees to discuss the EQE 2013 papers, and to get a sense of any changes or improvements we can expect in 2014. 

The report is available on the EQE Forum:

http://www.eqe-online.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10137

It will also be published in the December edition of epi information.

Please feel free to forward it to any fellow candidates for 2014.

Note that the comments on the EQE2013 and on the expected EQE2014 papers are combined, because the Committees more or less indicated that they will continue in this way. So it would be better to only read everything after doing the 2013 papers.

The most important issue for 2014 that you need to know now is the change for the Pre-Exam passing grade from 50 to 70 points.

Major change to Pre-Exam marking for EQE 2014

The Supervisory Board has just published an important decision - starting in 2014, the passing grade will be for 70 points instead of 50
http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponot.nsf/0/2A262D0CB6D7C559C1257BFF00516F0F/$FILE/Decision_Supervisory_Board_10_2013_en.pdf

If 70 had been needed at the last pre-Exam, then the pass rate would have dropped from 99.6% to 88.5%. In other words, of the 643 candidates, the number of failures would have increased from 2 to 74.

As this is your gateway to the Main Exam, and it is only given once a year, this means that you really have to prepare for it and do the exam carefully.

Has the Pre-Exam improved the D-scores?

The results for the D paper are much higher this year.

"Pass":  62% from 1056 candidates - 4.2 % with 50 or more, 13.8% got 45-49

A 45 or higher is now considered a pass because of the new compensable fail system. 

So it is the highest passing rate in 10 years.