BER Exam

BlackEdelweiss

Hi,
I recently completed the BER course as a module in my engineering degree. It was very badly organized and structured and we were never informed properly about what exactly we had to do in order to pass the course. We had to complete 5 assignments which went towards our actual module final result but as far as we knew we only had to pass the actual BER exam to pass the BER course in order to be able to register with SEI.
I got 72% in the BER exam but was told I had failed because we also had to get 70% in assignments 4 & 5, which I only scored in the high 60's.
What are the requirements or what is the system when doing the BER course with a training company, are there assignments that must be passed or is it just a single exam that must be passed?
I am not too worried about the result, I have no intention of becoming a BER assessor, there are enough of you guys out there already, but I would like to be able to add it to my C.V. as another string to my bow and I am quite annoyed that we were only informed about having to pass 2 assignments plus the exam after we had recieved our results. I am not alone in this, only 18 people passed out of 60 who sat the module, mainly because we were busy with other assignments and exams.
How is the BER market these days, are the companies still churning out assessors?

SilverBER

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

How is the BER market these days, are the companies still churning out assessors?

As far as I remember there were 5 assignments that were considered in the pass marking. The companies are still churning them out and there is really a very small market, if thats what you want to call it. BERs can be had for €85 through online sites and prices are being driven downwards all the time. If it reached the stage that I felt the need to offer a BER for €85 in order to maintain a business then I would just pack it in completely. As it is, it was a nice little sideline for a few hours a week and I have just about got my money back at this point 7 months later. It wasnt easy, though. Is it worth having it on your CV? I'm not sure, is it worth having a taxi license on your CV? Its your call. If I had my time over again I wouldnt bother.

BlackEdelweiss

If you had 5 assignments to pass I presume to keep things equal we should have had to pass 5 aswell. As I mentioned we were not even informed that we had to pass any, we thought we just had to do the exam. Is there a set exam/assignment plan from the SEI or is it up to the training companies to do it their own way?
I see the BER on my CV the same way the ECDL was for computers a few years back, it meant very little but it showed you had a certain level of knowledge. I'm not really sure why I even want it for my CV, my building services course went into way more detail than the BER, I suppose I just dont like failing things.
I cant believe they have gone as low as €85, the SEI should be strung up for their handling of the whole thing, I feel bad for all the people that paid good money in the belief they could make a good living from it.

SilverBER

Your thoughts on it have been expressed many times and will probably continue. No point in complaining about it really because nobody is listening. I'm putting in my year because I have paid for it and I won't be back next year.

trixie_bee

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

Is there a set exam/assignment plan from the SEI or is it up to the training companies to do it their own way?

Most of the private providers are FETAC registered. To get your FETAC cert, you need to complete 4 assignments and take a 2 part exam. The assignment/exam guidelines are given by FETAC, but the training providers create the actual content.

The pass for FETAC is 50% (to earn a cert), but SEI has further requirements for registration - the 70% or better on each assignment and each part of the exam, plus the requirement to take the national exam, I believe with a 70% pass overall with at least 50% per section.

A reasonable private BER training provider should be able to work with you to get a FETAC cert, and should take into consideration what you have already done. You still must complete the FETAC assignments/exams, but may have minimal course time, for example.

Bhoypaul

If you are doing a building services degree and you can't pass the BER exam then the training house/college you are attending must be doing something wrong. the exam is too easy and as a result too many people without any relevant qualifications and/or experience have passed.

Anyway its not worth the imvestment. According to the SEI there are 6500+ who have sat and passed the new dwelling exam with 2800+ who have paid the €1000 registration fee.

The only people who are making money are the training houses and the advertisers.