CLPEX Chat Board

No, I don't have results yet, I guess I was just concerned about how other people handled the test. As for the process, I already know how that goes since I just went through it. Time period etc etc. However, I was not given a choice as to stay in my office. I had to drive to the closest proctor which was 2 1/2 hours away. Now, my own stupidity should have told me otherwise, but I figured that I would possibly be done in plenty of time. I only took 6 of the 8 hours because I had to get back into town to pick up my son. I did drive out and spend the night, so sleep wasn't an ssue, but I knew that I had to leave on time.
I would love to take the class, but have other commitments at that time and probably won't be able to. If it is offered again, please let me know when.

"Test is test of excellence and not mere proficiency. The test was never proported to be an approximation of daily case work. I agree that most latent prints we see routinely are not as difficult as the test (thank God), most of us don't work under time pressure when it comes to identifying a print, and we should always verify our results. Unfortunately, when testing, this is not possible."
Has there ever been consideration to levels of certification such as; Examiner 1, Examiner 2 etc.
If the above statement is true perhaps we should think about some changes. There are different levels of experiance in each examiner, why not match that with level of "excellence."

Ramage, most of the divisions will have the proctor to drive to you. After all, they receive one third of the application fee to cover those types of costs. Before you apply again, you might see if you can negotiate with your division over that issue. When I took my test, the proctor drove about 250 miles and stayed in my guest room (at my invitation). Here in the Pacific Northwest, the proctor in Oregon recently drove about 200 to give a test. You always have the option of taking the test at the IAI conference and many divisions will also offer testing at their conferences.

Since you left before your time was up to make another appointment, I would say that that added stress to the situation and could have affected your ability to take the test.

My suggestion for the future is that you try to take control of the situation in picking the place and time when it is most convenient for you. Clear your calendar to make sure that you don't have other appointments such as picking up your son at a certain time.


Wayne,

I know that there have been discussions on that concept, but I don't personally know the arguements for and against. I believe the result was to allow more time.

Kathy Saviers

I don't think it is necessarily a test of excellence. Maybe I had an easy one, but none of the latents I had were anything I would lose sleep over calling. Not that any ID should do that, but I had a coworker say the prints she identified were nothing she would take to court. What is the point of calling them in the first place?? And the fact that they are all identifications...it just doesn't seem to be an accurate measure of skill or excellence. Levels 1-3 or something similar would be a really good idea in my opinion.
I hear the UK certification test is alot more difficult-I'd like to hear anyone's opinion from the UK? (that didn't call the McKie mark an ident...)

^^subj line should read 'good test idea' in reference to Wayne's post...sorry about that

Pat Wertheim said:

Has the Certification Board given us any statistics on failure rate since the time situation was changed? Just curious, but I don't think I've seen it in a year by year breakdown. I would be very interested to see that information.

Pat, I just passed my exam and the letter from Jamie Bush stated the passing rate is 67%.

Looks like the pass rate went up a bit since the time change. I took mine on the older time frame and (I dont have the letter in front of me) but I seem to remember the pass rate being right around or a little below 50%.

Looks like the pass rate went up a bit since the time change. I took mine on the older time frame and (I dont have the letter in front of me) but I seem to remember the pass rate being right around or a little below 50%

The passing rate was 48% when the time limit was 6.5 hours and the educational requirements were different.