BBKA Book list

[Beefriendly]

I'm perhaps being over critical. many of the questions are quite fair, but a few creep through that are ambiguous in that the answer depends....such as

What month of the year should a mouse guard be fitted?

Depends if you live in the South or North of England.

Name a way that bees prevent
honey deteriorating over the winter?

Just badly phrased and potentially misleading as it suggests that the examiners are looking for a different "way" that bees use to prevent honey deteriorating rather than the same method being used throughout the year.

Others like.... what is the maximum permitted water content of clover honey? is frustrating as it is a rare honey these days and whilst it was allowed at 23%, no exception in current legislation which as far as I can ascertain has it at 20% max water.(I'm happy to be proved wrong on this)....but asking specifically about this type in an examination situation adds pressure as it suggests that there was/is a different requirement for this "named" honey.
However if this is what the examiners want, then they should ask as they see fit, but not be surprised at a few raised eyebrows.

Exam questions should be aimed at allowing the candidate to exhibit his knowledge, not to try and trick him/her into thinking the question is "loaded" in an already pressurized situation.

 

[Millet]

I'm perhaps being over critical. many of the questions are quite fair, but a few creep through that are ambiguous in that the answer depends....such as

What month of the year should a mouse guard be fitted?

Depends if you live in the South or North of England.

Name a way that bees prevent
honey deteriorating over the winter?

Just badly phrased and potentially misleading as it suggests that the examiners are looking for a different "way" that bees use to prevent honey deteriorating rather than the same method being used throughout the year.

Others like.... what is the maximum permitted water content of clover honey? is frustrating as it is a rare honey these days and whilst it was allowed at 23%, no exception in current legislation which as far as I can ascertain has it at 20% max water.(I'm happy to be proved wrong on this)....but asking specifically about this type in an examination situation adds pressure as it suggests that there was/is a different requirement for this "named" honey.
However if this is what the examiners want, then they should ask as they see fit, but not be surprised at a few raised eyebrows.

Exam questions should be aimed at allowing the candidate to exhibit his knowledge, not to try and trick him/her into thinking the question is "loaded" in an already pressurized situation.

The only one i think i got correct there was the second one (they simply dry the honey and cap it with wax) it then last forever

Mouse guards never is the best time to use one as they will not fit my home made wasp and mouse proof entrances that i use all through the year.

Clover Honey is not clover honey it is mixed Honey so that question is a silly question, it's along the lines of how long does it take a bee to fly back to the hive.. .

Can you find anymore pointless questions N as i found them three amusing.. lol

 

[MuswellMetro]

Others like.... what is the maximum permitted water content of clover honey? is frustrating as it is a rare honey these days and whilst it was allowed at 23%, no exception in current legislation which as far as I can ascertain has it at 20% max water.(I'm happy to be proved wrong on this)....but asking specifically about this type in an examination situation adds pressure as it suggests that there was/is a different requirement for this "named" honey.
.

i have had older beekeeper rant and swear at me at Beginners talk that i have it wrong when i have said clover honey is no longer a honey that can have a 23% water content

We still get a clover flow in outer london as open farm land tends to be horse livery fields , there is a general belief by many beekeepers who trained before 2006 that it is still 23% they dont know new regs have come in in 2005 and 2015 as they were taught the 1996 regs, it is these beekeepers who as they retire are taking the modules

How would you have phrased the question?

 

[MuswellMetro]

The only one i think i got correct there was the second one (they simply dry the honey and cap it with wax) it then last forever

that's not what i teach my module group, i would say in addtion to reducing water content to 17% to stop fermentation and sealing in cells with wax as honey is hygroscopic that Bees add the enzyme Glucose oxidase to the honey that breaks down glucose and produces a slow release of Hydrogen Peroxide that being anti microbiol helps preserve the honey sealed in cells

 

[Beefriendly]

I wouldn't have asked it in the first place. Or if i was looking for knowledge of the previous clover honey water content or the new regulations it would have been phrased along the lines of..... What was the permitted water concentration in clover honey prior to the 2015 honey regulations...and what is it now?
As I say it may still be 23% but the 2015 regulations do not mention it as an exception as they clearly state for Heather honey....sorry Caluna vulgaris honey so as to not confuse with Erica cinerea honey.

 

[Beefriendly]

Millet just for you from 2016. Module 1.
Q1 Give one method of spacing brood frames. ……………………………………………..…………………..
Q2 How wide is bee space? ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Q3 Name a method of replacing
all the brood frames at once. ………………………………………………………………………………….
Q4 What nutrient does pollen provide
as a component of the honeybee diet? ………………………………………………………………………
Q5 Using the International Queen Marking system,
what colour will queens be marked this year? ……………………………………………………………
Q6 In which month does the main UK heather flow take place? ………………………………………………
Q7 What is meant by drifting? …………………………………………………………………………………….
Q8 What could be fed to a colony
to stimulate the queen to lay in spring? ……………………………………………………………………..
Q9 Name one type of feeder. ……………………………………………………………………………………..
Q10 Supply the missing word in this piece of bee equipment. Porter bee ___________…...……………….

 

[Beefriendly]

that's not what i teach my module group, i would say in addtion to reducing water content to 17% to stop fermentation and sealing in cells with wax as honey is hygroscopic that Bees add the enzyme Glucose oxidase to the honey that breaks down glucose and produces a slow release of Hydrogen Peroxide that being anti microbiol helps preserve the honey sealed in cells

And how do you fit all that information into what are supposed to be 1 or 2 word short answers in your starter for 10 questions
I presume they would award a correct mark for less than 20% H2O and also one if you alternatively wrote glucose oxidase, neither of which are specific to winter honey.
Although if bees use a different preservation strategy for winter honey (as opposed to any other time of the year) I would love to know what it is.

 

[SteveJ]

But you've got a detailed list of topics to research in each module. How you gain your knowledge to cover those topics is up to you. It does not matter what books you use.

If there was no book list then I would expect to be reading every book on the subject I could get my hands on, but in this case there is a defined book list so I would expect the exams to be set and reports written using this book list.

I know of one beekeeper who quoted something from a book that wasn't on the list and it was marked as wrong.

I've already written a formal letter of complaint to the BBKA that covers this matter and other issues I've had over the last couple of years with the exam board. I'm looking forward to their reply.

SteveJ

 

[B+.]

I am curious: if the BBKA set examinations based on books that are sometimes revised and updated, why aren't they writing the books themselves (or at least producing versions suitable for the exams)?

I am taking the BBKA Bee Breeders assessment on the 22nd. The only guidance I have received is a "draft" syllabus. The assessment calls for a plan to submitted with the application to take the exam (which has to be submitted by 1st March). There is no book list. Oh, and by the way, the BBKA want you to commit to this plan for the seasons activities irrespective of the weather. The question I have to ask is: are they stark raving mad?

 

[colinc]

The question I have to ask is: are they stark raving mad?

Obviously they are.

To allow no latitude for weather in an experienced beekeeper exam is crazy.


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[Madge]

If there was no book list then I would expect to be reading every book on the subject I could get my hands on, but in this case there is a defined book list so I would expect the exams to be set and reports written using this book list.

...

SteveJ

The book list is only there to help you with suggestions on what to read - it's not definitive. You're an adult. You research the topics whichever way you prefer.

In your first post you said the examiners replied saying that you need to put in more detail.

So, it's probably not lack of knowledge that gave you a fail mark, but the way you answered the questions. (Besides, how many points did you lose on that one question where a book was quoted that's not on the reading list, and what was the question?)

 

[madasafish]

When I started reading the BBKA magazine in 2010, I decided never to set any exams by an organisation which publishes a magazine with so many archaic and out of date views..

I have to say the recent one was an exception.

 

[Madge]

When I started reading the BBKA magazine in 2010, I decided never to set any exams by an organisation which publishes a magazine with so many archaic and out of date views..

I have to say the recent one was an exception.

Does the editor of the magazine set the exam questions? (I don't know the BBKA Magazine. I'm a Scot - well, it's my adopted country.)

 

[madasafish]

Does the editor of the magazine set the exam questions? (I don't know the BBKA Magazine. I'm a Scot - well, it's my adopted country.)

No of course not.
But I expect some intellectual rigour. If an organisation is so keen to promote an improvement in members' beekeeping standards that it has an examination system then I expect them to apply the same standards to its in-house publications.

If it does not - and it evidently does not - it's not really serious.. One set of rules for its students - none for its contributors. And the students receive the magazine as part of their subs.

 

[Madge]

No of course not.
But I expect some intellectual rigour.

Perhaps the magazine should be prefaced (like in films) that the views expressed is that of the authors, and not the BBKA ...

The exams deal with a lot more rather than just management of bees (and we all know how we differ in our opinions on that).

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[Beefriendly]

The parts of the BBKA that deal with magazine exist as a separate entity to those who do the exam part. A year or so back the magazine guy/gal's where trying to charge the exam guys/gals around £2K (?) to publish the exam results in the magazine. Something that in the past had been considered free and obligatory to publish. I think they all saw sense as the exam results are still published in the magazine.