General Husbandry

[Tim1606]

Whooo

Got the letter today to say i had passed.
Six weeks of worrying now over. Spent nearly a year in the preparation for it.

 

[kighill]

Well done,

I have a friend taking hers today, she is a little worried but should do well!!

 

[Queens59]

Congrats!!

 

[mbc]

Congrats!!

 

[Luminos]

 

[simoncav]

After a similar length of preparation, I failed mine. The two page assassination of everything I've ever done in beekeeping was the last straw.

No list of points to work on
No encouragement to try again
Just two pages of why I'm such a lousy beekeeper

No wonder so few people bother to take it - I'll never take another BBKA exam or assessment ever again. The whole experience has been utterly soul destroying and has made me question the whole point of the BBKA education process.

Think about the minuscule numbers of the 23,000 members with any BBKA qualification other than the Basic assessment. Any organisation that can't entice or encourage less than 1% of its members to undertake any form of educational advancement in the subject must surely be unfit for purpose...

 

[Black Comb]

Sorry to hear that Simon
I heard over 50 per cent failed last year.

 

[Mike a]

Congrats Tim

Does anyone have any past papers I could look at please of the general husbandry or any other papers.

I'm interested in seeing the sorts of questions asked and I'm tempted to have a go next year. PM me for my email address if you don't want to post it on the forums.

many thanks

 

[ebee]

Well done for passing Tim. Was it really that hard? I'm thinking of doing mine next year and although I've done the written modules, I'm really not looking forward to it. Any tips or ideas on how to approach it would be most gratefully received.

 

[eddiespangle]

Phew

I've just got home to find a menacing looking BBKA letter on the doormat - I passed the General Husbandry Assessment.

 

[Nellie]

Congratulations!

 

[Black Comb]

Congrats. to all who passed.
You've done a lot of exam taking this year Eddie.

 

[MartinL]

The two page assassination of everything I've ever done in beekeeping was the last straw.
No list of points to work on
No encouragement to try again
Just two pages of why I'm such a lousy beekeeper............the subject must surely be unfit for purpose...

...........I heard over 50 per cent failed last year.

Congrats Tim..............
Does anyone have any past papers I could look at please of the general husbandry or any other papers.........
I'm interested in seeing the sorts of questions asked and I'm tempted to have a go next year.

Looks like the passes aren't handed out as freely as "O" & "A" levels.

Presumably, (if you could study "O" Level Beekeeping) we'd all get an A*

 

[Polyanwood]

Congratulations to those who passed and for those that didn't, commiserations. I thought the BBKA exams were difficult. A 50% pass rate is low.

Anyone fancy coaching me so that I can pass it next year? My beekeeping sins are many, but am keen to improve.

 

[eddiespangle]

Exams

Congratulations to those who passed and for those that didn't, commiserations. I thought the BBKA exams were difficult. A 50% pass rate is low.

Anyone fancy coaching me so that I can pass it next year? My beekeeping sins are many, but am keen to improve.

I'm thinking of doing 2 more in Nov?

 

[Tim1606]

Well done for passing Tim. Was it really that hard? I'm thinking of doing mine next year and although I've done the written modules, I'm really not looking forward to it. Any tips or ideas on how to approach it would be most gratefully received.

If you have taken all the modules, then i expect that you will know most of the answers to the questions put to you.

Personally, i tried to keep everything as neat and tidy as i could as far as equipment was concerned. I always shook swarm my colonies, so they were all on nice new frames and combs by the time of the examination.

I was nervous, so try to relax, it's supposed to be chatty friendly.

Best of luck.

 

[masterBK]

BBKA general husbandry pass rate for 2011 was 71% (in 2010 68%) ie most people pass OK. Two examiners are used and produce separate reports. The moderator writes to everyone whether they pass or fail. People who fail should recognise that they may well have deficiencies in their ability to manipulate bees, extraction facilities, records, queen rearing, equipment and its storage. If they take the report constructively and address the issues then they may become better beekeepers and pass next time. Those that don't except the result invariably blame the examiners, take their bat home and never want to come out to play again. As an examiner, I come across lots of beekeepers who think that they are much better than they really are but have never had anyone point out to them before their b... obvious faults. We much prefer candidates to pass but occasionally we come across people who haven't read the syllabus or the guidelines and haven't been on a training course and on the day are not sufficiently prepared.

 

[simoncav]

The problem with the General Husbandry process is that its so subjective - The report you get back is hardly encouraging, does not give you points to work on and does not encourage you to re-take the exam.

There is no training course for the General Husbandry Assessment - I know this because as the county Education secretary, I organised two sessions for our GH candidates, one with a GH examiner and one with a previous candidate. The Yates book by the way is dreadful, out of date and contrary.

The C-in-C's have some material, but again its very spotty, and you have to pull bits together from various cases and other sources.

The fact that I failed is neither here or there despite a years preparation - My point is that the system itself is flawed and deeply unattractive - as the minuscule number of candidates shows. Any training program ignored by what must be close to 90% plus of the BBKA's elegible membership (i.e from the minority that actually take the Basic in the first place) is clearly not fit for purpose and needs a complete re-think in order to reach out to the BBKA's membership and encourage them to become better beekeepers through a series of smaller steps rather then the huge single hurdle set by the General....

 

[The Cumbrian]

If they take the report constructively and address the issues then they may become better beekeepers and pass next time. Those that don't except the result invariably blame the examiners, take their bat home and never want to come out to play again.

I know nothing about the exam and considering so many haven't got a good word to say about the BBKA a lot appear to take the exams.

However what interests me is the difference between what is said above and what Simoncav says

"No list of points to work on
No encouragement to try again
Just two pages of why I'm such a lousy beekeeper"

To the uninitiated like myself the quote above implies something Simoncav doesn't appear to have received that is a report which gives points to work on.

I would also expect any educational organisation to have been encouraging which again Simoncav doesn't feel was the case.

 

[masterBK]

Simon
You say there is no training course for GH. Presumably you mean in your area. There have been lots of courses run around the country, some by county associations (including my county) with/without help from members of the exam board and some by Dan and Ken Basterfield, some organised at various venues around the country by Bill Cadmore and I think there was one run by the exam, board at the spring convention on Sunday (education day). Yates has never been a General Husbandry assessor not has he taken the exam himself so his book reflects his interpretation of the syllabus.