# Bjcp Course



## Benniee (24/6/10)

Hi HUBers,

I'm going through some of the BJCP notes and I've got a quick question for those who have sat the BJCP exam in the past. In the writen part of the exam there is a style section where you are asked to describe and compare three styles of beer. The study guides provide a long list of possible combinations. I'm wondering if the exam will give you a selection of styles, or just list three. 

Also - it was great to get the course rolling again last Sunday.

Big thanks to Keith for hosting us and sharing some of his great beers.

Benniee


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## brendo (24/6/10)

Benniee said:


> Hi HUBers,
> 
> I'm going through some of the BJCP notes and I've got a quick question for those who have sat the BJCP exam in the past. In the writen part of the exam there is a style section where you are asked to describe and compare three styles of beer. The study guides provide a long list of possible combinations. I'm wondering if the exam will give you a selection of styles, or just list three.
> 
> ...



They just list three mate... could be any of the ones listed in the study guide.

Good luck!!!

Brendo


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## Benniee (24/6/10)

brendo said:


> They just list three mate... could be any of the ones listed in the study guide.



Thanks brendo. I suspected that would be the case, and looking at the way they group the three styles chosen it's not too bad.

I'm not due to sit an exam any time soon - but with such a volume of info to try and digest and retain I figured an early start won't hurt.

Benniee


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## Fourstar (24/6/10)

brendo said:


> They just list three mate... could be any of the ones listed in the study guide.
> Good luck!!!
> Brendo



Also note, they are listed in that order from right to left, not randomly. Food for thaught, shoot for scoring a 7/10 on that question and those type of style comparison questions. To obtain a 10, expect to be writing about 1/2 page more and knowing the vital stats of the style. All of mine went just over a page long with those questions. With the time you are given and the interuptions in your train of thaught with the tastings etc, its almost impossible to ace all the questions with a 10. 

I'm not telling you to under achive, just dont neglect answering all questions sufficiently because you are stretching the limits on trying to gain 1-2 marks from an extra 1/2 page of writing. I learnt the hard way. :icon_cheers: 

Another good thing to note is to practice the recipes they give you in the study guide and brew them 'traditionally'. e.g. decotion if its traditional and why. If you can do these once on pen and paper you will remember the vitals of the style. Just hope you get a bohemian pilsner in the exam. 

Another tip, dont go too overboard on trying to learning technical topics at excessive depth if its a struggle for you. Most ofthe questions are weighted towards the styles and style guidelines, know them more than techinical topics and remember them over trying to remember something like the length of the acrospire at stages of modification.

I went way too overboard on technical topics with my study and they are only mildly covered in the exam.


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## brendo (24/6/10)

all really solid advice there 4* and some good tips for newies.

I found that a major component of sitting the exam is time management - make sure that you answer something for everything. I was lucky and managed to pace myself pretty well - but I reckon that was more luck than good management.

Something I did with the styles was to make myself a summary sheet for all of the BJCP styles - one page (landscape) per category. I just summarised each beer style across each of the major components (aroma, appearance, etc, etc) along with anything particular to note about history/region brewed, etc. I just made sure that in each of the components I had something that covered off malt, hops, water, yeast. It was really good for getting a quick overview of the similarities and differences between beer styles within any given category.

I would happily share this, however I reckon that there is a lot of benefit in writing it yourself as it is more likely to sink in.

Cheers,

Brendo


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## Fourstar (24/6/10)

brendo said:


> I would happily share this, however I reckon that there is a lot of benefit in writing it yourself as it is more likely to sink in.
> Cheers,
> Brendo



Also the reason why i didnt share the recipe and process discussion spreadsheet i did. I learnt soo much for actually doing it. If you handed it to somone, they wouldnt have the faintest chance of remembering any of it.

I did a similar thing with the styles but moreso with styles i was less familiar with so i had a chance of remembering them if they so happened to popup on the exam.


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## Benniee (25/6/10)

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm sure the other people on our BJCP course will appreciate the input too.

brendo, I agree that writing summary sheets yourself is an excellent way to learn. I picked up that habbit when I did my Uni studies - and it is the way I'm attacking the BJCP course too - although this time I'm not leaving it until the night before 

Interesting to hear that both of you rate time management as a big factor in getting through the exam. I find it a little strange that they make it tight for time because if you know a lot about the styles then it can take time to get that down on paper. My only guess is they do it to help the markers/graders - probably stops them from getting 2 pages of waffle per answer which they have to sift through to determine if you know what you're on about.

Benniee


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## Fourstar (25/6/10)

Benniee said:


> Interesting to hear that both of you rate time management as a big factor in getting through the exam. I find it a little strange that they make it tight for time because if you know a lot about the styles then it can take time to get that down on paper. My only guess is they do it to help the markers/graders - probably stops them from getting 2 pages of waffle per answer which they have to sift through to determine if you know what you're on about.
> 
> Benniee



That and they are a sadistic bunch those Americans! :lol:


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## jayse (25/6/10)

In that question I actually received a comment that one of my commercial examples was spelt wrongly not sure if it was actually marked down but if it wasn't you wouldn't think they would waste time and effort to mention such a simple thing, I didn't know we were sittng a spelling test at the same time! so something else to note to get your max points.


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## drsmurto (25/6/10)

jayse said:


> In that question I actually received a comment that one of my commercial examples was spelt wrongly not sure if it was actually marked down but if it wasn't you wouldn't think they would waste time and effort to mention such a simple thing, I didn't know we were sittng a spelling test at the same time! so something else to note to get your max points.



Spelling?

Shit.

I will be using english. How will they cope? Will i need to send them a dictionary with my exam?

And metric.

Shit.

I'll be lucky to pass at this rate. <_<


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## Stuster (25/6/10)

Metric is fine. I didn't think there was any issue with them being picky about grammar/spelling and I guess I'd have been happy with them noting an issue about the name of a commercial example (in fact, I'm pretty sure not all the German ones I used were spelled right.  ). I thought the feedback I got was amazingly good actually. :super: 

I do agree with Fourstar about time management, although it's certainly possible to get through it in the time allowed.


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## BjornJ (25/6/10)

Being Norwegian so not having English as my primary language, will I get special consideration for the exam?

I am not asking for much
-laptop with Internet connection
-Norwegian-English dictionary
-possibly some extra time?
-no Belgian beers whatsoever

:lol: 

Bjorn


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## Stuster (25/6/10)

First two sound very reasonable, Bjorn. But I thought you were going to give a talk on Belgian beer for us. At least do the one on sour beers.


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