Auditor Training and Consultancy
For more than 50 years we have been providing
We deliver training to the highest professional standards
We are independently accredited by the worlds
Our training courses are conducted by industry leadingThe IRCA have recently announced that they are redeveloping the Examinations for IRCA approved courses. – UPDATED 25/01/2012 – see bottom of article for updated information
What does this mean and how will it affect me?
Currently, courses such as the QMS Auditor/Lead Auditor 5 day training course include a 2 hour “open book exam” at the end of the course. This means that you are able to take your course manual, training notes, ISO standard and any other notes you have into the exam with you. As of early 2012 the IRCA have changed this so that the exam will be “closed book”, i.e. the only thing that you will be able to take in to the exam will be an unmarked ISO standard.
Other changes to the exam include the:
- raising the minimum pass mark in each section from 40% to 50%
- changing section 1 of the exam from multiple-choice questions to requiring short written answers
Many clients have asked our opinion on these change, and the quick answer is mixed.
On one hand it will make the exam a lot harder to pass, therefore if you make the qualification harder to obtain you will ensure that anyone who has successfully passed this course will in theory have a greater level of understanding.
But on the other hand not everyone is good at sitting exam’s and suffer from memory blanks when faced with any form of exam, so ultimately making it harder may mean more people fail.
The only conclusion that we can make is that virtually every other exam that you can sit is “closed book”, therefore this will bring it in line with other institutions, and if you make a course harder to pass, by its very definition it should mean that those that qualify will be better auditors. Our biggest complaint is that how can a 2 hour exam prove that someone is a good auditor, all it means is that they are good at taking exams and that they listened during the course, it does not necessarily mean that they understood the course and will make a good auditor. But, until someone comes up with a better way of proving knowledge, what else can we do.
It should not be forgotten though that throughout all of our training courses we mark each delegate on their continual improvement during each and every session, a delegate can pass the exam but fail the continual assessment (or vice versa), and this form of assessment in our opinion is the best, as it is not a pressurised exam, it is a marking of a delegates performance in role play and individual exercises.
If you are reading this article before the end of 2011 and are thinking that you might want to attend this an ISO 9001 Auditor/Lead Auditor course, then now is the time to act before the course gets harder. Click this link to see details of this course – http://www.batalas.co.uk/training-courses/iso-9001/lead-auditor.php
UPDATE 12/12/2011 - although there is no official word from the IRCA as to when the Lead Auditor exam will move to closed book (their last official update was “early 2012″), we have been informed that we are likely to receive the new exam papers sometime around the end of February 2012. If this is correct, it will mean that the March 2012 ISO 9001 Lead Auditor Training Courses will be the last courses available with open book exams. If you are worried about sitting a closed book exam, now may be the time to attend the course, as after March 2012 the course will become a lot harder to pass due to the changes in the exam format.
As of todays date, our current pass rate for this course is over 90%, but with the changes to the exam papers and the format changes, we are estimating that this will drop by as much as half. Our reasoning for this is that most delegates that sit the exam currently refer to their delegate manual that we have given them throughout the 5 day course, and using this as a reference makes the exam questions make more sense. The use of this manual during the exam will be taken away after the changes to the format, meaning you will have to remember everything off the top of your head, which under exam conditions some people will not be able to do.
UPDATE 15/12/2011 Due to an increase in bookings for this course, we have added extra courses to our website for January, February and March 2012, meaning that we are now offering this course in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Southampton in the first quater of 2012 – click here for details of the course and the new dates
UPDATE 25/01/2012 The IRCA have now confirmed that all QMS ISO 9001 Lead Auditor Training Courses conducted after 13th April 2012 will now be under “closed book” exam conditions, and that new updated examination papers will be used after this date. If you struggle with exams and are concerned about passing this course, now might be the right time to attend the training before the examination gets a lot tougher. Click here to see a full list of dates for our QMS ISO 9001 Lead Auditor Training Courses.
*Please note that places on the above courses over the next 2 months are now limited due to demand.
Have you got a colleague that you think needs to know about these changes? If so use the “Send link to a friend” option on the left of this page to send them a link to the page, don’t forgot to add your name in the comments field.