BJCP Study Notes: Part 2

If you missed Part 1, check it out here.

I finally took the test last weekend.  Now begins the ~6 month wait to get the score back.  In the mean time, here are a few more things I picked up along the way.

• Get a study group.  There is a ton of material to know and talking through it with others with helps.  If you can include someone that’s been through the exam before, even better.  Unfortunately our group fell apart halfway through.
• Steward and then judge at a couple of competitions while you’re studying.  You don’t need to have taken the test before you can judge.  Filling out score sheets “for real” is good practice for the pace you’ll need to complete them on the test..
• 3 hours seems like a long time, but it goes quick.  Don’t spend too much time on a few questions and miss answering others.  Make sure to write down at least something for every question.
• Being familiar with all of the styles and being able to write down specific characteristics and examples are 2 different things.  Especially if you’re not drinking an example at the same time.  I can’t make myself sit down and memorize the style guidelines, so I lost some points there.
• Bring a calculator.  You’d be surprised how long it takes to do basic math when you’re trying to think about beer.  What’s 432 divided by 5?
• Skipping ahead to the questions that I was more familiar with helped me “warm up” for the more difficult ones.  There’s no requirement to answer in any particular order as long as you can put your answer sheets back in order at the end.

The most important thing is to relax though.  I got all wound up and nervous right as the test was beginning and took forever on the first couple of questions.  It’s beer – not brain surgery.  There’s no such thing as failing.

Good luck!

*This BJCP logo is probably property of the BJCP – so credit to them and stuff.

Tagged as: bjcp, study, test