Anyone recently Beer Judge Certified?

You should sign up for the courses in addition to studying the material. Off flavor kits will be part of the course material.

 

Check your local homebrew clubs as they may have prep classes organized to get you ready for the test. My local clubs save beer with particular off flavors when they show up in competitions or doctor beers to give them the off flavors.

 

In general I like what the BJCP stands for and does, but the testing process (was at least) maddening. I took it back in 2010 and waited 8 MONTHS to find out if I passed / failed. (I ended up passing the tasting portion easily and missing the essay part). A friend of mine took it 10 months ago and has yet to get his results. Quite aggravating and frankly makes me not want to be a part of this particular game.

 

I am not BJ certified and I don't plan to be.

 

BJCP certification is something I was considering until I heard this...
That's pretty low to make someone wait so long to get results. What could possibly cause that sort of delay?

 

That's not what I heard!

 

They've revamped the testing process in 2012. The original process was extremely aggravating for all. I won't go into all the reasons here because it's off topic.

Now, people interested in becoming judges can/must go online and take an e-exam. It's a Pr-Requisite and is Pass/Fail only. You get your result immediately upon completion. This makes you a Provisional Apprentice and you are now eligible to take the tasting portion of the original exam. If you pass the tasting portion, you can become Recognized or Certified depending on how well you scored on the tasting exam. To become National or Masters level, in addition to experience points, you'll also need to take the written essay portion of the original exam afterwards, and pass it obviously.

All this info is on the BJCP web site.

PS: The new tasting exam has more beers in it than before

 

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quote="mcintire78, post: 697442, member: 112165"]I'd heard this about the BJCP. I guess they have a long backlog of people wanting to be certified? I'd thought it was kind of a niche thing, but maybe it's more popular than I realized...[/quote]

Nothing low about it. You need to understand that it is for judging homebrewing competitions. Homebrewing has exploded as much or more as craft beer. So competitions have gotten large, and there is a shortage of judges for those competitions.

Test are graded by senior level judges (National, Master and above) . These people volunteer to do it in their spare time. There are only so many test graders.

The testing has changed as of early 2012. You now take an multiple choice test on line. There are 6 beers to taste, write a score sheet on, and total the score in 90 minutes. The results of both added togerher will get you to Recognized or Certified level. To become National or above, you need and 80 or higher on the tasting. If you have an 80 or above on the tasting, then you can take the essay test.

Let me say that it is not easy.

 

Nothing low about it. You need to understand that it is for judging homebrewing competitions. Homebrewing has exploded as much or more as craft beer. So competitions have gotten large, and there is a shortage of judges for those competitions.

Test are graded by senior level judges (National, Master and above) . These people volunteer to do it in their spare time. There are only so many test graders.

The testing has changed as of early 2012. You now take an multiple choice test on line. There are 6 beers to taste, write a score sheet on, and total the score in 90 minutes. The results of both added togerher will get you to Recognized or Certified level. To become National or above, you need and 80 or higher on the tasting. If you have an 80 or above on the tasting, then you can take the essay test.

Let me say that it is not easy.[/quote]


"low" was not the best choice of words

The testing to become a certified sommelier is very similar: large test, blind tasting, plus a service exam. The people grading candidates are master sommeliers that volunteer to do it in their spare time. Results are known at the end of the testing day.

What I should have said is that it would be frustrating to spend so much time and effort for something and then not know if you succeeded for such a long time.

It seems that the online multiple choice test might make things better/faster.

 

"low" was not the best choice of words

The testing to become a certified sommelier is very similar: large test, blind tasting, plus a service exam. The people grading candidates are master sommeliers that volunteer to do it in their spare time. Results are known at the end of the testing day.

What I should have said is that it would be frustrating to spend so much time and effort for something and then not know if you succeeded for such a long time.

It seems that the online multiple choice test might make things better/faster.[/quote]
What is the turn around for the Master Sommelier?

The essay tests to need some time to grade.

 

Right now if you pass the online provisional judge exam you've got 1 year to take the tasting exam. Considering the wait time for a tasting exam there are large areas of the country where it makes little to no sense to even take the provisional exam. *shrug* it is what it is.

I recently signed up to grade exams; hopefully after a year or two the increase in National+ judges will be enough that the backlog starts decreasing. There's no way around it at the moment though - there aren't enough National+ judges to grade the number of potential exams from interested people. It's great that the homebrewing hobby is growing so fast but this growth is not without problems. Just look at NHC - in terms of interest it is also growing faster than the current setup or judge availability can handle.

the online multiple choice can show you've got a nice base of information, but of course since there's no actual beer involved, and you're learning to judge beer, it can never be more than an introductory exam.

I will say this to though: Judging and learning to judge improved my homebrewing more than anything else. So just getting in on an exam prep class, even if the exam slots are full, and even just reading the style guideilnes and comparing them to what you're tasting will help you out a lot. Also, volunteer at competitions. Steward until you're comfortable and then judge. You'll pick up a great deal in no time at all.

cheers--
--Michael

 

They revamped the exam for a lot of reasons. It is faster now to become a judge, but you still have to wait. Once the backlog of long-form essay exams is done, then the process should speed up. The graders will be mostly doing only tasting reviews and fewer people go for National once they make Certified. I recently took the tasting exam in a bid to raise my tasting score so I qualify for the National written exam. So yeah, you wait. It's not that big a deal.

Besides, you can still go judge if that's what you want, if they need judges they'll pair you with someone who'll help tutor you etc...

So take the online exam, pass it, then sign up for the tasting exam. Wait lines can be very long though, so just get your name on now.

 

Does the BJCP organization offer prep courses? If so I couldn't find into on this at the website...

 

As the BJCP, not that I am aware of.

Contact local homebrew clubs and find out if anyone is doing study courses. Those are usually taught by someone who has passed the BJCP and knows what it takes to pass as far as knowledge and judging ability.