Sunday 2 November 2008

Australian Judges Seminar Report

Brass send me a report on how the National judges program is doing 'Down Under'. He attended a local judges seminar and Emailed me the following report:


Dear Jos,

I've been away for 6 weeks delivering a boat and sailing in two large regattas in Northern Australia.

Since I've been back I have attended a local judges seminar. The Seminar Preparation series on LTW was extremely helpful, and just at the right time for me. Thanks to LTW I managed to pass the test at the National Judges standard. Now all I have to do is get my assessments and accumulate the experience requirements.

I thought our seminar spent too much time on administration matters noticed that it was much less fast-paced and demanding than the IJ seminars you have described, but it was absolutely terrific to have two IJs spending their weekend trying hard to convey their vast experience and improve your standard.

I guess I have been working up to this for some time. Two years ago I did an Umpires course which was extensive and very good. I have been following LTW and other sailing websites and doing the exercises and solving rules problems pretty regularly.

To prepare myself for the seminar and the test, I took copies of all the quizzes and test material in the LTW downloads directory

http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2006/10/download-directory.html

Tests were
a.. ISA 100 Questions.doc
b.. NASS rules Test 2001.pdf
c.. NASS rules Test 2002.pdf
d.. Quick Test.pdf
e.. US SAILING Judges Workshop Study Questions 2003.pdf
f.. US SAILING Judges Workshop Study Questions 2005.pdf
I also used Dave Dellenbaugh's Racing Rules IQ Quiz Speed&Smarts/87_Rules_IQ_Test.pdf

I started by doing the Dave Dellenbaugh Rules IQ Quiz and I scored about 70%.

Looking at where I went wrong, I was able to identify rules areas where I was weak, for example, in my case, because I sail heavy keelboats, I knew next to nothing about rule 42, so I re-studied the rules that I had identified I was unfamiliar with.

I then worked my way through the other tests on LTW, correcting each test, and looking up and ensuring my correct understanding for each question I got wrong.

I did each of the LTW Seminar Preparation problems.

To finish my preparation I did the ISAF 100 Questions Quiz and made about 92%. When I eventually completed the formal Judges Test, I scored about 90% so the ISAF 100 Questions Quiz was a pretty good predictor.

The Australian Judges test consists of 45 short questions in 45 minutes.

Unlike the IQ Quiz, or the ISAF 100 Questions Quiz they are not True/False questions. They are short 'problem' questions, some with diagrams, some without. Each question has three possible answers for candidates to choose from. Unlike the ISAF Quick Test, candidates were not expected to cite rule numbers for every question.

The questions in the ISAF Quick Test were a new type to me. Each question was a 'snapshot' at one instant in time, instead of the more usual position by position build-up to the eventual incident that we usually find in LTW exercises, and each question required candidates to state the rule numbers applicable. I would be interested to know if this is typical of IJ examinations.

All in all a worthwhile seminar and I am looking forward to moving forward with judging.

Brass


Thanks Brass, and congratulations on passing the test!
I don't think the ISAF Quick Test is representative if the questions you would get at an IJ Examination. But I haven't been attending a seminar for a couple of years. The questions I made as preparation posts are my best "guess" at what kind you can expect. Perhaps other recent attendees would like to comment?

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