D1 timing tool now available

The first EQE tool is now available, you can download it here.

It concerns a timing tool for use during the D1 exam. The use of it is fairly simple, yet has proven to be effective for me in managing time during this part of the D exam.

Here is how it works:

Print the document double sided and take it to the exam !

The exam starts 9:30 CET.

You probably need a minute to prepare the papers you are going to write your answers on and select the paper in the language that you will use.

The time is now 9:31

You start with question 1, which is (for example) a 4 point question. You look in the timing tool, at a start time of 9:31 and immediately see that you have to complete the answer by 9:49, or preferably earlier as you have already lost 1 minute !

You are ready for question 2 say at 9:45.

Question 2 is a 3 point question, meaning you have to write down the answer before 9:58.

It’s very simple !

The only thing which is impossible to put in the table are the extra or fewer minutes you spend on a question.

What helps is to keep track of this on the paper itself, for example by marking the balance of + or – whenever you start with a new question. This gives you an indication of whether you have some spare minutes for a more difficult question.

Finally the present timing sheet is based on a 3 hour exam where one can score a maximum of 40 points. If anyone has information that this will change, please let me know. I will then adjust the document accordingly.

So, here you go. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

EQETools

Let's go !

It's been about 6 weeks since I sat the EQE 2009. During these 6 weeks I did not concern myself too much with the EPC and PCT and I didn't have any energy to continue with my ideas for this Blog. I guess most candidates who sat the exam at least once will recognise the feeling.

Anyway, things have changed and I'll be posting a first tool (which I used and in fact made myself) for use in the EQE soon.

The question may arise with you as a visitor to this Blog what my motives are for spending my free time helping others for free.  I don't have a clear cut answer to this question, but at least a part of it arises from that I've seen several candidates (including myself) making their own summaries, tables, tools etcetera in preparing for the EQE. Upon comparison, these tools appeared to be quite similar. For example, I've seen 3 very similar summaries on the contents of the Offical Journal of 2007 and 2008 made by three different people.

I then wondered why we would all spend the same time making more or less the same tools. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense if the most basic tools and/or templates were already available so that candidates could use them as such or as a starting point for making their own. Wouldn't this save time, which as you all know is an issue when preparing for the EQE and enable candidates to prepare even better? 

With that in mind I spent some time looking for such free "tools" only to find out that there were not so many (if at all) available. This is when I got the idea of sharing my own tools once the EQE was over.

What about the well established books and reference guides?

Well, these are of course highly recommendable for learning the law and the EPC and PCT system. In fact I use them myself and it is not my intention at all to compete with these resources in any way.  Instead, one of the reasons I started this Blog is that there is an apparent demand for tools that are in fact used in addition to this established study material.

What about the resources made available by the EPO ?

The EPO offers quite a few free resources for preparing for the EQE, an important one being of course the compendium. To be honest, I have not looked further to what the EPO offers (shame on me!)

So, what's in it for you?

Basic tools, for example summaries of recent Official Journals and PCT newsletters, a D1 timing tool, a quickreference of all (still relevant) G decisions. In other words, basically the tools you are planning to make in addition to the study material you already have.

And what's in it for me?

Well, nothing in fact. As you see there are some advertisements in the side bar of this Blog but I don't believe and have no intention that this will bring me a fortune (yet it may be enough to buy a lotery ticket which will...) . Other than that, keeping this blog up-to-date will likewise keep my EPC/PCT knowledge up-to-date. Not too unimportant if you want to be or become a European Patent Attorney I would say.

Interested ?

If you like to participate in further development of this Blog and share some of your own tools, or further improve the tools that are or will be offered, let me know.

EQETools