2016 feedback- achieving the right balance of time

[PJW]

Saw two of the mod 2 examiners yesterday.  One piece of early feedback re 2016 exam attempts: in general candidates spending too long on their calculations and not enough on signalling the layout itself.   Whereas skimping on the explanation of calculations may lose you some marks, this needs to be balanced against the time it takes; if net effect is lack of time to get the layout substantially complete, then the marks that are not achieved will outweigh the increased ones obtained.  As ever think "marks per minute" and do enough practice both to determine the optimum split and just speed up generally!

Apparently there was one case of a candidate who had done pages of calculations and description, yet made not a single mark on their layout diagram; there is no way that this person would have passed....

[Jerry1237]

Knowledge maybe power but technique is everything. Practice, practice and practice (then get some feedback).

J

[lokko]

Thanks for the info PJW.
Please share more, especially I do concern control table question of M3, the question made me flip over the layout, (I guess other candidates might share the same feeling as me)

[PJW]

Thanks for the info PJW.
Please share more, especially I do concern control table question of M3, the question made me flip over the layout, (I guess other candidates might share the same feeling as me)

I haven't spoken to any of the mod3 examiners other than briefly to ask whether they felt that the new sponsorship arrangements had done anything to reduce the number of entries that fall well below standard; I got the feedback that it is too early to say, it might have helped a bit but certainly had not weeded out all the very weak attempts.

I don't know what you mean by "made me flip over the layout"- does that mean that you had intended to do that question but you then decided to do a different question instead?  I do understand that there were some swinging overlaps this year.

[lokko]

Thanks for the info PJW.
Please share more, especially I do concern control table question of M3, the question made me flip over the layout, (I guess other candidates might share the same feeling as me)

I haven't spoken to any of the mod3 examiners other than briefly to ask whether they felt that the new sponsorship arrangements had done anything to reduce the number of entries that fall well below standard; I got the feedback that it is too early to say, it might have helped a bit but certainly had not weeded out all the very weak attempts.

I don't know what you mean by "made me flip over the layout"- does that mean that you had intended to do that question but you then decided to do a different question instead?  I do understand that there were some swinging overlaps this year.

What I meant is, the exit signal of the route we were asked to work on was somewhere beyond the layout, so I was trying to flip and see if there is any layout on the back of the page.

[PJW]

Thanks for the info PJW.
Please share more, especially I do concern control table question of M3, the question made me flip over the layout, (I guess other candidates might share the same feeling as me)

I haven't spoken to any of the mod3 examiners other than briefly to ask whether they felt that the new sponsorship arrangements had done anything to reduce the number of entries that fall well below standard; I got the feedback that it is too early to say, it might have helped a bit but certainly had not weeded out all the very weak attempts.

I don't know what you mean by "made me flip over the layout"- does that mean that you had intended to do that question but you then decided to do a different question instead?  I do understand that there were some swinging overlaps this year.

What I meant is, the exit signal of the route we were asked to work on was somewhere beyond the layout, so I was trying to flip and see if there is any layout on the back of the page.

Now that you have explained and I have looked at the paper and layout, I do see what you mean. 

Signal 321 is a Red / Green reads off the plan to signalbox "A" and so it is challenging you to recognise that-

a) there must be an end of movement authority for which it reads, so one might postulate another Red/Green signal potentially equipped with TPWS to be proved alight;

b) some form of warning signal braking distance prior to it, so you can choose if this is a Yellow/Green to be proved alight or just a reflectorised distant board; however it would seem reasonable to reflect an arrangement that mirrors 326;

c) presumably track "A" is a summation of a number of track sections 
(depending on length probably several sections -unless it is an axle counter-) prior to the exit signal and then an overlap section beyond that signal.  
In fact the same line circuit might actually contain all the aspect level controls from the fringe area- however item "d" below would seem to preclude this and so instead I would postulate that perhaps track "A" is one input and then "everything else" comes back separately as a different input.  
You would need to state some assumptions here......

d) You certainly need to put something in the route level; it would seem that it is your signalbox which is in charge of the single line section because it evidently gives release 328 to signalbox "A".
Hence as far as opposing route locking is concerned you'd need to  
i) have route locking on track A, BM and BL after 328 release has been given (but of course you wouldn't want all track sections to the extent of the opposite direction overlap within this!), plus 
ii) ensure that whatever A's up direction signal is called is Free of Approach Locking,
iii) include also a timer in order to hold the locking for a period sufficient to ensure that there could not be any  "window of opportunity" for the locking of the two ends of the line to get out of kilter. If a release is offered and then immediately withdrawn, it might permit signaller A to pull off their signal yet your interlocking might take some time to learn of this having happened. To cover for such time delays between the two ends, a timer would be used to maintain the imposed locking for an additional period of a few seconds after the release has been withdrawn, just to ensure that in the interim it hasn't actually been used by the other signalbox. 

I think the examiners have been quite canny here and found a way of separating out those who actually know their signaling principles and those who robotically fill in the boxes of a Control Table.  

Goodness knows what effect there is going to be on the pass rate this year, but the CT has always been a favourite question amongst the majority.  It no longer offers the "easy ride" that perhaps it once used to; frankly I think I would tend to avoid if doing the paper.  This year perhaps it wasn't too bad; if you knew what you were doing there was not much to write for this route but could demonstrate what you knew, whereas those who only filled in the CT for what they could see on the plan would be struggling.