Examination Details

Details on the FIBKA examination system, such as prerequisites for eligibility, how and when to apply, level of knowledge required etc, follow. If you have any further queries, please contact the Education Officer

There are seven levels of examinations for proficiency certificates; these and their eligibility requirements are as follows:

Preliminary:

For beginners - no prerequisites.

Intermediate:

The Preliminary Certificate of the FIBKA or the BBKA Basic Certificate must be held for at least one year.

Senior:

Intermediate Certificate and at least five years beekeeping experience.

Intermediate Proficiency Apiary Practical

The Intermediate Proficiency Apiary Practical Examination is intended to be part of a stream that will lead to the Practical Beemaster's Certificate. The examination is designed to be less "academic" and there are no written examination papers; (it is not part of the Intermediate Certificate Examination).

The examination will take place in the candidate's own apiary and the Examiners will be two Federation Lecturers appointed by the Executive Council. The pass mark is 70%. 20% of the marks scored may be carried forward to the Practical Beemaster's Examination

The prerequisites for Intermediate Proficiency Apiary Practical Examination are: the Preliminary Certificate and at least three years' beekeeping experience satisfactory to the Education Board.

The present prerequisites for the Practical Beemaster's Certificate are the Preliminary Certificate and at least five years' beekeeping experience satisfactory to the Examination Board - in the future, an additional prerequisite will be the Intermediate Proficiency Apiary Practical Examination.

Practical Beemaster:

Preliminary Certificate and at least five years' beekeeping experience satisfactory to the Examination Board.

Honey Judge:

Intermediate and Practical Beemaster Certificates, successful showing, having obtained a minimum of 200 points at major shows and a record of stewarding under at least four FIBKA Honey Judges.

Lecturer:

Senior Certificate.

Provincial Examinations

Preliminary and Intermediate examinations will be held at provincial centres on the Saturday closest to May 24th. Please note that the minimum number of candidates for a Centre is ten, but this number may be a combination of Intermediate and Preliminary candidates provided that the number of Intermediate candidates actually sitting the examination is not less than five. Neighbouring associations may pool their candidates to reach this number.

A candidate may sit one Intermediate paper at the Provincial Examination and the other paper at the Summer Course.

The fees for all examinations are valid for the year of application only and are listed on the application forms which may be downloaded from this site.

In extreme cases, such as illness (a doctor's certificate must be provided), the examination fee may be held over for one year.

There are separate entry forms for the Provincial and Gormanston Summer School Examinations

Fees for Repeat Examinations are the same as for the original examination.

Applications to sit the Examinations should be sent to the Education Officer, before the closing dates given above for the Provincial Examinations (applications are however acceptable up to one week after the closing date on payment of a late entry fee which is equal to double the original fee) and before May 1st for the Summer Course Examinations

Applications for the Preliminary Examination are also accepted at the Summer Course.

Instructions for the Organisers of Provincial Examination Centres

Generally, the Local Examination Organiser is the Hon Secretary of the Association or a lecturer or someone deputed by the Association. The Local Examination Organiser is responsible for all the local exam arrangements.

The following are the main duties of the Local Examination Organisers.

1. The FIBKA examinations are carried out under the same strict rules as public examinations.
2. An up-to-date Provincial Application Form, which also lists the closing date and exam fees etc, is downloaded from the Federation web site, copied and given to the candidates to fill out; the completed Application Forms must be returned to the Education Officer well before the closing date: see 5 below. The local Organiser collects the exam fees, types the candidates' names (watch out for mistakes!), addresses and contact details into an Excel file obtained by e-mailing the Examinations Officer; please use the same format as the example provided and then return the file as an attachment by e-mail well before the closing date - this data-base file forms part of the examination record and will be used untouched by the Examinations Officer to print the certificates.
3. All applications for the Provincial Examinations shall be made via the Local Organiser. The Local Organiser of a Centre may allow candidates from other associations to sit the examination at his/her Centre; responsibility for all the examination arrangements and communication with the Education Officer rests with the Local Organiser of the Centre.
4. In the case of the Intermediate examination, the Practical paper and the Scientific paper will be examined at Provincial Centres in alternate years. For example, only the Scientific paper will be examined in May 2010 while only the Practical paper will be examined in 2011. A candidate may of course sit one paper at the Provincial examination and the other at the Summer Course.
5. If there are candidates sitting the Intermediate examination, make sure that these are clearly listed separately from the Preliminary candidates on the Excel sheet. The closing date is April 24th - however, the late closing date with a late application fee payable as indicated on the Application Form is, April 30th. Applications received after April 30th will not be accepted and will be returned. The candidates' signed Application Forms and the Excel sheet must be with the Education Officer by April 30th, who will post out the exam papers etc to the Local Organiser on May Day.
6. The Examinations Officer will send the examination papers and the apiary marks sheets to the Organiser in a sealed envelope. This envelope will also contain another wax sealed envelope enclosing the examination papers and a Declaration Form. The Declaration Form must be signed and witnessed on the day of the examination that the envelope containing the examination papers was opened not earlier than five minutes before the examination.
7. The local Organiser is responsible for arranging the exam hall, choosing the invigilators (who on the day of the examination will tick off the names of the candidates as being either present or absent), giving out the exam papers and answer books at the correct time.
8. On the advice of a local Federation Lecturer, the Organiser will appoint the practical apiary examiners and oversee the exam.
9. In due course all the exam material (scripts, apiary marks sheets and Declaration Form) is returned to the Examinations Officer.
10. After the Examination Board meeting the local Organiser will be sent the examination marks on the data base file by e-mail and he/she will inform the candidates of their results and will help with distributing the certificates to the successful candidates.

Past Papers:

Copies of these may be obtained from the Education Officer by e-mail

• five years' examination papers - €6

Preparing for the Examinations:

Candidates should study well in advance and consult the examination papers for the previous five years. Remember that the Summer Course alone is not an adequate preparation.

Candidates are advised to take only one paper per year. When answering questions they should stick clearly to the subject.

Candidates are warned that where writing of answers is illegible, the Examiner may refuse to award any marks.

A correspondence course for the intermediate and senior examinations is given by Mr John Cunningham, NatDipSc(Apic). E_mail : john3cunningham@hotmail.com

Applicants for the Senior/Beemaster Practical Apiary examination must present their apiary/hive record notebook, containing records for at least 3 years for inspection. They must also present evidence of queen rearing and of having exhibited at honey shows.

Pass Standard:

70% for all examinations except Honey Judge (75%)

Repeating Examinations:

Candidates repeating exams (there are no repeats of a paper in the same year as the original examination) need only repeat the part they failed, whether written or practical.

FIBKA Qualifications

Practical Beemaster's Certificate:

Successful candidates will be entitled to teach and examine beginners.

Senior Certificate:

The holder of this certificate is an expert beekeeper, competent to advise on all aspects of beekeeping and to teach modern methods. An application, currently under review, has been made for degree status under the HETAC system.

Lecturer's Certificate:

Holders will be known as Certified Federation Lecturers (C.F.L) of the FIBKA and their names will be placed on the panel of lecturers.

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Some details on the examination papers follow; however the level of the examinations can be better assessed from a study of past papers.

Preliminary:

20 questions, requiring short answers. Time 30 minutes.

Intermediate:

Paper A Practical - 6 questions. Time - three hours

Answer five questions.

The questions deal with the practical aspects of beekeeping

Paper B Scientific - 6 questions. Time - three hours

Answer five questions.

The questions deal with the scientific aspects of beekeeping.

Senior:

Paper A Practical - 6 questions. Time - three hours

Answer five questions.

The questions deal with the practical aspects of beekeeping

Paper B Scientific - 6 questions. Time - three hours

Answer five questions.

The questions deal with the scientific aspects of beekeeping.

Microscopy

There is a separate Practical Microscopy examination.

Apiary/Oral Examination

Preliminary:

Five parts 20% each part: Colony control, find eggs if present in hive, show worker larvae and answer a question on their natural history, find drone larvae and do the same, answer a question on adult bee diseases.

Senior:

The examination is held at the candidate's apiary by mutual arrangement, usually on a Saturday in June; there will be two Examiners. Apiary and Equipment 40%, Practical Beekeeping 40%, Hive Products and Plants 10%, General Topics 10%. As the Practical Syllabus is the same, holders of the Practical Beemaster certificate are exempted from this part of the examination.

Practical Beemaster:

The syllabus is the same as that for the Senior Practical.

• Apiary and Equipment 20%
• Practical Beekeeping 20%
• Oral under six headings (consult syllabus) - 10% each part

Lecturer:

Candidates will be examined by a panel of three Examiners, one of whom is the Senior Summer Course Lecturer.

Marking scheme:

• Lecture Content 30%
• Presentation 30%
• Visual Aids 10%
• Handling of questions 30%

Honey Judge:

Candidates must obtain at least 60% in each of the following five sections and 75% overall of the aggregate marks to pass the examination:

• Equipment, dress etc;
• samples and report; judging liquid and comb honey + one other class;
• judging other categories (oral interview);
• questions on syllabus,
• schedule and legal regulations.