Bourdon group dot tests

[Robnw67]

I am just practicing my bourdon group dot tests and I'm not doing very well. I did 5 pages of 15 lines each spending 2 minutes per page. For my first attempt I got 5 lines of the 45 correct.

Just how critical are these...?

 

[PickleTree]

I am just practicing my bourdon group dot tests and I'm not doing very well. I did 5 pages of 15 lines each spending 2 minutes per page. For my first attempt I got 5 lines of the 45 correct.

Just how critical are these...?

I think most people will agree that accuracy here is key. You will be told that speed and accuracy are just as important on the day but I got no further than 10-11 lines down with no errors and passed. Initially when you start practicing I would concentrate on making no mistakes and then start increasing your speed, remembering the accuracy part.

 

[GPR]

I done roughly 10-12 lines each page with minimal wrong and passed my assessment a month ago.
Practice is key.

 

[Liam00086]

I am just practicing my bourdon group dot tests and I'm not doing very well. I did 5 pages of 15 lines each spending 2 minutes per page. For my first attempt I got 5 lines of the 45 correct.

Just how critical are these...?

Like the others have said 10/12 lines fault free will get you a pass, this is probably the only test you can really practice for so you may as well.

 

[Robnw67]

Thanks for the replies. I'll carry on doing them, but maybe do them earlier in the day and in a quieter environment.

 

[richfoz84]

i failed last year as one section didn't have enough lines completed. I was told in some instances, speed is some times better than accuracy.. which i assume means if i was a few more lines down, with only 1 mistake, it may have faired better than no mistakes but not quite enough lines completed.

 

[CreamNCookies]

Thanks for the replies. I'll carry on doing them, but maybe do them earlier in the day and in a quieter environment.

I found doing the tests in all sorts of environments good for me.

Like I'd do it on the train when it was shaking, in the lunch room when people were talking and with music blaring. When it came to the tests I felt at ease almost.

But thats just me.

I also found that running my finger along the dots and the pencil just infront if my finger helped (if that makes any sense).

Thankfully i passed.

Ultimately youll find your own way.

 

[Louby]

just do an hour a night no more, you start off ok , get worse then get better, it's speed and accuracy they are looking for, you will be doing it in a quiet environment with just others doing the same round you

 

[Robnw67]

When doing the tests, I have to fight a natural urge to go from left to right on the first (odd) row, but then scan from right to left on the second (even) rows. Do you think this is causing me an issue? Should I always go right to left? I didn't think it would matter, but maybe so....

 

[fourandbov]

When doing the tests, I have to fight a natural urge to go from left to right on the first (odd) row, but then scan from right to left on the second (even) rows. Do you think this is causing me an issue? Should I always go right to left? I didn't think it would matter, but maybe so....

I'd always go left to right.

My understanding is that if you went right to left and say the furthest right was a four, if you marked that and then it was time to change page, any four's that were to the left of that on the row would be marked as omitted.

 

[CreamNCookies]

I'd always go left to right.

My understanding is that if you went right to left and say the furthest right was a four, if you marked that and then it was time to change page, any four's that were to the left of that on the row would be marked as omitted.

Excatly this!

 

[deepblue82]

I was very worried about this test in advance of my level 1. In practice if I pushed for 11 rows I was making 2-3 errors per sheet. If I worked to 9-10 rows I was getting 0-1 per sheet, occasionally 2.

I think on the test I think I did 10 rows each sheet and I am not sure of how many errors I made (though remember closing the sheet and seeing one missed right in the middle of the page!) but I passed to an enhanced standard. Steady pace, but accurate I would say and aiming to be consistent page to page.

ETA - I tried the left to right, right to left approach in practice thinking I could stich half way through the time on each sheet to just left to right but left too risky on the day and fairer to just go left to right and it was fine.

 

[Robnw67]

I was very worried about this test in advance of my level 1. In practice if I pushed for 11 rows I was making 2-3 errors per sheet. If I worked to 9-10 rows I was getting 0-1 per sheet, occasionally 2.

Interesting, I thought that all 15 rows had to be completed! When doing my practice, I am regularly completing only 10 rows and thought this would be really bad. Having said that, I am regularly only getting one or two rows accurate anyway. Do partial scores count? ie if I get 9 groups out of 10 on a row, do I get nine tenths of a credit or do I get zero for an inaccurate row?

 

[deepblue82]

I am not sure anyone knows but if you're get getting 15 rows in I would suggest slowing down and focusing on accuracy and aiming for minimal or zero omissions or errors per sheet.

I did one or two practice sheets with 0 errors across the 5 sheets but from memory was only doing 9 ish rows. I genuinely have no idea how they score them but I would say if you are getting to 15 rows but there are lots of errors on each page you are likely to fail.

Slow down, target less rows and more accuracy but sounds like you are doing pretty well to me (not sure id have got to 15 rows no matter how accurate I was!)

 

[Robnw67]

I am not sure anyone knows but if you get getting 15 rows in I would suggest slowing down and focusing on accuracy and aiming for minimal or zero omissions or errors per sheet. I did one or two practice sheets with 0 errors across the 5 sheets but from memory was only doing 9 ish rows. I genuinely have no idea how they score them but I would say if you are getting to 15 rows but there are lots of errors on each page you are likely to fail. Slow down, target less rows and more accuracy but sounds like you are doing pretty well to me (not sure id have got to 15 rows no matter how accurate I was!)

Thanks for your reply - I'm not able to do 15 rows. I'm regularly only getting 10 and from what you're saying this seems to be acceptable. I'm feeling a bit more positive about the quantity of rows that I can complete, if only I could get my accuracy up!

 

[Louby]

the test is not just speed and accuracy, it's also about following instructions, you are clearly told to go left to right, if you don't instant fail

 

[BoroAndy]

I've printed off some sheets but they have many more than 15 rows, or is it landscape? So how many should there be rows x columns?

 

[Jon1930]

Interesting, I thought that all 15 rows had to be completed! When doing my practice, I am regularly completing only 10 rows and thought this would be really bad. Having said that, I am regularly only getting one or two rows accurate anyway. Do partial scores count? ie if I get 9 groups out of 10 on a row, do I get nine tenths of a credit or do I get zero for an inaccurate row?

I think you're overthinking way too much, none of us know how they mark the exam paper, like someone else said try and achieve 10-12 lines on each page with ideally zero mistakes and you will achieve enhanced pass. I did about 10-11 per page and passed.

 

[Robnw67]

I think you're overthinking way too much, none of us know how they mark the exam paper, like someone else said try and achieve 10-12 lines on each page with ideally zero mistakes and you will achieve enhanced pass. I did about 10-11 per page and passed.

Yes, thanks for the information. I tried this last night and my accuracy was much improved. I thought that all lines had to be completed and hence I rushed. I tried what you and a couple of other commenters suggested and my accuracy has much improved.

 

[Robnw67]

I've printed off some sheets but they have many more than 15 rows, or is it landscape? So how many should there be rows x columns?

The ones that I found are landscape 25 columns by 15 columns. These are the ones that I am doing: https://traineetraindriverinfo.com/...merce_uploads/2013/12/Mock-Assesment-Copy.pdf

I hope it's ok to post this here. The website does say they are free and it's in the public domain. No copyright infringement intended.

 

[andyccfc]

I have been practicing on and off for my stage one in a couple of weeks, getting 10 lines consistently but one or two mistakes creeping in. Cut those out and i hope i will be ok on the day as you tend to really lock in your concentration in a real test environment which is hard to reproduce at home.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

My advice would be to use both the paper and computer versions of the test if you can - the latter is harder in my opinion, and limit the amount of practice to a max of 30 mins in any one session or you'll start to make mistakes.

 

[Jon1930]

You will pass no problem, the dots test paper you print off from online is harder as the gaps between the dots are close, on the assessment day the gaps between each set of dots are much bigger making it much easier.