UK Qualifying Exams held successfully online for the first time

Candidates for the Patent Examination Board’s 2020 Qualifying Examinations took them remotely for the first time during the week of 12-16 October.

617 candidates took their Foundation and Finals examinations on a computer and uploaded their answer scripts to the purpose-designed PEBX system. Designated Contacts in firms managed the exam invigilation for 217 candidates. The candidates who sat their exams at home were invigilated by PEB invigilators in Zoom rooms.

Once approval was granted by IPReg, PEB planned and successfully delivered the online examinations in less than 16 weeks. There is still considerable work to be done before the March results issue, including examiner standardisation, marking, results awarding and results processing.

PEB will shortly be inviting candidates and Designated Contacts to provide feedback on this year’s examinations. The outcomes of these surveys will help determine whether PEB asks IPReg to approve the online model for future examination sessions.