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| Doctor Alan Woollhead practicing for his General Husbandry exam |
As someone who started the exam journey with Alan, I can tell you that it is a long path to getting the Master Beekeeper qualification.
First, you have to take the 'Basic' assessment. This is a good exam for all beekeepers to take after a couple of years beekeeping. You demonstrate practical skills to an examiner and answer a few questions about disease recognition.
Then it is onto the 'module' exams. There are seven, one and a half hour written exams on a variety of beekeeping topics such as 'Pests and Diseases', 'Biology' and 'Behaviour'. Once you have passed 4, you gain the 'Intermediate Theory Certificate'. When you have all 7 you gain the 'Advanced Theory Certificate'.
Then back to the practical exams. The General Husbandry Exam is my bete-noir and where I have stalled! You have to take two examiners to your apiary, show them your extraction facilities, colonies and bee breeding setup, whilst answering questions on any topic of the written exams.
Alan passed the General Husbandry last year, and then just one more to go ... the Advanced Husbandry, which includes an inspection of a colony you have never seen before and a presentation to an audience.
Just in case that was too easy, Alan also decided to add an extra practical exam to his collection, with 'Beekeeping Microscopy' while he was doing the modules!
Congratulations to you from all of us at NEWBKA
Tim
If you are interested in going down the exam path, there are several of us who have completed the Advanced Theory Certificate in NEWBKA with several more who are in the process of taking exams who might be interested in putting study groups together. For details about the BBKA exam structure, which is in the process of changing slightly from the structure I described above, have a look at https://www.bbka.org.uk/general-help