• Home Page
• The Association
• The Laboratories
• Legislation
• Free Information
• Training Section
• Related Sites
• Contact Points

M.Chem.A. Candidates and Counsellors Seminar

A seminar for M.Chem.A Candidates and Counsellors was held at county hall in Durham on 3rd April. The event was organised by Alan Richards at the Durham lab with the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The event was well attended and was judged as a useful and informative meeting. It was an opportunity for candidates to meet the examiners and hear what their strategies are for setting the examination questions and what standard of answers that are expected. This seems to cause some difficulty for a few candidates in that it's a post graduate qualification but it's often the first time for many years that they have been in an examination environment. The situation is made worse by the fact that there is no specific training course for the wide ranging syllabus.

The day began with a presentation by Martin Godfray on the role of the Counsellor and was followed by a discussion led by Paul Hancock, a member of APA training committee and MChemA candidate. Presentations were then heard from Alan Richards (chief examiner) on how the questions are set and approved by the Board and Duncan Campbell (examiner) who talked about the requirements for the portfolio of evidence that must be provided by all candidates prior to sitting Part C of the examination. The meeting concluded after a useful question and answer session.

A short tour of the Durham laboratory followed the lunch.

It was suggested at the end of the meeting that it might be worthwhile for a short presentation on the examination to be given at this year's conference to try and bolster support for this vital qualification.

M.Chem.A. Candidates and Counsellors at the Durham Seminar.

The Seminar Poster.