All BJCP exam types have switched over to the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines as of November 1, 2015. Some updates about that are below. BJCP members administered over 1,400 exams in 2015.
BJCP Online Beer Entrance Exam
The Online Beer Entrance Exam is now only offered based on the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.
Exam Director Scott Bickham provided this update about revisions to the Online Beer Entrance Exam: The new questions were written to better closely match the style descriptions, and the grammar and punctuation errors were cleaned up to improve the readability and to make them easier to translated into other languages. A number of problem questions with either incorrect or ambiguous answers were either corrected or removed, so this should provide additional incentives to take the 2015 version of the BJCP Entrance exam. As noted in the previous update, questions on three historical styles (Roggenbier, London Brown Ale and Pre-Prohibition Lager) were removed, but new questions were added on styles in the European Sour Beer Category. The styles tested on the exam come from Categories 1-26; however there are currently no questions on the Specialty IPA since these styles have not yet proliferated to some parts of the US let alone our international judging community. We will add questions on these styles at some point, but will post a message on our website communicating the date when the new questions will be integrated into the exam.
BJCP Beer Written Proficiency Exam
The BJCP Exam Study Guide was updated to reflect the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines. Exam dates for the 2016 quarterly written proficiency exams are below. Any active exam grader may administer a quarterly written proficiency exam with no seat minimum. But, the exam must be registered at least six weeks before the exam date, and all fees must be submitted at least one month before the exam date or the site will be cancelled. A list of eligible quarterly exam administrators can be accessed here https://legacy.bjcp.org/apps/reports/graders.php. Graders can sign up to administer a quarterly exam by emailing exam_director@bjcp.org
- March 12, 2016
- May 7, 2016
- July 16, 2016
- October 23, 2016
BJCP Mead Exam
The BJCP Mead Exam changed format in November 2015 and now mirrors the structure of the Beer exams with an online entrance portion, the BJCP Mead Entrance Exam followed by a 6-mead tasting exam, the BJCP Mead Judging Exam. There is no mead equivalent of the Beer Written Proficiency Exam since the mead exam score does not determine a judge’s rank, so there is no need for advanced testing of mead judges. Updated mead exam materials will be online at bjcp.org soon.