The exam grading process, while not perfect, is very rigorous. Two National or higher-ranked judges grade each exam, and their scoring is reviewed by an Associate Exam Director and an Exam Director. These four volunteers have collectively graded thousands of BJCP exams.
The Exam Directors are always willing to discuss the exam results and clarify the feedback, but there are still rare occasions when an examinee believes that his or her assigned exam score is unreasonably low. In these cases, the examinee is entitled to file a protest using the process outlined below.
Note that historically, most protests do not result in significant increases to assigned scores and may result in a lower score.
How to File a Protest
An examinee not satisfied with his or her assigned score may file a protest with the Exam Director (ED) of record for the exam. This protest must be filed within three months of the exam scores being transmitted to the examinee and requires payment of a fee of US$20. The steps that need to be taken are:
- The protesting examinee initiates the process by sending an email to the ED of record for the exam. The name of the ED can be found at the bottom of the first page of the Report to Participant (RTP), and the email address of the ED can be found on the Officers page. The email must identify a basis for the protest, provide the date and location of the exam, and include the exam ID located at the top of the RTP.
- The ED will email a response to the examinee with a validation code that will be used to register and pay for the protest at http://bjcp.coursewebs.com/. This is the same third-party site that hosts the online Entrance exam, but in this case, it is only being used to process the US$20 fee. The examinee can use the same userid and password that was used to enroll in the online Entrance exams or can register with a new set of login credentials.
- The examinee and ED will both receive notifications that the registration is complete. The ED will then forward the protested exam to an independent ED (current or former) to conduct an external review and will notify the BJCP Exam Administrator that the exam has been protested.
- The primary ED will contact the protesting examinee to inform him or her that the process has been initiated and will also regrade the exam. The primary ED will copy the protesting examinee’s BJCP Regional Representative on all correspondence with the protesting examinee.
- The independent ED will grade the exam, assign a score, and, if appropriate, will prepare a new RTP.
- The primary ED will review the results of the independent ED’s review (RTP and score), as well as his/her own detailed assessment. If a new score is warranted, the primary ED will direct the BJCP Exam Administration team to change the score in the database and to reprocess the exam closeout for the protesting examinee, including transmitting the new RTP and score.
This process is generally completed within approximately two months. The score assigned to the exam as a result of the protest is final and cannot be changed. Should the protesting examinee have additional concerns, the protester should contact his or her BJCP Regional Representative.
Passed on 25 July 2016, Clarified 30 March 2020