I’ve posted several times about how to take the BJCP Taste Exam and recently Al Boyce posted a response on Facebook which is worth repeating. Al wrote the BJCP Exam For Dummies Guide which should be your starting point along with the Exam Study Guide if you are preparing for the exam. Here is what he said about the taste exam.
I want to forward a thought that many of you probably have already figured out. The BJCP Tasting Exam is NOT a homebrew competition. It’s checkers and chess – two different games. You need to write score sheets for the exam knowing your audience. NOT brewers, but BJCP Graders, who are grading your score sheets to criteria that have been set by BJCP Exam Administrators.
You STILL must know your beers, you STILL must know your beer troubleshooting. and you STILL must offer suggestions which state SPECIFICALLY how to improve the exam beers you taste. And for the really good score, you must WRITE it the way that the BJCP graders want to READ it.
This criteria is online on the BJCP website – it’s not a secret: Your score is based equally on five elements:
1* 20% on Scoring – how close did your total scores come to the proctors?
2* 20% on Completeness – did you cover all key words, fill the lines?
3* 20% on Description – did what you write help us “taste” the beer?
4* 20% on Perception – were your observations the same as the proctors?
5* 20% on Feedback – did you describe your enjoyment? Did you give SPECIFIC suggestions for improvement?OK, scoring is somewhat up to luck. But the WORST you can do on Scoring is 9 out of 20! IMO – if you do them correctly, you can get ALL the points on Description, Completeness, and Feedback describing a TOTALLY DIFFERENT BEER than what the proctors sampled!
Some specific hints:
1* Say something about EVERY key word beneath each major section.
2* Fill up the lines. (Shouldn’t be a problem, if you do #1 above.)
3* Use LEVELS in all of your descriptions. “Malty” is OK… but tell us if it’s high, low, or medium malty.
4* Use ROBUST language in your descriptions. Hint: “High Malty” is better than “Malty” – but “High roast maltiness” is better still.
5* Write objectively in the first four sections of the score sheet – only what you saw, smelled, tasted, felt, or heard from the beer.
6* Save the SUB-jective comments for the “overall section
7* Likewise save the suggestions for improvement for “overall” also.
8* Start “overall” with “This was a ___ beer.” Use the words in the scoring guide. Make sure the word you use MATCHES the score you gave!
9* Silly, but TOTAL your score correctly. Use a calculator.
10* Don’t forget to fill out the stylistic accuracy section.
11* Hint: The stylistic accuracy section should reflect your score.
12* “Gaming” the test usually doesn’t work. (ie. “This must be the “13” beer….”)Does writing this way make you a better beer judge? Not necessarily. But it will make you a better BJCP exam taker!
Finally, what Sandy C. said about “honing your skills and growing as a judge” – if you took the test 3 times in the last 3 months and got the same score, consider taking a year off from TESTING and concentrate on JUDGING. Try to get thrown into some mini-BOS’s and BOS’s, and when you’re sitting with high-ranking or well-respected judges – LISTEN, and ask to READ what they’ve written (when the round is over.)
Then go try it again.
EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS POINTS: If you’re National and trying to get to Master – BECOME A GRADER! Nothing reinforces what I’ve said about writing what a grader wants to read like READING them! That’s reading 12 exams per set, 6 beers each (72 SCORE SHEETS!!) in a critical fashion. (Critical in the good way.)
