Examination Handbook & Regulations

Preparation for the Examinations

Success in all SMC examinations calls for an understanding of the theories governing optics including optical manufacturing and optical practice.

It is entirely a matter of personal choice how those wishing to acquire an SMC qualification prepare themselves for the examination. Some candidates may feel that the experience that they have gained through their employment is sufficient preparation. Others however, may feel they require preparatory training.

As the SMC awards are accredited national qualifications, those requiring preparatory training can apply to their Local Learning and Skills Council (LLSC) for help in meeting the cost of that training. Please be advised, however, that LLSCs have total discretion as to which training programmes they will support within their areas.

For those with no local source of training, the SMC's Training Committee runs a series of year-long correspondence courses, starting in September/October and January/February. Each course involves a student in the completion of worksheets & their regular submission to a tutor, who will mark it and return it with comments. Full details may be obtained from:

The Administrator
The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers
Apothecaries' Hall
Black Friars Lane
London EC4V 6EL

Tel: 020 7236 8645 or 2932
Fax: 020 7329 3249
email: administrator@spectaclemakers.com

For those who wish, the Awarding Body is able to provide some past examination papers on payment of £10 (plus p&p) per paper.

However, these must NOT be taken as any form of indication of what candidates themselves may be confronted with when they sit an examination. The examiners will expect them to be able to answer questions based on the entire range of a syllabus, and reserve the right to alter the format of future papers without notice.

Language

The WCSM conducts all of its assessment (examinations) in English.

Examination Regulations for Candidates

(ANY BREACH OF THESE REGULATIONS MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION)

Registration of Students

SMC examinations will be advertised in Optician, Optometry Today and Dispensing Optics three months in advance. Potential candidates will be invited to apply to the SMC Office for a registration form within the next four weeks. Such forms will automatically be sent to those known to the Office to be on a course of preparatory training.

All application forms should be returned, with payment for the examination fee, to the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall by no later than two months before the date of the examination. Whilst late applications may be accepted, failure to meet that deadline may result in candidates' choice of venue being severely curtailed.

Each form will require the candidate to certify that he has received a copy of this handbook, and that he or she has read and understood the regulations governing SMC examinations.

Claims for Reasonable Adjustments

The Awarding Body will look sympathetically on all requests for reasonable adjustments to its examinations from those with disabilities or other impairments, such as sufferers of dyslexia and those confined to wheel chairs, and will do everything practicable within the prevailing circumstances to facilitate their sitting of the examination without additional charge.

Such claims should be submitted to the SMC Office with the application to sit the examination, and be accompanied by proof of the disability or impairment in the form of a medical practitioner's certificate and, where appropriate, a certificate from the employer. The contact details are displayed on the front cover of this pamphlet.

Claims will be considered and assessed by the Awarding Body, who will respond to the candidate(s) concerned within 2 weeks.

Written Examinations

Arrival at the Examination Venue

Candidates should arrive at the examination centre at least 15 minutes prior to the examinations' published start time, but wait outside until called in by the invigilators. Before entry, they may be asked by the Chief Invigilator to provide proof of identity in the form of, e.g., a valid passport or photo-driving licence, or to commit their signature to a named list for authentication.

Those who arrive at the examination Centre more than 30 minutes after an examination has started will be denied entry. Those who arrive up to 30 minutes late may be permitted to sit the examination, but will not be given any extra time at the end to complete it.

If more than one written examination is being undertaken simultaneously, the papers will be set out in alternate rows. Candidates should therefore listen carefully to the instructions given by the invigilators to ensure that they know exactly where they may sit.

After entering the examination room, candidates may not speak to anyone except the invigilators.

Coats, bags and cases are to be left at the front or back of the room as directed.

Mobile telephones

All mobile phones to be left switched off OUTSIDE the examination room, and left with coats and bags at one end of the room as directed by the invigilators. Anyone caught in possession of one during the examination will have his or her script annotated at that point, and no marks will be awarded for questions already answered. Anyone detected using a mobile telephone during the course of the examination will be totally disqualified.

Conduct during the Examination

• Candidates are not allowed to bring any books or paper into the examination room. All rough work is to be carried out using the pages provided in the examination script booklet.
• Candidates must bring their writing implements into the examination room in a clear plastic bag. Pencil cases or boxes are not permitted.
• Candidates are to provide their own calculators. These must be of the non-programmable type, and should be removed from their case.
• Apart from the examination paper, writing materials and calculator, candidates must have nothing on their desk.
• As the clock in the examination room may not be visible from all desks, candidates should wear a watch, and ensure that is synchronised with that of the Chief Invigilator.
• Candidates are not to touch or turn over their examination paper(s) until given permission to do so by the invigilators.
• Communication or attempted communication with any other candidate will automatically result in disqualification.
• If a candidate wishes to speak to an invigilator, he or she should raise a hand and wait.
• Candidates must not leave their desks without permission from the invigilators.
• Candidates are to make sure that they have crossed out any rough work that is not to be marked.
• No candidate may leave the examination room within the first hour of an examination.
• A candidate wishing to leave after that time, but before the examination is due to end, should raise a hand and wait until an invigilator has taken and checked his or her papers and given permission to leave. He or she should then leave quietly, and avoid disturbing the other candidates.
• No candidate will be permitted to leave during the last 10 minutes of the examination.
• Candidates leaving the examination room early are not to congregate immediately outside. They are to move well clear of the area before talking to one another.

Conduct at the end of the Examination

When the invigilator tells them to stop writing, candidates are to lay down their pens/pencils immediately. They are then to wait in their seats until all papers have been collected, and the invigilators have given them permission to leave.

Since there may be more than one examination in progress at the same time, and they may not all finish simultaneously, those whose examination is over should leave quietly out of consideration for those who are still completing their papers.

Online Examinations

The examinations for the Level 2 Certificate in Optical Practice Support and the Level 2 Certificate in Optical Production Processes are now available online at the same date and time as the respective written versions. They can be completed at the candidate's place of work under the supervision of a suitably qualified professional, who must be approved by the WCSM prior to the examination taking place. Candidates wishing to take an examination in this manner should complete the application form giving their own details and those of the proposed supervisor and return it to the WCSM no later than the advertised final date for submission of applications. The candidate will be required to provide a passport style photograph for endorsement by the supervisor. This can be a photocopy of a passport, driving licence or similar id photograph.

Candidates will be required to log in for the examination within 30 minutes of the advertised start time. Later access will be denied.

After the examination, the supervisor will be required to:

1. Confirm that the nominated candidate completed the examination unaided and without recourse to any reference books, notes or external assistance of any sort.
2. Confirm that the candidate did not use a mobile phone nor have one in their possession for the duration of the examination.
3. Endorse the photograph of the candidate with their signature.
4. Return both the signed authentication certificate and the photograph to the WCSM. Failure to do so will nullify the result.

The WCSM will arrange for unannounced verifiers to visit a random number of online examination venues while the examinations are being held. If a verifier discovers that the conditions described above were not being met, the candidate will be disqualified.

Requests for Special Consideration

As notified above, a candidate who arrives at an examination venue more than 30 minutes after the start of the examination will be denied entry. Similarly, a candidate who fails to log in for an online assessment within 30 minutes of the start time will be excluded. If the Awarding Body subsequently judges that there were mitigating circumstances, it may, after reviewing the evidence, allow the candidate to sit the examination at the next available opportunity free of charge. Requests for such consideration must be lodged at the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall within 7 days of the examination, together with as much supporting evidence as is available.

A candidate who attends and completes the examination on time, but feels that his or her performance was impaired by a unforeseen and unforeseeable change in personal circumstances occurring over 48 hours before the examination that seriously affected his or her ability to prepare for it, may petition the Awarding Body within 7 days after the examination. Such a petition must be accompanied by supporting evidence, including where appropriate, documentation from the employer and/or GP

Receipt of a request for special consideration will be acknowledged immediately, and the Awarding Body will endeavour to provide a definitive response within a month, and preferably alongside publication of the examination results.

A candidate who is prevented for illness or other circumstances beyond his or her control from sitting an examination will be allowed to resit it at no additional cost at the next scheduled opportunity. The SMC does not make aegrotat awards.

Enquiries

An enquiry concerning the WCSM's examination procedures and policies should be addressed to the Company's Administrator, whose contact details appear on the front cover of this pamphlet. It is the Awarding Body's policy to reply to such enquiries within a month.

Enquiries about examination results must be lodged with the Awarding Body within one month of the date shown on the letter notifying those results. They will be acknowledged immediately with a request for a fee, and a definitive answer given within one month of receipt of that fee, which will be refunded should the enquiry show the Awarding Body to have been at fault.

Where the outcome of an enquiry brings into question the accuracy of other results, the Awarding Body will take immediate steps to protect the interests of all candidates who sat the paper in question by reviewing their results in the light of findings on that enquiry.

Complaints

A student (or an employer) who wishes to complain about some aspect of the SMC's administration and/or assessment procedures, whether the perceived error be one of omission or commission, should submit the complaint in writing (giving as much detail as possible) to the Company's Office in Apothecaries' Hall, as soon as he or she feels aggrieved.

It is the Company's policy that a definitive answer will be given to each complaint within a month of all the facts being established.

Appeals

An appeal against examination results must set out the grounds for the appeal clearly and in detail, and should be lodged with the Company's Office in Apothecaries' Hall within a month of the date shown on the letter notifying the student of his or her result. The full contact details will be shown on the letterhead conveying the results, and are repeated on the front cover of this pamphlet. Where the appeal arises out of dissatisfaction with the Awarding Body's response to an enquiry, then it must be lodged within two week's of the date of that response.

The Appeal will be acknowledged immediately, with a request for a fee, and a definitive reply sent with a month of receipt of that fee. The fee will be refunded if the appeal is upheld.

In the first instance, appeals will be referred to the Chief Examiner concerned and then to the Moderation Group. If the candidate is not satisfied with their response the matter will then be referred to the Company's Professorial Committee, who will include two independent arbiters in their deliberations. If the appellant is still not satisfied, the appeal will be referred to a totally independent review panel, whose findings will be considered final. Again, in each case, the Company will aim to respond within a month.

Where the outcome of an appeal brings into question the accuracy of other results, the Awarding Body will take immediate steps to protect the interests of all candidates who sat the paper in question by reviewing their results in the light of findings on that appeal.

Notification of Results

The Company's examinations are held in June and December, and the Company will endeavour to promulgate results by the end of July and January respectively.