Janna and Nick

I found this on the Aussiemove website and was originally posted on the Pomz in Oz website.

Hopefully this will help those of you in the april practicals! Good luck to you all and feedback on here would be great so future candidates will have the benefit of your experiences!

The Electrician practical is in london not birmingham, but hopefully will be very similar to this!


I found this on Pomz in Oz written by one of the guys who Geoff sat his assessment with. I thought it might be helpful for anyone due to sit the practical

Practical Assessment
If you are due to do a practical electrician assessment with VETASSESS, it will take place in City College, Birmingham, and will be over 2 days. It is your responsibility to find accomodation in Birmingham (I did £49 Holiday Inn Express)!
A practical assessment is outlined, and you are provided with an individual work bay in the college. You are provided with info on what is required -ie cables run in conduit (saddle bends etc), surface mounted, distribution board, accessories etc. All materials are provided (eg switches, cable, d/b,mcb's, conduit). At the end (allowed 3hrs) you will need to test the electrical installation (IR and continuity), record results, and finally make the inst. live. I recommend you take your IR/Cont tester (make sure it's calibrated!).
After a brief lunch, you are then given a 3 page written test, and this covers questions such as resistors in parallel, series, units of measurements etc. The type of thing you learn at college....
There are another series of practicals. One of them is to wire a DOL starter from scratch with a remote on and emergency stop. After completion and working, a fault is made on this, and you have to carry out full test proceedures to rectify.
After all this, you are then given a series of technical questions verbally, and then this is followed by a technical interview.
I was absolutely knackered at the end!!
Everything is explained very well to you by the assessor. You are under constant supervision, and throughout the practical assessment you will be asked technical questions, such as expected readings on inspection and testing work, expected earth fault loop readings etc. This is from memory, and you are not allowed any books such as BS7671 on site guide etc.
You are required to wear PPE clothing etc as required by the college.
You will then find out if you have been successful by receipt of letter from Vetassess. The assessor is not able to provide you with the outcome.

It's worth all the hastle, because at the end of the day you are assessed here and not in Oz, and you are able to apply for provisional licence when you arrive in Oz. The assessor is from Box Hill TAFE, which is one of the organisations that carries out assessments of migrants in Oz.

Porter

nice find and reminds me of the bad old 1988 AM2 days

moriarty711

That sounds just like the AM2 in 1989! I did mine in Box Hill too.
I may have to get a book or two out.

Janna and Nick

This is a link to another thread

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519412

Some useful info about the practicals in April. Format etc.

docgp

Straight from vetassess SAMPLE INFORMATION

1 From a given specification design, carry out and complete a functioning light
and power installation within a specified time frame using safe working
techniques

2 From a diagram design, connect and fault find a direct on line (DOL) starter
and three phase motor circuit

3 Write answers to questions on a variety of topics including but not limited to:
o electrical units
o conversion of electrical units
o conductors and insulators
o identification of electrical symbols
o simple electrical problems using Ohm’s Law

4 Use a variety of test instruments including insulation and resistance testers and digital meters to test a given installation, verify compliance or noncompliance
and record results.

5 Perform a disconnect/reconnect of electrical equipment safely

Doc

docgp

on the vetassess practical you have to

1, wire a two way lighting circuit in pvc/pvc with the strappers in pvc conduit and singles

2, wire a radial socket in pvc conduit and singles

3, connect both circuits in to the DB

4, cross bond to the water pipe in 6mm cpc

should take a couple of hours to do this.

during the day you will be asked to do three tasks these are

1, wire a DOL starter with two start and two stop buttons using links on a board.

2, perform a safe isolation and disconnect, inns res test the heater and reconnect and safe renstate power

3, wire resistors in parrallel and series and perform tests measuring voltage and current, again using links

there is a theory exam in the morning on resistors, power factors and loads

18 questions which are multi guess, its quite a shock first thing in the morning but you have plenty of time to answer them

good luck to all who take it

doc

The_Pom_From_Aus

Janna and Nick;

when you get to Australia you will only have the supervised license then you must do a course about 12 weeks 1 night per week for the pre A class exams that license allows you to perform work unsupervised.
Now then Box Hill Tafe is in victoria about 25 mins drive from our place a decent Tafe (College). The exams are horrendous in Victoria.
Its all changed now the exams used to be done in the 1 day all done & dusted.
But now they are in modules meaning it all cost more money to do them all.

example 1st module installing & testing of a small installation, just some tray or conduit in a work booth then testing of the installation it SHALL fail but if you do the pre course at the tafe you will be fine.
Then there is a disconnection & reconnect of an appliance its a structured way of doing it fail that you fail the lot.

Then another module on another day you must find 5 faults looking in a switchboard through a perspex window thats not to bad when you know what your looking for But once you find the faults you must write them down then also find the wiring rules (Regs) for the faults.

Then another module, you will be shown a small installation (Eg) 3 walls 1 may be a stud wall find the exposed faults in the stud wall, the the wall facing you find more defects if you know the wiring rules you will be fine, things like a galv conduit coming from a sub board to say a cooker outlet there is an earth cable (bond) on the conduit at the bottom of the galv cond the bond should be at the closest to the switchboard.

There may be an earth rod, the fault there will be the exposed copper cable on the CPC Must be sprayed so no oxydise can occur if you see copper then write it down then find all wiring rules for the faults.

Then another module, you must do a 3 hour written exam, again wiring rules then you get a schematic drawing you must find 5 faults + wiring rules if you write more faults you loose points.????

then there are cable calcs (volt drop) cable selections & if the question has rewirable fuses then there are de rating tables to take account of. It gets worse.

More calculations for faults coming in on the line resistors in series then parallel to end up with 1 resistor to find the current in the circuit then find the volt drop on the line.

Then max demand i can tell you now it will be an industrial or commercial max demand the problem here is people think of domestic it WONT be the max demand is completely different for industrial of commercial, but once you get your head round the max demand its very easy.???

MEN this is where you connect the neutral & earth bars at the switchboard then you install a earth rod outside the building domestic/commercial/ industrial this is the main earth.

1.

Safe Working Practice for Electricians Assessment (SWP) - 35 minutes
SWP tests your ability to safely disconnect then reconnect a piece of electrical equipment.
2.

Licensed Electrician Theory Assessment (LET) - 2 hours
The theory tests a broad range of knowledge

Licensed Electrician Practical Assessment (LEP) - 3 hours
The LEPA is a practical test in four parts: wiring a meter box and switchboard, MEN system testing, identifying visual defects and testing an installation.

You must pass all three LEA assessments within three years of your first sitting.

All assessments have a minimum pass mark of 75% to pass
here is the present cost

Safe Working Practice (SWP) $120

Licensed Electrician Theory (LET) $80

Licensed Electrician Practice (LEP) $180

LEA Paper Review $50 (if you stuff up) the instructors are a set of morons they wont help you at all i can assure you of that


download the example test paper from
http://www.epicitb.com/electroskills/lea.htm

This is a word document
LET Sample Exam

best of luck to you all, i hope its not frightened you, but please make sure you are switched on with the wiring rules, the faults board is OK i can point you in the right direction there for the 5 faults also can give some advice on the faults on the switchboard also can help with procedure of disconnect & reconnect.

regards

arthur

shar07

Thanks Arthur you are sooo helpful, my OH has just done the Vetassess test and he is dreading doing the A licence when we finally get to oz. We are hopefully going to Perth so may ask you more questions nearer the time if that is okay. Shar

Janna and Nick

Thanks Arthur, What a post ! That must have taken you ages to write. Very useful info so thank you for that!

Like Sharon said, we may have to bug you nearer the time.

The_Pom_From_Aus

shar07;

you will find the exams different in perth, somewhat easier ive been told also the instructors are more human.???

From memory the prac test in perth may be a small installation like 2 way lighting, also ive been told you may have to find faults on ovens of irons there are set procedures for testing & fault finding ask people in perth they will know more.

however you will also have to do cable calcs, did you look at the example test paper on the vic site i posted, the questions and very typical british where the information is over kill once you extract the info you need its not to bad.

Now then the best place to do the exams are South Australia, get in touch with wendy on here she is a good friend and very switched on she can give you all heaps of info.


if you need help just ask or P/M me.

regards

The_Pom_From_Aus

Janna and Nick;

may i ask what state do you intend to reside in, also when you do your paperwork make lots of copies get them certified & dated then they are "legal" documents.

remember this the people who shall be doing your application are ONLY pen pushers they have no idea of what your trade is. so this is what you do every tool you have ever used write it down every piece of equipment you install list it all even if only once, list all cables installed all trunkings (Duct here) all conduits pvc of steel. all switchboards 1 phase & 3 phase all circuit breakers, sub-boards you should now be getting the drift of it all.

I can recommend you make it all look like a CV (Resume) it make it easier to read if every tool used is listed & every piece of gear used explain what its all used for then you have a fighting chance.
can you get letters from past employers & present ones if not then make a stat dec have it signed by a police officer or JP thats all they need if you dont have letters.

The easier you make things the people dont your application the better chance you have, again they have NO or little idea of what you do or have done in the past.

your C&G wont be worth a toss here sorry to say, every person migrating & who wants to work in the electrical field must do the A Class license regardless or what state your living in.

regards

The_Pom_From_Aus

Janna and Nick;

i forgot to mention you may want to look at the qualification of Electrical Mechanic thats the best to get you can work unsupervised where electrical fitter may be limiting to panel wiring only

Janna and Nick

Hi Arthur, we are thinking of moving to Perth. Although not 100% certain of that yet. I suppose we are waiting until we have to make the decision before we do!

Your posts are a fantastic source of information. Thank you!

I think we are almost ready to submit our assessment application so hopefully that will be a positive result... now the hard work starts on the visa application......

The_Pom_From_Aus

Janna and Nick;
may i ask does your hubby intend to work for a company or is he intending to work for him self, if its the latter once he has the A class license then he shall have to do the Electrical Contractors license another 12 weeks in the evenings at Tafe (College). that will set you back about $600.00 or so maybe even more now, the he will have to get Insurance with cover of a minimum of $5,000.000.00 (5 million) again costing about $500.00 per year NON tax refundable so he would have to factor that into any quotes he does.

There are lots of trade people here who run small businesses & who do very well some sparks will only do house bashing some cant install 3 phase equipment due to lack on knowledge or lack of hands on skills even though some are A class holders.
But thats there problem i find most UK sparks are very good all round im not saying that because im from the UK but thats life.

he wont need his Pyro Tools at all all emergency rated cables are RED & rated to stand heat for 60 mins in a fire of 1000C, seems strange but thats what they do.

when he is on site he will be horrified at the standard of work by others 99% of people use PVC conduit thats fine but the manner in which its installed leaves nothing to be desired by real sparks, as rough as Guts i would say.

Anyway he will see for himself when you get here there are some very good Australian sparks here just like bad ones.

i was looking at that example exam from the Victorian website the schematic drawing where you have to find 4 faults is very interesting i found 3 out of 4 and the 4th one im not to sure of.

all the best

regards
Arthur