Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
May 4th 2014, 1:43 am
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2013
Location: melbourne
Posts: 12
Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi guys
Booked in for future skills assessment at the end of the month, been searching around for info and keep finding old threads has anyone taken this assessment recently as times change and exam may be slightly different, also some advice what to revise and best study material to use.
Thanks
Elton
Booked in for future skills assessment at the end of the month, been searching around for info and keep finding old threads has anyone taken this assessment recently as times change and exam may be slightly different, also some advice what to revise and best study material to use.
Thanks
Elton
May 5th 2014, 10:02 am
#2
Just Joined
Joined: Feb 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 20
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi,
I did mine in Tottenham last October. The written is pretty easy to be honest. No heavy stuff. Just common sense H&S plus ohms law, resistance in parallel and some basic volt drop calcs,that sort of thing. Just go over your old college notes and you will be fine.
The prac is straight forward, all radials, one to a spur for a HW tank, another radial to something, two power circuits and a two way light circuit. Remember to do all your dead testing (r1 r2, IR, continuity) as you go, i.e before you make off everything, spurs, sockets etc. You are given a work sheet book to fill in your results as you go. You then do your live tests later under supervision, as the instructor has to switch the juice on.
You need to learn how to draw a DOL control diagram, with the hold on contact. You then use this drawing to wire one up, you have to wire to a remote start stop as well as the start and stop on the dol. The DOL we were given had pre wired links in it, which you had to use. This threw everyone, if you get this, just stick to your drawing and put a connector block on the wire coming from your stop in the dol, to make it longer to connect into the remote stop, and come back through the start. That may sound confusing the way I've written it , so your best getting some gear from the wholesalers and practicing it if your not used to doing them.
You will do safe isolation, checking tester on proving unit before and after etc... AM 2 kind of thing.
You just have to keep an eye on the time, wear a watch if you have one, I didn't and you're not allowed to look at your phone so I was constantly concerned about how much time there was left.
The instructors are good, they just want to see you know what your doing and you are compitent, they know you will make a few mistakes and even thought they wont give you the answer, they will nudge you in the right direction.
Hope this helps.
I did mine in Tottenham last October. The written is pretty easy to be honest. No heavy stuff. Just common sense H&S plus ohms law, resistance in parallel and some basic volt drop calcs,that sort of thing. Just go over your old college notes and you will be fine.
The prac is straight forward, all radials, one to a spur for a HW tank, another radial to something, two power circuits and a two way light circuit. Remember to do all your dead testing (r1 r2, IR, continuity) as you go, i.e before you make off everything, spurs, sockets etc. You are given a work sheet book to fill in your results as you go. You then do your live tests later under supervision, as the instructor has to switch the juice on.
You need to learn how to draw a DOL control diagram, with the hold on contact. You then use this drawing to wire one up, you have to wire to a remote start stop as well as the start and stop on the dol. The DOL we were given had pre wired links in it, which you had to use. This threw everyone, if you get this, just stick to your drawing and put a connector block on the wire coming from your stop in the dol, to make it longer to connect into the remote stop, and come back through the start. That may sound confusing the way I've written it , so your best getting some gear from the wholesalers and practicing it if your not used to doing them.
You will do safe isolation, checking tester on proving unit before and after etc... AM 2 kind of thing.
You just have to keep an eye on the time, wear a watch if you have one, I didn't and you're not allowed to look at your phone so I was constantly concerned about how much time there was left.
The instructors are good, they just want to see you know what your doing and you are compitent, they know you will make a few mistakes and even thought they wont give you the answer, they will nudge you in the right direction.
Hope this helps.
May 8th 2014, 8:16 am
#3
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Joined: Sep 2013
Location: melbourne
Posts: 12
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Thanks heaps for that I will get my head down do some refresh an walk in with what I need to no now you give me that info 
Jun 3rd 2014, 5:32 am
#4
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Joined: Sep 2013
Location: melbourne
Posts: 12
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Just to let I passed today in Brisbane thanks for the heads up whaleshark some amazing help on this forum, I will be doing a post when I get chance with all the info on what was involved in the day to help other people get a good idea what to expect
Jun 4th 2014, 11:53 am
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 40
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
I did a post last year on the future skills exam, I'm not to sure how to link it to this thread but maybe search my name or click on my name. There's so much good info on this site... Good luck.
Jun 5th 2014, 8:21 am
#6
MODERATOR
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 29,851
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
I sat the exam recently with Future Skills International and was going to post on here with regards to what the exam consisted of. I was super nervous before the exam and spent a lot of my time researching this thread before taking it.
Firstly the exam is nowhere near as intense as I thought the to assessors were both very helpful, although not giving you the answers to any questions they tended to push you in the right way.
The day consisted of 3 sections. A two hour theory exam, drawing a schematic and then wiring a DOL starter with an emergency stop and then second fixing a basic domestic setup with DB.
1. The DOL starter. This was the most worrying section for me but after all the research i had done it really wasn't that difficult. Make sure you know how to draw the schematic for a DOL starter three phase motor including the thermal overload and then also know how to draw the control circuit with thermal overload, emergency stop, stop and start. Someone on here explains exactly how to do this in very simple terms (follow that). Then you just need to wire the control circuit which if you revise you should be fine. After completing this you are asked to carry out the safe isolation procedure to isolate the 'faulty motor' they gave me a step by step guide of how to do this. I then had to do an IR test on the motor (remember to remove links between the windings as it's a star set-up). I then had to safely turn it all back on.
2. 'The dreaded theory.' This again wasn't too bad although I did need the full two hours. It's split into three section, 1 electrical knowledge 2. Health and Safety 3. Electrical theory. Revise everything found within this thread. A few questions on the differences between AC/DC, what are the advantages of using AC over DC for transmission etc. A few fault questions. Ohm's law is covered a few times as is I*V=W oh and voltage in DC parellel/series. A lot of questions that any spark should know like tools used on site and how to use safely. Then a couple of maths questions chucked in at the end all these had the equations but i'm not sure if they give everyone the same exam sheets.
3. The domestic practical. Firstly you have to select the correct cable to use and breaker, so just revise cable selection a bit. They do give you all the tables you will need. All I had to do was second fix a couple of switches, sockets, one cooker point, a fluorescent light with a one-way switch and then a DB. It was literally all wired for me. You then have to do all the dead test on the circuits. Following that you have a fault scenario which again was just a reverse polarity fault (remember they may change this every exam).
Like I said I was super nervous but found it all went well. I think any spark who does this exam and revises first should be fine.
If anyone reading this has any questions please don't hesitate to PM me. This site have been invaluable to me and I would like to put something back into it.
I hope this is of some help to you.
P.s I PASSED
Firstly the exam is nowhere near as intense as I thought the to assessors were both very helpful, although not giving you the answers to any questions they tended to push you in the right way.
The day consisted of 3 sections. A two hour theory exam, drawing a schematic and then wiring a DOL starter with an emergency stop and then second fixing a basic domestic setup with DB.
1. The DOL starter. This was the most worrying section for me but after all the research i had done it really wasn't that difficult. Make sure you know how to draw the schematic for a DOL starter three phase motor including the thermal overload and then also know how to draw the control circuit with thermal overload, emergency stop, stop and start. Someone on here explains exactly how to do this in very simple terms (follow that). Then you just need to wire the control circuit which if you revise you should be fine. After completing this you are asked to carry out the safe isolation procedure to isolate the 'faulty motor' they gave me a step by step guide of how to do this. I then had to do an IR test on the motor (remember to remove links between the windings as it's a star set-up). I then had to safely turn it all back on.
2. 'The dreaded theory.' This again wasn't too bad although I did need the full two hours. It's split into three section, 1 electrical knowledge 2. Health and Safety 3. Electrical theory. Revise everything found within this thread. A few questions on the differences between AC/DC, what are the advantages of using AC over DC for transmission etc. A few fault questions. Ohm's law is covered a few times as is I*V=W oh and voltage in DC parellel/series. A lot of questions that any spark should know like tools used on site and how to use safely. Then a couple of maths questions chucked in at the end all these had the equations but i'm not sure if they give everyone the same exam sheets.
3. The domestic practical. Firstly you have to select the correct cable to use and breaker, so just revise cable selection a bit. They do give you all the tables you will need. All I had to do was second fix a couple of switches, sockets, one cooker point, a fluorescent light with a one-way switch and then a DB. It was literally all wired for me. You then have to do all the dead test on the circuits. Following that you have a fault scenario which again was just a reverse polarity fault (remember they may change this every exam).
Like I said I was super nervous but found it all went well. I think any spark who does this exam and revises first should be fine.
If anyone reading this has any questions please don't hesitate to PM me. This site have been invaluable to me and I would like to put something back into it.
I hope this is of some help to you.
P.s I PASSED
Jun 5th 2014, 8:44 am
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 40
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
That's the one :-)
Aug 2nd 2014, 2:08 pm
#8
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 17
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi everyone ive got my skills assessment on the 2nd sept in brisbane?
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
Aug 3rd 2014, 1:06 am
#9
MODERATOR
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 29,851
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi everyone ive got my skills assessment on the 2nd sept in brisbane?
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
The DOL is attached to this post
Aug 3rd 2014, 6:34 am
#10
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2013
Location: melbourne
Posts: 12
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi everyone ive got my skills assessment on the 2nd sept in brisbane?
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
Old.sparks how recent is that run down that you have posted and Eltonb do you have any info from your day as you seem to be the most recent post ive found,also if anyone has the link to the schematic for the dol starter that would be a brilliant help i keep seeing people mention that its on here somewere but im yet to come across it ha
cheers for any help guys
Aug 4th 2014, 4:03 am
#12
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 17
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hi eltonb it wont allow me to private message yet as I havnt posted enough my email address is <snip> if you could email me that would be brilliant cheers
Last edited by christmasoompa; Aug 4th 2014 at 7:13 am. Reason: Email address removed to save you from the spambots/weirdos - it's a public forum! He can email you via the forum instead.
Aug 8th 2014, 7:23 am
#13
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 17
Re: Booked in for future skills end of the month any advice
Hey still none the wiser for this skills assesment and now been bumped upto monday for the exam haha,Eltonb any information would be brilliant,ive tried clicking a few links for the schematic but none seem to be working,hopefully be fine :s only $1000 to re sit :0
