Pre-Exam 2016: results

The Pre-Exam 2016 answers and results were published ion the EPO EQE website earlier this evening.

The answers match the answers given in our earlier blogs for the legal part as well as for the claims analysis part:

1:  F T T T
2:  F F F F
3:  F F T T
4:  T T F T
5:  T T F F
6:  T T F F  
7:  T F F T
8:  T T F F
9:  T F T T
10: T F T T

11:  F T T F
12:  T F T F
13:  T T T F
14:  F F F T
15:  F F T F
16:  F F F T
17:  T F F F
18:  F T F T
19:  T F F F
20:  T F F T

792 candidates enrolled for the pre-exam, 763 candidates sat the exam (29 0-scores).

169 candidates scored between 1 and 69 marks and failed: 22% of all sitters, 25% of all who enrolled.
594 candidates scored between 70 and 100 marks and passed: 78% of all sitters, 75% of all who enrolled.

No candidate scored 100 marks, 4 scored 98, 15 scored 96, 144 (19%) scored 90 or higher.

137 out of 220 candidates that failed in 2015 have been resitting this year: 68 passed and 69 failed again.
32 candidates that failed in 2014 have been resitting this year: 12 passed and 20 failed again.
1 candidate that failed in 2013 (and 2015) has been resitting this year, and failed again.

The score distribution (5 marks bin width, labelled by their upper values) for all candidates is:


The score distribution for the 2015-resitters is:



The 2016 score of the 137 2015-resitters compares to their 2015 score as follows:






Pre-Exam 2016: our (provisional) answers to the claims analysis part


Before checking your own answers with the provisional answers given below, please first check out on the blog post  First impressions of Pre-Exam 2016? for general questions and general comments about the Pre-Exam 2016 (English, French and German), and post your first impressions there. The Legal part is discussed in a separate blog post.

Our preliminary answers to the claims analysis part (not thoroughly reviewed, subject to typo's) are:

Q11  F, T, T, F
Q12  T, F, T, F
Q13  T, T, T, F
Q14  F, F, F, T
Q15  F, F, T(*), F
Q16  F, F, F, T
Q17  T, F, F, F
Q18  F, T, F, T(**)
Q19  T, F, F, F
Q20  T, F, F, T

Any different opinions are welcome! Please post your opinions as comments to this blog, so everybody can from the discussion.  Comments are welcome in any official EPO language. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!

(** Update: although we remain divided on 18.4 we now lean towards 'True'  in view of the comments, so we have switched our answers in our 'preliminary answers')

Nico, Roel.

See onwards for our short comment on each answer.

Pre-Exam 2016: our (provisional) answers to the legal part


Before checking your own answers with the provisional answers given below, please first check out on the blog post First impressions of Pre-Exam 2016? for general questions and general comments about the Pre-Exam 2016 (English, French and German), and post your first impressions there. The Claims Analysis part is discussed in a separate blog post.

Our provisional answers are:


1:  F T T T
2:  F F F F
3:  F F T T  *
4:  T T F T  **
5:  T T F F  ***
6:  T T F F  ****
7:  T F F T
8:  T T F F
9:  T F T T
10: T F T T

*: 21/12/15 + 10d [R.126(2)] -> 31/12/15; 31/12/15 +2m [R.131(4)] -> 29/2/16 (Mon); 31/12/15 + 4m -> 30/4/16 (Sat) [R.134(1)]->2/5/16; earliest possible R.112(1) comm: 3/5/15 + 10d + 2m -> 13/7/16
**: all answers from GL A-III, 5.6.
*** 5.4: no separate PoA needed if applicant signed the request and representative is appointed therein - R.90.4(a) PCT, AG-IP 11.007; further, if a separate PoA is used, it is not necessary that the representative files it as the applicant can file the PoA himself. 
****: rights conferred were not yet tested in the Pre-Exams so far - they are a major element of the D-paper, where candidates lose many marks if they wrongly state that a patent gives the proprietor freedom to operate.

Any different opinions are welcome! Please post your opinions as comments to this blog, so everybody can from the discussion.  Comments are welcome in any official EPO language. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!


Please do not post your comments anonymously - it is allowed, but it makes responding more difficult and rather clumsy ("Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous of 29-02-2016 23:57"), whereas using your real name or a pseudonym is more personal, more interesting and makes a more attractive conversation.

Roel & Pete