{"id":2988,"date":"2015-04-21T15:27:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T15:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2016-05-10T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T20:34:18","slug":"a-guide-to-l1-post-test-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/2015\/04\/21\/a-guide-to-l1-post-test-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to L1 Post-test Interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Written<\/a>

Written by Josh Feingold<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Taking an L1 exam\u00a0is a formative moment in a judge\u2019s career. The lessons the candidate takes away from the experience will do a lot to shape their progress in the coming months. Whether the candidate passes or fails, the post-test interview is a prime opportunity to guide this individual on to greater success and gather the information for a meaningful review.<\/p>\n

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Step 1: Pass\/Fail<\/h2>\n

<\/p>Before anything else, tell the candidate whether they passed or failed the exam. Don\u2019t tell them the total score. We\u2019ll get to that later. This may seem obvious, or it may seem like a missed opportunity to hold your candidate in suspense. However, you are going to want the candidate to be able focus their attention on the tasks you are going to present. Having them\u00a0worry about passing or failing will only detract from the quality of information you would otherwise be able to obtain from the coming steps of the interview process.<\/p>\n

If the candidate passed, explain that passing the test is only the first step and now you need to talk about some specifics to help fill out your advancement review. If the candidate failed, let them\u00a0know that failing an L1 exam is not the end of the road. What you need then is to determine how you can give them good guidance on how to prepare for the next time they test.<\/p>\n

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Step 2: Uncertain Answers<\/h2>\n

Ask the candidate to go through the exam and point out any questions where they were uncertain about the answer. Note these questions even if the candidate chose the correct answer, as it may be useful to remind the candidate about these rules or policy issues when writing the review. You are looking for two major things during this step:<\/p>\n

1. How many of the \u201cuncertain\u201d answers were actually missed?<\/span><\/p>\n

A substantial mismatch may indicate that the candidate is unable to identify areas in which their competence is limited. If a candidate misses questions that they were\u00a0certain about, the judge may confidently misunderstand a rule or policy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>2. What reasoning is the candidate applying to pick an answer in uncertain situations?<\/span><\/p>\n

Most L1 exam content is straightforward logic that governs the way rules and policy work. For example, at Regular REL just fix it unless you really need to DQ. The candidate should understand the basics of casting spells, combat, and steps of the turn. They should apply good fundamental knowledge in approaching unknown questions rather than making stuff up or guessing wildly.<\/p>\n

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Step 3: Incorrect Answers<\/h2>\n

After discussing \u201cuncertain\u201d questions, you can reveal the total score on the exam. Not providing that information prior to this point preserves the information you would receive in the previous step. If the candidate knows the specific number of missed questions, it may change the way they assesses confidence in the given answers.<\/p>\n

Your goal in reviewing incorrect answers is to uncover where they went wrong. These issues should certainly be discussed in your review of the candidate to reinforce their understanding.<\/p>\n

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Step 4: Goals<\/h2>\n

At this point, the candidate knows the outcome of the exam and has reviewed items about which they were\u00a0uncertain or incorrect. Where does the candidate go from here?<\/p>\n

<\/p>If the candidate passed, what types of events are they\u00a0planning to judge? Mostly store-level Regular REL events like FNMs and pre-releases? Other store-level Competitive REL events like GPTs and Invitational Qualifiers? Do\u00a0they\u00a0want to start moving toward judging larger Competitive REL events like 10Ks? Are they making plans for L2 at some point, or happy to be an L1 for the foreseeable future?<\/p>\n

If the candidate failed, what rules and policy problems did you identify together? When do they want to test again? What is going to be different next time? How will they\u00a0study and prepare?<\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome, you will want to direct the candidate to some resources beyond the Judge Center practice exams. Fortunately, the judge community is filled with motivated people who are willing to share their knowledge, so many such resources are out there. Here is a short (and not at all comprehensive) list by category of interest:<\/p>\n