Hey all,

I hope you had good summer vacation, or at least had a blast at a few events. For my part, GP Taipei was one of the most interesting events I’ve ever been to – thanks to how well run it was but also because I got to know a great number of judges I usually never meet.

Planning L3 panels has become a bit more chaotic than it should in the past few months. While most of the fault is mine, because I try to make things work even for regions which don’t have a GP a month, your experience can be improved by better planning your L3 application. Too many applications arrive very shortly before the panel GP, which might be arranged but not always, and usually gives everyone a bad time.

Here are the steps that normally happen after an L3 checklist is submitted:

• the Verification Committee validates the checklist (2 weeks)
• a Questionnaire is sent to the candidate to fill (2 weeks; there are 10 questions which demand attention and well-argumented answers)
• the pre-event interview (PEI) follows the Questionnaire (2-4 weeks, depends on how detailed the first answers are),
• the pre-interviewer sends the panel members a report and the panelists prepare (2 weeks)

As you see, all steps take about 8 to 10 weeks to complete, and this is the time you should provision between the moment you submit your checklist and the event you actually test at. Of course, if the checklist is missing items, more time is needed as you’ll need to fill those in before proceeding.

There have been some instances where the PEI has been waived. While I’m all for speeding up the process when possible, time has shown that no PEI leads to a significantly higher failure rate at the panel. Since July 2013, 9 candidates have had their PEI skipped – only 3 of them passed on the first try. Of the 17 remaining candidates, 11 passed. That’s a 64% success rate with PEI vs 33% without!

I don’t have a complete explanation as for why, but one thing is certain: the whole L3 process is a learning opportunity, and after a PEI the candidate has a chance to think and correct anything they struggle with before the panel. The time spent in direct contact with an experienced L3 pays off in as short a time as one month. So my message is: ask for PEIs! More PEIs! PEIs are good for you! 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Daniel