What to do in the last month before the EQE?

One month left until the EQE…

My tips for this remaining period:

• Study plan

Make a study plan with daily tasks you want to do and also with a few dedicated days off.

For example, for Paper D, the DeltaPatents Main exam book has a minimum set of D1 questions, or you can do the 60 EPO daily D questions again.

For the pre-exam, you can do the quizzes from EPO pre-exam course again and the most recent pre-exams.

For main exams, you should do the most recent exams (2021, 2022 and 2023) under time pressure, and do not forget to read the Examiner’s reports after your attempts.

You can put the number of questions you want to do into your study plan calendar to make decision making easier later.

If you want, feel free to use my printable (A4) calendars below. I liked this template, since it is simple to add your daily tasks; and then, at the end of each day, you can cross it over to feel the dopamine. 🙂

Just to give you an idea, this is a photo of a detail of my study plan before the pre-exam in 2020 (that was cancelled later).

• Tab your books

  If you haven't done it yet, add a bookmark to the most relevant Rules and Articles in your reference book. It takes some time to do this, but it will save you so much time later!

  See the photo below how I did this.

• Revise the most difficult topics:

  In the last month, it is also suggested to review some of the difficult topics again.

  My refresher articles with links:
  Validation
  Disclaimers
  Partial priority
  Euro-PCT entry

  You might also want to give a read to the most important G decisions that I collected here.

  For Paper A and B, read about the claim categories, unity, clarity, computer implemented inventions, study Art.52 and 53 EPC.

• Finalise and print your templates, print an EQE calendar

  If you haven’t done it yet, also print any other materials you want to use during the exam.

  The documents I printed for Paper D are in this earlier blog post.

  The documents, tables I created for the EQE can be downloaded from here.

  You can download my EQE calendar from here.

• Prepare and test your IT setup

  If you can, prepare a backup laptop (personal/work laptop, or borrow one from someone), install WISEflow on it. If, for some reason your computer would completely die during the EQE, you will have a backup. However, you will have to keep it out of reach during the exam and only use it if you don’t have any other way to contact the EPO or login to WISEflow again.

  Have a backup mouse and keyboard, for example borrow a wired mouse if otherwise you are using a Bluetooth mouse. I already plugged them in at the start of the exam, so in case the Bluetooth connection would have died, I could have simply continued the exam using the wired mouse or keyboard. (Luckily, I didn’t have any issues with the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.)

  It is also a good idea to buy some backup batteries, e.g. for your Bluetooth devices (if they use batteries).

  I remember that last year a few candidates asked their neighbour for their WiFi Password for emergency.

  I shared more information about my IT setup last year in this linked post.

My desk on the day of 2021 Paper D, 2 March 2021, about 45 minutes before the start.

Furthermore,

• Stay up to date with EPO's notices regarding the EQE.