The journeyman's exam as an industrial technician — how you prepare

The journeyman's exam is the final exam that shows whether you have the competencies the education should give you. For industrial technician, the content of the exam is determined by the professional committee, Industrial Training (Industriens Uddannelser), in the profession-specific journeyman's exam guidelines. The exam tests broadly: both your ability to plan and carry out a task, your craft skills and your theoretical understanding.

For phase 2 (industrial technician specialisations) the journeyman exam consists of several parts: a project-oriented task where you can work in a group of up to four two individual manufacturing tasks — a turning task and a milling task — plus a theory exam. The project-oriented task is assessed based on an overall evaluation of the project itself your project report and your oral presentation of how you tackled the manufacturing.

The actual journeyman's test is carried out within a set total time frame where the different partial tests are run according to a plan your school announces in good time. There is also a journeyman's test fee associated with the test — always check the current amount and exact schedule at your school or at Industri-uddannelse as both can be adjusted.

• 01Practice turning and milling tasks that resemble previous test tasks, preferably under time pressure
• 02Practice reading a drawing quickly and correctly — dimensions, tolerances and surface requirements
• 03Measure your own parts thoroughly along the way so you discover errors while you can fix them
• 04Practice explaining your method aloud, as you must at the oral presentation

Review previous theory exams and the competence goals your education is based on — they tell you exactly what you need to know. Revise material knowledge, tolerances, measurement techniques and safety rules, and ask your apprentice master or teacher to ask you questions as if you were taking the exam. The more you practice explaining and justifying your choices, the more confident you'll feel about the verbal part.

When you have passed level 2 or 3 the professional committee issues your journeyman certificate – the proof that you are a skilled industrial technician. From here the road is open to everything from specialization in the trade to further education but first the parts in the actual exam must be in place.

“The journeyman's exam tests not whether you can remember everything — it tests whether you can plan, execute and explain a task as a qualified industrial technician should be able to.”