In order to be classified as a fully qualified electrician, there are multiple different criteria you need to meet and skills you need to be able to demonstrate.
I am doing my best to provide a more detailed page on each of the practical assessments. If you decide to go down the electrician certification route as well, I hope some of the blogs on this site will help provide some guidance.
Level 2
Level 2 is targetted mostly at domestic installations.
Practical Exams
There are 2 practical exams at level 2; one for inspection and testing, another for building containment systems. The inspection and testing exam will require you to conduct testing in the correct sequence on a radial, ring and lighting installation; while the containment exam will consist of constructing various containment systems from PVC and metal conduit, to cable tray and metal trunking.
All other exams at level 2 are multiple choice, covering topics like health and safety, BS7671, Building Regulations and Electrical Science
BS7671
One of the hardest exams at level 2 is the BS7671, which is a multiple choice exam which entails navigating the BS7671 regulations to the find answers to the questions. It will require a good amount of confidence in navigating the regulations.
Building Regulations
The building regulations exam will require you to find information from the Building Regulations for Electricians book. It summarises all the different sections of the building regulations and goes into details about Part P (The section which refers to electrical work).
The questions will cover topics such as how much space to leave when drilling into joists and what areas are considered safe zones for electrical cabling to be run without additional protection.
Although this covers Part P, completing this exam does not mean that you are Part P qualified.
Electrical Science
Electrical science covers some basic math that applies to electrical work. This includes calculating resistance in series and parallel as well as magnetic flux and power calculations.
Level 3
When training for level 3, I was required to attend a training center for 3 separate weeks, compared to level 2 which can be achieved over multiple weekends.
Level 3 Exams
Level 3 exams include a mix of multiple choice and written exams. One of the written exams include a slightly more challenging electrical science (compared to level 2), this will require a good knowledge of AC motors and the wiring of different motor starter types. It also covers more advanced electrical science principals such as reactance (ICE and ELI). The other exams are around inspection and testing, and environmental technology.
On top of the written and multiple choice exams, there are 3 practical exams to complete.
Fault Finding
Fault finding is a practical assessment where you are required to identify different fault types and where exactly they are in a circuit. The examiner will report either a piece of equipment not working (open circuit), or a breaker keep on tripping (short circuit). You are required to use your knowledge from inspection and testing to conduct the appropriate test, which should provide the answer of whether it is a short circuit or an open circuit. You will need to specify exactly where the open/short circuit is, and remember that a light bulb can also contribute to the open circuit...
Inspection and Testing
The inspection and testing is similar to the practical exam of level 2, requiring you to show competence inspecting an installation, safely isolating the circuit, and carrying out a full testing sequence of all the circuits. On completion, you will then need to complete an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) with all your test results and state whether the installation is satisfactory based on your results and if the Zs results are satisfactory against the tabulated values in BS7671.
Circuit Design
Circuit design is arguably one of the most challenging weeks in level 3. It collates together all the electrical knowledge and electrical science components up until this week.
You are provided with a floorplan and a specification document stating the requirements of the installation and given all week (you will need to do some work out of hours) to complete an entire installation plan. Throughout the assignment, the assessor will act as the client of the installation and provide feedback as well as challenge some of the decisions you have made.
Firstly, you will need to find the different equipment to go into your installation. Using a site like ScreFix is useful for this, as you can add all the components into your basket as you go, so it is easy to go back and refer to them if needed. The equipment will include multiple 3 phase machines, heating systems, lighting (emergency + non-emergency and needs to be appropriate for floorplan), isolators/switches, socket outlets, circuit breakers, kitchen equipment and anything else appropriate to the specification. Shopping aside, you will need to make note of their power requirements, as you will need this for cable size calculations later.
Next you need to create wiring diagrams for all circuits in the installation with correct symbols for equipment and show whether they are single phase or 3 phase circuits, maintained or non-maintained emergency lighting, ring or radial circuits etc.. Using these to-scale diagrams, you can determine the length of wiring needed for the circuit.
Using the power ratings of the selected equipment, the length of the circuits and the installation method, you can start calculating the cable size and breaker size requirements referring to BS7671. I highly recommend using a spreadsheet for all this as there are a lot of circuits and a lot of different numbers. You may find you need to change equipment over if it is too power hungry or split the circuits out if all the equipment draws too much power.
With all the cable calculations complete and cable sizes determined, you will need to assign the circuits to a 3-phase board location. You will need to apply diversification to your circuits based on information in the On-Site Guide and then assign each circuit to either an L1, L2 or L3 position on the board. You will need to demonstrate that the load is appropriately balanced across the 3 phases.
NVQ
On comlpetion of level 3, you should be ready to begin your NVQ, which requires you to build a portfolio of on-the-job experience with photographic evidence of you working with all types of installations, containment systems and cable types.
All work will need to be signed off by another electrician, and at least 2 pieces of work will need to be reviewed on-site by an assessor for the NVQ to be completed.
AM2
AM2 is a 2-day assessment, taken after the completion of the NVQ, with 5 sections. It covers everything from demonstrating a safe isolation procedure, constructing an installation with multiple different cable types, inspecting and testing the installation, fault finding and a multiple choice exam.
The installation will include ring and radial cicrcuits, an S-Plan heating circuit, SWA cable termination, RJ45 data cable termination and SY-Flex cable termination.
Competent Person
This is the golden standard. To be classed as a competent person, you must have gone through level 2, level 3 and your NVQ+AM2. Once you have completed all of this, you are eligable to apply for a gold card, which can cost upward of £800/year. Workers with a gold card will have work regularly reviewed by their Competent Person Scheme.
The gold card gives you the capability to sign off your own work and the work of others, giving you much more freedom in the industry.
Qualification Extensions
Other notable qualifications include:
2391
2391 is an additional qualification specifically for Inspection and Testing.
As part of this qualification, you are required to show competence in inspecting an installation and providing a C-code (C1 - immediate danger, C2 - potential for danger, C3 - improvement recommended, F - Further investigation) based on some images of the installation (not a physical installtion that you can properly inspect..).
Following this, you then have a practical test which will involve conducting an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) on 3 circuits, and commissioning a new circuit with an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC). There will be faults on one or two of the circuits which you will need to identify and C-code, as well as complete both types of certificates and deem whether the installation is satisfactory.
There is a written exam which is part of the 2391 which requires a score of 100%. However you do get 2 attempts at the exam and are made aware of the questions which you answered incorrectly in between the attempts, giving you a chance to go and make sure you get them right the second time. The exam looks for very specific terminology in each answer.
Part P
I have not yet completed my Part P, so I am not able to provide any detail on the requirements.