Monday, March 20, 2023 ChatGTP-4's attempt at parts 3 & 4 of the Pre-Exam 2023

We also let ChatGPT provide answers to parts 3 & 4 of the Pre-Exam.

Some practical difficulties were that only plain text could be entered, which means that in part 3, the figures couldn't be provided, and that the underlining when indicating amendments was not present.

If one would consider our answers (see seperate posts, which are not necessarily correct!!) as the intended solution and applied the Pre-Exam's marking scheme (all correct: 5 points, 1 wrong: 3 points, etc), ChatGTP achieved 16/50 points which is well below the required passing grade of 35 (normalized from 70 for the entire exam to 35 for parts 3 & 4) and rather a score associated with mere guessing.

Generally speaking, ChatGPT seems to be able to answer basic novelty and scope questions reasonably well but fails at more specific topics such as ranges. Also, ChatGPT appearantly disagrees with the EPO's relatively strict approach to Art. 123(2) and considers most of the amendments as supported. Perhaps this reveals ChatGTP's US-origin?

See below for ChatGPT's answers and short reasoning (red marked where ChatGPT's answer deviated from ours):

Friday, March 17, 2023 Pre-Exam 2023 (part 1 & 2): our answers to the legal questions

This was the third online -EQE with the Pre-Exam being held in four parts, and with the questions almost fully being taken from the screen (only the description of the application and the prior-art documents in the claims analysis parts were printable; also no calendars were provided).

Our answers to the legal part are given below. We have numbered the questions and statements for easy reference in the discussion.

Friday, March 17, 2023 Pre-Exam 2023: first impressions?

 To all who sat the Pre-Exam today:

What are your first impressions to this year's Pre-Exam? 

Any general or specific comments?

Were the legal topics well balanced? Was the balance between EPC and PCT right for you? Were recent changes and stable legal provisions tested in the right balance for you? Which of the legal questions did you consider particularly difficult, and which relatively 'easy'?

Were the various aspects of claims analysis well balanced? How did you deal with the situation that only part of the paper (only the prior art) could be printed? 
(How) did you use the available online legal texts (EPO legal texts incl Guidelines, EPC Articles and Rules, RFees; PCT Applicant's Guide, PCT Treaty Articles and Rules)?

What is your expectation of the pass rate and the average score? How many marks do you expect to have scored in the legal part, in the claims analysis, and for the whole paper?

Were you able to finish each of the legal parts of the exam in the 70 minutes available for the appropriate part? And each of the claims analysis parts? 

Did you experience any technical difficulties during the exam? Which? How and how fast were they solved? Did you use the search functions? Did you use annotation, sticky notes and other Wiseflow tools?

How did this year's paper compare to the earlier pre-exams w.r.t. the pre-exam as a whole, w.r.t. the legal part and w.r.t. the claims analysis part?