Pre-Exam 2023 results and Examiner's Report are finally out! - [Update 24 May:] as well as corrected decisions

The results for Pre-Exam 2023 came out yesterday afternoon, 10 May, finally, in MyEQE.

Congratulations to all that passed!

The Examiner's Report for Pre-Exam 2023 was published "already earlier" this Monday, 8 May (here).

Surprisingly only two statements were neutralized: 5.3 (needed a 2024 calendar) and 16.3 (in our version 16.1).

Statement 14.4 in part 3, for which we gave arguments for T (official answer) as well as for F, was not neutralized.

The statements in part 4 relying on the interpretation of "water-based solvent" being "just water" (and hence direct and unambiguous disclosures of %w/w of water) or "a solvent having a base of / based on water also including something more" (and hence no such direct and unambiguous disclosure og “water only”) were not neutralized - see 17.4, 18.3 and 20.1.


Please feel invited to post your comments (using your name or a nick name, not anonymously) to the respective parts of our Pre-Exam 2023 blogs:

Statistics have not yet been made available but the EQE secretariat – they are usually published together with the statistics for the main exam papers.


Update 11 July 2023: We were just informed by another tutor that the Examiner's Report for the Pre-Exam on the EQE website has been replaced by a new one (without that being easily spotted as its carries no date or version number, as as there was no mention on the website that it was updated). The original one had errors with dates in one of the legal questions, and was in English only. The new one is in all three languages. 


Update 24 May 2023:

Today, 24 May, candidates received the following email from the EQE secretariat:


“Subject: EQE 2023 Pre-examination - Communication from the Examination Board

Dear candidate,

We would like to inform you that after the release of the pre-examination results on 10 May 2023, we have encountered some discrepancies between the results communicated and what was to be expected in view of the Examiners’ Report. Upon conducting a thorough investigation, we have successfully identified the source of the issue, which is of a technical nature. Please be informed that the problem has been solved.

As a consequence, the results have been recalculated and must be re-issued. Therefore, the decision of the Examination Board concerning your result of the pre-examination 2023 communicated to you on 10 May 2023 is hereby revoked. A new decision based on the correct result is now available in myEQE.

Best regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Sincères salutations

The Examination Secretariat
on behalf of the Examination Board”

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ChatGTP-4 finds the pre-exam legal part quite challenging.

From the ChatGTP-4 paper, we understand that its ability to pass exams has been greatly increased. For example, "on a simulated bar exam, GPT-4 achieves a score that falls in the top 10% of test takers. This contrasts with GPT-3.5, which scores in the bottom 10%.", see [1]. Naturally, we were curious to see how the AI would do on the EQE. The pre-exam legal part seems to be the most accessible for an AI, so this is the part we tried. 

We did two runs, one with a short prompt, and one with a long prompt. Both prompts explain the exam's requirements and ask for step-by-step reasoning. The long prompt also contains a question from last year's exam with an example of the required step-by-step legal reasoning. The prompt had to be very clear the program always needs to answer True or False, otherwise you get a lot of answers explaining why the available information is insufficient to make a decision. 

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Pre-Exam 2023 (part 4): erasable inks - our answers

The second claims part was about erasable inks.

“This invention provides erasable inks that provide good writing performance when used in writing instruments such as pens. The erasable inks are water-based inks that have a short "waiting time", i.e. inks that can be erased soon after they are applied on a surface made, for instance, of paper. Because the water-based inks are based on using water as a solvent rather than on using other solvents, the erasable inks of the invention are relatively non-toxic and odour-free.” [002] of the description of the client’s application)

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

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Pre-Exam 2023 (part 3): cleaning utensils - our answers

The first claims part was about cleaning utensils, in particular cleaning cloths.

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

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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.

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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?

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EQE 2023 exam schedule now available: Pre-Exam

The "Information on the schedule for the EQE 2023 examination papers" is now available on the EQE website (first version 27 September 2022; updated version 19 December 2022)

The EQE 2023 will take place online using the same setup as the EQE of 2021 and 2022.

The pre-examination will have the same syllabus and character as before, but -as in 2021 and 2022- it will be split into four parts of 70 minutes, each part having 5 questions (4 statement per question). Each part must be completed before the start of the next break, with the next set of questions only becoming available after the break. Once the time allowed for a part has elapsed, it will not be possible to go back to that part. The pre-examination lasts four hours and forty minutes.

Candidates will be allowed to print the description of the invention as well as the prior-art documents for the claim analysis parts before the start of the appropriate part. The documents allowed for printing will be made available during the break preceding the relevant claim analysis part.

No calendars will be provided (see here).



(Note that that the document may be subject to minor changes as testing continues. Please check the EQE website for updates)

Please feel invited to post your comments. You are allowed to post anonymously and do not need an account, but please give your name or a nickname for an easy and inter-human interaction.

Updated 20.12.2022: New version of Information about the Schedule document - also allows to print the description of the invention for each claims analysis part before the start of the appropriate part.


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Planning to sit Pre-Exam 2023: Enrolment possible from 1 Feb until 16 May 2022

If you plan to sit the Pre-Exam 2023, be aware that enrolment opened on 1 February 2022 and that the enrolment deadline is 16 May 2022. 

Note that for a first time enrolment to the pre-examination candidates must have registered at the latest by 15 January 2022 (see the EQE registration webpage and our earlier blog post).

Please refer to the EQE enrolment webpage for details.

Also refer to OJ 2022, A12 "Announcement of the European qualifying examination 2023 - Pre-examination and main examination"

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Planning to sit Pre-Exam 2023: Deadline for compulsory registration prior to first-time enrolment is 15 January 2022!!

Candidates wishing to enrol for the pre-examination 2023 for the first time must have completed a total period as defined in Article 11(2)(a) REE of at least two years by 1 March 2023.

Candidates who have passed the pre-examination and wish to enrol for the main examination for the first time must at the date of the examination have completed a total period as defined in Article 11(2)(a) REE of at least three years.

Be reminded that candidates must register once they have commenced their professional training (Article 11(2) REE; Rule 28 IPREE).

Enrolment to the pre-examination 2023 will only be possible for candidates who have registered by 15 January 2022 at the latest (see Notice of the Examination Secretariat OJ EPO 2018, A99).

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