The journeyman's exam as a sign technician: how it runs

After basic course, school stays, and practice at a sign company, the journeyman exam awaits — the final exam that shows whether you master the trade as a sign technician at journeyman level. The exam consists of a number of practical tasks within company-based instruction and the trade's core areas.

You are only registered for the journeyman examination when the trade committee has received a final declaration of training from your training company plus a school certificate documenting that you have completed the school part of the programme, along with the fee for the journeyman examination. Without both, you cannot take the examination, regardless of how far you have come professionally.

The actual assessment is carried out by an examination board and evaluation of individual tasks must happen together so the board agrees on how many points each task gives. If you solve a task without errors it gives a fixed number of points — this makes marking more transparent because it is clear where points are lost if full score is not achieved. Bonus points can also be awarded for an exceptionally good piece of work in individual tasks.

When the committee has assessed the practical tasks, you're called in individually to present your solution. The presentation functions as a fine-tuning of the assessment already made and can in special cases change the grade—but only upward. It's therefore a chance to explain your choices, not a new, independent exam.

• 01A final declaration of training from your training company is a prerequisite for registration.
• 02School certificate for completed school part is the second requirement.
• 03The assessment is done task by task with a fixed point system.
• 04The verbal presentation can only lift the grade — not lower it.

If you pass the journeyman exam you receive your journeyman certificate as a sign technician — the proof that you are fully trained in the profession. From here as described in the article on further education a range of possibilities open for specialization and further training that you can build on throughout your career.