For all of you who have been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting on the results of the October 2008 Customs Broker Exam, the results are posted on the CBP web site. Results will be mailed and should be in your mailboxes in the next 7 to 10 days. Some ports have been calling people, so you may receive a phone call.
For those of you who purchased the Boskage Study Plans that included the detailed exam commentary, we’ll be completing that information and posting it soon. Look for upcoming articles on protesting questions on the exam.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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14 comments:
Passed with an 82.5. Woo hoo! At least they threw the "cruise ship: question out.
Has CBP announced the pass rate for the October exam? I've checked a few sites and haven't found anything.
Is there any update on the nationwide passing percentage for the October 2008 exam?
Congratulations to those of you who passed! I found out I need to protest at least 3 questions to obtain a passing grade.
Wizard, any idea of when you may post potential, protestable questions?
Thanks!
10.1% A low number
Wizard Comments on Protests
It's going to be tough to protest this test. CBP already identified and gave credit to four of the questions most people complained about.
Everyone received credit for two questions. Question 49 about the cruise ship and Question 65 on the denial of relief from liquidated damages.
Allowing two answers for Question 16 took care of the classification of the plastic tripod. Two answers were also granted credit for Question 52 about the broker importing on their own bond.
What does the group think about Questions 22 and 57? For Q22, could you argue that the hairdryer imparts the essential character making D the correct answer? What about making the argument that all of the answers to Q57 are correct since drawback is a refund of duties?
>>>What does the group think about Questions 22 and 57? For Q22, could you argue that the hairdryer imparts the essential character making D the correct answer? <<<
I don't think any of the items impart the essential character. The set is a hairdressing set. Hairdressing implies anything from washing, to setting, to drying.
Just because the item is the biggest and most valuable item (we assume) in the set, it doesn't guarantee that the essential character. You could just as easily dry your hair with a towel as you could the dryer.
I concur with CBP that because none of the items really defines the set. The conclusion is that you have to look at the last number in the HTS.
I think Ruling NY F88782 is instructive on this point.
I'm thinking about protesting 1,4,60,67,72,75,77.
Anyone interested in doing so? please email me at claueha@gmail.com Best Regards!
Question--did anyone elses "exam room guide" lack the alpha numeric conversion in CATAIR appendix E (check digit computation).
I didn't discover the missing information until test day, and accordingly was only able to guess at question #75. My friend's exam room guide was also missing this info. What the heck? I haven't gotten my results yet (los angeles), but based on my test booklet, I might be off by one or two questions, so that reallyhurts..
new at this, is there a easy way to study? what to focus on? or class to take?
Wizard comments on Methods of Study
An anonymous commenter asked for tips on how and what to study. Reading the July 28, 2008 blog article titled "Customs Broker Exam Study Tip 2: Exam Study Aids" along with the other articles in that series is a good place to start for hints on how to study!
November 8, 2008 7:49 AM
My investigation into the matter of the Exam Room Guide has revealed that:
1) The table is indeed missing from the file in our book.
2) The current file on the CBP site displays the table.
3) This fix to the file on the CBP site occurred recently. Government files, even official government files, are subject to error. We attempt to correct these errors, but in the case of pure omission this becomes a more difficult operation, especially since we do not want to tamper in any way with files that have been deemed official testing material. For this reason, we do a page-by-page close comparison between the material we are printing and the official document of record, to ensure that our edition matches perfectly. Because of this, we know that at the time of publication of the Notice of Examination in August 2008, the table was missing from the document of record. For this reason, it is my belief that this error is a replication of an existing error that was on the document of record on the CBP website until recently. How recently is not yet clear to me, but it seems likely that the correction may have been effected as a result of the exam students bringing this error to the attention of the CBP.
However, we are committed to making this right for you, and any similarly affected student. If you need to take the exam again, we will make the next Exam Room Guide available to you for free - an $89 value. The file in question has, of course, been corrected.
Please let me know if I may be of further assistance to you.
I have a copy of the Exam Room Guide. It doesn't have CATAIR Appendix E, but it does have the CBP 7501 Instructions. The conversion table for entry numbers is also found in that document. So, even though we didn't have the CATAIR, we still had the formula. Shame on me for not studying the book enough, otherwise, I'd known it was missing. Fortunately, I found the information in the 7501 instructions.
Wizard, I am a bit confused on Q 75 (Check Digit)
Based on 7501 Instructions & Appendix E, after careful revision my result is 2 (C). I don't see how 3(D) is the result. I was planning on appealing this question but noticed I missed a step on the way and answered 4 (E).
Could you please work out this problem step by step? Thanks!
Wizard Responds to "C"
The Wizard has not worked out the answer using the 7501 Instructions, but has heard that using that source does produce a different answer. The formatting of the blog comment spaces doesn't lend itself to showing the calculations in a manner that is clear. If you would like to see the calculations using CATAIR E, please send an email to inquiries@boskage.com and ask for the answer to Question 75 to be emailed to you.
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