Basis vivas

[FarmboyJ]

Good evening , I'm considering taking my Basis award in crop protection. I was hoping any members on here could shed some light on the type of questions applicants may get asked during the face to face vivas.

It would help point me in the right direction.

Thanks .

 

[Rob Holmes]

I wouldnt worry about the viva's yet, you'll be daunted by them now but once you do the course you should be well armed to answer the questions

 

[david]

Here are some to get you going;

• Blackgrass control in a cereal (wheat or barley) crop...………..REMEMBER not to start talking about herbicides !!!!!!!!
• Talk me through a fungicide program on winter wheat - the variety here is Reflection.
• I've got greenfly in my winter barley (at 3 true leaves) - is this a problem ? Why ?
• We are going to grow a crop of potatoes in this field. What should we be looking out for ? (take your pick of where you want to start answering this question - PCN/FLN control, weed control, skin finish, potato blight control, Alternaria control, desiccation)
• We got some maggots munching on the leaves of the sugar beet here - what are they and are they going to decimate my crop ?
• We have drilled some winter beans here in this field today. What are we going to do to control weeds ?
• There is a white fuzz showing on these winter beans (early May time) - what is it ?
• We got some docks in this grassland - I hope to cut hay from it in June - how are we going to get rid of these docks.
• Something is eating my maize (3 true leaf stage), finding these yellow worms munching the stems and plant is dying - what are they - what are we going to do about it ?
• We got some nice combining peas here in flower today. Any pests or diseases that are coming in to cause us problems ?
• Drilled some wheat in this field 3 weeks ago and it hasn't emerged yet - anything wrong ? Digging around and the wheat seeds looked hollowed out and eaten.
• We got a few cans of Afalon, the active ingredient is linuron. Can we use this on our potatoes this year to kill the weeds.
• I've never grown oats on this farm before and I have just taken on a contract to grow 100 acres this year. Can you talk me through growing it and this field is riddled with wild oats and blackgrass.

Good luck.

 

[david]

Agree with Rob's reply - don't worry about the viva

Get out and go crop walking with your agronomist, take notes and ask questions.

 

[robbie]

Good evening , I'm considering taking my Basis award in crop protection. I was hoping any members on here could shed some light on the type of questions applicants may get asked during the face to face vivas.

It would help point me in the right direction.

Thanks .

I'll tell you at the end of January.

 

[ollie989898]

It will be a very cold and grey winters day.

You will be stood in a field of half grown oilseed rape, it's probably looking a bit worse for wear. The examiner stands there, in the obligatory Aigles and Schoffle jacket. He says:

'Imagine this is a field of potatoes, how are you gonna control those wildoats over there?' You reply by using the appropriate graminicide [insert brandname here].

'And tell me a program for weed control in oilseed rape'. You reply about the pre-em approach and then maybe use the new Dow product later for the speedwells.

'Ok, that was good. Now tell me about how you would control blackgrass on this farm' You reply that you will use stale seedbeds and a wider rotation, combined with chemical controls.

'Sounds reasonable, now tell me a program for disease control in winter wheat'. You reply by talking about putting CTL on at T0 or growth stage X. Then following at T1 or growth stage Y with [insert brandname here] and following with another dose at T2.

By this time you are both cold so he says enough and you are sent back to wait indoors before you go in front of the panel.

But I must caution you, and I have heard this said before: you may well be a candidate for young farmer of the year and be Agrii's latest vinegar-peeing chemical guru and remember 5 way mixes of every product known; 'Smash' is your nickname. Under no circumstances must you attempt to use any of that knowledge here. Yes, you may well have mixed Broadway star and Atlantis and it worked well, the one and only answer you will give in any particular instance is the one provided by the BASIS trainers; by way of example your program for winter wheat autumn chemistry will be exactly what they said (liberator plus defy I remember it was at the time I took the exam), no more and no less. I had only been in the job 5 minutes and had never even used to defy at that point but it was legal and technically correct at the time. If you being trying to be clever you can soon end up in knots. You will be assessed by 3 or 4 very experienced people, I remember one of the men sat in front of me had done much of the development work for tigress ultra, he was not a grain trader out for a jolly and some free cake: he knew his onions. Keep it simple and technically correct, if you begin talking about peculiar branded products they may well ask what the actives in them are and what the maximum legal dose rates are because they genuinely do not know them.You will give an answer, they will then go and check it indoors prior to your panel viva and you will thus have left a huge landmine in your own path.

You should know the rough growth stages for most of the crops and will have to identify diseases and problems from photos. I can't recall how long I was outside for, I spent half the time talking to one assessor in the field, another wanted me to talk them through the chemical store and various legal considerations.

If you do not genuinely remember the answer to something, say you can't remember. When you go back indoors go and find the answer for they will definitely ask you it again in front of the panel.

 

[Brisel]

I'd echo the above. Reaching for the chemical can is a last resort. Cultural controls, resistant varieties etc come first. If you don't know the answer to a question, don't try and blag your way through but expect to asked the same question again. BASIS are only going to pass ambassadors for the agrochemical industry, not cocky buggers however good their knowledge is.

There's a lot to learn about how chems are approved, HSE etc as well as how to choose the right one. There is no substitute for field experience. Not just your own farm but other crops & soil types too, where the weed spectrum will be different. I got a thorough grilling from the potato agronomist in the viva & I had no experience of spuds at all. I nearly stuffed up but was able to talk around the subject after saying "I don't know" and looked up the answer for the panel. Somehow, I passed.

Good luck!

 

[BenB]

Great advice above. Another thing I would say is that if you say something wrong or realise you have made a mistake (try to avoid in the first place!) in your viva somewhere, do not be afraid to 'fess up' in your panel viva.

I will never forget at my potato and sugar beet questioning out in the field, felt like it went well, I finished up with the assessor and walked back to where everyone was milling around waiting. It suddenly dawned on me that in the heat of the moment I had given the name of a sugar beet pre-em herbicide during a potato herbicide programme!

It was a gut-wrenching feeling and I was sure I had failed there and then. It was quite disconcerting that the assessor hadn't seemed to notice/batted an eyelid when I had reeled it off...had they even noticed?! I got the advice of our tutor who recommended I brought it up at the end of the panel viva. At the end after they had finished their questions, I apologised and said that I realised I had given a wrong pre-em name and my error as soon as I walked away.

The assessor flicked back through his notebook, his expression still totally blank and said "Ah yes....thank you". I still to this day don't know whether he had actually realised that I made a mistake (I passed!) !

 

[matttargett4]

My experience from this year was that the viva is the bit you don't want to worry about.

It was very interesting, I was one of two farmers in a group of trainee agronomists, technically they were excellent, far more prepared to actually go out and write recommendations than I was but when it came to exams none of that mattered.

When we did I.d there were a number of unexpected entries, the mechanisms I had learnt allowed me to work out what I was looking at.

When we took the written exam there were lots of questions to test the depth of your knowledge, some of them were so deep that you either happened to know them or you had 20yrs experience, I was as prepared as anybody for these.

Then there were questions that practical farming experience helped with, which not being rude to them but an ex university trainee agronomist didn't have much of.

When it came to the viva I'm confident they knew the marks we had got on the exams the previous day and from our answers had areas to test us on. As Ollie said this really isn't that deep in knowledge, it was much better to say that you treat something with a simple 2 way mix you were sure of and move on than to get clever and jack it up, these people knew their stuff, you couldn't slip anything past them so just don't try, I got asked the max size of weeds when using Titus in spuds, wtf!? Unless you read labels to your kids at night you won't know, just say you don't and look it up, it was no problem.

Confidence and enough knowledge to be confident but also knowing when to shut up got me through it, the other farmer I was with had a hard time in the viva and lost confidence and made silly errors, I'm confident he had not done so well on the multiple choice so they were testing him and when squeezed he went down hill quickly.

I'm sure in the panel viva you were given a chance to pass if you hadn't already, I didn't get asked much at all, I told them I wanted to be basis trained so I could make informed decisions on my own farm as part of and integrated business rather than in isolation as an agronomist would view things and they beamed at me and said thanks very much, my friend got asked a lot of technical questions, I'm sure because they wanted to pass him and needed a bit more.

Above all don't worry about it, just get on and do it even if you don't plan on using it, I enjoyed every minute

 

[ollie989898]

Titus, cripes, that is a low blow. I would have said. Small. Small weeds. It's barely good enough to be called a weed killer.

 

[matttargett4]

I said I don't know, on the label it's 10 inches

 

[ollie989898]

I said I don't know, on the label it's 10 inches

I can't remember, I do know it would be a bloody small label though.

 

[Bogweevil]

Good evening , I'm considering taking my Basis award in crop protection. I was hoping any members on here could shed some light on the type of questions applicants may get asked during the face to face vivas.

It would help point me in the right direction.

Thanks .

If in doubt play for thinking time, you know, tell what questions you would ask to find the answer. Don't rush.

If it is not something you grow, say it is not your crop, but you would carefully check in green book, liaison website, ahd b fact sheet - they are not as concerned with your knowledge as with you being safe and not making rash decisions.

I got questions on pH and rotations containing spur spuds - a gift and on pesticides legislation which I had taken the trouble to learn thoroughly, the role of the independent advisory committee on pesticides (it is all on the crd website) and was invited to comment on a rather sickly crop. I thought the problem was nutritional and I would investigate that before using pesticide. They seemed happy enough.

 

[Andrew K]

It will be a very cold and grey winters day.

You will be stood in a field of half grown oilseed rape, it's probably looking a bit worse for wear. The examiner stands there, in the obligatory Aigles and Schoffle jacket. He says:

'Imagine this is a field of potatoes, how are you gonna control those wildoats over there?' You reply by using the appropriate graminicide [insert brandname here].

'And tell me a program for weed control in oilseed rape'. You reply about the pre-em approach and then maybe use the new Dow product later for the speedwells.

'Ok, that was good. Now tell me about how you would control blackgrass on this farm' You reply that you will use stale seedbeds and a wider rotation, combined with chemical controls.

'Sounds reasonable, now tell me a program for disease control in winter wheat'. You reply by talking about putting CTL on at T0 or growth stage X. Then following at T1 or growth stage Y with [insert brandname here] and following with another dose at T2.

By this time you are both cold so he says enough and you are sent back to wait indoors before you go in front of the panel.

But I must caution you, and I have heard this said before: you may well be a candidate for young farmer of the year and be Agrii's latest vinegar-peeing chemical guru and remember 5 way mixes of every product known; 'Smash' is your nickname. Under no circumstances must you attempt to use any of that knowledge here. Yes, you may well have mixed Broadway star and Atlantis and it worked well, the one and only answer you will give in any particular instance is the one provided by the BASIS trainers; by way of example your program for winter wheat autumn chemistry will be exactly what they said (liberator plus defy I remember it was at the time I took the exam), no more and no less. I had only been in the job 5 minutes and had never even used to defy at that point but it was legal and technically correct at the time. If you being trying to be clever you can soon end up in knots. You will be assessed by 3 or 4 very experienced people, I remember one of the men sat in front of me had done much of the development work for tigress ultra, he was not a grain trader out for a jolly and some free cake: he knew his onions. Keep it simple and technically correct, if you begin talking about peculiar branded products they may well ask what the actives in them are and what the maximum legal dose rates are because they genuinely do not know them.You will give an answer, they will then go and check it indoors prior to your panel viva and you will thus have left a huge landmine in your own path.

You should know the rough growth stages for most of the crops and will have to identify diseases and problems from photos. I can't recall how long I was outside for, I spent half the time talking to one assessor in the field, another wanted me to talk them through the chemical store and various legal considerations.

If you do not genuinely remember the answer to something, say you can't remember. When you go back indoors go and find the answer for they will definitely ask you it again in front of the panel.

So True...
Never bulls**t and ask elsewhere if you dont know an answer, killing a crop is tantamount to suicide!

 

[woodylane]

Echo all the above, keep it simple and don't say something if you're not completely sure. Your tutors will prepare you for it so don't worry too much about it. If you get to the panel and they ask you questions about your assignment then you can relax. Good luck!

 

[Northern territory]

I would agree on the chemical is the last resort jargon but they will pull you up at some point and expect you to know said chemical. So don’t flannel them too much with it.

 

[Jetemp]

As above, although I was fortunate to have @Woodlander as one of my basis tutors/lecturers!

I think confidence was everything in the visas! And as others have said I believe they are not there to fail you, infact quite the opposite I reckon they will try to help direct you towards a basic answer!

James

 

[Woodlander]

As above, although I was fortunate to have @Woodlander as one of my basis tutors/lecturers!

I think confidence was everything in the visas! And as others have said I believe they are not there to fail you, infact quite the opposite I reckon they will try to help direct you towards a basic answer!

James

Such kind words James

For the OP, all, examiners are very different in terms of the questions they ask. Questions could cover anything on the syllabus, if you haven't already, take a look at it on the BASIS website.

Examiners are definitely going to check that you are competent on the big issues, e.g. blackgrass control in a cereal crop, PCN and blight in potatoes. You also get some examiners explore other areas, like weed control in grassland, disease control in maize. You have to be prepared for anything, but most importantly as others have said, don't guess, and always do something legal and safe. Don't forget the legislation, storage and application section of the course is worth 1/3 of the marks.

Examiners do not like failing people, but will if they have to. The examiners have all been through the process, and understand the effort you have put in over several months to get to the point of the exam, and therefore know how much it means to the candidates to pass.

Most people really enjoy the course and make some great friends along the way. I first met @Brisel when I did the course.