Last week I attended PA1 and PA6AW training at Askham Bryan College near York. This is a practical qualification that allows me to carry out pesticide spraying using a knap-sack sprayer. The course was quite intense, and included an element of theory and statutory knowledge, as well as the mechanics of checking equipment, calculating chemical dilutions, and carrying out treatments in a safe and effective manner. The hardest part was walking in a straight line, spraying and pumping, all in time to make sure you used the correct amount of chemical and had none left over.
On the third day, we had the assessments. PA1 was a multiple choice test taken on computers - we received the results immediately and all passed. The PA6AW was a one to one test with an external assessor. This was basically an interview with lots of questions asked. We had to set up and calibrate the sprayer, measure an area, calculate the chemicals to be used, measure them out, carry out the spraying itself and make equipment safe afterwards. It was quite nerve racking, and as I was the last candidate to be tested I had a long wait, but came away with a good pass :)I spent all week revising for my Open University exam in Ecosystems, my first Level 3 exam. It feels as though there is a lot of pressure on, when a whole year's work comes down to a three hour exam! On Tuesday afternoon I sat down and scribbled away for the full three hours. I am sure there are some things I missed and a couple more I think I just got wrong, but overall I feel it went well. Only 9 weeks to wait until the result. Fingers crossed!
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