General Oral Examination Guidelines

DOE-HDBK-1080-97

5. GUIDELINES FOR ADMINISTERING ORAL EXAMINATIONS

5.1 General Oral Examination Guidelines

5.1.1

Internal Procedures

DOE facilities should develop procedures that describe how to develop and administer all

types of oral examinations used at the facility. These procedures should address the

following issues:

Materials that will be available to the trainee during the examination (these

should include materials that are normally available to a person during job

performance).

Qualification of personnel who conduct each type of oral examination, or

how a person is approved to conduct oral examinations (this includes

determining the makeup of an oral board).

Management of non-typical situations (e.g. interruptions of oral examinations

due to unexpected facility conditions, high background noise, etc.).

Methods of grading oral examinations to ensure reliable, consistent, and

equitable oral examinations.

Methods of assigning relative importance to questions (e.g. questions relating

to significant facility processes, safety systems, etc., are valued higher than

questions relating to non-vital auxiliary systems or components).

5.1.2

Examination Intent

Oral examinations should probe the trainee's understanding of fundamental principles, the

ability to apply these principles to practical situations, equipment and system operation,

and normal and abnormal operating procedures. Examinations should be based on

knowledge of information within the scope of the learning objectives.

An effective way to probe understanding is to ask the whys, hows, and what ifs. The

following are examples of the types of questions that can determine a person's

understanding:

Why is the equipment built as it is?