The Oral Examination Process
Training Weekend
The next phase in the licensing process is mandatory attendance at an intensive 18-hour training session. All successful examinees are informed of the scheduled date for the training. This is usually held on a weekend in late January through mid-February. In this session you will be instructed on all aspects of a guides' duties. Past topics have included:"History of the NPS,"
"History of GNMP,"
"History of the LBG's,"
"Organization of the NPS at Gettysburg,"
"Interpretive Operations"
"Law Enforcement and Visitor Protection,"
"Natural and Cultural Resource Management on the Battlefield,"
"Interpretive Techniques,"
"Being an Effective Communicator,"
"Using Monuments as Interpretive Tools,"
"LBG Operations,"
"The Oral Exam."
On Saturday, February 1 and Sunday, February 2, 2002 the newest guide class participated in their training weekend. The agenda is presented here as a sample of what to expect:
Saturday
- New Museum & Visitor Center Project Update..........................Dr. John Latschar, NPS
- Landscape Restoration at GNMO: An Overview........................Eric Campbell, NPS
- Highlights of Cultural Resources at GNMP..................................Eric Campbell, NPS
- Licensed Guiding at Gettysburg: An Overview.............................Chris Rebmann
- The Guide Room & ALBG LibraryL A Brief Tour......................Jim Hueting
- The Mechanics of a Successful Tour
- Theme........................................................................Sue Boardman
- Transition...................................................................Tony Nicastro
- Site Relationship.........................................................Jim Hueting
- Related Elements........................................................Chris Rebmann
- The Physical Battlefield: Creating A Tour.....................................Rich Kohr
- Safe and Legal............................................................................Dave Weaver
- Panel Discussion - Saturday evening............................................various NPS/ALBG staff
Sunday
- Personalizing the Tour.................................................................Chris Rebmann
- Common Visitor Questions: How To Handle Them.....................Ed Guy
- Human Interest Stories: Touching the Hearts of Visitors.............. Ed Guy, Jim Hueting, Chris Rebmann
- Personalized Tour Demonstration............................................... Ed Guy (with Boardman & Hueting)
- The Oral Examination: Procedures, Minimum Requirements, Evaluation......Clyde Bell, NPS
What is the oral exam like?Immediately following the training session, the process enters its hardest phase. All applicants are expected to successfully pass an oral examination which consists of a two-hour tour which you give to a ranger and an LBG playing the role of visitors. You provide a vehicle and you drive. On the appointed day you arrive at the Visitor Center in report into the desk where the examiners will be called. Prior to arriving you should work out a good tour which covers all possible aspects of the battle within a two-hour time frame (not much shorter and absolutely not much over.) The oral is treated as any normal tour of the field. The examiners play the role of visitors and will tell you where they are from. You are expected to weave that knowledge into your interpretation, to personalize the tour to the party. You will be evaluated on that. The examiners will question you throughout the tour in order to test you knowledge and your ability to weave those answers into your narration. They will be looking for ability to present the information coherently, for evidence of a common theme, for good introductions and conclusions, nice transitions day to day and site to site, an ability to keep the party oriented, the ability to present at an appropriate level for your clients, your rapport with people, your tonal quality, the handling of tour mechanics, appearance, and driving ability. All of these and much more, will be looked at by the examiners. To say the least it is a nerve wracking experience that once endured, you do not wish to do again.How will this be evaluated?Throughout the trip the guide and ranger will busily be taking notes, recording their observations, and marking your score on a numeric scale. Sometimes you may be asked to return to the Visitor Center early. If this happens, you generally did something so wrong it needs to be corrected. If you do make it the whole way around, and most tours are allowed to continue to the end, just to see it, then you will be asked to give the examiner about a half hour to compare notes and talk about what they saw. This half hour may seem like the longest time you've ever waited.
You will be taken into an office and the three parties: guide, ranger, and you, will talk about the exam. You will be critiqued. You will be told what you did right, what you did wrong, and what areas you need to work on. You will be told at this time if you passed the exam or if the examiners wish you to take the test again. A good many of the guides now licensed failed the oral exam the first time through.
If you failed, you will be told exactly why and how to fix it. You will be allowed to take as much time as necessary to correct the problems, asked to take some more practice runs around the field and perhaps even hooked up with a guide willing to help you work on the rough spots. You will be provided with written comments from the examiners after the initial oral exam. At your convenience, you will be asked to phone in and let them know when you are ready an you will be rescheduled, going through the whole process again.
What if I fail the oral the second time?In any given testing year about one-third of the folks who successfully pass the written test, fail both oral exams. If you fail the oral twice you must repeat the entire process. You must wait until the written test is offered again, take and pass it, go through the training session, then take the oral. Some do so and again fail, some do so and finally make it. Some simply give up.And if I pass the oral exam?If your examiners say "congratulations, you've passed!" you can breathe a deep sigh of relief. You're almost there. At this point you will be told you will receive an evaluation in the mail as you probably still have weak points to work on in your program. At the time you are doing so someone at the park will probably check out your references and paperwork to make sure all is in order. You will receive a written form of the license which must be signed along with the statement of rules and regulations which your signature indicates you will abide by. Included with this must be payment of your annual licensing fee, ranging anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on your category. The superintendent will sign and issue your official license which is a card you must carry while on tour.
You need to acquire a uniform from the list of prescribed items. If you wish to do busses, you must purchase a portable public address system. You need to visit the Visitor Center. in order to get some guide patches for your uniform and some receipt books. Once this is done, and the expense to do so may run anywhere from $200 up to $500 to get this far, you are ready to show up one morning prepared to conduct your first tour!!!
ALBG Takes Strong Role in Training
Association and NPS Forge Partnership For Candidate Training
From the February "Dispatch"
In another example of partnership for the greater good, members of the Association played key roles in the training program held on the weekend of February 1 & 2, 2003. The 21 top-scoring candidates from the LBG written exam attended the program which was designed to prepare them for the rigorous oral examination to follow. The candidate travelling the farthest to attend was Associate member John Fitzpatrick of Moraga, California.
Background
The ALBG's expanded role in the training began last year with the Association's proposal titled "Screening for Excellence." This proposal calls for a strengthened, more competitive oral examination process. It also calls for more focused candidate training to fully prepare those aspiring to take the oral exam. The Association was concerned that recent training weekends have provided much information of value to those who will succeed on the oral and become licensed, but very little to aid candidates in preparing for that hurdle. For many candidates, the "first try" at the exam has been their first exposure to what is actually demanded of them. They must recover from the disappointment if initial failure, then scramble to "reinvent" their tour in the short period before taking their final shot at the exam.
The "Dream Agenda"
A dozen guides gathered on a cold Friday night in early January to brainstorm ideas. Their goal was to develop ideas for a training agenda that would best meet a key objective: preparing candidates to present an outstanding "personalized car tour" thereby maximizing their hopes of success in the oral exam.
After a few hours of brainstorming the resulting ideas were crafted into a proposed agenda, which was then presented to Clyde Bell for consideration. Clyde kindly accepted a great deal of the proposal and a partnership was born. Those who had volunteered their talents were notified, and all scrambled in the effort to create brand-new training classes (complete with handout materials, overhead transparencies, and slide shows) before February 1st.
Making It Happen
All was ready. By Saturday morning (although guides kept Clyde busy with last minute materials to be copied). The ALBG bought coffee and doughnuts, the snow and ice held off, and the NPS / ALBG joint effort was off and running.
After the welcoming remarks, Dr. John Latschar kicked off the weekend with a detailed update on the new Visitor Center / Museum project. Ranger Eric Campbell filled out the morning with a thorough discussion of landscape restoration and cultural resources. LBG's then took the ball as they unfolded the nuts and bolts of licensed guiding and the "personalized car tour."
Perhaps the boldest experiment of the weekend was the "demonstration car tour" conducted on a GTC bus. Ed Guy played guide, with Jim Hueting and Sue Boardman palying visitors. The candidates rode behind them as quiet witnesses to a typical personalized, interactive car tour. The demonstration and debriefing discussion afterwards went quite well.
Clyde Bell closed the weekend with details about the oral examination itself, including mechanics and evaluation standards. He told the candidates that he would be giving examinations sufficient to license three new part-time guides this spring.
Judging by enthusiastic candidate feedback, the program was a smashing success. In one of the strongest complements, a candidate said: "If we can't pass the oral exam now, it's all our fault, not yours!" Congratulations and thanks are due to all the NPS and ALBG staff who made this cooperative effort shine.
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