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Not passing your examination

Brother_Steve

Brother_Steve

Premium Member
We had an EA who gave a decent exam in front of his mentor and two witnesses before he tested out in open lodge.

He froze in open lodge and had to be prompted several times.

If I had not seen him do it downstairs before the meeting, I would have been embarrassed.

It was explained that he was witnessed by several brothers and those brothers were reputable. His examination was excepted and he is about to be raised.
 
nixxon2000

nixxon2000

Premium Member
Brother_Steve said:
We had an EA who gave a decent exam in front of his mentor and two witnesses before he tested out in open lodge.

He froze in open lodge and had to be prompted several times.

If I had not seen him do it downstairs before the meeting, I would have been embarrassed.

It was explained that he was witnessed by several brothers and those brothers were reputable. His examination was excepted and he is about to be raised.
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That is understandable. I remember my brain rebooting when I was doing my FC exam. There is nothing wrong with that.

It just seems like sometimes someone watches national treasure too many times and decides he wants to be a Freemason to know where the gold is. Then they don't take time to learn what it's really about.
 
Sonic Architect

Sonic Architect

Registered User
I had given my proficiency of the E.A degree in April. 2017. I have still not been passed to F.C. The lodge says they will pass me into the F.C In October, six months after I had already proven myself in the former degree... I am starting to think they do not want me to advance and am losing hope... Is this normal in Masonry? what should I do...
 
MarkR

MarkR

Premium Member
Sonic Architect said:
I had given my proficiency of the E.A degree in April. 2017. I have still not been passed to F.C. The lodge says they will pass me into the F.C In October, six months after I had already proven myself in the former degree... I am starting to think they do not want me to advance and am losing hope... Is this normal in Masonry? what should I do...
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There's a chance that they are having difficulty getting enough proficient brothers together to put the degree on. It happens.
 
Ripcord22A

Ripcord22A

Site Benefactor
Sonic Architect said:
I had given my proficiency of the E.A degree in April. 2017. I have still not been passed to F.C. The lodge says they will pass me into the F.C In October, six months after I had already proven myself in the former degree... I am starting to think they do not want me to advance and am losing hope... Is this normal in Masonry? what should I do...
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Some jurisdictions make you wait years

Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app
 
Thomas Stright

Thomas Stright

Premium Member
Sonic Architect said:
I had given my proficiency of the E.A degree in April. 2017. I have still not been passed to F.C. The lodge says they will pass me into the F.C In October, six months after I had already proven myself in the former degree... I am starting to think they do not want me to advance and am losing hope... Is this normal in Masonry? what should I do...
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My lodge here in Texas usually has the degree the same night as the exam.
 
Brother_Steve

Brother_Steve

Premium Member
nixxon2000 said:
So here is a strange question. What happens if a candidate does not pass the degree examination (ea, fc, or mm) ?

We had one tonight that almost did not pass in my opinion. Just curious what your lodge does in that case? Thanks
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We get a past master and two brothers, preferably officers to watch the candidate/Brother go through the exam downstairs whether it be the night before or the night of his exam. If he can do it, he goes upstairs after the WM is informed he has it memorized. If he freezes and stutters through because of nerves, the WM can assure the brethren that he has shown to known the work and can be vouched for. We trust the word of our IC when it comes to casting a ballot on a petitioner. Why not take the word of three trust worthy Brothers for proficiency?...
 
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Warrior1256

Warrior1256

Site Benefactor
Brother_Steve said:
We get a past master and two brothers, preferably officers to watch the candidate/Brother go through the exam downstairs whether it be the night before or the night of his exam. If he can do it, he goes upstairs after the WM is informed he has it memorized. If he freezes and stutters through because of nerves, the WM can assure the brethren that he has shown to known the work and can be vouched for.
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I, personally, don't have a problem with this. I don't believe that it should just be done in front of a committee. As you stated, it should ultimately be done in open lodge.
 
Z

Zack

Registered User
In my jurisdiction it is "suitable proficiency".

Define "suitable".

I've seen(heard) some pretty bad ones but have never heard of a Brother failing.
 
D

David Duke

Premium Member
Brother_Steve said:
We get a past master and two brothers, preferably officers to watch the candidate/Brother go through the exam downstairs whether it be the night before or the night of his exam. If he can do it, he goes upstairs after the WM is informed he has it memorized. If he freezes and stutters through because of nerves, the WM can assure the brethren that he has shown to known the work and can be vouched for. We trust the word of our IC when it comes to casting a ballot on a petitioner. Why not take the word of three trust worthy Brothers for proficiency?...
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Much the same way at my Lodge, however I have seen a Brother being taught by someone from another lodge (we do assign instructors but he went to a friend) and they come to Lodge insisting that he was ready. He was examined in Lodge and the SD who was examining him asked him about 10 questions in if he was sure he wanted to continue, he agreed that he needed stop and get with his assigned instructor. I am happy to say he later completed all his work ( in excellent fashion) and is an active master mason. .


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CLewey44

CLewey44

Registered User
Warrior1256 said:
Yeah, this is pretty open ended.

I once saw a proficiency where the candidate was prompted, he would repeat the prompt, and it went this way through the whole thing. He passed.
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Yeah, that's pretty annoying. Some folks freeze up in front of others. I get it, anxiety, the BP shoots up, adrenaline, the shakes, dry mouth but usually they pull it together and with a couple of prompts, they get through it just fine.

I've never seen anyone get voted down but I've seen a few that were clearly not ready and they should have not been found proficient by any standard. But, it is what it is. In OK, they vote with the brother standing there at the altar. I think maybe they should ask him to leave and then vote. Or at least an optional thing by the WM to ask them to step out while they vote. If he clearly nails it and zero prompts etc, maybe they could vote with him there but if he's on the edge or clearly not ready, I'd say have him step out for a few moments. Wouldn't hurt. I think guys would vote more 'honestly' that way. Even use the ballot box method that way if it's somebody's son, people may feel more comfortable. Sure, it takes a few more minutes but it'd be a way of ensuring proficiency and really guarding the 'west' in a way.

Nobody wants to go against the grain too much and they feel sorry for them but if there is no face to the voting results, it's a little more private that way and guys may vote what they really are thinking.
 
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rpbrown

rpbrown

Premium Member
We have a member in out lodge that transferred from out of state. I am not saying which jurisdiction so there is no embarrassment if this is seen. Anyway, he knows none of the work. According to him, in his jurisdiction, they did not require and memorization, just receive the degree and pay the money. He is learning the work in our lodge even though he is a MM, but he sits at all practice sessions so he can learn the work.

As for being examined in lodge, our lodge (and pretty sure GLoT) requires it in open lodge. However, the candidate can be prompted if needed to a point.

I will say that when I went to the East, at my first Stated Meeting, I knew the work, had practiced opening and closing many times. However, when I started the opening, my brain decided to leave and I formed lock jaw. Every Past Master in our lodge said it happened to them as well. We all agreed it was the hat that caused it :)
 
CLewey44

CLewey44

Registered User
For sure, the anxiety goes up, we can't think. All we want to do is run out of there but that's socially unacceptable and we freeze up.
 
Warrior1256

Warrior1256

Site Benefactor
CLewey44 said:
I think maybe they should ask him to leave and then vote. Or at least an optional thing by the WM to ask them to step out while they vote.
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I do have to say that all of the proficiencies that I have seen the candidate was asked to step outside of the lodge while the vote was taken.
rpbrown said:
As for being examined in lodge, our lodge (and pretty sure GLoT) requires it in open lodge. However, the candidate can be prompted if needed to a point.
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Same here.
rpbrown said:
I knew the work, had practiced opening and closing many times. However, when I started the opening, my brain decided to leave and I formed lock jaw.
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Lol...been there, done that. A few weeks ago I was visiting a lodge and was asked to fill the SW position, the same position that I hold in my mother lodge. Once in the opening and once in the closing I "blanked out" and had to be prompted. We all had a good chuckle about it afterward.
 
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