The General Certificate in Packaging gives international recognition of a basic, under-pinning knowledge and understanding in the principles of packaging operations.

The General Certificate examinations have been designed for candidates who may have little or no formal academic or technical qualification. Typically a candidate will be employed as a senior operator or team leader in a brewery or packaging plant, however the scope of these examinations will enable candidates from smaller brewing operations to obtain this recognised qualification. This examination is open to anybody with interest in brewing or beer packaging. They are a measure of basic knowledge (theoretical and practical) underpinning brewing, packaging and associated operations.

- The General Certificate in Packaging can be an end in itself, or the start of professional development, leading to the Diploma in Brewing (Dipl.Brew) and potentially, the Master Brewer (M.Brew) examinations.

- The General Certificate in Packaging has City & Guilds accreditation as Level 3 of the National Qualifications Framework in the UK (or equivalent internationally recognised standards),.

- The General Certificate in Packaging takes the form of one multiple choice paper of two hours.

Following on from the successful introduction of the on-line General Certificate at six centres worldwide in May 2009, the IBD is pleased to announce that candidates can register to sit the exam on-line instead of using the traditional paper format.

All these qualifications are examined by multiple choice questions, either on-line (currently available for GCB and GCP) or by paper exams.

The pass marks are set at 66% (40 correct answers from 60 questions for GC exams; 33 out of 50 for FBPB). Candidates attaining 90% or more achieve a Distinction pass and 80 - 89% achieves a Credit pass.

Candidates sitting within brewery or university centres will be encouraged to take the on-line version.

The exam itself appears on the screen very much like the paper version and with the same number of questions, but there are various different ways of asking the questions which make the exam a more interesting experience. The marking is done electronically and candidates will received a detailed feedback on how each section of the syllabus has been answered.

Please find below a link which will give some guidance on how to answer the exam. To try this now please follow the below steps.

- In the Name field please enter IBD
- In the Group field please leave it blank
- Then click ENTER
- Then click on the play or triangle icon
- The online General Certificate Examination Tutorial will begin

https://ondemand.questionmark.com/398560/open

GCP - Reading List

Candidates are advised that the General Certificate in Packaging is a practically based exam and the reading material supplied with the course should be adequate. To back this up it is advised that the candidate understands what packaging is about so if they are not working in the packaging area they should make sure that they spend some time there to understand what goes on and to understand the terminology. There are two books worth mentioning for reference:

1) Excellence in Packaging of Beverages by Jeremy Browne and Eric Candy
2) Fundamentals of Packaging Technology by Walter Soroka

For the examination dates please click here
To register for this examination please click here