Hi all,
Does anyone have tips or tricks for the practical exam? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Sarah, what school?
Hello,
The professional gemologist certification.
Thanks
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Take your time … test and re-test carefully on the refractometer, this helped me on most pieces. The multiple choice options help and guide a bit.
During exam go through each ID step from start to finish~ Do not skip a step even though you may feel it’s unnecessary. This is very important.
~ If you’re having some difficulty with a stone, don’t get stressed, just go back to it at the end and proceed to next stone.
When you go back to the difficult stone, start with step #1 and repeat each step once again.
Do not guess on a stone if it’s a toss up between 2. A couple of very good students in my class had both a small charoite (without the yellow spot) and a small sugilite. They took a gamble guess and lost and had mistaken one for the other. Do not guess…Sit there until you’re absolutely sure of the stone and have no doubt in your mind.
Most important ~ have a good nights sleep, give yourself plenty of time to relax in the morning and have a good breakfast with protein
and you’ll do fine 
Best of luck
I read some replies on your other post. I guess your practical is a lot different. We had 1 timed very long written final with multiple choice and 1 practical/20 stones/ with no multiple choice. Well, I still advise you to be methodical…never hurts!
Thank you all. Will see how it goes.
Any idea how many tries we get? And what the passing score is?
Hello Sarah,
After you pass the written test, you must take the practical exam, which requires identifying and grading 15 gemstones. We will mail you the gemstones, which will be common to the trade and include natural, enhanced, synthetic, and assembled stones. Deductions will be made for errors, and the applicant must score 93% or better to pass.
Like the written tests, you can retake the Practical test until you succeed.
If you have more questions, you can contact IGS directly using the Contact Form.
Hope this helps,
Pedro
IGS Admin