Exam
Posts here cover the licensing exams at the end of the two-year Israeli tour-guide course (2012-2014). The two pieces sit either side of the final hurdle: one a short note from before sitting the test, the other the rather happier announcement that came afterwards.
7 articles
7 articles
The Israel tour guide exam, Part Two: the oral exam
The oral exam is the final stage in qualifying as a licensed Israel tour guide; here are the questions I can remember being asked, covering my itinerary, the Hermon, Jerusalem itineraries and a few curveballs.
I passed!!
After two years of study, an oral exam in front of four senior guides, and the wait for results, the verdict came in a single Hebrew word: 'avarta' (you have passed).
The Israel tour guide exam, Part One: the written exam Part B (summer 2014)
The actual Part B paper from my written tour-guide exam: a three-hour itinerary marathon where you build a two-day tour for one of three groups – synagogues, Crusader pilgrimage or human heritage in the South.
The Israel tour guide exam, Part One: the written exam Part A (summer 2014)
How the Israeli Ministry of Tourism's written tour-guide exam works: 50 multiple-choice questions on Part A, a three-hour itinerary marathon on Part B, with a 65% pass mark.
Just testing…
I swore off exams after graduating. The tour guide course had me sitting more tests than my entire degree: a written exam after every subject, then mid-term and final exams before the Ministry of Tourism's national exams could even begin.
Looking back – the video
With studies done and exams looming, the course gathered for a mesibat siyum (final party). One of our group had stitched together a slideshow of the past year and a half — touching, amusing, mostly in Hebrew.
Belvoir Fortress and Beit Shean
A north-bound field trip south of the Sea of Galilee, taking in the Crusader fortress of Belvoir above the Jordan Valley and the vast Roman and Byzantine ruins of Scythopolis at Beit Shean.
If you are going to Israel, you would be mad not to give him a call.
Amol Rajan, BBC presenter and broadcaster
Having been on trips in Israel with seven different tour guides, Samuel stood above all the rest.
Seasoned Israel traveller
Samuel is one part walking encyclopedia, one part storyteller, one part stand-up comedian.
Berkeley Haas Business School student