The Institution · Once a fortnight

The Diagnostic

Seven parts, forty-five to sixty minutes, inside a window of three days that opens every fourteen. Standing Δ moves here and nowhere else. A missed window pins the figure at its last assessed value until the next opens.

Sit the Preliminary Practice instead

Minutes: 55
Parts: VII
Window: 3 days

Folio IThe window

The Diagnostic window

Reading the window.

Folio IIWhat it demands

The terms

PartsSevenOne per faculty, sat in a fixed order.

Duration45–60 minUninterrupted. A sitting cut short is not scored.

CadenceEvery 14 daysInside a window of three days. The first opens seven days after admission.

EffectStanding ΔThe only sitting that moves it. Practice never does.

The hour

Seven parts

IReasoning8′
IIWorking Memory6′
IIIReading9′
IVAttention7′
VSpeed5′
VIWriting8′
VIIEndurance12′

Folio IIIOn endurance

The last quarter of the sitting is a stress test of the first three. This is deliberate. A faculty that holds for ten minutes and gives way at forty has not been measured — it has been sampled. Endurance is built into the Standing Δ because it is the faculty most affected by what the Fellow does with the rest of their day.

Meanwhile the Preliminary is open, and it is sixteen rounds against the same four faculties. It is an entrance examination, not a Diagnostic: it will place you, and it will not move a Standing Δ.