100% Pass mark requirement in Weight and balance and Fuel Systems.

[Centaurus]

Question without Notice. In relation to the engineering examination for aircraft type endorsement the applicable CAO used to call for a pass mark of 80% in each subject except for the Weight and Balance examination and Fuel Systems examination both requiring a 100% pass mark.

Is that requirement still current and what is the authority? I understand that if the examinations are conducted within an airline (as against a flying school) the pass mark for all examinations associated with award of a type rating is at the discretion of the operator? This is because the syllabus for training is "approved" (if that is the current terminology) by CASA.

The 100% pass mark for W&B and Fuel System type rating engineering examination has been in place since at least 1950 and I wonder why the emphasis on 100% and has it since been discarded

[gas-chamber]

I can not find any reference to a 100% requirement. 100% in any test is an antiquated notion anyway, as who does an absolutely perfect load sheet or knows absolutely everything about a fuel system? As far as I can read from the rules, any type requiring a course has to cover certain items as per the CAO applicable to that type or group of airplane and any course has to be "approved". Usually that means some FOI is assigned to sit through the first course and then decides whether the requisite syllabus has been adequately covered, whether the classroom facilites etc were OK and whether the examinations were sufficiently searching. With so many courses now being done by CBT, often the instructor doesn't even have input. 80% seems to be the target for most courses, but some CBT courses don't allow you to proceed to the next subject until you get all answers correct. This is done by simply selecting a, b or c until you hit the jackpot.
Technically, then, you have 100%, and hence know all that is necessary. What bs.

[Led Zep]

I've recently sat through an engineering course and the only exam that required 100% to pass was the planning/loadsheet exam.
A thousand pilots working a thousand CR-2s may eventually get the same answers for respective questions, but I don't recall that being the case. "Ballpark" answers seemed good enough.

"How sharp was your pencil?!"