The BPTC and its predecessor the BVC have come in for heavy criticism. Dominic Carman asks how entrance standards at the Bar are changing

"It's quite fashionable at the Bar to say: 'The Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) – no-one cares about that. It's rubbish, isn't it? We don't care what grade you get.' It is certainly not held with much respect, or anything like the same importance that academic degrees have.

"Ours is one of the highest pass rates in the world for a Bar course. In a lot of places, only 30% of people pass." This damning indictment from Adam Kramer, pupillage secretary at 3 Verulam Buildings and author of Bewigged and Bewildered: A Guide to Becoming a Barrister in England and Wales, echoes the sentiments of many practitioners about the new BPTC.

But is it entirely fair? The BPTC, being taught for the first time this academic year, replaces the longstanding Bar Vocational Course (BVC). Its genesis came in the Wood Report of 2008, prepared by Derek Wood QC, which reviewed the BVC, consulting widely across the profession before making a series of recommendations to raise standards.

"There was concern," explains BPTC sub-committee chairman Nigel Cooper QC (pictured), "that the BVC wasn't meeting the requirements of the profession. A proportion of students were coming through who were not of a sufficiently high standard to practise at the Bar."

The new BPTC continues the aims of its predecessor: to introduce prospective barristers to the practical knowledge and skills required from the job.

In his report, Wood concluded: "The large gap between the number of BVC graduates seeking pupillage and the number of pupillages available is a cause for considerable concern."

There is also heavy competition for BPTC places, warns the Bar Standards Board website, in the region of 3,000 candidates apply for approximately 1,800 places. In the year to September 2009, of the 2,657 BVC applicants, 1,793 were enrolled and 1,330 (74%) were successful in passing the exams.

However, the real competition comes in finding a place to practise: over the last year, only 402 barristers have commenced pupillage, down 35% from a decade ago. Students are allowed to seek pupillage for up to five years after completing the course, so competition for pupillages remains intense.

But according to Cooper, the BPTC isn't intended as a means of restricting numbers entering the profession: "It will work in a very similar fashion to the BVC, save that there is going to be a tightening of standards; a raising of quality thresholds. Everyone coming off the course should meet minimum standards to be fit to practise at the Bar and therefore fit to enter pupillage – the ability to write fluently and the ability to speak fluently."

Because the BPTC requires a high level of ability in both written and oral English, for candidates whose first language is not English, BPTC offers are conditional on gaining a score of 7.5 or above in all subjects on a test from the British Council International English Language Testing System.

Using a similar modular structure to the BVC, most of the 11 BPTC subjects will be assessed through multiple choice written papers, whereas criminal and civil advocacy, resolution of disputes out of court and conference skills will be appraised by video performances.

The pass rate for each module is being raised from 50% to 60%. Every module has to be passed in order to pass the BPTC, and successful candidates are graded as 'outstanding', 'very competent', 'competent' and 'not yet competent'.

It's too early to assess the changes put in place by the BPTC, so what do recent BVC graduates think of their course?

"It was less challenging than university and sometimes quite bureaucratic," says Anton Dudnikov at Essex Court Chambers. "For example, constructing a research trail doesn't represent practice and it's largely a waste of time."

Paul Luckhurst at Blackstone Chambers adds: "The whole thing is very different to undergraduate work, you're learning practical skills – it was less demanding in terms of time."

And there is no shortage of radical suggestions for improvement. "It could be condensed – to make it shorter and cheaper," says Luckhurst (pictured). "Squeezing it into four or five months might reduce the cost as well. The fees are eye-watering; I don't think they're justified. It's extraordinarily expensive, which is a substantial barrier to entry. Not everyone can take the risk, given that the majority don't get pupillage. The real learning curve is the pupillage."

Current fees for the course at the 10 providers range from £10,000 to £15,000 with most at, or towards, the top end of the range. Kramer suggests: "It could be a three-month course for four grand."

Dudnikov adds: "Many students treat the course as part time and do other things, like teach, to gain some experience. Perhaps the solution is to make it genuinely part time so that you don't have to attend as many lectures and classes. Reduce the time, but up the quality."

Happy overall with the course, he found advocacy classes "really useful; I learned a lot" and suggests the BPTC teach client management: "It's a staple for commercial barristers."

While the standard of participants has been problematic in some modules, Luckhurst offers a positive view: "If someone else gives a very bad submission in an advocacy class, it doesn't detrimentally affect you when you get up and do your thing. When you're doing negotiation, you're obviously at the mercy of the person you're working with. But then you have to learn to negotiate with bad negotiators as well as good."

Group BVC exercises were obviously a headache for Kramer: "In every tutorial group, half the people were hopeless, with no chance of getting a pupillage. Often it was their English or demonstrable from advocacy skills. The question is whether you want them in there. It's very difficult to learn, particularly for interactive things like negotiation or, more importantly, advocacy, if you're trying to cross-examine someone who's pretending to be a witness and their English isn't very good, or they're not that bright."

The solution may come with the new compulsory BPTC aptitude test, which is currently being piloted. Originally scheduled to be in operation last month, the test has been postponed until next September to ensure the exam is "fair for all applicants before it is finalised and becomes an absolute entry requirement".

All candidates on the BPTC this year will be required to take part in the continuing pilot studies. Developed in conjunction with Pearson VUE, the aptitude test will be a multiple choice critical reasoning test, based on Watson Glaser-type testing, widely used by companies and government bodies. The threshold pass mark will be set after sampling is complete.

Everyone applying to start the BPTC in September 2011 will sit the test, although the results won't have any effect on their entrance to the course. The test will be fully operational for those starting their BPTC in September 2012.

Cooper explains that the aptitude test will determine each candidate's ability "to think analytically and logically. It's designed to ensure that those who go on to the Bar course have the necessary abilities to pass, and to remove those who have no prospect of ever passing the BPTC".

The fee for sitting the aptitude test will be relatively nominal, confirms Cooper. As well as saving time, money and disappointment, Cooper suggests the test will "prevent their impact on the learning experience of others on the BPTC".

He doesn't believe it will have a significant impact on numbers accepted, but will simply "remove that small minority who don't have the ability to do it and succeed".

The original Wood Group recommendation, explains Cooper, was to be able to sit the aptitude test as many times as candidates want. Maybe, he concedes, there should be "a finite number" of resits.

"I approve of the aptitude test and the improvement of standards," says Kramer. 'The teaching on the Bar course is quite good, even though it gets a lot of flak. The aptitude test may allow the good teaching and excellent facilities to have their effect rather than students being hampered by awkward exercises."

Stealing a march on the competition, Kaplan Law School's new BPTC – run by James Wakefield (pictured), former leader of the acclaimed Nottingham Law School BVC – has introduced an aptitude test of its own, called a selection event. This weeds out roughly 15% of applicants who had already made it through the CV and online assessment stages.

"Many good candidates are applying to Kaplan in the belief that having a rigorously selective course will mean a higher standard overall. At the selection event, a variety of written, advocacy and interview tests weed out all but the best candidates: a third of the 55 students on this year's course have first-class degrees, the remainder 2:1s. "We hope to give our candidates the best fighting chance of a pupillage," says Wakefield.

Presently, the minimum requirement to study for the BPTC is a 2:2. The Wood Review recommendation for a minimum entry requirement of 2:1 was not adopted, although in practice, most BPTC applicants may require a 2:1 to stand a chance of getting a place.

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