What helped me successfully secure my WSET Level 3 award!

We all have different hobbies. I don’t know that I would have said 5 years ago that wine tasting was one of mine!  However, time has shown me that while I enjoy drinking wine, I do also enjoy challenging myself. I like to better understand and identify what I am drinking, where it is from, and what is unique about it.  My journey with WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) courses has spanned five years! I just recently successfully completed my Level 3 Award in Wines.  This post is to share what helped me successfully secure my WSET Level Award in Wines.

Background

I started with Level 1 with WSET. This was an introduction to some wine varietals, and general information on regions.  This course was a simple entry point and a great way to learn bit about wine without too much commitment.  Level 2, a beginner to intermediate course, was a bit more intimidating.  It included some prep before the course then a 2 day course.  It was very informative and the focus was again largely on varietals and more information on wine regions but without really putting the two together. 

WSET Level 3 Award in Wines

Level 3 is a real commitment.  It’s recommended that you enroll sometime before the course itself so you can get the materials and read the book at least two times prior to the class as well as prepare your study aids.  The course itself, through a local provider (Fine Vintage) was 6 days over 3 weekends. There are two parts to the final exam – 1 part is a blind tasting, and the 2nd part is the theory exam.  Read on to learn what helped me successfully secure my WSET Level 3 award in wines.

Blind Tasting exam

Each student is given a glass of white wine and a glass of red wine.  Using the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT) wine, the student needs to complete a tasting of each.  Varietal doesn’t need to be identified, nor region.  30 minutes in total is allotted, so 15 minutes each.  You can ask for more wine if you need it to complete your tasting.

Theory exam

This part of the exam is made up of 50 multiple choice and four multi-part short answer questions.  You can’t underestimate the complexity of some of these questions.  This is where you need to show you not only know the information but understand how to apply it to address the question.  

Results

You leave the exam and then you are left to wonder how you did for approximately ten weeks! You then receive a notification from your course provider as to how you did and then you wait a further amount of time for the official results from WSET. Phew!

My Suggestions that Helped me out ALOT

To get ready for the written exam itself

Find sample practice exams for multiple choice

These are good for reference and to complete at the end of each study session.  Keep in mind that the answer is right in front of you for multiple choice!  It’s one of the printed answers and typically at least 2 of them are obviously incorrect.  Particularly helpful are the practice exams applicable to the chapter you are reading.  These will put in context what you just studied.

Practice writing neatly in pencil

I know this seems obvious.  However, most of us type now, and writing is not our ‘1st’ stop.  And for those that do write regularly with pens, a pencil is another matter.  It is slower and while you can erase, it does take time.

Practice, practice, practice your short answer questions

Every single person stayed till the end of the exam! We all needed the time just to get everything written down.  You not only need to know the answer; you need to systematically write it down.  It may seem repetitive to do these written short answers over and over again at the end of each chapter (and then again for refreshers!) but, it will be worth it when you are sitting in the exam and the answer is in your mind and the only challenge is writing quickly.

To get ready for the blind tasting

Don’t sweat it – relax

Don’t fear the unknown.  Print off the WSET SAT sheet for reference and enjoy some wine tasting pre-course time with friends and family.

Get familiar with fruit and scents

I found it super helpful to eat ALOT of fruit to familiarize myself more fully with fruit scents and tastes.  This particularly aided me with red berry and black berry aromas and palate tastes with red wines.  

Try some wine that is different for you

I also tried a few wines I wouldn’t normally so I knew what that aroma and palate was like.  For example, a typical Voignier; a typical Chablis (Chardonnay , N. France) vs. a typical Chardonnay from California.  If nothing else, I can better differentiate.

Find a WSET tasting aid to help you

Since starting my Level 2 journey, I have been using WSET’s wine tasting app on my cell phone whenever I can.  I have many of the wines I have tasted over the last 5 years in there and it is a great tool to help you funnel your information and learn to write a good wine tasting note.

Organize yourself

Plan how you are going to study

The WSET Level 3 Specification guide gives you a clear idea of how much time you should study outside of classroom hours.  They also recommend that you should have the book fully read, end to end, at least twice prior to the class time.  This will minimize you needing to cram during the course, and will allow you to focus on ‘entrenching’ the knowledge and ensuring you get up to speed on the blind tasting component of the exam.

Find your Study Aids

Spend time at the beginning of your journey developing aids that will help you.  I chose to draw maps of the countries in the curriculum, and drew out all the obvious geographical items of note along with the varietals and nuances to each region.  This helped a great deal in studying for the exam. I can’t stress this enough – it HELPED TONS!

Flash cards helped me as well.  These were particularly helpful for identifying the key tasting notes for varietals, climate classifications, key vineyards in regions, etc.

Check out some online videos.  Your course provider may have some (Fine Vintage has a great collection!) and there are some online folks such as The Grape Grind, and The Grape Explorer, for example who are very good at making videos and writing articles that resonated well for me in my studying.

Be confident – you will succeed!

Put yourself out there in class!  I have to remind myself frequently to do this as I hate being wrong.  I learnt more in class, however, when I was wrong, and was very pleased with myself when correct.  A great experience and teaching opportunity!

Read the specification from WSET for the course.  It tells you EVERYTHING you will need to know for the exam.  If it isn’t in the spec, it isn’t in the exam.  This will minimize you putting effort and time into memorizing something that isn’t important. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

I’m so happy that I’ve come this far with my wine education and maybe, just maybe, I’ll take the next step sometime in the future. For now, I like to test myself on remembering some of the knowledge when I complete a tasting. And, whenever the mood strikes me, I post some of my tastings on our PlanetSaipo YouTube site! Also check out our wine page here on Planet Saipo to see what other things we are going on about –

Cheers!