You definately need work experience as that counts for a massive section of the application otherwise you will probably have to go to university as they don;t have on the job trainees like we do in the UK and I was surprised to hear it as I was willing to start all over again just to get a job!!!
So anyone CSMLS exam??? Come on!!!!! In fact any news at all....
PLA done...was a total beast and I have to do a histo refresher course but thats fine as I was expecting it! Just make sure when anyone does the PLA that you have as much evidence to back up your statements as possible, I was really lucky and my seniors were excellent but reading in some areas some techs weren't so lucky!!!