The exam lottery

Christopher Waldren, capital allowance consultant at Davis Langdon, has every reason to feel pleased with himself.

In May he passed the RICS’ assessment of professional competence (APC) on his first attempt, which is no mean feat (see box on next page).

Every year around 40% of candidates try for the RICS construction faculty’s APC and fail it. But some experts argue that the success rate could be dramatically improved if the candidates and their employers had a better understanding of the APC process.

The failure rate means that some 600 hopefuls out of the 1,500 plus APC candidates a year get “referred”, or in other words, fail the assessment and are invited to try again next year. The referral rate has remained at a consistent level since the RICS introduced the assessment in 1999.

So what is the APC process and why does it matter? The APC is a structured training programme devised by the RICS for graduates. It takes a minimum of two years to complete. The training aims to develop a range of skills and competencies (see box) that are necessary to practise as a chartered surveyor. The candidate records the development and practise of these competencies by keeping a logbook or diary, which is signed-off every three months by the candidate’s supervisor or counsellor. It is down to the supervisor or counsellor to ensure the candidate has reached the required level of competency and help candidates fill in any gaps in their knowledge.

The programme is capped by a final assessment that involves a one-hour interview by a panel of three APC assessors. As part of the interview, candidates are also required to give a ten-minute presentation on a 3000-word critical analysis written about a project they have undertaken.

Passing the APC means an individual is eligible to join the RICS (and so add MRICS after their name) and call himself or herself a chartered surveyor. For graduates like Waldren, passing the APC represents an important milestone in their career and personal development.

Waldren says: “The assessment is a great learning experience and improves your confidence to do your job no end. The contacts I made by doing the training are going to be invaluable to me.”

If most graduates consider the APC an important part of their development, and employers likewise are keen to see their staff become chartered, why do so many candidates get referred?

Only around 40% of supervisors seem to really know what they are doing. Some just haven’t devoted enough time to the role.

Jon Lever, RICS training advisor

According to RICS training advisor Jon Lever, candidates and their supervisors do not always understand what is required of them. He says: “One of the most basic oversights is that candidates haven’t read the guides produced by the RICS about how to get through the APC. If you don’t know what’s expected from you – how can you pass?”

He adds: “Another real problem is that in my experience only around 40% of supervisors seem to really know what they are doing. Some just haven’t devoted enough time to the role because they are so busy with their day-to-day job. When a supervisor puts forward a candidate for the APC, it is they who have signed-off the candidate as being competent in all the appropriate fields. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.”

Training supervisors is as important as training candidates, argues Deane Moffit, national APC coordinator at Turner & Townsend. He says: “We hold training days for both candidates and supervisors. Supervisors are trained by RICS representitives to help them give the support candidates need. This could help explain why 100% of our candidates passed their APC this year.”

Supervisors are not always the cause of a candidate’s referral. Lever admits there are common pitfalls among the candidates he assesses, including a lack of revision of basic knowledge, badly written critical assessments and a lack of familiarity with the RICS rules of conduct. “Some candidates will just revise the complicated technical info and then fail a basic question, such as ‘how is a steel frame building built?’ when that was part of their documented experience. Others forget what they have written in their critical analysis and summary of progress document and look bewildered when I ask about a project they worked on a year ago,” says Lever.

“Learning RICS rules of conduct is also essential – if you get one wrong then you are automatically referred. So the message is understand the APC criteria and then revise all the competencies you have worked on.”

Kathryn Edmundson, a senior cost manager at Turner and Townsend, who recently passed her APC at the first attempt, agrees that careful preparation and constant revision are crucial. Edmundson (see box) says: “You need to ensure you understand all the competencies you have written about in your diary. It’s also very important to see the assessment as 24-months long rather than just the final one-hour interview. That means learning steadily rather than cramming at the end.”

For Rob Tovey, director of membership and training at the RICS, the fact that the APC is hard work explains why the construction faculty’s referral rate is high. He says: “I don’t believe the referral rate is a cause for concern. In a sense we don’t want everyone to pass first time because we are saying that to become a chartered surveyor you need to be of a very high standard. And, like a driving test, people can keep trying until they meet that standard. Most people will keep at it until they do succeed, and when they do, they appreciate just what that standard means.” Tovey points to the high success rate of individuals who follow the senior professional route to gaining the APC (open to non-graduates who hold, as a minimum, middle management roles); the pass rate is 90%. He says: “This seems to suggest that sometimes those put forward for the APC are just a bit too green.”