Over the past 9 years of coaching candidates through the APC, I’ve often been surprised by how many put off starting their Chartership due to fear of the process being too difficult. A few common misconceptions that come up are the belief that the APC has a very high fail rate or that the assessors look to ask a vast array of difficult questions in order to trip candidates up. In reality, non of these beliefs are accurate and in this post, we’ll share some real insights into the true difficulty of the APC, based on feedback from candidates. I recently reached out to over 10,000 subscribers of RICSAPCGUIDE.COM, and they shared their perspectives on how tough they found the process.
Following our survey with over 100 APC candidates on the difficulty of the APC, 66% of candidates advised that revising for the final assessment interview was the most challenging part, whereas 21% of candidates advised that writing the Case Study was more challenging. 80% of candidates were planning to sit their final assessment within 2 years of enrolment, which is a good indicator that most enrolled candidates are not finding the APC to be overly difficult.
Candidate Views On The Difficulty Of The APC
After reviewing the findings of our survey, it is clear that the majority of candidates find revising for the final assessment interview the most challenging aspect of the APC. From my own experience of coaching candidates, they can often feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of topics to read up on. However this can be simplified by structuring the majority of revision around your own submission documents. We’ll explain more on how to streamline and fine tune your revision below. With 80% of candidates planning to sit their final assessment within 2 years of enrolment, this shows that the majority of candidates are feeling positive about their progress and this is a good indicator that most enrolled candidates are not finding the APC to be overly difficult, as many wrongfully suspect.
Dispelling Common Misconceptions About The Difficulty Of The APC
After reviewing the findings of the survey I now feel it’s prudent to dispel some of the common misconceptions I often hear from candidates about completing their APC.
Lets address each of these misconceptions one by one:-
The APC Pass Rate
From our recent survey, 89% of candidates believed the first time APC pass rate to be between 50%-70%. However from my own experience of helping fellow colleagues with their APC over the last 9 years, I have found the first time pass rate to be as high as 80%-90% and throughout 2017, the APC pass rate among candidates I coached, was an impressive 100%, with all nine candidates passing first time.
In 2013, Faithful & Gould advised their pass rates for the following disciplines as 85% for Quantity Surveying, 88% for Project management and 64% for Building Surveying. In 2019 Calford Seaden, a practice of over 300 professionals advised of an impressive 85% pass rate and a 100% pass rate from 2016, 2017 & 2018. Despite these being reputable firms with well refined APC programmes, it goes to show that with the correct guidance and coaching, the APC pass rate is much higher than most candidates believe.
All of the guidance, coaching and APC tips that I have shared with candidates over the last 9 years is accessible across this website and is also contained within our Q&A study guide, to access a copy of this please click here. This guidance has helped approximately 90% of my colleagues pass their APC first time between 2015 – 2024 and I really hope you find this resource useful.
Difficulty Of The Final Assessment Interview
To clear up any misconceptions around the scope of assessor questioning, I want candidates to know that the APC is a period of structured training that is personal to you. This means that the majority of questions you face within the final assessment interview are based on your own submission documents. The assessors will be asking you questions around your documentation in a, ‘tell us what you did’ style of questioning. For example a candidate who has experience of mainly working with JCT and NEC forms of contract cannot be expected to answer questions on a FIDIC form of contract. Based on these principles, well prepared candidates will use their documentation to structure the majority of their revision around. If a question is asked on an area outside of the candidates expertise, they cannot be expected to know the answer in order to pass. The assessors are not expecting candidates to answer each and every question and they will give you every opportunity to demonstrate your competence where possible.
I hope these insights provide candidates with more confidence about getting through their final assessment interview however please note that if you are unable to recall the experience you have written within your submission documents, this will often raise a red flag for the assessors. In addition to this, any failure to answer an Ethics question correctly will result in an automatic referral of the candidate. With that said, candidates should know their documentation inside and out, in addition to being very knowledgeable around the principles of the RICS Ethics and Rules of Conduct. Please click here to access some essential Q&A practice around the RICS Ethics and Rules of Conduct to help improve your knowledge of this key area.
How Long Does The APC Take?
From reaching out to hundreds of APC candidates in our survey, 80% of them advised they were planning to sit their final assessment interview within 2 years after enrolment. From experience there is no one size fits all when it comes to the duration of the APC, as the process is personal to each candidate. On the structured training routes, the minimum timescales are 12 months for those with more than 5 years industry experience or 24 months for those with less than 5 years’ experience.
The speed at which you can pass the APC really depends on how quickly you can gain the necessary experience in each of the competencies, write up your documentation and prepare for the final assessment interview. My advice would be not to rush this and recognise that each journey is different and there is no expected timescale or end date that you need to pass by. From own my personal experience, the APC took 2 and a half years to complete and throughout this, I honestly never felt too rushed or pressured in producing any of the outputs that were required.
At the following link is a full step by step process you can follow for completing the APC. This breaks everything down into manageable activities and hopefully makes the process less daunting, please click here to access this.
Difficulty Of The APC Case Study
The case study is a 3,000 word report documenting a project you have worked on where you have encountered and resolved some key issues. This may seem daunting to APC candidates but there is no need for this to be the case. The RICS are very prescriptive around the headings and format which actually makes writing the case study much easier, as you have a clear structure to follow. There are no guidelines on scheme value or complexity and the project may be a relatively straight forward one. Remember that the assessors are not expecting you to be the finished article and running your own multi-million pound, complex projects.
My advice to candidates here is to keep the key issues simple so that a lay person can follow them. From generating project ideas to writing the final version, the Case Study took around 3 months to complete. This also included some review time with my counsellor and supervisor to incorporate any amendments they had proposed. Your counsellor and supervisor should be able to guide you through the process of selecting a project and it really isn’t as difficult as many candidates’ fear. To access some previous example case studies that were successful in the past, please click here to illustrate how to write up your own Case Study.
Achieving the Competencies
The number of core and mandatory competencies can seem overwhelming for anybody working towards their APC. There are 11 mandatory competencies in total and around 5-8 core competencies depending on your chosen pathway. Try to remember that the majority of the 11 mandatory competencies are only required up to level 1 meaning you need to have an awareness only. The mandatory competencies such as Health & Safety and Communication aren’t too difficult and should form part of your day to day surveying duties so please don’t feel daunted by these. For the core competencies, remember that the majority of the assessors questions are based on what you write in your submission. By using your documents to plan your revision, with some organisation and hard work, these are not too difficult for you to demonstrate.
Please click here to access our essential Q&A practice on how to pass the mandatory competencies.
Final Thoughts
When asked about the overall difficulty of the APC by Candidates that are unsure about the process, my number one tip is simply to get started. Candidates should not be put off due to inaccurate beliefs around low pass rates as these are simply untrue. With the correct coaching and guidance in place, the pass rate can be as high as 85%-90% among motivated study groups as demonstrated by consultancies such as Rider Levett Bucknall, Faithful and Gould and Calford Seaden. From personal experience, by being organised and consistently chipping away at the documents regularly, candidates should find themselves in a position where the summary of experience and case study documentation are taken care of well in advance of the final assessment interview. This will then free up candidates time in order to focus on revision prior to the final assessment.
To access the full set of guidance notes I have used to coach candidates over the last 9 years, please use the links below. The guidance contained has helped approximately 90% of my colleagues pass their APC first time between 2015-2024 and I really hope you find these resources useful.
RICS APC Q&A STUDY GUIDES
