John Lever offers a timeline for success for APC candidates facing final assessment in late 2018.
Every year, we see candidates leave their assessment preparations to the last minute.
Sadly, this seems to get slightly worse as each year passes, and I observe unnecessary mistakes being made and stress levels rise.
In our world of unprecedented access to helpful information, it is baffling that the candidates who have more self-preparation tools available than any previous generation are seemingly the least ready.
Why is this the case? We can’t know for sure, but perhaps one reason is, ironically, the overwhelming amount of information now available to candidates. Too much to process can be as unhelpful as too little, increasing stress further still.
For those of you aiming to sit your assessment in autumn 2018, or even squaring up for spring 2019, now is the time to act. Don’t leave it any longer. Time is flying by fast.
The timeline below shows you where you should be today, and offers a game plan for the next few months. If you are in the land and property pathways, the following timescales are spot on. If in the built environment pathways, then add a month to everything – but don’t get complacent. One month extra isn’t much of a buffer.
Candidates for spring 2019 should adjust the timeline accordingly, working back from their final assessment date.
This article focuses on the “in-flight” model, as that is where I understand most candidates currently to be in the process. If you are a “full access” candidate, then there are slightly different things you will need to do.
8 June 2018
68 days to submission; 145 days to final assessment
■ You should be progressing well with your case study and your summary of experience should be near completion – or at least up-to-date – as you should be running it up to the start of the submission period. All CPD should be written up and any final outstanding CPD hours planned to be achieved by end of July 2018 into early August 2018.
■ You should have begun collating the required reading for your Level 1 knowledge base development. Refer to the RICS Pathway Guide. Remember, this is CPD-relevant learning.
30 June 2018
46 days to submission; 123 days to final assessment
■ June needs to be the time for completing your case study and getting it out to as many people as possible to read through for comments and suggestions for improvement. I always suggest at least 10 competent people, making sure that three of them know nothing about surveying, so they are positioned to give you input from a layperson’s perspective. Give them enough time to review your documents – around three weeks – and ask them to highlight anything that doesn’t make sense or needs further explanation. Don’t forget to send them a “thank you” afterwards.
■ Download the Application for Election as a Professional Member form from the RICS website (www.rics.org/uk/apc/final-assessment-/), which is an additional document to the submission document template. The form requires you to get three members to propose you to RICS, and they all need to sign it. One proposer must be a FRICS, and you can read about the other criteria once you get the form. Do it now, as most candidates download it a week before the submission deadline and then panic that their proposers are out of town or cannot help at short notice. This form is a Word document that you will need to complete and save as a PDF and upload at the same time you are uploading your final submission document PDF. You must have it in order to be eligible to come forward for assessment.
■ Crack on with writing your presentation, too, as it is important to get this up and running as soon as possible, so you can start practising some dry runs with your granny, friend, neighbour or cat.
■ You should be a few months into your revision preparation and have begun a soft approach at reading over your Level 1 knowledge base development. Remember, this is CPD-relevant learning.
31 July 2018
15 days to submission; 92 days to final assessment
■ The weather’s getting hot. So is your deadline. You have not got long and your main focus will be the submission documents, as you have just six weeks to complete. Please don’t underestimate the time it takes to edit and fine-tune your documents. You will probably have 50 to 100 pages that you have to choreograph into the masterpiece of your life thus far. If you are of the mindset that you’ll just do enough to get by, then you are not in the right frame of mind to pass your APC.
■ Along with document editing you should also be actively creating your presentation to follow your case study report exactly and embellish every aspect of it, ready to engage and enthuse the assessment panel as you deliver. Remember, the presentation lasts only 10 minutes, which can either feel like a lifetime or go by in a flash, depending on your level of preparation and rehearsal. Keep reading your revision material.
15 August 2018
Date of submission; 77 days to final assessment
■ The first two weeks of August are your final two before submission. You should be finessing the final versions of your submission documents, allowing space to hide them away for a few days before giving them one last look and editing any last surprise typos or grammatical errors. By now you will be so close to the document you will be prone to missing silly mistakes and you need to lean on any support available to you for these last few days to review your documents.
■ The APC submission window closes two weeks later, but it is important to aim for the start of the window, not the end of the month, as your target deadline, in order to give yourself a time buffer in case something goes wrong.
■ Once you have submitted your documents you cannot get them back, so make sure you have all of the relevant Level 2 and 3 project experience examples in place.
31 August 2018
61 days to final assessment
■ Once submitted, it is time to relax for 24 hours and get the stress out of your system before embarking on your revision regime, which is going to be the focus of your life for the remaining six to eight weeks as you lead into the final assessment.
30 September 2018
31 days to final assessment
■ September is all about revision, revision, coffee, and more revision. Now is the time to brush up and fine-tune your Level 1 knowledge and ritualistically remind yourself about your submitted experience project examples and other experiences you can bring for discussion at the final assessment.
■ This is also the time to do mock interviews and practice questions and answers. Make sure you do a recorded mock with experienced assessors who have a wealth of experience to pinpoint any of your skills and knowledge gaps. Pick a mock interview date where you can give yourself a few weeks of post-mock preparation time to fix any issues highlighted.
31 October 2018
Final assessment
■ You can expect to be notified by RICS regarding your designated assessment date/time about three or four weeks before the big day. In these closing weeks you should be working on any possible pitfalls identified in your mock interview recording.
■ Take a practice trip to the venue in advance, arriving at the same time of day and using the same mode of transport as per the actual day of your assessment. This will reduce stress on the assessment day, because you’ll know where you are going.
■ Follow the week-by-week plan in the Countdown to Final Assessment box.
The countdown to final assessment
The last four weeks before assessment should look like this:
Week 1
- Do a mock interview.
- Read through your submission documents two or three times.
- Daily knowledge development based on a revision plan.
- Do some Q&A practice with anyone who can help you.
- Take some time to relax. Plan this in – it’s important.
Week 2
- Read through your submission documents once a day.
- Daily knowledge development based on a revision plan.
- Practice your presentation every two days. If you can, video yourself.
- Do some Q&A practice with anyone who can help.
Weeks 3 and 4
- Read through your submission documents twice a day in week 3 and at breakfast, lunch and dinner in week 4.
- Daily knowledge development based on a revision plan.
- Practice your presentation daily. If you can, video yourself.
- Do some Q&A practice with anyone who can help.
One day to go
- Do some top-level reading around bullet lists and competency-relevant project examples.
- Practice your presentation.
- Sleep well and eat well.
- Go do something relaxing or fun.
- Don’t drink alcohol!
Main image: Mode/Rex/Shutterstock
Jon Lever FRICS is the RICS’ UK licensed assessor trainer, a RICS regional training adviser, an APC chairman of assessors and a member of the RICS’ governing council. Follow Jon on Twitter @deleverapc
