Top tips for APC candidates

For the majority of his career, my father was a self‑employed tiler, working on residential homes, commercial properties, and construction sites. He always said that a career in surveying would be a fantastic choice, as it is dynamic and offers variety.

I was fortunate enough to undertake work experience with a building surveying firm while at college and later worked at an estate agents while studying for a real estate degree at the Royal Agricultural University.

Subsequently, I successfully applied to the graduate scheme at the Valuation Office Agency and two years later, I passed the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) to become one of the youngest chartered surveyors at 23 years old. 

Since qualifying, I have become an APC counsellor, supervisor and assessor.

The APC is comprised of several elements. Typically, candidates complete a minimum of two years' structured training where they record an APC diary and complete a continuing professional development (CPD) log.

Along the way, candidates complete their submission. This is formed from their case study and their summary of experience, where candidates set out examples of activity they have undertaken to meet the competency requirements set out in RICS' APC sector pathway guide.

Lastly, candidates sit the final assessment interview, where they are questioned by a panel of experts on their case study and their declared experience.

It is important that, from the beginning, candidates understand the requirements of their chosen pathway.

Moreover, it is fundamental that candidates ensure they are familiar with the competencies they have selected from their pathway guide and what type of work will form their examples for those competencies taken to Level 2 and Level 3.

For reference, Level 2 covers the application of knowledge and Level 3 covers reasoned advice and the depth and synthesis of technical knowledge and its implementation. 

Colleagues from the candidate's firm can provide a useful source of support and guidance.

They may be able to point candidates in the right direction as to how their work relates to each of the competencies.

However, candidates are reminded that their journey is individual and they are responsible for their progress towards APC assessment.

This requires candidates to be proactive and to liaise with their colleagues, which is even more fundamental now there is a cap on the number of attempts at final assessment interview.

Candidates should set reminders in their calendars and block out time each day to complete their APC diary and CPD log.

Learning is like exercising: the more time that candidates dedicate and the more consistent they are, the quicker they will make progress and see results.

The APC is a challenging process to complete. It requires candidates to dedicate a huge amount of their personal time.

If APC qualification was an easy process, everyone would do it. It is a significant achievement and the hard work will be worth it. 

Candidates need to surround themselves with colleagues who are doing similar work and reach out to other APC candidates.

It is equally important to have some role models to aspire to. 

Candidates can develop a strong peer support group within their firms, but also by making use of RICS' early career community, RICS Matrics, and the UK Government Property Function's PropEL network for candidates working in the public sector.

There is also an RICS Assessments LinkedIn group.

Everyone learns in different ways, and it can take a while to find a system that works for each candidate, so it is best to experiment early on.

What worked for me was organising my revision notes in Microsoft OneNote. I had a section for each competency and a page for each level within that competency.

I filled the pages with Level 1 theory, my summary of experience examples, and formed question banks from Q&As and mock interviews.

I was told at school not to spend so much time making my notes look pretty.

However, if getting the highlighters out, doing some calligraphy, colour coding and drawing diagrams helps candidates to organise and structure their revision, then they should go for it.

Revision notes need to make sense to each individual. If you can make revising fun along the way, then do it.

In my experience, if my revision notes look nice, I am more likely to use them.

For example, answering questions in a format such as STAR (situation, task, action, result) or CAR (context, action, result). This can help candidates provide a concise answer that is focused on the question at hand. 

Candidates need to ensure that they listen to questions carefully and keep in mind what competency the question relates to.

They need to be direct and concise with their answers. If candidates are waffling or talking around the point, the assessors may have to move on due to time restrictions.

It is a good idea to practice interview-style Q&As throughout the two years leading up to the final assessment.

Candidates should use their quarterly progress reviews with their counsellor and supervisor as an opportunity to do this and ensure that they ask them for feedback.

Rather, the case study should be a project that best displays the competencies in the candidate's pathway and where they have provided reasoned advice to a client.

Candidates want to give themselves something interesting to talk about for the presentation element.

There might have been some negotiation or a particular challenge which candidates had to overcome.

For the case study to be valid, a candidate's last involvement with the project must have been within two years of submission.

Candidates need to ensure that the project has two or three key issues. These should contain different options that they evaluated and considered taking.

Examples of key issues could be assessing building defects, forming an opinion of value or establishing build costs.

I recommend that APC candidates use these from the start to get used to the structure and layout of the case study and summary of experience.

Both documents must be completed within the word count. This condition must be met without exception.

When writing submissions and answering questions at interview, candidates should speak about themselves and their involvement in the examples cited in the first person.

Assessors do not want to see or hear candidates write or say 'the valuation came out as…' or 'the inspection showed…'.

Instead, they want candidates to write or say 'my opinion of value was…' and 'on inspection, I identified…'.

Assessors are interested in what candidates have done and what their individual contributions were.

The submission is a candidate's opportunity to demonstrate to the panel that they can produce a report that is professional, comprehensive and of exceptional quality.

The submission creates the candidate's first impression with the panel, and they will use this to form the basis of questioning.

I then asked friends and relatives to test me from these notes and practised reading my answers out loud to myself.

It is fundamental to be resourceful with revision, e.g. creating mnemonics for points that candidates may struggle to remember.

Moreover, it is crucial to remember that the final assessment is a spoken interview. Q&As and mock interviews will help to increase confidence.

While it might not be for everyone, I found that creating a voice recording, playing it back and speaking along with myself really helped me to remember points that I found challenging to retain.

It is important that the presentation is flawless so that candidates can feel confident to have put their best foot forward.

Candidates must be precise with their timings and this requires a lot of practice.

They may use a stopwatch on the day of the interview, so candidates are advised to practise timing themselves.

I recommend using PowerPoint Live on Microsoft Teams when presenting the case study.

The speaker notes will appear on the screen, the laser pointer can be used to draw attention to slides, and there is a timer function to ensure the presentation is kept to ten minutes.

However, it is a good idea to have a backup option, such as a printout, in case of IT issues on the day.

As an APC assessor, I usually find that candidates need more practice presenting their case studies, or that they need more Q&A practice.

The pace of the interview is relatively fast, and it may feel like the assessors are chopping and changing between competencies frequently, so it is best to prepare for this by doing mock interviews.

Candidates will need a good Wi-Fi connection and to be free from any interruptions and distractions, and these points should influence whether they decide to be in the office or work from home.

Moreover, candidates will want to give themselves the best possible chance of performing well on the day of their interview.

It is important to get plenty of rest beforehand and to eat well, stay hydrated and exercise.

I found it useful to imagine that the assessors were new people in the office asking for help, and were intrigued to understand my advice, reasoning and decision making.

Being nervous is completely normal. It shows you care and that passing the APC is important to you.

As with everything in life, enjoy the journey and remember to celebrate your progress and success along the way.