APC submissions and assessment

Please ensure you use the correct and updated Summary of Experience template downloaded from the Assessment Platform. 

For your Summary of Experience, you need to write a brief statement about each of your mandatory and technical competencies to the levels required for your Assessment Pathway.

• Mandatory Competencies = Everyday personal and professional business skills (1,500 words maximum).
  
• Technical Competencies = Core and Optional professional skills common to the sector (4,000 words maximum).

Each competency is defined at three levels of attainment. The levels of attainment are indicated within your pathway guides, and you need to select your competencies from your chosen pathway. The individual competencies provide, examples of the work you may record against each competency.

All Sector Pathway Guides

You must reach the required level in a logical progression and in successive stages.

• Level 1 – knowledge and understanding
• Level 2 – application of knowledge
• Level 3 – depth and synthesis of technical knowledge and implementation.
   

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 10

To provide context to the levels of writing, typically, you would provide a summary of your work experience. For some competencies, one of your examples may be sufficient; for other competencies, you may need to provide multiple examples – you are aiming to demonstrate to the assessment panel what experience you have gained to meet that competency.

Level 1 – Knowledge and Understanding

It's important to show, and you will be required to explain, how you have gained the knowledge and understanding for that competency. This would include what learning and or training you have done and when, including on-the-job training and experience.

You should include some brief detail, if necessary, to ensure that the assessor can be confident the education/ training is relevant to the competency. You can also link this to your CPD record.

When writing, consider:

• Phrases such as "I am aware / I understand / I have an understanding of / I am familiar with".
• Because of this training and learning… explain how it has developed your understanding.
• Refer to specific courses, training, and learning you have undertaken, and methods of learning, such as online, course, in-house training, etc. Refer to specific laws, legislations, specific forms or guides that you have gained knowledge in and are relevant to that competence. Briefly state how this impacts you and the business or firm.
• Provide examples or explain the principles and importance of the learning and competency relevant to your role and position.
• How has this training or learning impacted your knowledge, and how has it impacted your business/firm and your day-to-day?
• Where you can reference the examples from your pathway guide and keywords to show relevance.

Level 2 – Application of Knowledge

It's important that you focus on your specific experience in the competency area and provide one or two examples to support your summaries. You are looking to show that you have been able to put your knowledge and understanding into practice.

You should include or refer to projects you have been personally involved in. Describe your own role, explain how your involvement demonstrates your practical competence, and provide specific examples that may include processes used or adopted.

When writing, consider:

• Application of Knowledge – the practical application. Consider phrases such as " I have undertaken / I carried out / I have used / I was responsible for".
• Use of project-specific examples that you personally use/have used and how you have applied your knowledge in those tasks/activities.
• The process and how you undertake the work and to the highest standard.
  
• The process of how you can undertake the work unsupervised and to the highest standards required.
• Refer to specific laws, legislations, specific forms or guides, and how you used these in your role and scope of work.
• Reference the examples from the pathway guide and keywords where they are relevant to your work and experience.
• Using words that demonstrate specific involvement/management of a situation and subsequently experience.

Level 3 – Depth and synthesis of technical knowledge and implementation:

You must focus on your practical experience of providing reasoned advice, that align with the specific requirements of the competency in terms of more complex experience.

Your summaries should be able to explain the professional advice you have given to clients (these can be internal or external clients). It should demonstrate that you are working with minimum supervision. Make sure the examples provided describe the nature of the advice, the options you considered and the outcome. The advice should be predominantly your individual responsibility rather than collective.

When writing, consider:

• Depth and synthesis of technical knowledge and implementation (Advising). Use phrases such as "I advised / I identified and recommended”
• You can demonstrate how certain processes impact the client and/or business. You have examples of where you confidently provided solutions and advice to the client, employer or team.
• Highlight any challenge or challenges, how you overcame them, and what advice you gave and why.
• Show how you can demonstrate, and reference how you, gave advice on your own.
• How your ability to provide advice effectively comes from your experience.
• Make sure examples of the advice you provided is relevant to the declared experience and competency.
• Benefits/impact of this advice and the resulting outcome.
• Refer to the specific laws, legislations, forms or guides provided as examples in the competencies, and how and the use of these have impacted the advice you give.

Review the APC Candidate Guide and Pathway guidance for more details and types of specific examples to collate your experience. Additionally, your submissions must be reviewed by your counsellor to support the examples written, context and suitability for the APC Assessment.

If the competency you select is a level 2 competency you should ensure you write the summary to cover 1 and 2, if the competency you select is level 3 competency, you should ensure you write the summary covering levels 1, 2 and 3.

It's important when writing your statements for your Summary of Experience that this is based on your own body of work and not someone else's or a fictitious hypothetical situation.

Employment History

All candidates must show their full employment history relevant to their pathway and surveying profession. The purpose is to document your career progression and key responsibilities to demonstrate how your work has contributed to achieving the required competencies.

All currently enrolled candidates can access the Assessment Platform to update their full employment history.

Minimum years required per route:

• APC 24 Structured Training: Must have a minimum of 2 years of experience at the point of final assessment.
• APC 12 Structured Training: Must have a minimum of 5 years of experience at the point of final assessment.
• APC Preliminary: Must have a minimum of 5 years of experience at the point of final assessment.
• APC Non-Structured Training: Must have a minimum of 10 years of experience on enrolment.

When requesting and adding new employers. This can take up to 5-days business days to be updated on the RICS Assessment Platform. Ensure this is done before any assessment windows are opened to avoid missing out.

Adding Current and Past Employer (Employment)

All candidates should provide all employment details relevant to the pathway. This can include full-time, part-time, secondment, contract, or self-employment.

For each entry, you must input and provide.

• Location: Select the correct location.
• Employer Name: The organisation/firm/business name you worked for.
• Dates: Start and end dates for each role.
• Job Title: Your position(s) within each organisation.
• Role Descriptions: A brief summary of your main duties and tasks. This can be provided as a bullet list.

Recording APC 24 and APC 12 Diary Logbook

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 5

Candidates for the APC 24 Structured Training and APC 12 Structured Training must complete the diary within the Assessment Platform.

• APC 24 Structured Training – minimum of 24 months/400 days.
• APC 12 Structured Training – minimum of 12 months/200 days.
• Must record Core and Optional Competencies only.
• Your diary should be a record of your day-to-day experience and cover the required competencies of your pathway.
• You should not record a period of less than half a day.

Recording Diary entries

APC Structured Training - When you enrol on to the APC, you should start recording your experience in the APC diary. The information in your diary will form your logbook for your final assessment submission and will be used to help complete your summary of experience.

There is no specified number of days you should record against each level of competency selected; this is a judgment for you and your counsellor.

The diary entries should reflect mainly Level 2 and Level 3 experiences however, you should include Level 1 to show assessors' progress through the levels.

• Level 1 - evidence of your understanding,
• Level 2 - application of the knowledge and understanding you have gained.
• Level 3 - providing reasoned advice and depth of knowledge.

You must update your diary entries (daily/weekly) on the Assessment Platform in a structure that will encourage meaningful discussions with your counsellor. This helps to show progress against the competencies and assists you with timely preparing your assessment and submission.

Poor Example

"Today, I reviewed a contract. I made some changes and sent it to the client."

Better Example

"Today, on project XXXXX, I negotiated a variation order with a contractor to address unforeseen site conditions. I carefully reviewed the contract terms to identify the relevant clauses and ensure fair compensation for both parties. I successfully negotiated a settlement that minimised the impact on the project's overall cost and schedule."

Your employer should encourage you and make facilities and time available to you to complete your assessment documents. Some employers may not be able to give you access to the full range of experience needed. If this is the case, you may need to gain a temporary secondment to supplement your experience.

APC Preliminary and APC Non-Structured Only

Optional Step: Recording a diary is not required (not a submission requirement) for APC Preliminary and APC Non-Structured Training. It’s recommended to record your daily experiences relevant to your competencies. You could optionally complete this in Word or Excel and review it to encourage meaningful discussion with your counsellor on your experience to date and examples that could be better used in your summary of experience.

The case study is a maximum of 3,000 words and must be on a project or projects that you have been personally involved in the two years (24-months) prior to your assessment submission date. Please ensure you use the correct and updated Case Study template downloaded from the Assessment Platform.

Global Assessment Dates and Process

Important Information

Your case study will include a mixture of Core, Optional, and Mandatory competencies. Your choice of project(s) is very important and must reflect your specific sector pathway. It must be based on a project(s) that you have been personally involved in in the last 24 months at the point of submission.

Consider a project(s) where you have had to deal with a key issue, anomaly or challenge that you have had the task of overcoming. Make sure this relates to the competencies of your pathway demonstrating your professionalism and ability to problem solve.

Make sure this relates to at least one level 3 competency of your pathway, demonstrating your professionalism and ability to problem-solve.

You may choose to use an element of a project that you were involved in as you were not involved in the whole project. You can choose a project that is still ongoing and just refer to the element that you were involved in.

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 10, 11 & 12

The case study is structured into the following key sections:

As a requirement, please ensure you use the correct and updated Case Study template downloaded from the Assessment Platform.

Introduction
Project and Role

In this section you should provide a summary of the project and what your role was and include the following information (maximum of 500 words):

• What did you do?
• What was your level of responsibility?
• Who were the stakeholders?
• What was the timeline?

My Approach
Key Issues and options considered

In this section, you should describe the key issues or challenges on the project. You may write about one or more key issues but remember have a limited word count for the case study.

Explain the issues. Make it clear to the assessors why it became a challenge for you. Include the options you considered and the solutions that you identified, explaining why some options weren't feasible.

• Describe the key issues or challenges on the project.
• Make it clear why it became a challenge for you.
• Include the options you considered and the solutions.
• Explaining why some options weren't feasible.

My Achievement
Proposed solution and solution reflection

In this section you should describe what you achieved and how (proposed solution). Demonstrate your ability to think logically, laterally, and professionally by giving examples of where you gave reasoned advice to a client for your level 3 competencies.

• Describe what you achieved and how.
• Demonstrate your ability to think logically, laterally and professionally.
• Giving examples of where you gave reasoned advice to a client for your level 3 competencies.

Conclusion
Lessons Learnt

In this section you need to reflect on and analyse your performance and refer to the lessons you learnt and what you would do differently next time. This section is very important in showing the assessors your analytical thinking and how you have developed as a professional

• Analyse your performance.
• Reference to the lessons you learnt.
• What you would do differently next time.

Word Count

These 3,000 words maximum is for the content written. Sections that are excluded from the total word count are; Project Name, Date of Project, Confidentiality Statement, Table of Contents, Competencies Demonstrated and Appendix.

• Maximum of 3,000 words
• Must indicate the total words written

Remember to put tables and charts in the appendix. If they are in the main body of your Case study, they will be included in your word count.

Aim to use 95% - 100% of the allowable 3,000 (2,850 – 3,000 words) allocation to showcase your skills and experience.

Competencies Demonstrated

Your case study will include a mixture of Technical and Mandatory competencies. You must list the competencies that you believe are demonstrated in your case study.

Consider: The case study must give detailed evidence of your ability to work competently and to apply the knowledge relevant to your pathway.

• Technical: Core Competencies – A minimum of one from the Core competencies must be written to a level 3 to show where you gave reasoned advice to a client.
  
• Mandatory and Technical Competencies - This provides important evidence of the competencies you have achieved on the project.

It's typical for an APC Candidate to demonstrate 5-7 competencies within the case study:

• 2-4 Core Competencies
• 1-3 Optional Competencies
• 2-3 Mandatory Competencies

Appendix

You may insert illustrations, charts, graphs, photographs or plans to this section. Please keep the attachments to a minimum, ensuring they are relevant to the case study.

• Appendices should support your report, not add to or expand on it.

Review the APC Candidate Guide for more details regarding the case study. Additionally, seek your counsellor to support the written content, context and suitability for the APC Assessment.

Please visit our page Recording CPD Activities for Candidates for more details.

Please visit our page Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) for more details on submission requirements.

Please visit our page Assessment applications for more details on checklists.

Now more than ever, professionalism matters.

You are required to successfully complete the RICS Professionalism module prior to the assessment. The module includes four e-learning modules and a test that all candidates must pass not longer than 12 months before submitting for final assessment to be eligible to submit for Assessment.

In the e-learning modules, you will learn about the five Rules of Conduct, which support positive change in the built and natural environments by promoting and enforcing the highest ethical standards in valuation, the development and management of land, real estate, construction, and infrastructure.

1. Members and firms must be honest, act with integrity and comply with their professional obligations, including obligations to RICS
   
2. Members and firms must maintain their professional competence and ensure that services are provided by competent individuals who have the necessary expertise.
   
3. Members and firms must provide good-quality and diligent service.
   
4. Members and firms must treat others with respect and encourage diversity and inclusion.
   
5. Members and firms must act in the public interest, take responsibility for their actions and act to prevent harm and maintain public confidence in the profession.

As a candidate, you must also pass the Ethics Test, a 20-question multiple-choice test that tests your understanding of what you are learning. Your understanding of professionalism, ethics, and practice will also be tested during the Final Assessment Interview.

Before the Final Assessment Interview

There will be a significant emphasis on the Rules of Conduct, professional practice and ethics in the interview, so you must familiarise yourself with the Rules. Please remember, you can be referred on this area alone.

It will be important to review the Professionalism module again, prior to your interview and these other pages.

Pages to review and understand:

• Rules of Conduct
• Requirements & Support
• Standards and Regulation Board
• Profession & Standards
• Access the Professionalism module and ethics test on the Assessment Platform.
• Complete all four e-learning modules and test.
• Understand, apply, and give reasoned advice towards all five rules of conduct.
• All candidates will be tested on Ethics and Professionalism in their Final Assessment Interview.

When applying for your APC, SPA, Specialist or Academic assessment you are required to provide the details of three Chartered Surveyors who support your application to be elected as a Chartered Surveyor should you be successful at assessment.

• Both the proposer and seconders must be Chartered Members of RICS (MRICS or FRICS)
• Your Counsellor may act as your proposer or seconder.
• A minimum of one of your proposers/seconders must be from a different firm or organisation.
  
• You must complete the nomination request 0-2 months before the assessment/submission date. Approved requests will time-out after 3 months.
• From 1 February 2025, all candidates and markets will be required to provide proposer and seconder details.

Who can be a proposer or seconder?

MRICS or FRICS members who are willing to propose and recommend you, from personal knowledge and or careful enquiry, to be elected to RICS should you be successful at interview.

When nominating a member to act as your proposer or seconder, you should first reach out to the Member directly. Once they have agreed to act as either the proposer and seconder, should you request their nominate them through the Assessment Platform.

Process of proposer and seconder nomination and approval

Candidates are required to nominate their chosen Proposers and Seconders on the Assessment Platform. The nominated proposer or seconder will have the option to accept or deny this request on the RICS Assessment Platform.

If a proposer or seconder declines a request to support your application, you will have the option to add a new request.

Best practice: Do not nominate or request support from members you have not previously connected with, have advised a conflict of interest, or randomly selected from the member portal. Candidates may be in breach of misuse of nominated proposer and seconder request and referred to RICS Regulations.

All candidates including Apprentices, based in the UK or MENA regions, must provide your Intent to submit before the assessment window.

Eligible candidates in the UK will be emailed the week beginning 6 January so they can register their intent to submit using the Microsoft form embedded in the email.

Eligible candidates in the Middle East will register their intent to submit on the home screen of the Assessment Platform, 41 days prior to the assessment submission window opens the intent to submit will close 25 days before.

If you are an APC Structured Training candidate you will need to have met the minimum of 23 months or 1 months to eligible to apply, until you have your will not be able to complete the Intent to Submit.

Important: When providing your Intent to submit, ensure your pathway, route and counsellor details are all correct, once you have given your Intent to Submit these cannot be changed.

If you do not provide your intent to submit, you will not be able to apply for the coming assessment, the Assessment window will not appear on your Assessment Platform and you will need to wait for the next assessment session.

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 13

The purpose of the review is to advise you on meeting the submission requirements.

Your submission will be read and reviewed by a trained professional who has specialist knowledge in your field of practice. They will consider the totality of the evidence you have provided in your submission.

The preliminary reviewer will seek to answer the question: Is your submission suitable for the APC assessors to be able to prepare for and conduct the final assessment interview effectively?

Eligibility for Assessment (Submit for Assessment)

All candidates, when applying for the Prelim Review, must have 5 or more years of relevant work experience and a degree or bachelor level or above.

• Must submit your completed submission through the Assessment Platform during the relevant application window – you can check your local assessment dates here.
• Submission documents approved by your counsellor.
• Must show and include 5+ years of relevant work experience.
• Submission must be compliant with all requirements to proceed to Preliminary review. -You can check the APC Preliminary Checklist here.

Submissions deemed non-compliant after the finalisation of compliance checks will be notified with 14-days. Non-compliant submissions will be given the opportunity to resubmit for the next available window. Non-compliant submission results cannot be appealed, regardless of how minor the error appears.

Outcomes for the Preliminary Review

The preliminary reviewer will mark whether each element of your submission is suitable and provide feedback, where possible, if it is not. The reviewer may also provide feedback where the element is marked as suitable if they judge that the element could be improved prior to final assessment. Read and take on this guidance, as it is there to aid you in the preparation of your final assessment submission.

Results and outcome of the preliminary review can take up to 4 – 6 weeks. You will be notified by the Assessment Delivery team on when you may expect the outcome to be issued on the RICS assessment platform.

Result: Your submission is suitable for you to proceed.

You may receive some additional advice from the reviewer, if appropriate, and the report will advise you of the next steps. You will now be eligible to apply for final assessment at the next available date. You can check your local assessment dates here.

Result: Your submission is not currently suitable for you to proceed.

The feedback report will explain why your submission has not been considered suitable to proceed to final assessment. The report will advise you of the steps you need to take in order to meet the submission requirements. You will need to resubmit for preliminary review at the next available date. You can check your local assessment dates here.

Note: All preliminary review decisions are final, and the result cannot be appealed.

Post Preliminary Review outcome

All candidates should connect with their counsellor post preliminary review outcome to discuss the report.

You must discuss the appropriate actions, steps, and experience required to rectify any deficiencies identified in the report.

If the deficiencies identified in the preliminary review report are not rectified, or the use of the same submission with no changes is noted in your resubmission, your submission will not be reviewed, and additional compliance checks may be enforced, further delaying your assessment.

Case Study (24-month validity) Post Preliminary Review Result

Remember, your case study is only valid for a limited time as it must refer to experience within the last 24 months.

Result: Your submission is suitable for you to proceed. If your case study is no longer within the 24-month period post the preliminary review, you are able to apply for the next available final assessment session in your market using the same case study.

However, if you choose to apply for assessment at a later session, your case study must be updated or changed, as appropriate, to meet the 24-month requirement.

Pathway Change post Preliminary Review Result

If you previously received the results, ‘Your submission is suitable for you to proceed’; however, you have now changed pathways. You must apply for the preliminary review assessment again and pass before proceeding to Final Assessment.

Please visit our page Assessment dates and process for more details.

All APC Candidates

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 14

All APC candidates must complete and pass the final assessment interview to be elected to MRICS. All final assessments will be conducted online through MS Teams.

RICS is looking for you to be not only technically competent, but also to;

• be a good ambassador for the profession
• be aware of the professional and commercial implications of your work
• understand clients’ and employers’ objectives
• have up-to-date knowledge of legal matters
• have the confidence to work unsupervised.

Review the following:

• Final Assessment: Video Interview guidance
• Final Assessment: Preparation, 8-week planner & Mock Interview

Candidate’s presentation on case study - 10 minutes

All candidates must prepare and deliver a presentation that goes for exactly 10 minutes. You will give a presentation to the assessment panel on any aspect of your case study.

• Must create a PowerPoint presentation on the Case Study.
• Presentation must go for exactly 10-minutes.
• Try and pick a point from your case study to expand on in your presentation,
• or detail the investigations and conclusions of your project.
• You can use speaker notes to deliver your presentation with any content you share but these are the only materials you can have access to.
• After the questions on your presentation, you are not allowed to access any of the materials and may be asked to show that you have moved the materials out of your sight.
• At no point during the video call are you allowed access to your submission.

About the interview

The interview will be conducted by a panel of assessors comprising a minimum of two (maximum three) RICS chartered professionals, trained and selected for this role. One assessor will perform the role of chairperson and is responsible for managing the interview process.

The interview will last one hour and is designed to determine whether you:

• can express yourself clearly in an oral presentation and interview
• can demonstrate, in support of your written submissions, your understanding of the knowledge gained and competencies achieved during your training
• have an acceptable understanding of the role and responsibilities of a chartered surveyor
• can apply your professional and technical skills to benefit those who employ your services
• There will be a significant emphasis on the Rules of Conduct, professional practice and ethics in the interview, so you must familiarise yourself with the Rules. Please remember, you can be referred on this area alone.

Under no circumstances must you record, or attempt to record, the video call or interview. Any knowledge or suspicion of you recording, or attempting to record, the video call or interview may result in the interview being terminated and we may refer the matter for further investigation that could result in disciplinary action being taken against you. In addition, your status as an RICS candidate may be impacted including potential removal from the assessment process pending the outcome of the investigation.

Results and outcome

APC Candidate Guide – Page Reference: 15

You will receive your results after 5 working days (7 calendar days).

Pass result: if the outcome is a pass, steps and instructions will be detailed via email for payment, election and fees to MRICS.

Referral result: If the outcome is a referral you will be sent a referral report within 21 days of the result explaining why the assessors reached this decision.