Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Candidate guide 2
Assessment of Professional Competence Candidate guide
Entry requirements
This is a generic guide for all APC membership routes, and there will RICS recognises that a mix of academic and professional qualifications
be some references to structured training and a self-assessment log with experience provide the skills and levels of competence to become a
planner. If you have been approved by your local RICS office to follow the chartered surveyor. The eligibility requirements to begin the APC are:
membership route with no structured training, (because of your already
extensive experience), then you do not need to complete the structured
training and the self-assessment log planner.
RICS accredited degree + less than 5 years relevant = minimum 24 months (400 days) structured training to meet competency requirements and;
experience 96 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) over the structured training period;
Self-assessment log planner
Summary of experience 1500 words on mandatory competences AND between 3000-4000 words
on the core and technical competencies
3000 case study
RICS accredited degree + minimum of 5 years = minimum 12 months (200 days) structured training to meet competency requirements and;
relevant experience (pre-degree experience can 48 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) over the structured training period;
count)
Self-assessment log planner
Summary of experience 1500 words on mandatory competences AND between 3000-4000 words
on the core and technical competencies
3000 case study
RICS accredited degree + minimum of 10 years relevant experience (pre-degree experience can count) you will be required to have met the required
competencies and;
48 hours of CPD (from the last 12 months)
Summary of experience 1500 words on mandatory competences AND between 3000-4000 words
on the core and technical competencies
3000 case study
RICS approved professional qualification or non- preliminary review, you will be required to have met the required competencies and;
accredited degree (or a prelim assessment review 48 hours of CPD (from the last 12 months)
before final assessment) +5 years relevant experience
Summary of experience 1500 words on mandatory competences AND between 3000-4000 words
(at least 12 months must be post qualification)
on the core and technical competencies
3000 case study
Candidate guide 3
Assessment of Professional Competence Candidate guide
Contents
Section 1
Introduction 06
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Section 2
The APC competencies 09
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Section 3a
* this section is only applicable to candidates with RICS accredited degrees and completing either 12 or 24 months structured training experience
Section 3b
* this section is only applicable to candidates who are not completing any structured training experience
Section 4
Continuing Professional Development ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Candidate guide 4
Assessment of Professional Competence Candidate guide
Section 5
Rules of Conduct .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Section 6
Summary of experience ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16
Section 7
Case study 17
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Section 8
Final assessment 19
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Interview .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Application ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Structure of the interview ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Presentation.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20
Interview .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20
Section 9
After the assessment 21
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Section 10
Where to find help and support ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Candidate guide 5
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 1
Introduction
The Assessment of Professional Essential guides
Competence (APC) From the beginning of your APC there are key documents that you need to
download and read. You need to continue to refer to these throughout your
The Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) ensures that training, preparation and assessment. The documents are:
candidates are competent and meet the high standards of professionalism
Pathway guide the guide is specific to the pathway you have
required to become a chartered surveyor.
selected to follow. It details the competencies you will need to meet
The APC is based on candidates achieving a set of requirements and and provides examples of the knowledge and activities that fall within
competencies. These are a mix of technical and professional practice, the scope of each competency. rics.org/pathway
interpersonal, business and management skills. Completing the APC and
My APC portal guidance how you upload and complete your
the professional interview successfully leads to professional membership
submissions in your MyAPC log in.
of RICS and the much sought after letters MRICS.
*Structured training self-assessment log planner this is a
document embedded into the MyAPC portal (in your personal space)
Commitment is key that is designed to help you understand and plan how your skills
This guide will help you prepare for the commitment and responsibility and experience match the pathway requirements and your areas
required for the APC. Although there will be people to support you through to develop.
your APC, it is your responsibility to make sure you start and remain
committed to the assessment.
* s elf assessment log planner is only applicable to those candidates completing
12 or 24 months structured training.
APC pathways
You will need to choose your APC pathway. A pathway is the area of the
profession that you wish to qualify in. This needs to be based on your
qualifications, experience and current job role. For more information
please. refer to rics.org/pathway
Please note: You can only select one APC pathway and it is essential you select
the right pathway The APC pathway you select is the designation you will be
awarded when you are successful at the final assessment. eg. if you select
Valuation, you will be awarded the designation Chartered Valuation surveyor.
Candidate guide 6
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 1
The people involved in your APC Before you start your journey
These are the people who will influence and support your progress towards
achieving RICS membership. Membership fees
You: You must commit to following the process through from To start the membership process, you will be required to pay fees
beginning to end. You must familiarise yourself with the guidance and throughout your journey, as follows;
abide by it, planning and organising your time conscientiously. You APC joining fee this fee is payable on completion of your APC
must take responsibility for your own CPD, undertaking independent application passport, which will enable you to be registered as an RICS
learning. Candidate to Membership (trainee)
Your employer: Your employer should encourage you and make
facilities and time available to you to complete your assessment P
lease note: Once enrolled onto the APC, you will be subject to a continuous
documents. Some employers may not be able to give you access to the annual subscription fee. This will either be a professional member or
candidate to membership subscription (depending on whether you have
full range of experience needed. If this is the case you may need to gain
passed the final assessment).
a temporary secondment to supplement your experience.
Your counsellor: Your application must be supported by a member of
RICS. They must be satisfied that you have achieved the required levels Election fees: upgrade to professional membership (MRICS):
in all the competencies needed for your chosen APC pathway. Once you have successfully completed the final assessment,
Your counsellor should support you through your training. They may the following fees are applicable:
not have personal knowledge of your experience in all the chosen - A one time entrance fee
competencies as you may have achieved some of them a number of - MRICS subscription fee - (trainee candidate subscription fee
years ago or in a different job. They will still be able to support you will be deducted if paid in the same RICS renewals year).
and verify your experience by having discussions with you about your Other fees: (that may be required throughout your APC journey)
experience.
-
No show fee failure to inform RICS, you cannot attend the final
The assessors: chartered surveyors who conduct your final assessment interview
assessment interview. The interview panel has a minimum of two
-
Deferral fee if you only inform RICS you cannot attend the final
members. All assessors are specially trained for this purpose.
assessment 5 working days before your allocated interview
Your local support team: can provide advice on completing your
-
Re sit fee if you are not successful at final assessment, you will
APC and can help you source training, CPD and counsellors.
be required to pay a re sit fee to sit your assessment again.
-
A ppeal fee if you wish to appeal against the outcome of your final
assessment.
These fees are subject to change, so to find out the current fees for each of
the above, ask your local RICS office, or you can visit: rics.org/joining-fees
Candidate guide 7
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 1
Candidate guide 8
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 2
Candidate guide 9
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 2
Candidate guide 10
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 3a
Month
Candidate guide 11
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 3a
8
9-month counsellors
meeting
9
10
11-month final 11 Case study complete
assessment meeting
with your counsellor; 12 Earliest date for final
earliest date to send assessment interview
RICS your final
assessment
application and
submissions
Candidate guide 12
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 3b
Please note: it is compulsory for you to still appoint a counsellor, even though you
arent completing any structured training.
Firstly, use your pathway guide to help and you should go through the core
and optional competencies for your chosen APC pathway. Against each
one, record the level you need to achieve. Map your experience against
each of these competencies at each level; are you able to provide similar
examples? Based on the outcome of this exercise you need to decide your
declared competencies in line with your pathway requirements.
You will need to spend some time discussing your career, relevant
experience and chosen competencies with your counsellor. Decide if you
both agree you have chosen the most appropriate competencies which
reflect the work that you do in your day-to-day environment.
If you identify any shortfalls in your experience, agree with your counsellor
the most appropriate way of filling them.
Candidate guide 13
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 4
Candidate guide 14
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 5
Rules of Conduct
Behaving ethically is at the heart of what it means to be a professional;
it distinguishes professionals from others in the marketplace. Ethics module
RICS has five ethical standards. You must understand them and how you You are required to successfully complete the RICS online ethics module
apply them in your everyday role. The standards are: prior to final assessment. This is made up of three elements:
1. The ethical standards and what they mean
Take responsibility 2. Real life ethical scenarios that members have faced
3. A 20 question multiple choice test.
Treat each other with respect
Your RICS local office will inform you when you need to complete the ethics
Always provide a high standard of service module.
Please note once successfully completed this is valid for 12 months.
Act with integrity There will be a significant emphasis on professional practice and ethics in
the interview, so you must familiarise yourself with them. Download the
Act in a way that promotes trust in the profession rules for firms and members by visiting rics.org/regulation
Candidate guide 15
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 6
Summary of experience
For your summary of experience, you must write a brief statement about
each of your mandatory and technical competencies.
It is important to ensure you have a copy of the pathway guide for your
chosen pathway with you when you are completing this stage.
If the competency you select is a level 3 competency, you should ensure you
write the summary covering levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 3 competencies are the
most important: they are crucial to demonstrating that you practise at a
professional level.
Once you have completed the statements you should review them as a
whole: together, they form your summary of experience. In addition to
showing your abilities in individual competencies, they should provide the
assessors with an overview of your training and experience, the work that
you are doing and the levels you are working at.
Your summary of experience should be up to:
1,500 words in total for the mandatory competencies; and
3,0004,000 words in total for the technical competencies.
*A s a guide, you may want to break the word count to approximately 150200
words per level, per competency.
Remember, RICS is looking for evidence that you can do the relevant job at the
required level.
Candidate guide 16
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 7
Case study
The case study is a 3,000 word, word processed report of a recent project or You must explain not only the project itself but the processes you followed
projects (undertaken up to two years before your assessment) with which and the rationale behind your decision-making. Your focus must be on
you have been personally involved. It must provide a critical appraisal of the analysing the project: do not simply provide a summary of what it involved.
project(s) together with an outline of your learning outcomes. This provides It is quality not quantity that counts. Appendices should support your
important evidence of the competencies you have achieved. report, not add to or expand on it.
The case study must give detailed evidence of your ability to work List the mandatory and technical competencies demonstrated in your case
competently and to apply the knowledge relevant to your APC pathway. study in the box provided in the submission template. You should include
You will use this case study to make a 10 minute presentation to the final the following four aspects.
assessment panel. See section 9 for full details of the professional interview.
Your choice of project is very important and must reflect your specific APC 1. Introduction
pathway. You may have been working on a complex instruction or large In this section you should provide a summary of the project and what
project. Alternatively, the instruction or project may be more straightforward your role was include the following. We suggest this section should be
and not of great financial value. It may simply be typical of the work with approximately 500 words.
which you have been involved. The project may include work undertaken What did you do?
outside your country of assessment.
What was your level of responsibility?
The assessors will be looking for you to have chosen a real life project that
Who were the stakeholders?
you have been involved in or may have led on. Consider a project process
What was the timeline?
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 2. My approach
ability to problem solve. In this section you should describe the key issues or challenges on the
You are not necessarily expected to be running the project. It is your project. You may write about one or more key issues but remember you only
involvement or role in the team that you must outline, analyse and comment have a limited word count for the case study.
on. If the project has been running for some time, you may not have been Explain the issues. Make it clear to the assessors why it became a challenge
involved from the start, so your involvement may not have been continuous, for you, include the options you considered and the solutions that you
or the project may not be finished when you prepare your case study. In this identified explaining why some options werent feasible.
latter case, you should provide a prognosis of the outcome. If you know the
outcome between sending in your case study and your interview then include 3. My achievements
this in your presentation. In this section you should 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.
Candidate guide 17
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 7
Candidate guide 18
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 8
Final assessment
Final assessment application Final assessment interview
You will have decided your target final assessment date with your The interview will last approximately one hour and is designed to determine
counsellor. RICS will also keep a record of when your provisional final whether you:
assessment will and will invite you to apply for the final assessment. can express yourself clearly in an oral presentation and interview
To apply for final assessment Prior to the interview the submissions can demonstrate, in support of your written submissions, your
you will be expected to complete and upload onto your MyAPC account understanding of the knowledge gained and competencies achieved
as follows: during your training
details of your professional development have an acceptable understanding of the role and responsibilities of
a detailed summary of experience relevant to the technical and a chartered surveyor
mandatory skills required by RICS can apply your professional and technical skills to benefit those who
sign off a self assessment progress log record from counsellor (for 12 employ your services.
and 24 months structured training only)
3000 word case study analysis onto your MyAPC account. NB: If you have a disability that may affect your interview then please ensure you
alert RICS to this at the point of applying for your final assessment interview.
These submissions must be complete or you will not be eligible to take the To enable reasonable adjustment to be made to your interview RICS will require
final assessment. supporting medical evidence. Your local team will guide you through this.
Once these submissions are received by RICS, you will be sent confirmation
of the date, time and venue of your final assessment.
If you are not ready and need to postpone your final assessment, contact Structure of the interview
your local RICS office immediately. Failure to do so and not attending the
final assessment will result in RICS having to charge you a no-show fee. Chairmans opening and introductions 3-4 minutes
You will have to demonstrate that you have met both the mandatory as
well as the technical competencies required by your chosen pathway Candidates presentation on case study 10 minutes
and satisfy the interview panel that you are aware of, and intend to act in
accordance with, RICS ethics, professional identity and accountability. Questions on the presentation 10 minutes
In preparation for the interview the panel will consider your submissions.
These will form the basis of the discussions. The objective of the interview Discussion on overall experience including professional
is to allow the panel to decide whether you are competent to practise as a development, competencies, rules of conduct and 35 minutes
member of RICS. professional practice
Total 60 minutes
Candidate guide 19
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 8
Presentation The assessors will be trying to determine your general level of ability; they
do not expect you to be an expert in every area of professional activity.
You will give a 10 minute presentation to the assessment panel on any They will be looking to ensure you have achieved at least the minimum
aspect of your case study. Try and pick a point from your case study to required levels of competence in key areas for the clients you serve, and
expand on in your presentation or detail the investigations and conclusions that you understand the level of professional conduct expected of a
of your project. member of RICS.
Note: presentation facilities will not be provided at assessment centres. Remember the assessors will take a holistic view of your training, final
You can use A4 boards and or prompt notes if you wish. You can also provide assessment submissions, presentation and interview. Poor performance
assessors with hand outs, photographs or plans for example, to support in one area may be balanced out by an excellent performance elsewhere.
the content of your presentation. RICS is looking for you to be not only technically competent, but also to
These notes can only be used as prompts during your presentation and be a good ambassador for the profession
must be discarded after the presentation has finished.
be aware of the professional and commercial implications of your work
understand clients and employers objectives
Interview have up-to-date knowledge of legal matters
The interview will be conducted by a panel comprising a minimum of two have the confidence to work unsupervised.
chartered surveyors, trained and selected for this role.
At the interview you will be questioned on:
your presentation and case study
your final assessment submissions including your CPD record
the broader aspects of your experience and knowledge, including
ethics, RICS Rules of Conduct and current issues of concern to the
profession.
The assessors will base the questioning on the law and practice of the
country in which your interview is being held.
The assessors will normally ask you about what you did and about why you
took a particular approach. They will also ask about your understanding of
the wider issues surrounding your case study.
Candidate guide 20
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 9
Candidate guide 21
Assessment of Professional Competence Section 11
RICS.org
least 20 hours of CPD per calendar year of which 10 hours must be of formal
learning. Please check the CPD policy on www.rics.org/cpd and contact
RICS Regulation EMEA at regulationemea@rics.org or +32 (0)2289 2535
The RICS website provides comprehensive information and guides on the
for further information.
membership routes, eg.
rics.org/pathway information and guides on all APC pathways
ricsbooks.com the book catalogue includes technical and Valuer Registration
management handbooks and guides on the APC and ethics Once you have been successful at the final assessment (and if you took
rics.org/practicestandards The broad programme of mandatory valuation to level 3 competency). You can apply straight away for Valuer
and advisory practice standards (practice statements, codes of Registration.
practice, and guidance notes) provide best practice and advise on all
areas of practice.
RICS Online Academy
RICS Regulation Online learning is an efficient way to further develop professionally, in a time-
and cost-efficient way. The RICS Online Academy is a learning platform that
As an RICS student/trainee you must comply with RICS Rules of Conduct offers you many topics ranging from technical aspects for land, property and
and Ethical Standards that are also mandatory for all RICS members and construction to leadership, management and personal development. Find
regulated firms. RICS Regulation is responsible for ensuring that RICS out more about our e-learning modules, web classes and distance learning
students, trainee and members meet this requirement and can take courses that are of interest for you. Also, our learning offer is constantly
actions in case of non-compliance. For further information please visit expanded. If you dont want to miss the latest courses sign up for our
www.rics.org/regulation1 newsletter.
There are many other people going through the APC at the same time as you,
and many who have recently been through the APC. Make use of your local
and virtual networking opportunities to engage with this rich environment
of support and insight.
Contact your local RICS team to understand what is coming up and connect
with the RICS Linkedin group linkedin.com/groups or facebook.com/RICS
Candidate guide 22
Confidence through professional standards
RICS promotes and enforces the highest professional qualifications and standards We believe that standards underpin effective markets. With up to seventy per cent of the
in the development and management of land, real estate, construction and worlds wealth bound up in land and real estate, our sector is vital to economic development,
helping to support stable, sustainable investment and growth around the globe.
infrastructure. Our name promises the consistent delivery of standards bringing
With offices covering the major political and financial centres of the world, our market
confidence to the markets we serve. presence means we are ideally placed to influence policy and embed professional standards.
We accredit 118,000 professionals and any individual or firm registered with RICS is We work at a cross-governmental level, delivering international standards that will support
subject to our quality assurance. Their expertise covers property, asset valuation and real a safe and vibrant marketplace in land, real estate, construction and infrastructure, for the
estate management; the costing and leadership of construction projects; the development benefit of all.
of infrastructure; and the management of natural resources, such as mining, farms
We are proud of our reputation and we guard it fiercely, so clients who work with an RICS
and woodland. From environmental assessments and building controls to negotiating
professional can have confidence in the quality and ethics of the services they receive.
land rights in an emerging economy; if our members are involved the same professional
standards and ethics apply.