It’s more than just a diary…

Accelerate your career by gaining MRICS status in the shortest time.  Take control today!

• It’s quick and easy to use and saves masses of APC admin time.
• It tracks your progress so you can address any imbalance in competency experience.
• Your Supervisor and Counsellor meetings will be more effective and helpful to you.
• Preparing your APC submission will be much easier.

• The reports helps you prepare for Supervisor and Counsellor meetings and helps to focus discussion on the areas most useful to you.
• Supervisors and Counsellors can monitor, review and sign-off your progress, electronically.
• Your log book will be created automatically, requiring no extra time.
• Your recorded CPD (formal and informal) is automatically collated and presented.
• Store your case study in myAPCDiary so it’s safe, backed up in the cloud and accessible for update by you or review by your Supervisor or Counsellor any time.
• Preparing the submission for your APC will be easy by clicking for an output to a spreadsheet and a quick copy and paste into the RICS templates current at that time.

Don’t forget the first month is free! Sign up without any payment details and try it! Go to www.apcdiary.com and use the grey free sign up box in the middle of the screen.

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First go and get yourself a free APC Timeline to give you critical dates, what you need to do and when  !

 

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TIP of the Week  

Prepare prepare and prepare !

Once your Case Study is finished you should focus on developing your 10 minute presentation. I have seen a number of candidates present something different from their Case Study at the final assessment; you will be referred if you do this.

Preparing for the Final Assessment http://www.delever.com/mocks

If you bring a flip chart or handouts they should look professional. Your notes should be detailed enough to be a useful prompt, but not a script that you read to the assessors. A vital part of your preparation is to make sure that you practice to polish your performance and get your timings right.

Make sure you understand and know the RICS Rules of Conduct and Global Ethical Standards as they are one of the key areas of APC knowledge and experience that if you get wrong at the final assessment you will be referred. Make sure you have the latest version and discuss the Rules of Conduct and Ethics with your supervisor and counsellor at your 3 monthly meetings; you can probably record this as ‘formal learning’ in your CPD

 Submission Documentation Workshop  

Monday 08.02.16

Jon Lever FRICS discusses typical submission document tips and pitfallsSend Jon your documents and he may pick examples and offer guidance for improvement
Click here for more info and book 

Get your APC faster!

Take control of your APC, record and monitor your experience with the myAPCDiary. Get your first month free at apcdiary.com Help with entering information into the RICS templates What is Publish in the Assessments section? How can it help?  Read on …

FREE RTA Surgeries NEXT WEEK! Get ALL your APC questions answered in Jon Lever’s RTA Surgeries Locations: 1st Feb 2016 – St. Albans – 11:00 to 13:00 2nd Feb 2016 – Cambridge – 11:00 to 13:00 (NOTE: There is a venue change for Cambridge) 2nd Feb 2016 – Norwich – 15:00 to 17:00 Booking links:  www.delever.co.uk/rta

DeLever APC Final Assessment Revision Workshop We are running a number of revision workshops atEAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT and there are not many tickets left.   Full details here 28th Feb 2016 – Land and Property (5 tickets left) 12th March 2016 – QS& Construction 13th March 2016 – Building Surveying, Project Management, Built Infra Structure LIMITED PLACES 9 hours FORMAL CPD Booking links:  www.delever.co.uk/facrw

FREE myAPC Diary Forum (ONLINE) Interested in the myAPC Diary but not sure what it is all about? Come to our online myAPC Diary forum with Jon Lever FRICS and find out about the myAPC Diary and ask your APC questions. 11th February 2016 – 16:30 to 18:30 Booking links: www.delever.co.uk/myapcdiary

Submission Documents Masterclass ONLINE! It is that time of year when you need to get your submission documents into RICS…. BUT…  Have you considered asking people to review them for you? BUT…. Do the people you have asked know the APC process inside out? HELP…. We can help you at our submission document online Masterclass! ALWAYS…. We find mistakes and highlight best practice BENEFIT…. From seeing what others have done… Book a place and send in your documents.  Jon Lever FRICS (RICS UK Assessor Trainer) will review yours and other attendees documents briefly and offer comment and suggestion for improvement at the Masterclass. 8th February 2016 – 19:00 (documents submitted before 4th February to be considered) 24th February 2016 – 19:00 (documents submitted before 19th February to be considered) Note: These Masterclass are NOT recorded for distribution afterwards If you would like a full document review then please see: www.delever.co.uk/coaching and contact one of our APC Coaches. Booking links: www.delever.co.uk/masterclasses

FREE APC Articles at ESTATES GAZETTE Jon Lever FRICS, Kate Taylor FRICS and John Baker FRICS write process and competency based APC articles for Estates Gazette every two weeks. Click here to see the articles:  • Part 6: A taxing subject • Part 5: Weighing up landlord & tenant • Part 4: Ditch the competence snobbery • Part 3: Avoiding the valuation pitfalls • Part 2: Measuring masterclass • Part 1: A safe pair of hands A few hours FORMAL CPD Fancy writing an APC article for our Blog? Why not get in touch and have a chat with Jon about your ideas? jon@delever.com

Mock Interviews? A 60 minute APC mock interview Real and current APC assessors. As close to the real thing as we can make it. 15 minute feedback critique from the assessors based upon your performance. Multiple dates through March and April 2016 LIMITED PLACES SELLING OUT FAST This is a major part of your APC preparation Booking links:  www.delever.co.uk/mocks

FREE DeLever APC Forums! Great opportunity once a month to chat over any APC questions or issues Come and talk to Jon Lever FRICS and have your APC questions answered. 5th February 16 – 12:00 to 14:00 Booking Links:www.delever.co.uk/apcforum

NEW Timeline Wallchart Coming Soon We are delighted to report that we are updating our timeline wallchart and we hope to provide it FREE of charge as we have done for the last 10+ years. ADVERTISE / SPONSOR? Get your company logo and advert on a 1000 copies of the timeline every quarter…? Interested? email: harvey@delever.com Timeline stats? First produced in 2004 40,000+ hard copies distributed so far Many more electronic copies downloaded Previous versions: Five

FREE APC Supervisor and Counsellor CPD! Want to get to grips with the APC process but are finding it hard to get any decent training that is value for money? Be part of our 5 FREE, one per month, 1 hour’ish (FORMAL CPD) Supervisor and Counsellor Masterclasses 11th February 2016 – 12:00 to 13:00 (approx) – Session 4: The case study explained 15th March 2016 – 12:00 to 13:00 (approx) – Session 5: The Final Assessment and Testing Your Candidates Sessions 1 to 3 available as recordings Booking Links:  www.delever.co.uk/supervisor-counsellor-training

APC competency: a safe pair of hands

APC competencies, Kate Taylor explores the three levels of inspection competency and discusses how candidates can demonstrate their ability to assessors at final assessment.

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First I need to make you aware of submitting  your documents, this can be the first step of getting it all wrong.  WE can help…

Submission documents – get yours right  Understand how to best complete your documents ready for submission for the final assessment, also discusses common mistakes candidates make. Delegates can send in their submission documents beforehand and some will be picked at random for review during the masterclass.

http://www.delever.co.uk/masterclasses/

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Inspection is a core competency for many of the RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (“APC”) pathways.
This is because inspection of property is a core – but often underestimated – skill for surveyors in a wide range of disciplines and assessors will want to test it rigorously.
In almost every surveyor function, from valuation to project management, accurate information gathering informs the inputs that the surveyor uses to make decisions and advise the client. Nothing happens in isolation and given that the assessors will take a holistic overview, experience, knowledge and skill in inspection are essential as a starting point for overall competence.

All competencies are measured against specific descriptions articulated in the RICS APC Pathway Guides. To achieve level 1, candidates will need to know about different requirements for inspection and demonstrate an understanding of factors affecting the approach to inspection. In other words, knowledge of the information-gathering process that underpins competence.
At level 1, assessors will want to check that candidates have a good knowledge of key documents – particularly those produced by the RICS – and the law. For example, candidates should be familiar with the RICS guidance note Surveying Safely. Health and safety as a mandatory competency has significant crossover with inspection and assessors often take the opportunity to test two competencies at once, since they only have one hour to test around seven technical competencies (depending on the pathway) and 10 mandatory competencies.
A common pitfall is out-of-date level 1 knowledge of documents or the law, making it important for candidates not to rely on older editions of textbooks or university notes. For example, Surveying Safely was written in 2011, but has, to a certain extent, been overtaken by subsequent legislation, such as the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. It is imperative for candidates to stay up to date on health and safety by regularly looking at the HSE website.
A top tip is not to forget that, for most pathways, inspection knowledge at level 1 will include construction and defects. Whether a candidate has an understanding of how a property is built, how old it is and what may go wrong with it, is a good way for assessors to test the general property knowledge that forms part of the “surveyor sense”. Don’t underestimate the value of looking at construction sites for all classes of property or even watching programmes such as Grand Designs.

Level 2 moves into the realm of practical application. At level 2, candidates need to demonstrate, with reference to specific examples, experience of undertaking inspections to gather information for various purposes. The information gathering will vary according to the purpose of the inspection and assessors will often test a candidate’s understanding of the context for the inspection. In other words: “why am I here?” and “what information do I need to collect?” This can include a discussion about the terms of engagement and level of service agreed with the client.
At level 2, inspection methodology is often questioned and can confuse candidates. A simple question such as “what did you do once you arrived at the property?” can cause panic and overthinking. What the assessor wants is the actual mechanics of the inspection described step by step in a logical fashion. A good way for candidates to do this is to describe the checklist used and reference RICS guidance, for example, HomeBuyer Report (4th edition) Practice Note Checklist. Candidates must remember to mention record keeping and note taking as a key part of the inspection.
A potential pitfall is not listening to the question and launching into a description of the due diligence carried out prior to inspection rather than the inspection itself.
A top tip is to focus on the inspection for the case study, as this inspection is likely to be probed more fully.

Level 3 centres around providing reasoned advice to clients, adding value through skill and experience and making recommendations that enable clients to take decisions about property. This requires interpreting the information gathered and showing insight. Remember that in this context a client can be any stakeholder, ie, it could include the candidate’s team members.
The candidate must describe the format of the advice given, what the advice was, the reasons for that advice and what the client did with it. For example, the advice may have formed part of a written report, which suggested seeking specialist advice because something was observed that may have constituted contamination and the client acted on that advice by employing a chartered environmental surveyor to protect its interests. Contamination can be a good area of more complex reasoned advice. Candidates should ensure that they have read the RICS guidance note – Contamination, the Environment and Sustainability – use the appropriate language and don’t overstep their area of competence

APC Explained Masterclass This helps candidates to understand what needs to be done to achieve the APC, including a walk-through of the DeLever APC process timeline and myAPC Diary with an explanation of what to do at each key milestone: www.delever.com

Timeline wallchart An A2 pictorial view of the whole APC process, based on the RICS guides and Jon Lever professional knowledge and experience of the APC. It can be used to track progress. Free copies available at: www.delever.com

Structure of the final assessment Tips from Jon Lever FRICS

Structure of the final assessment

At the assessment centre you must first register with the RICS reception administrators who will direct you to the waiting room. When it’s time, you will be asked to go to your interview room. Usually there are three assessors including the chairman, but there may only be two. The chairman explains the assessment process and then you deliver your presentation, followed by 5 to 10 minutes of questions on your Case Study and presentation. Then 30 minutes of knowledge and experience based questions focusing on your declared competencies.

Finally, the chairman covers the RICS Rules of Conduct and Ethics, these can also appear throughout the assessment.

At the end of the assessment the chairman will give you the opportunity for any last comments and, if appropriate, revisits any questions that were passed over during the interview.

The RICS informs you of the assessment result at a later date.

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Extra Help:

Mock Interviews

The hour long DeLever mock interview is as close to the real thing as we can make it. Practice

Mock Interviews

the entire interview and receive fifteen minutes feedback from the two assessors straight away.  Each mock is £255+VAT

Building Control – 25th October, London

Building Surveying – 18th October, Bedford; 25th October, London; 25th October, East Midlands Airport; 1st November, London; 8th November, Leeds

Built Infrastructure – 18th October, Bedford; 25th October, London; 25th October, East Midlands Airport; 1st November, London

Project Management – 18th October, Bedford; 25th October, London; 25th October, East Midlands Airport; 1st November, London; 8th November, Leeds

Quantity Surveying and Construction – 18th October, Bedford; 25th October, East Midlands Airport; 1st November, London; 8th November, Leeds

Book your place at www.delever.com 

Extra help towards you APC final assessment and Free APC Forum

Final Assessment and Competency Revision Workshop – Helps you get everything right

An intensive one-day workshop which clearly explains and helps you to understand what the assessors will expect you to do, deliver and know for your final assessment interview.
19th September 2015, East Midlands Airport, 8am – 7pm, Quantity Surveying and Construction

20th September 2015, East Midlands Airport, 8am – 7pm, Built Infrastructure, Building Surveying, Project Management

From £175 + vat per person

Book your place at www.delever.com

Mock Interviews … ALMOST SOLD OUT … one space for Commercial Property, Environment, Facilities Management, Management Consultancy in Leeds on 20th September

The hour long DeLever mock interview is as close to the real thing as we can

make it.  Practice the entire interview and receive fifteen minutes feedback from the two assessors straight away.

Book your place at www.delever.com

Masterclass Recordings

Final Assessment

Covers how best to prepare for the final assessment, a step by step account of the APC interview and key tips for the final assessment.

£25 + VAT

RICS Rules of Conduct 

This masterclass covers the key elements of the RICS Rules of Conduct that a candidate should be aware of and the latest updates to the Rules of Conduct.

£25 + VAT

Professional Ethics 

The masterclass will give an overview of what ethics really means but specifically focus on group discussion around a number of ethical scenarios and how to spot the ethical question in the APC Final Assessment interview.

£25 + VAT

Visit www.delever.com

APC Forum – FREE

Jon’s tips for the Final Assessment and how best to prepare.  

Prepared yourself properly for the RICS APC

The Forum will also feature an APC process question and answer session and is run by Jon Lever FRICS.

Book your free place at www.delever.com

Organising your time leading up to the final assessment Extra help from DeLever

Extra help

Final Assessment and Competency Revision Workshop – Helps you get everything right

An intensive one-day workshop which clearly explains and helps you to understand what the assessors will expect you to do, deliver and know for your final assessment interview.

Are you prepared with the right information ask Jon Lever FRICS

19th September 2015, East Midlands Airport, 8am – 7pm, Quantity Surveying and Construction

20th September 2015, East Midlands Airport, 8am – 7pm, Built Infrastructure, Building Surveying, Project Management

From £175 + vat per person

Book your place at www.delever.com

MY APC DIARY

Our online myAPCDiary platform will allow a candidate to record all aspects of their APC programme. It will also provide all related supervisors and counsellors a means of tracking their assigned candidates, in a simple to use, and centralised location. All live, with the latest information.