The APC Ready Curriculum
Every phase of the APC. Nothing you don’t need.
Five phases structured on the READY Method, 19 focused modules, and the STARA and SCORE frameworks throughout. Built only for the RICS Quantity Surveying and Construction pathway, and being recorded with the founding cohort.
5 phases
19 modules
20–30 min / day
Know the game you're playing
Most candidates drift for months because nobody explains the machine. Phase R stands up your entire APC operating system in two weeks: route confirmed, competencies declared with intent, counsellor arrangement working, target sitting chosen, and a plan working backwards from it.
- R1
The APC, decoded
LESSONSRICS, the APC and MRICS in plain English: who's who (candidate, supervisor, counsellor, assessors), what you submit, and how the May and November cycles actually work.
→ A one-page map of your entire assessment
- R2
Your route & your sitting
LESSONS24-month structured training, 12-month, preliminary review or Senior Professional: choosing correctly, and setting a target sitting that changes your behaviour today.
→ Route confirmed + target sitting in writing
- R3
Declaring competencies with intent
WORKSHOPMandatory, core and optional competencies for the QS pathway, and how to choose optionals your live projects can actually evidence to Level 2.
→ Your declared competency set, mapped to live projects
- R4
The 7-Day Sprint
TEMPLATESOur onboarding ritual: seven days, 20–30 minutes each, that stand up your diary, CPD log, counsellor cadence and weekly APC slot before motivation fades.
→ A running system by next week
Turn project work into pass-ready evidence
Experience is happening at work every day, and most of it evaporates unrecorded. Phase E installs the Evidence Engine: a little-and-often diary habit, structured with STARA, that converts straight into Summary of Experience statements instead of a panicked reconstruction six weeks before submission.
- E1
The Evidence Engine
LESSONSThe weekly capture system: what a good diary entry looks like, how to tag entries to competencies, and the Friday 15-minute routine that keeps it alive under deadline pressure.
→ A diary habit that survives busy periods
- E2
Writing with STARA
WORKSHOPSituation/Task, Action, Result, Advice: the write-up structure that makes every entry convertible, and makes the advice you gave impossible for an assessor to miss.
→ Three real entries upgraded with STARA
- E3
From diary to Summary of Experience
LESSONSThe word limits are hard caps. How to distil months of evidence into competency statements at the declared level without falling into the repetition trap. Includes keeping your experience record clean, so the Summary of Experience you submit stays consistent with it.
→ Your first SoE statements drafted
- E4
Evidence review clinic
REVIEWSubmit real entries and drafts; get structured, developmental feedback against the RICS level descriptors. It's help to self-correct, not an RICS assessment, and no replacement for your counsellor or the assessors.
→ Feedback you can act on the same week
Climb from doing to advising
Level 1 is know it. Level 2 is do it. Level 3 is advise on it, and it's where assessments are won. Phase A deliberately engineers Level 3 exposure: identifying advice opportunities inside your current projects, framing options, making recommendations, and evidencing the outcome in numbers.
- A1
The levels, properly understood
LESSONSWhat separates a Level 2 statement from a Level 3 one, with worked examples across the QS core competencies, and the verbs that signal judgement.
→ A Level 3 checklist for every core competency
- A2
Engineering advice opportunities
WORKSHOPYou can't wait for Level 3 moments to happen. How to find, request and shape advisory exposure inside your current role, including the counsellor conversation that unlocks it.
→ A competency-to-project gap map with actions
- A3
Core competency deep-dives
LESSONSFocused technical refreshers across the QS core (procurement routes, contract mechanisms, cost planning, valuations), all anchored to what assessors actually probe.
→ Revision notes tied to your declared set
- A4
Mandatory competencies without the hand-waving
WORKSHOPClient care, communication, health & safety, and the rest: turning 'I attend meetings' into specific, evidenced situations you can defend.
→ Real examples attached to every mandatory
Bank the obligations early
CPD and ethics are 'banking' obligations: painless at four hours a month, painful in a March panic. Phase D brings your CPD record current and keeps it there, and builds the Rules of Conduct fluency that turns the guaranteed ethics questioning from a fear into a strength.
- D1
CPD without the March panic
TEMPLATES48 hours per 12-month period, at least half formal. What counts, what doesn't, and the as-you-go logging system with the formal/informal split visible.
→ A current CPD record + forward plan
- D2
Ethics, drilled
LESSONSThe Rules of Conduct as a working tool, the answer structure for any scenario (which rule, your obligations, your actions, when you'd escalate), plus timing the RICS Professionalism module (the ethics module) inside its 12-month validity window.
→ A structured answer for any ethics scenario
- D3
Hot topics briefings
LIVEThe agenda assessors are actually probing, updated each cohort. Currently: Building Safety Act duties, the JCT 2024 suite, whole-life carbon, and tender-price and insolvency conditions.
→ Current-awareness notes before your interview
Finish like a professional
The last mile is conversion: a submission that reads clean, a case study that shows judgement, and an interview performance that's been tested before it counts. Phase Y takes you from 'mostly written' to submitted and rehearsed, including the mock panel that means your first hard questioning doesn't happen on assessment day.
- Y1
The case study, SCOREd
WORKSHOPSetup, Challenge, Options, Recommendation, Effect: our five-part structure for the 3,000-word case study, with word-count allocations and the reflection that takes you to the limit.
→ A complete structured case study draft
- Y2
Submission QA
REVIEWA structured quality-assurance pass before documents lock: SoE cross-references intact, no case-study contradictions, CPD record clean. It's a QA check to catch errors, not approval, and it doesn't replace your counsellor's sign-off.
→ A submission you're not second-guessing
- Y3
The 10-minute presentation
WORKSHOPTiming discipline, structure, and rehearsal technique, so the presentation runs to 10 minutes on autopilot and opens the interview on your terms.
→ A rehearsed, timed presentation
- Y4
The mock panel
LIVEA full-length rehearsal under assessment conditions with realistic questioning (competencies, curveballs, ethics) and structured feedback after. Practice, not a prediction of your result.
→ Your gaps found before assessment day
Evidence framework
STARA
Situation/Task → Action → Result → Advice. The write-up structure for every diary entry and SoE statement, with the advice you gave impossible for an assessor to miss. The final A is where Level 3 lives.
Case-study framework
SCORE
Setup → Challenge → Options → Recommendation → Effect. The five-part structure for the 3,000-word case study, built around a genuine decision, with word-count allocations per part and reflection to close.
Mapped to the pathway you’re actually assessed on.
Levels: L1 know it · L2 do it · L3 advise on it. Always verify against the current RICS candidate guide and QS pathway guide for your region.
Mandatory · all candidates
- Ethics, Rules of Conduct & professionalismL3
- Client careL2
- Communication & negotiationL2
- Health & safetyL2
- Accounting principles & proceduresL1
- Business planningL1
- Conflict avoidance, management & dispute resolution proceduresL1
- Data managementL1
- Diversity, inclusion & teamworkingL1
- Inclusive environmentsL1
- SustainabilityL1
Core technical · to Level 3
- Commercial management (of construction works) or Design economics & cost planningL3
- Construction technology & environmental servicesL3
- Contract practiceL3
- Procurement & tenderingL3
- Project finance (control & reporting)L3
- Quantification & costing (of construction works)L3
Optional · two to Level 2
- Capital allowances
- Commercial management or Design economics & cost planning (whichever is not core)
- Conflict avoidance, management and dispute resolution procedures or Sustainability
- Contract administration
- Corporate recovery & insolvency
- Due diligence
- Insurance
- Programming & planning
- Project feasibility analysis
- Risk management
Choosing optionals is a Phase R workshop
The APC Readiness Check
See which phase you should be in right now.
The APC Readiness Check maps your answers to the same eight dimensions this curriculum trains, then tells you where to start.
Free · No account needed · Your answers stay on your device