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• # 74805
• Sun 02 Oct 2011 08:02 PM

I notice that some of the Level 3 modules are assessed at home.

Is there not a (potential) risk of candidates cheating/ colluding during exams.

How should members respond to suggestions from prospective clients / competitors that this type of assessment is not as robust as more conventional exams?  

I'd would be keen to know about members thoughts / experiences.

I'd be less concerned if an examinee had a quick look at a text book during a home assessment - after all you would do that in real life. But coaching and collaboration during home assessments is a more worrying possibility.

• ICB Student
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• # 74807
• Sun 02 Oct 2011 08:08 PM

You could cheat in the exam or get someone else to do it for you - but when you came to a problem in real life you would be found out.

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• # 74816
• Mon 03 Oct 2011 11:51 AM

Still having quite a think about this one Ray.....

I have to say that my initial thoughts are that I really enjoyed doing the Home Based Assessments and the centre based ones were a bit of hassle getting there.

Looking at my own personal reason for going with the ICB as opposed to any of the others is that:

1)  My son was just starting school

2)  Had been in bookkeeping/accounts for years

3)  Had a client ready to run with from previous years

4)  Had the offer of other clients just starting up

5)  I wanted quals for recognition of the work I already knew

6)  I wanted some sort of professional backing for this and wanted to network


My potential clients weren't interested if I had quals, that was mainly for myself and although they were delighted for me that I passed and had a practice licence, they wouldn't have ditched me had I not achieved it all.

Although I probably could have gone for exemption, I wanted to know I was right.  So I sat the exams and to my relief I was, with pretty good marks - just one or two things I needed to brush up on.

The Home Based Assessment couldn't realistically be done at a centre as it would take more than a few hours - I personally feel better knowing that my exam at home was more in depth and tested my ability more than a simple centre based exam.

After all that - what am I trying to say........ that the ICB and way of examinations was right for me and appears more in depth than other bodies' exams.

The cheating part ... well, if they need to cheat, they should really look at a different career as they will be found out in this sector relatively quickly.

Sorry - I'm going on and on and on - I'll stop now

So - after all that - answer to prospective clients is that the Home Based Exams are more in depth than that of other Bodies.


 

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• # 74819
• Mon 03 Oct 2011 12:38 PM

Just to add to what Liz has said, I feel that the home-based exams are actually a far better reflection of the skills a bookkeeper will be applying in the course of their work. Centre-based exams tend to become a test of memory, at least in part, whereas in real life, being able to remember all the facts and figures doesn't really matter - what matters is knowing how to go about finding the information you need, and applying it.

If you cheat in a home-based exam, OK, you've got the qualification - but as has already been said, you will be found out pretty quickly when you can't do the job.

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