How can I take the ICB Exams?

You might be all prepared for the ICB Exams, studied your course work and know everything you need to succeed. But how do you actually write the exams? What happens if you cannot write on a specific day, or you don’t live close to any exam centres? Don’t worry, because you have options!

Registration and course work, how important is it?

Registration is easy: all you need to do is fill in the registration forms and also ensure you are registered not only with the college you study at, but also the ICB itself. This process also lets you pick a date and time, as well as location to write. Your exam, together with your course work during your studies, make up your grades at the end of the study period. Thus it is vital that you include all your work and assessments in your Portfolio of Evidence (PoE).

After registration, what happens next?

When you have finished your registration and completed all the relevant forms, you will then receive your programme’s PoE to start with the actual studies. The PoE is a guide that helps you through the content you need to finish for your exams. It contains some tests and assignments to judge your abilities and push you to do your best.

This work carries you through the studying period and assesses your abilities and skills. When the time comes to write exams, you need to decide on when and where you want to write. This can be changed, with enough notice to the ICB, but you need to pay certain fees.

What are some basic regulations of ICB Exams?

The regulations and the way your studies and exams are handled all depend on your situation. Full-time and Part-time students have regular exams that they write on campus. There is an exam timetable available for them so they can schedule when they would like to write. Something to take note of is if you are unable to attend your exam session.

You can apply to move your session to the next available exam cycle, but you need to pay the postponement fee. If you are ill and that is why you miss your exam, you can apply for a free postponement (along with a doctor’s note), which can be allowed at the ICB’s decision. You, unfortunately, can not move your exam more than one cycle ahead, because you run the risk of the materials/curriculum being out of date. Please take a look at Section 5 of the ICB Examination Policy for any further information.

When it comes to distance and independent learners, things change a bit. There are a limited number of exam sessions available to them because they write in a separate exam venue. These venues are widespread and there are a lot of them, but you can find a detailed list available here. The months that they can write are February, May, August and November.

After writing ICB exams, what can I do next?

The next step is the thing everyone hates doing: waiting. You need to wait for your results to get back to you, in about 7 weeks. This long process consists of couriers, preparation, separation and handing your work to Assessors who mark and review your entire collection of tasks and assignments you finished through the year. This is a strict process, time-consuming, but is necessary to ensure the correct results.

All of these steps, rules and regulations are important in the long run. It balances out the crazy confusion life throws at us on a daily basis. But once you have structure and a clear plan forward, it becomes as easy as pie!

 

Last updated: 15 April 2019