What is the RICS APC? A complete guide to the Assessment of Professional Competence
The RICS APC is the assessment pathway every trainee surveyor completes to become a chartered member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. This guide explains what the APC is, how the pathway works, the 11 mandatory competencies you must demonstrate, what happens at final assessment, and how to prepare.
What does APC stand for?
APC stands for Assessment of Professional Competence. It is the structured pathway through which trainees become qualified chartered surveyors (MRICS) with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The assessment is competence-based rather than exam-based: it tests what you can do in practice, not what you can recall in an exam hall.
At its core, the APC is a judgement. Two assessors — chartered surveyors from your pathway area — interview you for an hour and decide, on the evidence you have submitted and the answers you give, whether you are competent to practise independently as a chartered surveyor. There is no pass mark or quota. Candidates who demonstrate the required competence are admitted to membership; candidates who do not are referred and may re-sit a later session.
APC pathways and routes
RICS offers a pathway for each of the main areas of chartered surveying practice — Quantity Surveying and Construction, Building Surveying, Valuation, Commercial Real Estate, Residential, Project Management, Planning and Development, Infrastructure, Geomatics, Rural, and others. Your pathway determines the technical competencies you must declare alongside the universal mandatory competencies.
There are three routes to APC, depending on your level of experience:
- Structured Training — the standard route for candidates early in their career. Requires at least 24 months of relevant, supervised experience.
- Preliminary Review — available to candidates with at least five years of relevant experience. Your submission is reviewed online before you are invited to final assessment, without the full 24-month diary period.
- Senior Professional — for candidates with ten or more years of senior experience, often at director or equivalent level.
The 11 mandatory competencies
Every APC candidate must declare the 11 mandatory competencies, regardless of pathway. These are the universal professional skills RICS expects of any chartered surveyor. Most are required at Level 1 (knowledge), with Ethics, Rules of Conduct and Professionalism uniquely required at Level 3.
Each of the 11 has a dedicated hub on this site with a syllabus overview, level-by-level guidance, and every revision article we have written on the topic.
Required to Level 3 · 27 articles Client Care
27 articles Communication & Negotiation
16 articles Health & Safety
10 articles Accounting Principles & Procedures
19 articles Business Planning
21 articles Conflict Avoidance, Management & Dispute Resolution
15 articles Data Management
11 articles Diversity, Inclusion & Teamworking
19 articles Inclusive Environments
5 articles Sustainability
8 articles
Levels 1, 2 and 3 explained
The APC assesses competence at three levels of depth. You declare each competency at the level you have reached, and assessors probe at any level at or below that.
L1 Knowledge
You can define the principles, explain the rules and describe the underlying theory. At Level 1 you have read, studied and understood. You do not yet need practical examples.
L2 Application
You have applied the knowledge in your day-to-day work. You can talk about specific examples of how you used the principles, what you did and what you produced.
L3 Reasoned advice
You have given advice to clients, exercised judgement and can defend your reasoning. Level 3 is where assessors probe hardest: they want to see you think, not just recite.
The APC structure
On the Structured Training route, the APC has four main components:
- Enrolment and pathway selection. You register as a candidate, choose your pathway, and are assigned a supervisor (your day-to-day point of contact) and a counsellor (a chartered surveyor who signs off your readiness for final assessment).
- Structured training (24 months). You log your experience in the APC diary, a structured record within the RICS Assessment Platform that evidences how each piece of work maps onto a competency at a specific level. Expect quarterly reviews with your counsellor to check progress.
- Written submission. Before final assessment you submit: a summary of experience, a case study (a 3,000-word account of a project you have led, with appendices), your CPD record (at least 48 hours per 12 months, half formal), and your ethics declaration.
- Final assessment interview. One hour in front of a panel of two chartered assessors.
Candidates on the Preliminary Review or Senior Professional routes follow a compressed version of this structure, with an online review replacing part of the diary phase.
The final interview format
The APC final assessment is a one-hour interview with two chartered assessors from your pathway. The structure is consistent:
- 0–10 minutes — Case study presentation. You deliver a ten-minute presentation on your case study, using up to ten slides. The slides should not repeat what is in the submission; they should draw out the decisions, judgements and lessons learned.
- 10–25 minutes — Case study questioning. Assessors probe the decisions you made, the options you considered, why you chose the route you did, and what you would do differently.
- 25–50 minutes — Competency questioning. Assessors move freely across your declared mandatory and technical competencies, probing at the level you have claimed. Ethics will always be tested.
- 50–55 minutes — Rules of Conduct and CPD. Specific questions on the RICS Rules of Conduct and your CPD record.
- 55–60 minutes — Your questions, closing. You have a short opportunity to ask questions.
Most final assessments are now delivered remotely over video call. The result is typically communicated within eight weeks.
How to prepare
Preparation for the APC final interview typically runs across the last three to six months before your session and combines three streams:
- Competency depth. Work through each of your declared competencies at the level you have claimed, strengthening your grasp of the underlying principles and the RICS guidance that applies. The 11 competency hubs on this site each contain focused revision articles.
- Worked examples. For every Level 2 and Level 3 competency, prepare two or three concrete examples from your own experience that you can speak to fluently. Assessors can ask "give me an example of…" at any point.
- Mock interviews. Book at least two mock interviews, ideally with a chartered assessor or a recent pass, and specifically rehearse the ethics and Rules of Conduct section — these are the commonest referral triggers.
A focused revision library covering all 11 mandatory competencies, with graded Q&As at Level 1, 2 and 3, is available on this site for a one-off £25 lifetime access.
Frequently asked questions
What does APC stand for in RICS?
APC stands for Assessment of Professional Competence. It is the structured pathway through which trainees become qualified chartered surveyors (MRICS) with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The assessment combines a period of supervised experience, a structured training programme, a written submission and a final interview with two assessors.
How long does the RICS APC take?
Most candidates on the Structured Training route complete their APC over 24 months of relevant experience, during which they log their training in a diary and work towards the competency levels required for their chosen pathway. Candidates with more experience may qualify for the Preliminary Review or Senior Professional route, which can be considerably shorter. Part-time candidates can spread the training period accordingly.
What are the mandatory competencies in the RICS APC?
There are 11 mandatory competencies every APC candidate must demonstrate, regardless of pathway: Accounting Principles and Procedures, Business Planning, Client Care, Communication and Negotiation, Conflict Avoidance Management and Dispute Resolution, Data Management, Diversity Inclusion and Teamworking, Ethics Rules of Conduct and Professionalism, Health and Safety, Inclusive Environments, and Sustainability. Most mandatory competencies are required to Level 1, with Ethics to Level 3.
What does Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 mean in the APC?
Level 1 is knowledge and understanding: you can define the principles and explain the rules. Level 2 is application: you have used the knowledge in your day-to-day work and can evidence specific examples. Level 3 is reasoned advice: you have given advice to clients, exercised judgement, and can defend your reasoning under examination. Competencies are declared at the highest level you have reached, and assessors can probe at any level at or below that.
What is the RICS APC final assessment?
The final assessment is a one-hour interview with a panel of two chartered assessors. It opens with a ten-minute case study presentation, followed by questioning on your case study, your competencies, and the Rules of Conduct. Assessors will move freely across your declared competencies and probe the levels you have claimed. The interview is typically delivered remotely, though some APC sessions remain face-to-face.
What is an APC diary?
The APC diary is the structured record of the experience you log during your training period. It sits within the RICS Assessment Platform and evidences how your day-to-day work maps onto each competency at each level. You do not submit the diary itself to assessors, but you draw on it to write the experience section of your final submission, and assessors may ask how specific entries evidence a particular level.
What is the difference between Structured Training and Preliminary Review?
Structured Training is the standard 24-month route for candidates early in their career. The Preliminary Review route is available to candidates with at least five years of relevant experience: after an online review of their submission, successful candidates proceed directly to final assessment without the full 24-month diary period. The Senior Professional route is a further accelerated route for candidates with ten or more years of senior experience.
How do you prepare for the RICS APC final interview?
Preparation typically combines three streams: first, reading competency-specific material to strengthen Level 1 and Level 2 depth; second, building worked examples from your own experience that can illustrate each competency at the level you have declared; and third, doing mock interviews with colleagues or counsellors so that you can speak fluently about your case study and handle probing follow-up questions on ethics and the Rules of Conduct.
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178 focused articles across all 11 mandatory competencies, with graded Q&As at Level 1, 2 and 3. One-off £25 for lifetime access. Updated every week.
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