I want to be ready for the ITOP/ ADC Stage 1 but don’t know how to improve my chances of passing..

Up until now there hasn’t really been any targeted way of preparing. It was assumed that either you have the abilities or you don’t, and that this would be the only influence on the result. Of course, in many ways it is true, it does come down to your abilities. But there is also a way that you can enhance these, through effective preparation. After any ADC you will be given feedback, in the hope that you will take this information on board and use it to develop your skills before your next attempt. The service we offer saves you time and hopefully unnecessary disappointment. We give you feedback BEFORE the ADC Stage 1, so you can develop your skills and PQAs in a very focused and practical way BEFORE your assessment. Of course the drawback is that you have to pay for this, but if it saves you a year or more, we hope you feel it will be worth it! We see it as similar to having extra lessons before school exams- sometimes you need a guiding hand to be able to demonstrate your true potential!

I want to prepare but I’ve been told there is no point revising..

We all know that to pass an exam you need to study and some people are still choosing to do this, in the absence of knowing what else they can do to improve their chances of success. In this instance revising is not a good use of your time; the ADC Stage 1 is structured in a completely different way to knowledge based exams. It doesn’t measure performance in facts, figures and technical detail. It measures performance of your core personal attributes- the PQAs. It can be useful to explore the PQAs, but this isn’t really enough to help you understand or demonstrate them effectively in many cases. Although there is little value to revising in the traditional way, there is a great deal of value from PREPARING IN THE RIGHT WAY.

I don’t want to waste another year by failing the ITOP..

It can be frustrating to feel ready to develop but not know how to demonstrate your suitability for this. Now you now have the opportunity to take control and make sure your performance matches your potential. At VCA we have worked hard to create a range of options/services for all budgets, to allow you to save valuable time by preparing effectively.

What about preparing for the ADC?

We also have products to help you prepare for your full ADC. Click here for more details.

How do you know what we need?

We had the idea to design these products purely based on the comments we were hearing from all over the FRS, about how difficult it was to get it right at the ADC. In fact it took several years for the penny to drop, and for us to realise that we were in a position to do something about it!  We have trialled all of our products with FRS personnel, and used any feedback to make continous improvements. On the whole our test subjects have been pretty impressed with the results, and we have been delighted with their positive feedback.

To help us make sure we are meeting all of your needs as we continue to put products together, we welcome any feedback. Let us know what would help you and how you would like this to be presented, and we can make sure we continue to design services that people really want to see.

Why doesn’t my FRS offer this service?

For some FRS it may be that they haven’t had the time or perhaps the expertise to develop services such as these. As Occupational Psychologists we are dedicated to designing packages that will help you, and we have the experience and expertise to do so. It takes a great deal of time to produce products and services of the quality and value we are recognised for. For many FRS, as much as they might like to, they simply don’t have the resources to prioritise this type of product development or support.

Understandably, training budgets need to be spent on technical and safety critical aspects of skills development, but unfortunately prioritising these can be to the detriment of the formal development of your PQAs- the skills and attributes which are crucial to your management potential. We have tried to make the services we offer as realistically priced as possible to reflect the commitment you are prepared to make to the FRS as well as to your own development.

We do offer packages of support for your FRS, with a number of options to either share costs with candidates or bulk purchase products to receive substantial discounts. If the relevant department for your organisation contacts us, we will issue them with a discount code to pass on to their personnel. Many FRS have taken us up on this offer. If you would like to receive 20% off any ADC support product, simply ask the department responsible for ADCs to contact us and we will be happy to oblige.  

How can I be sure you are advising me fairly?

Our principal Psychologist, Hannah Vallance, has worked with the FRS for several years, supporting standardised assessment and development processes. She is committed to working with the FRS to improve standards, and to helping individual’s take ownership of their development. Hannah specialises in developing potential, and as a psychologist takes a ’strengths-based’ approach to her practice. She focuses on recognising key skills and enabling people to build on these in order to maximise their career potential and job satisfaction. She also uses assessment tools to identify development areas, and provide clear training pathways to address these. We will give you feedback that will help you develop your PQAs and improve your performance. We will help you present the evidence of your potential in the right way.

It is absolutely in our best interest to provide you with excellent value and genuine support. We know that in the Fire & Rescue Service the only worthwhile advertising is word of mouth. We rely on your support, and so far your recommendations are allowing more and more people access to the information we provide every day.

How will you work with me?

We will support your career aspirations by providing the guidance you need. We want you to trust our service to help you throughout your career. We know the value of building on-going relationships which we can only have by helping you as much as possible. We know that you are unlikely to respect our advice if you don’t see us practicing what we preach, so we need to work hard to demonstrate our ability to; Work with Others, Problem Solve, Plan & Implement, along with our Commitment to Diversity, Integrity, Excellence and Development - to name but a few!

What is the catch?

With anything of value, you get what you pay for. We have spent a long time designing the tools and testing them to make sure they work well and will give you the feedback you need to be prepared for your real ADC stage 1. We mark each paper individually and give personal feedback based upon your actual performance, not just bland automatically generated statements. We have made sure our test(s) are completely accurate representations of the real thing i.e. same layout, similar content. They are also marked by highly experienced assessment professionals. So there is no catch, just a great value for a long awaited service.

How do I know this will help me?

By taking the practice ADC Stage , or even reading through the On-line study guide, you will be much more prepared for taking the real thing. You will be familiar with the content, you will know what to expect, and you will have had feedback on what you need to improve. We know that we can help you, so we have made it as easy as possible for you to try it and see for yourself by offering you a money back guarantee on anything you purchase.

How do you know you have captured what is in the real ADC Stage 1 exercises in your practice ones?

Hannah Vallance has worked in partnership with the FRS for many years. She has been responsible for a wide range of projects to support IPDS, including training assessors, quality assuring the internal assessors at ADCs, marking ITOPs at all levels, preparing ADC Stage 1 & 2 feedback reports for candidates, and designing ADC processes for Scottish FRS. She has consulted on an ODPM steering group and has been a firm supporter of this process for many years, working hard to ensure candidates are assessed fairly and accurately. Hannah designs all of the practice exercises and guidance documents. She works with other Occupational Psychologists and assessment professionals to deliver the individually tailored feedback reports and action plans. She has a huge amount of relevant experience to help you in the way that is incredibly user-friendly and effective.

Why are you offering this now?

For the past couple of years we have repeatedly heard comments reflecting the huge demand from highly motivated people who want to be able to take control over their FRS career. We have heard the frustrations and have seen the opportunity to provide a service to meet this need. We recognise that although the FRS does support development in a great many ways, there are certain aspects that individuals would benefit from taking responsibility for themselves. We wanted to provide the opportunity to do this, and create a service that no one else can or is providing. We value the role we have played in supporting assessment processes for the FRS throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and are very committed to encouraging individuals to develop, and to raising awareness and standards around the PQAs. We hope this will also have a knock on effect on standards in the FRS. If individuals have development needs in areas such as Commitment to Diversity & Integrity, and Commitment to Development, and we can help them not only identify this but alter their behaviours to improve it.  Performance standards in the FRS will automatically be raised, which is in everyone’s best interests.

Is this service applicable to everyone?

Scotland has its own ADC arrangements, in fact with VCA designing the ADC processes for the regional collaboration of Highlands & Islands, Tayside and Grampian. Therefore, preparing for the National Toolkit ITOP and ADC is not relevant for Scottish personnel.

What happens after the ADC Stage 1?

We would like to keep in touch with you and see how you are doing, and have additional services to offer to support you as much or little as you require. If you pass and would like some help preparing for your full ADC we can give you options for support in this area. If you should be unsuccessful at the ADC Stage, you just have to let us know and we will offer discounted services to make it more accessible to you to continue to prepare in an effective way. But as you know, it’s not all down to us! Your feedback report will highlight what you need to practice or implement in order to improve your performance. You will need to prioritise this in order to make the most of the time and money you have invested in using our services.

What happens if everyone passes now?!

By helping people prepare effectively we hope to raise standards, to improve the quality of candidates and increase the numbers of those getting through with top results. This will mean the FRS is really seeing the very best candidates, and have an even better pool of excellent personnel to draw on for further development and ultimately promotion. Irrespective of the preparation support available, there will always be a wide range of performance standards. What we hope to do is raise the bar, and allow candidates insights into their development needs and career potential.