How you perform ‘on the day’
A common misconception is that a person’s performance is dependent on how they feel on ‘the day’, and that they may not perform as they usually would. At the ADC the assessors are looking for skills such as how an individual resolves problems or relates to others. If a person is usually able to approach a problem and suggest an effective way to resolve it based on the information provided, it is unlikely that they will fail to be able to do this despite difficult circumstances. The PQA aptitudes are fundamental, underlying skills which are very consistent, in the same way personality factors tend to be.

 Nerves
The assessors and administrators all appreciate that the ADC can be a nerve-wracking occasion. It is in their best interests to make you feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible, because the more relaxed you are, the easier you will find it to demonstrate your potential. If your mind goes blank in a role-play, the role-player will give you some time to get yourself back on track. If you panic in your written exercise, bear in mind you have over an hour to tackle the tasks. Structure your time systematically, starting with working out exactly what is expected of you. Remember, you are at the ADC because you passed the initial sift stage of the assessment. The reason for the ADC Stage 1 is to identify people who are suitable to attend the ADC. Those applicants who are not ready for career progression would in all likelihood find the ADC difficult and demoralising. This initial stage is used to identify people who are up to the challenge. You wouldn’t be there if you hadn’t already shown evidence that you could do it.

Showing what you can do
The crucial point to remember is that the ADC is all evidence based. Therefore it is up to you to provide observable evidence of what you are capable of. Make sure you explain your reasoning and rationale properly. The assessors will not make any assumptions about what they think you may have meant, they will only go on what you made explicitly clear. Click here to find out how you can gain more advice on how succeed at the ADC

How assessors do their job
Assessors use what is known as the ‘ORCE model’. This stands for Observe, Record, Classify, Evaluate. They will take in what is being presented to them by reading the written exercise or watching the role-play/ group discussion interaction. In the role-play/ group discussion they will be recording the key parts of the exchange- not what the role-player or other candidates are saying, but the main points of your contributions. They will record both what you say, and how you said it. For the written exercise they will make notes on your key points.

After the exercise has been completed they will read through their notes and try to identify which bits of evidence that you have provided fits with which PQA. For instance, if you suggested to the role-player that you need to work together to resolve the issue, this would be evidence of ‘Working with Others’. The assessors will evaluate how closely the evidence you presented fits with their score sheets. The assessors will have definitions for each score to help guide them as to which score your evidence should be allocated. Each exercise has been designed to elicit evidence of specific PQAs- not all PQAs are assessed within each exercise.

Scoring
The National ADC Toolkit exercises are scored using a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 representing ‘strong performance’, and 1 being ‘significant development need’. In most of Scotland the scoring scale is 1 to 3, with 3 being an ‘area of strength’, 2 showing ‘acceptable performance’ and 1 reflecting an ‘area for development’.

Each exercise will explore the candidate’s performance on several PQAs, and each PQA is further broken down into a number of distinct elements, each of which attracts a score. The good news is that you don’t really need to know any of this; it is your assessors’ job. All you need to focus on is undestanding the requirements of the exercise and then trying to meet them to the very best of your ability. The relevance of explainng that each PQA is split into a wide number of areas, each of which is scored individually is to reassure you that you have plenty of chances to do well. Even if you score lower marks in some areas, there are enough other scroring opportunities that it may not matter to your overall performance. It is worth remembering that even the very strongest candidates have development needs.

Would you like more information which will help you prepare effectively for your ADC?