New 2021 Assistant Principal in the Civil Service

Got the magic 35 indeed! And lots of management experience

35 here too. Felt I had good examples that covered each of the areas but alas no success. Really struggling to see how I could have improved my answer.

I think last year I got 1 42 and 2 35s, this year I got a 37 - bucking the trend :-)

It would be really helpful to know how they're graded for future attempts.

Anyone tempted to get advise from Carr communications or the like to prepare?

I looked to people at the grade and higher too with my examples who said I ticked the boxes in every example. It’s just very hard to know what they’re looking for. I too don’t know how I can improve on what I put in there and stretch what I do in my current grade/role. A lot of people seem to be feeling the same. I don’t think I’ll be applying again for this type of competition.

This year was tough for something meant to be competency based so again well done to those who made it through.

I would rather hope that all marks given are based on strict criteria and that 35, or any mark, represents something meaningful. That's disappointing and useless if so.

300, there was 100 available for each question

I 'Passed' but didn't get high enough marks to be brought forward in the next round. Letter says I will be in future.

I'm an external applicant and its my first time considering anything in the civil service so all new: does anyone have any idea how long its likely to take for them to finish this round then move onto the next one? Will they do the interviews, start a panel, and then move onto people in my category once that panel is empty, so taking months? Or will they put everyone who 'passes' the next stage on a panel then immediately bring forward people from this stage? I've found the unpredictable timing of this the hardest thing to get my head around.

Same here scored 35 on " Experience of leading teams and managing resources" and then N/A not marked for other two.

I have 32 year Civil Service experience, 22 as supervisor, 10 as HEO with top marks always on PMDS and my general work. In that question that I scored 35 the question was outline your experiences, and I gave overview of my rise from SO to EO to HEO and significant achievements and lots of staff management along the way.

So in the very same Civil Service to get to the next grade up I scored 35/100 after that. Are they having a laugh !!!

After 32 years I can tell you it sucks you in, institutionises you, demeans you and the only benefit is a decent consistent pay packet.

To those outside I would say in my view/experience if you are of AP qualifying standard then you are making a foolish choice considering AP. I am stuck in my mid 50s not qualified to do anything else but if you have choices please consider other options. My kids are University graduates and if they mentioned the CS I would advise against.

How many times have I seen bluffers, con artists, talk-the-talk get to AP/PO. For an internal AP interview a few years back I was advised my 2 different POs to grossly exaggerate my experiences. Needless to say I found this difficult and didn't succeed. I worked with one of those POs when they were HEO and the whole unit laughed when they got AP !

Sad to say but if you want a fulfilling work experience, in my opinion, stay clear

I rest my case.

I have to say I made the same mistake as you last year and heavily focused on staff management, so for this competition adapted my answer to include budget and project management, my far broader approach to this question this time round paid off and I actually scored higher in q2 than in the others. So I would have to disagree that it is a joke but hopefully you can learn from your experience and adapt your approach for next time

Same. I failed last year and passed this year. Got the dreaded 35 on Leadership last time out.

It sounds stupid, but the difference is that this time I answered the actual questions. Last time I thought I had, but I was so anxious to wedge in competencies and the normal PAS comp stuff that I really didn't hit the mark for the precise question as worded.

I got 36 in question 2. I would love to know what constitutes a good answer for this. Not out of egotism or anything like that, my answer obviously wasn't good enough but I feel I do have relevant experience for AP. I just don't know how to go about structuring the description.

I tried talking in general terms briefly about my experience and then gave 2 specific examples. Does that sounds like a sensible approach? The question doesn't ask for specific examples so it's hard to know.

Funnily enough I've now been invited to do a video submission thing for AP Higher because I was in the top 160 in the aptitude tests/job simulation thing. Not sure there's much point but I may as well give it a try.

Is it online still? Have they given details of t what the exercise entails?

thanks for the update and best of luck with all the prep

Thx

That’s great! They are really moving fast. Best of luck with your preparations.