ICAS denies exams 'dumbed down'
ICAS has denied it has 'dumbed down' its qualification after reporting a massive leap in student pass rates.
Announcing a pass rate of 70% for its Test of Professional Skills, the Scots institute’s education director Mark Allison claimed the success vindicated the changes it had made to the level 2 syllabus.
Only 44% passed the previous TPS.
But Allison refused to draw any firm conclusions from the results as only 102 students, all from PricewaterhouseCoopers, sat the June ‘diet’ after a 12-week intensive education programme.
The changes in the syllabus meant that the students only sat four exam papers, unlike five as in previous diets.
But Allison said the examiners believed the papers, particularly finance, were harder than before.
With the removal of management accounting from the TPS syllabus – the subject now forms part of the final year exam as well as being covered in the first year Test of Competency – Allison said the students were able to sit the exams after an intensive 12 week period of study.
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Pass rate boost for new ICAS syllabus