14 candidates have this morning begun a week’s intensive study with ARC that will lead them to the ASIS CPP examination next week. Most candidates are from the UK, but the group also includes one Russian, one Irishman and two South Africans. The candidates are hopeful of becoming part of the unique body of just 6,000 security professionals worldwide (of whom about 130 are in the UK) who have earned this prestigious designation in advanced security management.
The week-long course is the culmination of 4 months of distance learning, totalling some 160 hours of hard study, during which they have assimilated the key points from thousands of pages of reference material, covering generic management and leadership principles, organising and managing a security function, personnel security, investigations, crisis management, the law, physical security, and information/IT security.
ARC has a good track record in preparing candidates for this very difficult examination, the pass mark for which is 80%. Typically, about 8 out of every 10 ARC-trained candidates pass first time. But the examination is not for the faint hearted. Each year the questions become more difficult, making it a very hard qualification to achieve. In recent years the exam has changed from a memory-recall challenge into a true competence-assessment test by the clever wording of the questions. Only the most dedicated candidates make it through the distance learning phase into the classroom, and only the top of the profession pass the examination.
