What does an End-Point Assessment involve?

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An End-Point Assessment involves a variety of assessments at the end of an Apprenticeship. Generally speaking, most End-Point Assessments involve 2 or 3 assessment methods. What does your learner’s End-Point Assessment involve? We will tell you how to find out.

What does an End-Point Assessment involve?

The End-Point Assessment is different for each Apprenticeship Standard. So to provide you with a more detailed answer to the question, “What does an End-Point Assessment involve?“, you need to identify the Apprenticeships you would be competent to assess in. Once you know which Apprenticeships you are interested in becoming an Independent End-Point Assessor (IEPA) for, you can have a look at the EPA holy grail, the ‘Assessment Plan’.

Assessment Plans

For those of you who already have experience in assessment, this isn’t an assessment plan as you know it. In the context of EPA, the Assessment Plan is more like a specification for a qualification. It covers everything that the relevant End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) needs to know about an EPA to deliver it. But most importantly, for you as a prospective IEPA, the Assessment Plan details what assessment methods are used and what the requirements are for each.

You will find the Assessment Plan for the apprenticeship you want to assess on the Institute for Apprentices website.

Here’s a bit of an End-Point Assessment taster for you; below are a few Apprenticeship Standards along with what their EPA’s involve.

The Level 3 Business Administration EPA involves a:

  • 60 minute Multiple Choice Test
  • 30-45 minute Portfolio-based Interview
  • 20-30 minute Presentation

What does an End-Point Assessment involve graphic 1

However, the Level 4 Children, Young People & Families Practitioner EPA involves a:

  • 80 – 90 minute Observation of Practice
  • 55 – 60 minute Competence Interview

Whilst, the Level 2 Autocare Technician EPA on the other hand, involves:

  • 2 x Knowledge Assessments
    • 1 x 60 minute Multiple Choice Questions
    • 1 x 45 minute Alternate Format Questions
  • a one day Practical Observation (with pre-set tasks)
  • a 60 minute Professional Review (structured discussion)

So as you can see, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ answer.

Weighting

We’re not going to go into too much detail on weighting in this post, but it’s good to know the basics.

Each assessment within the EPA counts for a certain percentage of the overall grade. So for example, a written exam may count for 30% of the overall grade, whilst an observation may make up the remaining 70%. This is important to know because even though there may be 3 or 4 assessments involved in an EPA, some will carry more weight than others.

All that being said, the apprentice must still achieve a pass on every assessment in order to pass their Apprenticeship.

If you want to become an End-Point Assessor, then we would recommend enrolling on to our End-Point Assessor course bundle. Alternatively, if you already hold a valid assessor qualification, then we would recommend our online EPA CPD course. If you have any questions, please get in touch on 01205 805155 or email us at training@brooksandkirk.ac.uk.

Other EPA blogs in this series: