2020 accreditation exam update
by Dr Linda Nix AE
Registrations and venues
Exam registrations are at their highest level since the first exam in 2008. At the time of writing, with still a few weeks before registrations close on 8 November, just over 100 people have registered to sit the exam on Saturday 5 December.
We have enough registrations in each of the booked venues to confirm that the exam will go ahead in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington.
Remote arrangements
A handful of candidates will sit the exam remotely. We’ve spent considerable time developing procedures to ensure exam conditions are the same for both venue-based and remote candidates, and that exam security is not compromised. Remote sitting adds an extra administrative layer for each remote candidate and requires a dedicated invigilator, so has only been approved for those few candidates who are physically unable to travel to an exam venue and whose systems meet minimum requirements.
Our focus now is on training both venue invigilators and a pool of remote invigilators to be ready to swing into action should one or more of the venues be closed on exam day. If that happens, we will contact affected candidates to discuss system requirements and offer them the opportunity to sit the exam remotely.
Style guides
Candidates may have seen that the new online edition of the government Style manual is now live. (See separate article from the Style Manual Steering Group.) The default style guides for the exam remain the print editions of Style manual 6th edition for Australian candidates and Fit for Print for New Zealand candidates.
Candidates are welcome to nominate any online style guide, including the new government Style manual, as an alternative, but will not have internet access to it in the exam. This means they will need to print out relevant sections of an online guide for inclusion in their bound notes. This rule applies equally to venue-based and remote candidates.