Regardless of whether I do end up putting a truck on the road, I’m taking my CPC National and International at the end of this month, with the exam on December 2nd.
Any advice, hints, tips or pointers would be welcome. I’m not entirely sure of what to expect from either the course or the exams so if anyone has taken it recently and could fill me in on that, it would be appreciated.
Also your own personal experience of whether you found it easy or difficult or anything else would be helpful, ta!
How much is it costing you harry
A rather eye-watering £1310.10 including VAT and exam fees (which are non-VAT rated).
very eye watering!!!
Harry Monk:
Regardless of whether I do end up putting a truck on the road, I’m taking my CPC National and International at the end of this month, with the exam on December 2nd.Any advice, hints, tips or pointers would be welcome. I’m not entirely sure of what to expect from either the course or the exams so if anyone has taken it recently and could fill me in on that, it would be appreciated.
Also your own personal experience of whether you found it easy or difficult or anything else would be helpful, ta!
It is a lot to do in one sitting Harry, Dave used to teach it and I think he will give you some pointers. The International part is fairly straightforward and slightly mirrors the National.
That is a lot to take in at once I done mine over two sittings.
I’d assume like most of us you haven’t done any studying since school and there is a lot to take in but you seem an intelligent fella from what you post on here and I’d say you will pass. A lot of the problem is retaining the intfomation for the exam.
The multiple choice part is ok it’s the case study that’s harder but I’m sure you can just resit individual parts if you fail one.
As wheelnut said the international is a lot easier.
I presume that’s the one referred to by mixer driver too, here?
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/prm/ocr_63267_prm_vrq_unit_04_december_11.pdf
What are you required to do with regard to this scenario in the exam?
You have to answer in depth questions about a ficticious company usually involving costs and legalities. Dont remember there been a lot of questions but certainly loads to think and write about whilst answering them. The Case study is the hardest part of the CPC, i did a weeks intensive course a couple of weeks before the exam which i found brain splitting. Basically an instructor went through a large book and puts it into laymans terms which covers every aspect from Fiscal law to Construction and use regs.After a week of that i was numb. He also did mock exams using previous cpc papers and you will see the different scenarios used for these ficticious transport companys.
I was never much cop at studying at school but i passed first time which still suprises me even now 
Good luck with your new venture Harry
Although my certificates are written on parchment I still try the new exams when they were posted on here after the exam or as practice papers, the main thing is to read the story, then read it again, it is a little like fantasy football in which they give you a choice of all the equipment but you cannot afford it all 
The multi choice you will manage with your eyes closed
Thanks to all for the advice so far, I have been looking through the fantasy scenario and working out times and costings etc, which I presume is what they are looking for. I’ve no doubt I will be back looking for further guidance over the next few weeks.
Just as a random question, how many people are typically on a CPC course?
Harry Monk:
Thanks to all for the advice so far, I have been looking through the fantasy scenario and working out times and costings etc, which I presume is what they are looking for. I’ve no doubt I will be back looking for further guidance over the next few weeks.Just as a random question, how many people are typically on a CPC course?
I cant answer how many people on a course because I did them home study, but there were only about 7 people on the exam.
I imagine what they are looking at here is how you would advertise, fund and set up another operating centre in a different traffic area, they would want you to work out which is the most optimal place to do that and how to control Deuce errant ways.
You are probably going to have to cost in additional training for ADR drivers. It is an interesting scenario.
I have worked through the “Acme” scenario, a new round-trip multi-drop route in a rigid bodied vehicle from South Bristol, and as I suspected would be the case before I even put pen to paper, it cannot be done within 9 hours of driving (it’s 9.5 hours) and so I imagine they are going to be asking how to overcome that problem.
It did occur to me that if Eddie Monk 
were to take over Duece’s North Bristol depot and scheduled the run from there that the run could possibly be completed within 9 hours?
I presume that in any event they are going to ask how the problem of being unable to undertake the run legally more than two days a week can be overcome, and that “giving the driver a piece of wire to short out the tacho” isn’t what they would be looking for.
I’m taking the exam in December, too. I’ve not had a chance to have a proper look at the scenario, but it looks as though it could be questions based on:
the 9.5hr day - either run it from North Bristol, or use 3 drivers/week on it.
I reckon there will be something on the STGO 920km movement.
ADR, unfortunately.
O licensing - either a Major change, subject to Schedule 4 rules if it is run under OCR, or questions on Business & Company law regarding the new limited company.
Harry Monk:
I presume that in any event they are going to ask how the problem of being unable to undertake the run legally more than two days a week can be overcome, and that “giving the driver a piece of wire to short out the tacho” isn’t what they would be looking for.
Nor will they be mentioning Friday rules.
Get with the times Harry a magnet these days
Case Study Key points for me are:
Frozen Food - New Requirement for Regs & Possible Vehicle Selection
ADR Packages - New Requirement for Regs
OCRS Score - Amber
Insecure Load/Overloading - Got to be a memo or similiar to drivers
Drivers Hours - Always - New route or how to do Inverness ASAP with 1 or 2 drivers?
Vehicle Maintenance - Always - Sort out the OCRS score?
O’Licence Change - Always - Got to be a new company or major change with a schedule 4 transfer
Vehicle Costing - Always - Deducting Tyre Value from Vehicle Starting Value gets me everytime
As mentioned read the question, when it says a memo to drivers you get a point for the answer being in a memo format.
Hi Everyone,
I am new to this, I am taking the my CPC exam in Dec 2011… Please any of you experienced CPC holders, can you read the scenario and help put together some questions you think will pop up.
Big Thank You
Liza 
Hello Liza, welcome along.
I’m not the experienced CPC holder you are looking for, but I have been working through the case study for a few days.
One question I feel sure they are going to ask is how to get the time-critical STGO movement from Bristol to Inverness in the shortest possible time, and as far as I can see, the answer is to double-man it from Bristol to Glasgow (600km, or 15 hours driving at the specified 40km/h), and have a third driver waiting there to take it from Glasgow to Inverness (274km, or 7 hours driving).
I’m still working through it all, and will post questions myself as and when they occur to me so all I can say is to keep checking this thread.
Harry Monk:
Hello Liza, welcome along.I’m not the experienced CPC holder you are looking for, but I have been working through the case study for a few days.
One question I feel sure they are going to ask is how to get the time-critical STGO movement from Bristol to Inverness in the shortest possible time, and as far as I can see, the answer is to double-man it from Bristol to Glasgow (600km, or 15 hours driving at the specified 40km/h), and have a third driver waiting there to take it from Glasgow to Inverness (274km, or 7 hours driving).
I’m still working through it all, and will post questions myself as and when they occur to me so all I can say is to keep checking this thread.
Hi Harry,
Can a double-manned unit not drive for a total of 20 hours in a 30 hour period.
Liza
Yes, but the case scenario gives the distance from Bristol to Inverness as 920km, and states that STGO movements travel at 40km/h on all roads, which would give a total driving time of 23 hours, so it could not be done in one shift by a double manned crew.