I’m after a little info with regards to the CPC course, basically I’ve booked up ona whom for a two week course with the exam on the last day on the 2nd of December. I wouldn’t imagine I’d have my home study material for a week or so and I’ve done zero reading up thus far. Is it do able to learn the req’d info in the period of time available or have I been a silly lad?
I’m a fitter at the moment so don’t really have too much knowledge of the management side of things but have some drivers hours knowledge etc.
In your position until the home study file arrives I think I would be swotting up now on those aspects of the course that you already have a reasonable familiarity with, so Construction and Use, Motor vehicle lighting regs, drivers hours and tachographs etc. Doing that now will allow you the time later to concentrate on those aspects which are new to you or which you find difficult.
It is normal for those with a transport background to struggle with the business side and and vice versa.
If you did okayish at school with studying and exams, and it wasn’t too long ago, then it is possible. The pass mark is fairly low and my advice would be concentrate on testing yourself with past papers rather than trying to learn the whole gamut, which will be too much to take in and frankly a lot you will never need again.
How good is your knowledge of drivers hours rules? If you understand drivers hours it will help a lot.
You will be taught the entire syllabus in two weeks, if you can take it all in. The Operator’s CPC is by no means a walk in the park, it is the equivalent of an A Level, and you have 8 or 9 days to study it.
As others have said, revise your own particular skill set, and if there is one other piece of advice I’d give, spend an evening learning about Incoterms, there is always a question about them.
Harry Monk:
You will be taught the entire syllabus in two weeks, if you can take it all in. The Operator’s CPC is by no means a walk in the park, it is the equivalent of an A Level, and you have 8 or 9 days to study it.As others have said, revise your own particular skill set, and if there is one other piece of advice I’d give, spend an evening learning about Incoterms, there is always a question about them.
Thanks for the info. Funnily enough I was reading through a test paper and I had a bit of an idea what the answers were until I got to a question about those incoterms and I didn’t have the faintest idea what they were! That was the point I realised maybe it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park!
You’ll ■■■■ it af1 if you study what’s relevant. Ignore everything except the planning(drivers hours) questions, pricing, and how to apply for licensing changes/first application etc.
Have a look at your previous paper. The daily planning schedule will be 8-10 marks. The costing will also be worth 8-10 marks. They will also give you an example firm that either needs to apply for a new licence or something, you have to decide what they need to do, what forms etc etc. That’ll also be worth 8+ marks. Get all that in you head and you’ll be sorted. Everything else is definately worth a flick through but I wouldn’t give it study time as such. There’s no point learning everything about stgo or what a class v mirror is or how many toilets you need for 50 employees as you simply won’t require it.
Your folder will prob be broken down into 30/40 sections. Give 30 mins to each section but generally that’s all.
Concentrate on the drivers hours, how to cost, and the application process. The other questions on the paper you will have a good chance of getting the correct answer through common sense.
All previous exam papers are available, as are the results, and importantly, the guidance on how to mark it. Have a go at a few and score yourself and see how you do.
Post things up here that you don’t understand or where you can’t see how you went wrong and no doubt we’ll all chip in.
And remember, management don’t know about management so your on a level playing field.
Is it ten classroom days you have or is one of those your exam days?
Cheers for the advice. It’s 9 classroom days with the exam on the final day. Picked my home study pack up today so it’s time to get my head into it!
Ok-well one thing is for certain, don’t expect to learn it in the nine classroom days, every time one person out the twenty in the class wants to repeat something, that most understand, it feels like your getting no where. As I said, have a look at a past paper on the big scoring questions and then come back here if there’s something not clear. The nine class room days will be just for fine tuning you how too pass the exam rather than be an accomplished transport manager. Also, don’t plan anything on the nights of these two weeks, you’ll be using it to apply what you’ve been doing in the day.
I sat the exam in March this year. It is not easy and requires a bit of discipline to study out with the classroom.
For me, the past papers were the key and really helped with understanding the structure of the exams and to address areas where I was weak. The first few days can feel as if you are being overwhelmed with new information. Stick with it and it will sink in - eventually 
Good Luck.
I did mine a couple of years ago in similar circumstances to you. i.e a limited knowledge of the industry.
My advice is, make notes on everything throughout the day, re read them that night and again a couple of days later to refresh you memory along with the guidance books you have been supplied. The books are very good but sometimes you can word it in a way more relevant to you.
Also don’t panic. It’s pretty daunting with the amount of info they give but it’s surprising how much you remember in a short period of time. The parts though don’t stick keep revising and eventually you will get it.
If you put the effort in and do the studying you will be fine, however there were guys on my course who had been driving 30 years that really struggled with it. I’m not sure they did too much homework though as they thought they new everything already.
I was just lucky that things stick in my head without the need for too much work. Which was handy as the missus popped out a daughter midway through the course so my nights were full
Good luck with it.
Just re took mine after 13 years so I can run international and walked in off the street and passed with next to no preparation, got through on experience alone