CIPS assessment and exemptions
We will provide you with a course and tutor support, but CIPS are in charge of assessment. Assessment is the process by which CIPS judge whether you have passed a unit; every unit has an assessment.
Most assessment is by exam at the moment, though some units have an assessment by assignment alternative (WBA).
The pass mark for all units is 50 per cent. You will need to register as a member of CIPS and register for the assessment itself. There is a charge for each assessment that you take.
If you haven’t already done so, you should register with CIPS as soon as you start your studies with us. To be assessed, you need to have registered with CIPS, and obtained a membership number from them.
You need to send your membership form and any exemption evidence to CIPS at least six weeks before the registration deadline for the assessment which you wish to take. All membership fees are payable direct to CIPS.
Remember that you are responsible for ensuring that your forms and membership fees reach CIPS in good time.
Exemptions
It may be that once you’ve found your starting level, you discover that you have qualifications or experience that covers the same ground in the same depth as one or more of the units that you’ll be studying. If this is the case, CIPS may exempt you from having to take those units.
If you think you might qualify for exemptions, you have to ask CIPS for them. When you send your membership registration form to CIPS make sure that you include the evidence they need to see.
If you are applying on grounds of experience, you will need to include a current job description (showing at least three years’ relevant experience and ten years’ employment experience overall) signed by your line manager, your CV, a letter of support from your employer, and a statement explaining which units you’d like exemption from and how your experience matches up to them.
If you are applying on grounds of qualifications, you will need to include copies of your certificates, transcripts (listings of the subjects you took, with whom, when, and the grades you got) of your previous studies, and a statement explaining which units you’d like exemption from and how your qualifications match up to them.
Only CIPS can grant you exemptions, so make sure you have an official letter from CIPS before you start missing out units.
Certificate exemptions
You cannot be exempted from Purchasing in Action. You can be exempted from any other units where you already have Level 3 (or above) qualifications that match up acceptably with their content.
There are no exemptions for experience.
Foundation Diploma exemptions
You cannot be exempted from Purchasing Contexts. You can be exempted from any other units where you already have Level 4 (or above) qualifications (including degrees from bona fide universities) that match up acceptably with their content.
You may earn exemptions for experience.
Advanced Diploma exemptions
You cannot be exempted from Improving Supply Chain Performance. You can be exempted from any other units where you already have Level 5 (or above) qualifications (including second year and later degree modules from bona fide universities) that match up acceptably with their content.
You may earn exemptions for experience.
Graduate Diploma exemptions
You cannot be exempted from any compulsory units. You can be exempted from any optional units where you already have Level 6 (or above) qualifications (including final year degree modules and post-graduate qualifications from bona fide universities) that match up acceptably with their content.
You may earn exemptions for experience.
Drawbacks of accepting exemptions
Gaining an exemption from a level does not mean that you gain the qualification for that level, you have to do at least the integrative unit for a level to gain its qualification.
If you do gain exemptions from any units, CIPS will expect you to be familiar with the content of the syllabuses in those units, and you may have to demonstrate your knowledge in your assignments and assessment on other units.
CIPS charge a fee for exemptions.
