Where do you go after you pass your IAM Advanced Test?
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IAM Special Assessment

Where do you go after you pass your IAM Advanced Test?
Well, ROSPA also examine for advanced riding - indeed five out of seven of the CVAM Senior Observers have ROSPA Gold Passes. IAM offer also, the Special Assessment. The Special Assessment is designed specifically for riders who, having passed their advanced test, are looking for a new and tougher challenge. It costs £60 and It’s described as the ultimate test.

The special Assessment buys you half a day of an IAM staff examiner of which there are only 5 in the country. Robbie Downing is one; so down here it is he whom you will get. The marking system is a matrix so it is pretty objective. There is no pass or fail; you are being marked against a 100% perfect ride and we all know that doesn’t exist! The standard looked for is well above theIAM standard test level, Observer or Senior standard. So small errors lost in the balance at IAM test standard WILL weigh rather more heavily on the Special Assessment.

Now I can’t get this confirmed but the inference I have been given is that the Special Assessment is comparable to that of a PC1 Rider test but obviously without pursuit as there is no dispensation to break the law. A mark of over 65% will put you at about PC1 level. But that is not the real point. If you wish you can get a halftime debriefing. You will get a final debrief and a written report. But it’s the obiter dicta where the real value kicks in. Robbie will look at some points of detail but he will tie these in to wider and more structural advice about your riding…. Now that really raises the game and if you think you can fudge some minor error by some means or another…… forget it….. I tried and you can’t!

Nothing turns on a Special Assessment – no-one else need even know you have undertaken it – but you will get a thorough dissection of your ride, good and bad and more importantly you will get a real insight into how to make that step change to put you on to the next rung of the ladder or perhaps get on to a different ladder altogether.

Eddy Lambah-Stoate (Dec2008)
 

Applications can only be accepted from candidates who:

  • Have been IAM members for one year or more
  • Have been “collision free” and “conviction free” for a period of 2 or more years
  • Do not have more than 6 penalty points endorsed on their driving licence
  • Do not have any proceedings pending against them

The IAM Special Assessment comprises:

  • A short briefing by the Examiner
  • Approximately 45 minutes of driving to the highest possible standard by the candidate.
  • A short break to discuss the drive/ride, (the Examiner will not advise on “best practice”)
  • Approximately 45 minutes further driving/riding to the highest possible standard by the candidate.
  • A test of the candidate’s driving/riding and road safety theory knowledge
  • Verbal feedback by the Examiner.

If the Assessment is successfully completed, candidates will receive:

  • An IAM Special Assessment Certificate.
  • A confidential written report giving members an analysis of the driving demonstrated and an overall evaluation, expressed as a percentage, will be provided subsequently by the Chief Examiner.
  • The IAM Special Assessment is voluntary, it is not a test and those undertaking it will not pass or fail.

Membership of the IAM will not be affected but only one IAM Special Assessment will be permitted in any twelve-month period.
 

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