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Exams FAQ

Last updated: 17 April 2020

The following information is for any study centres who host their own exams that were cancelled in March and May.

Exams

Yes, the updated CIPS examination schedule is available now. We’ve made some changes to exam entry dates, along with changes made to the release dates of the July and September (OR and CR) exam results.
We will confirm your deferred exam dates for the July series by email 24 April. At this point we will ask you to review your bookings and our Learning Partnerships Team will work with you to work on capacity and finalise your group exam entry before communications are sent to students.
Yes, please bear with us whilst we make the initial transfer to the July exam series. Our teams are working very hard to keep up with the huge increase in phone calls and emails coming in from our study centres and students. Our teams will not have any further information or be able to take any action at this time.
By 24 April we will confirm your deferral details to July, and you will be offered the opportunity to work with our Learning Partnerships team to work on capacity issues and finalise your group exam entry before communications are sent to students.
Yes, all exams for March and May will be moved to the July series this includes the paper-based exams which take place in some countries only.
Yes, we will give you the opportunity to spread the exams over a longer time period. See 1 and 2 above.
Our main priority will be firstly to ensure seats at exam venues for all of those who had exams cancelled in March and May.
We will then open bookings for the July and September exam series 8 May 2020. Study Centres will have a short booking window of one week to 15 May to book any seats still available in July. The September exam series bookings will then remain open until 17 July.
Yes, we will mark any exams submitted in the March series and the results will be released at the scheduled time and they will be made available in the usual way.
No, if your exams were deferred from March and May into the July exam series, we will transfer any requests for reasonable adjustment along with updated bookings.
We have consulted with our regulators and discussed the format of our exams. The following factors mean that CIPS qualifications are not suitable for estimation of grades:
  • Exams are the only form of assessment for our qualifications
  • Coursework isn’t included as part of the final assessment
  • There are multiple opportunities to sit exams during the year unlike some other qualifications offered by other awarding bodies
  • Our students are all at different stages of their education journey
We appreciate the time and effort students have taken in studying for CIPS exams and realise that they will want the chance to demonstrate what they have learnt, therefore we are rescheduling postponed exam to the next available assessment opportunity - July 2020. Original exam bookings will be prioritised when rescheduling and we will automatically process this on your behalf.
Unlike some awarding bodies around the globe, CIPS has transferred exams rather than cancelled to allow our students to maintain their learning journey. As such, refunds are available only in exceptional circumstances. We will provide refunds if you cannot defer your March and May exam bookings to July or September. Unfortunately, due to high customer contact at this time, it may take up to eight weeks for refunds to be processed. If you would like to request a full refund for your deferred exam, please email enm@cips.org

Membership Subscription

In order to allow students to continue their learning journey, any students that have had exam deferrals for March and May will be able to sit their exams in July as normal, even if their membership lapsed in May, June or July.
However, currently it is important that students access the resources and learning support for revision within the CIPS Student Zone. We encourage all students to keep their membership active to take full advantage.

Getting in touch with CIPS

Please do not contact CIPS Helpdesk or Customer Service team for updates about the deferred March and May exam series as they will not have any further information for you at this time.
You will be contacted by the Learning Partnership Team by 24 April with your deferred group exam booking. At this point we will ask you to review your bookings and our Learning Partnerships Team will work with you to work on capacity and finalise your group exam entry before communications are sent to students.
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