Top Reasons of Failure in IAAS Accreditation Examinations
The path to become an accredited immigration and asylum lawyer is rigorous, and for good reason. The IAAS examinations serve as a crucial gateway, ensuring that practitioners possess the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and be able to find details in the vast pool of Rules and regime of ever-evolving immigration law.
However, many aspiring lawyers find themselves stumbling at this hurdle. Understanding the common pitfalls can be the key to success at this stage.
As the leading provider of IAAS accreditation training and the Law Society’s immigration and asylum law courses, HJT Training is uniquely positioned to offer invaluable insights into the IAAS examination process.
Drawing from our extensive analysis of examination outcomes over many years, we at HJT Training have identified several key factors that contribute to candidates’ unsuccessful attempts at the Law Society Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS) examinations.
- Overriding fault in English: If an overriding fault in English is found anywhere in the examination script, the candidate will fail the whole examination, regardless of the overall mark obtained. An overriding fault is defined as “an error, or a combination of errors, that compromises the client”.
- Failing the drafting question: In the Casework Assistant and Senior Caseworker examinations, there is a compulsory drafting question worth 24 marks. If a candidate does not attempt this question or fails to achieve 50% of the marks available, they will fail the whole examination.
- Professional conduct issues: In the Supervising Senior Caseworker examination, failing to correctly identify and give a substantive answer to the professional conduct question will result in failing the examination.
- Insufficient knowledge or preparation: Candidates are expected to have undergone adequate training, have relevant previous experience, or possess sufficient qualifications before applying. Those who lack such experience or training are unlikely to be successful in the competence assessment tests.
- Incomplete answers: An incomplete answer reduces the available marks. It’s not sufficient to simply write out facts or law without connecting the two.
- Poor performance in specific areas: Candidates are assessed on various aspects, including content, structure, grammar, sentence construction, punctuation, vocabulary, and spelling.
- Failure to meet the pass mark: While the specific pass mark is not mentioned in the provided search results, failing to meet the required standard would result in failing the examination.
It’s important to note that the IAAS examinations are rigorous and designed to ensure that practitioners have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide competent immigration and asylum advice and services.
Our unique position as the Law Society’s trusted training provider allows us to offer an authoritative perspective on these challenges and our training courses and materials are designed to meet the examination body’s expectations. Our high standard of training marked with the fact that our trainers are markers for Law society exams.
If you’re preparing to sit your IAAS exams, consider our specialised training courses. Our IAAS Supervising Senior Caseworker course, and our IAAS Casework Assistant & Senior Caseworker courses will help you sail through your exams with confidence.
Whether you’re a first-time applicant or looking to overcome a previous unsuccessful attempt, our training is designed to help you master the critical areas where many candidates struggle. We’re committed to guiding you through the IAAS accreditation process with increased confidence and precision.
Should you be reading this post after August 2024, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’d be happy to provide information on future IAAS course dates or discuss exclusive in-house sessions tailored for one-to-one training.
Our goal is to ensure you have access to the most up-to-date and effective preparation for your IAAS examinations, regardless of when you plan to sit them.
For enquiries contact us on enquiries@hjt-training.co.uk or call us on 075 4416 4692
*Also, do check out our Blog: Strategies For Drafting First Class Answers For IAAS Exams here [link]
References:
[1] https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/career-advice/individual-accreditations/immigration-and-asylum-law-accreditation/-/media/eef60748f5b24096a12655347dd0ec79.ashx [2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6577094a83c8bc0013d7d3bf/Application_for_Registration_Guidance_Notes_December_2023.pdf [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-become-a-regulated-immigration-adviser/how-to-become-a-regulated-immigration-adviser [4] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sqe-marking-fiasco-175-candidates-wrongly-told-they-failed-exam/5119371.article [5] https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/career-advice/individual-accreditations/immigration-and-asylum-law-accreditation [6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddKaHlsW3Y8 [7] https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/en/career-advice/individual-accreditations/immigration-and-asylum-law-accreditation/how-to-apply [8] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/immigration_asylum_accreditation
Written by Shareen Khan
