Candidates must refer to the online examinations candidate guide, which is available through the College of Policing'sNIE webpagesor from NIE liaison officers. This document provides a comprehensive guide for preparing for the examination, accessing the examination on the day and what to expect when taking the examination.
Testing environment
There is no national requirement for candidates to take the examination at a testing centre or under supervision. Candidates are responsible for ensuring they have a suitable testing environment, as per the guidance in the online examinations candidate guide. The College of Policing cannot accept appeals regarding an unsuitable testing environment so candidates must ensure they take the time to plan appropriately for this. Some forces may wish to provide an optional testing centre for their candidates. Forces should refer to the online examinations force guidance for advice on setting up a suitable centre.
Accessing the examination
Prior to sitting the examination, candidates will be asked to test their device and will be offered the chance to familiarise themselves with the platform.It is very important that candidates schedule time to check their device and browser before the exam, to ensure that they don’t encounter issues on the day. Candidates are also strongly advised to take the time to complete the familiarisation exercise, even if they have taken an examination with the College before, as changes to the platform and/or functionality may have been made.
A few days before the examination, candidates will receive details of the URL that they will use to access the examination platform on the day of the examination, as well as information about how to log in to the examination. If candidates have not had their link the day before the exam, they should contact their NIE liaison contact.
Declaration notice
The decision to take the NIE is that of the candidate. All candidates must read and agree to the declaration notice, which will be provided on the online examination platform, before being permitted to take the examination. This is to confirm that candidates agree to abide by all rules of the examinations and are fit and suitably prepared in relation to their knowledge, understanding and application of the law and procedure contained in the syllabus.
Any candidate who declines to agree to the declaration for the NIE will not be eligible to take part.
Attempting to gain an unfair advantage
Candidates must not gain, or attempt to gain, any unfair advantage during the examination. All officers are expected to act with integrity and in line with the principles and standards of behaviour set out in the Code of Ethics. Candidates must not help, or accept help from, anyone else during or after the examination.This includes attempting to gain assistance from using artificial intelligence applications.
The design of the examination and mechanisms that have been introduced into the delivery of the examination mean that attempts to cheat are likely to be ineffective. Any candidate who is suspected of cheating or disclosing the content of the examination in any way will be investigated and could have their examination result nullified and/or be banned from entering the examination in future.
Candidates suspected of cheating or disclosing the content of the examination will also be referred to their force's professional standards unit. This includes discussing question content on social media or any other format before, during or after the examination.
Candidates must not allow another person to gain access to AIMS or the examination using their login details, nor must they attempt to gain access via anyone else's login details. Any attempts to do so will be classed as a breach of the rules and reported to the candidate's professional standards unit.
The exam must be completed in one sitting.If candidates wish to take a comfort break during the exam, they can. But they will not receive any additional time to do this. Candidates must not attempt to pause or restart the exam once they begin.
Any attempts to pause the timer are logged on the system and will be recorded as unusual activity, which will be reviewed after the examination and reported to the reports and disqualification panel, if applicable. Attempting to pause the clock is a breach of examination rules and could mean the result is nullified.
If candidates have an exceptional reason to close the browser, candidates must report this to the College of Policing via their force contact officer after the exam and within three days of the exam date.
If candidates need a comfort break during the exam, this is not counted as a valid reason to pause the timer and they must not attempt to stop the timer. The time will continue just as it would if they were sitting the exam under previous conditions at a physical exam venue, unless an agreed reasonable adjustment that allows scheduled breaks to be taken during the exam is in place.
Disclosing content of examination questions
Making and/or keeping copies of the questions in any format is prohibited. The questions remain the intellectual property of the College of Policing and we reserve the right to reuse questions. If people keep and share copies of questions, this affects the future integrity of examinations.
Candidates can take the examination within a 12-hour window on the examination day. If the examination content is shared before a candidate has chance to take the examination, this could lead to them having an unfair advantage and affect the integrity of the examination. It is therefore paramount that you do not discuss examination content with anyone after the examination, including comments on social media, as this is likely to provide others with an unfair advantage.
Discussing the content of questions in any form, including on social media platforms, is prohibited and presents a huge personal risk for that candidate and their future career. Any candidate who is suspected of disclosing the content of the examination in any way will be investigated and could have their examination result nullified and/or be banned from entering the examination in future. Candidates suspected of keeping or sharing the content of the examination will also be referred to their force's professional standards unit.
Candidates must not take screenshots of questions (or any part of a question) under any circ*mstances. Any candidate found to have done this will be referred to their force's professional standards unit for a breach of examination rules.
Code of Ethics and conduct
The Code of Ethics applies to all officers, staff and volunteers across the police service in England and Wales. Candidates will be expected to:
- take personal responsibility for promoting and reinforcing the principles and standards set out in the Code of Ethics
- actively seek to embed the Code of Ethics by ensuring regular reference to it in their day-to-day decision making and professional responsibilities in policing
The highest standards are expected from all police officers and staff (or equivalent) and this is especially important for those in roles where greater autonomy and decision making is expected. It is therefore essential that candidates participate in the NIE with the Code of Ethics fully supporting their actions, contributions and decision making. Candidates who are found to have acted in a manner that contravenes the Code of Ethics, or any of its principles, may be removed from the PIP2 by their force or organisation.
Any information entrusted to you during your examination, including the questions in the examination paper, has been disclosed to you in the course of your duties as a police officer or police staff member (or equivalent). In accordance with the standards expected of all officers and staff, this information must not be used for personal benefit, nor should it be divulged to other parties, except in the proper course of police duty.
The College regards the improper disclosure of such information as a serious breach of confidentiality and will ensure that any reported instances are fully investigated under the police complaints procedure.
