ICF Practice ACC Credential Exam | Susan Britton, MCC & Jessica Burdett, PCC

Hello everyone, I'm Jessica Burdett, the Director of Coaching Education at the Academies, and with me I have Susan Britton, Founder and President of the Academies. And we're excited to be able to share with you today about the ACC Credential Exam that the ICF has released. They piloted it earlier this year to support having a pathway to ACC that is more aligned with the knowledge expected for ACC around the ICF competencies, coaching ethics, and definition and boundaries of coaching. So it's a 90-minute multiple-choice exam with knowledge-based questions. So you have multiple choices, you choose one to respond. There is only one correct answer, and it's taken in a proctored learning environment. It's made up of 60 questions, so you've got a good bit of time to respond, and you have an optional 10-minute midway break. So we are excited that this resource has been released and hope that walking through the sample questions today can be a support to you in your preparation. You can also reach out for the detailed guide to prepping for the exam that we have. There should be details in the description. Anything you want to add, Susan?

Other than I'm so grateful that they've got this new version for the coaches that are going for their ACC and happy to jump into this. I'm also excited because I have not seen one question. This is totally extemporaneous here. And so we're going to walk through those and see what happens.

Yes, this is true. We have intentionally— I have seen a couple of the questions, but I have intentionally avoided seeing the answers. So we are going in blind here as well with nothing but our own experiences and knowledge on coaching. Yeah. All right, let's dig in. Sample Question 1: Which of the following actions is considered a violation of the ICF Code of Ethics? A, maintaining confidentiality of client information. B, engaging in a romantic relationship with a client. C, continuing professional development. Or D, setting clear agreements with clients.

I'm so excited to see that this is the first question, that it's about ethics, and that in my estimation, it's quite clear. So it's It's not a muddy, muddy question like sometimes you can have in the, the, um, the either-or kind of scenario. So B is my choice.

Yes, agreed. And additional thoughts going into that: A, C, and D are all part of ethics. We need to be maintaining confidentiality of client information, clearly. Ethical practice is not engaging in a romantic relationship with a client, and setting clear agreements is a very key part of the coaching process. Continuing professional development is very essential to ICF Competency 2. Anything you'd add, Susan?

Yeah, and it's nice because if you just hone back to what are the competencies, D is clearly ICF Establishing and maintaining agreements, so it's number 3. If you kind of think like, where is there a competency aligned with this, that can also help guide you. And the ethics information that is on the ICF website is also a good read through in preparation for the exam.

Yes, definitely important to understand for this exam. And we were correct! Ta-da! Good thing.

Together and not actually look at the— that's, that's impressive.

Okay, here's sample question 2. Would you like to read this one, Susan?

Sure. So, how must— I love the capital must— a coach maintain records pertaining to a client's coaching session? A, in folder that is easy to access for reference. B, in digital and hard copy formats. C, in A secure format that promotes client confidentiality, and D, with the other client— with the other records for the client.

This one also seems pretty straightforward to me. I would go with C.

I would second the C.

All of the others are ways you potentially could, but you would want to ensure that they were secure and confidential.

Too exposed on some of those, those other options.

True. All right, question 3: After 2 months of a 6-month coaching engagement, a client begins missing appointments and not following through on agreed-upon actions. What is the best approach for the coach to take? We have A, terminate the coaching agreement immediately. B, ignore the issue for now and hope the client gets back on track. C, refer the client to a colleague who may be a better fit. D, explore with the client whether or not to continue with the coaching.

So as I look through those questions, I am thinking about a, a core tenet of coaching, which is partnered, collaborative. You know, it's a partnership. So A is certainly not a partnership. That's a decision that's made on your own. B is the opposite of being able to speak and say what is in the room and make observations without judgment. Um, C is also a sense of, I'm making this decision for you, client, and so that's not partnered. So I would go then with D.

I would as well. This is starting to get a little bit trickier, I feel, because I I think our second, second best option would be B. So when you get to one that's starting to be trickier, I would recommend process of elimination just to support having better chance of getting the correct answer if you're not sure how to answer. So then we could immediately rule out A and C, and then we've got two options. In this case, Susan and I are clear, but if you weren't clear to choose from one of two options, gives you a 50-50 chance instead of a 25% chance. Bing, bing. All right, question 4.

A client asks a coach for advice about how to carry out a new challenging assignment. What is the best action for the coach to take? A, give the client the requested advice. B, suggest that the client ask their supervisor for advice. C, send the client an email after the coaching session with several strategies the client could consider. And D, explain the distinction between coaching and consulting and invite the client to identify strategies they could explore together.

So given that this is an exam largely testing our understanding of the definition of coaching, the answer here, D, gets back to distinguishing coaching and the clear definition of it. So that's what I would go with here.

As would I.

All right, let's see if we're right. There we go. All right, question 5: A coach accepts a new client who values the coach's industry work experience. Which is the best action for the coach to take? A, offer the coach's advice based on their industry work experience. B, clarify the distinction between coaching and consulting. C, provide the coach's credentials in the industry. D, suggest engagement goals for the client based on the coach's industry experience.

So this reminds me of what you just said about the last question, which is start this elimination process, because it's getting a little bit more curious in my mind. I do not want to go with C. That's my first cross that one out. A is also scaring me because of the word advice. So I'm like, I don't love that. B, we just discussed that, that there is a distinction between coaching and consulting. However, because of the way the question is framed, I would go with D, suggest engagement goals for the client based on industry experience. And the reason I'm going with that is because of the verb suggest. And then I am going to assume that there's an implied, and then there would be an exploration after that suggestion.

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I would go with B just by nature of guessing that this is going to be more of, let's make sure it's really clear. But again, not fully sure on that. So yes, this would definitely be a process of elimination one where I'm thinking best guess, hope it's right. And the important thing with this exam is you do not get penalized for incorrect answers. So please answer every single question, even if you're not sure. Do that process of elimination and provide an answer. If you're really unsure, you can mark the question for review and come back to it at the end in case something else in the exam sparks something back into your mind that helps you answer it, but choose something. Let's see. All right. So, yeah, and we'll, we'll see where they go in this. So far it's looking pretty like on the nose. Okay. So, uh, I'm curious to see what happens in the rest of them.

So just to confirm that most basic obvious answer, and I wonder if my amount of experience is biasing just a little bit. I'm very aware of the nuances that there are going to be coaching. And so I can see where you could do that D answer. So this is great.

That's what you said. Yeah. The other thing I would add is Suggesting engagement goals could be at odds with having the client define their goals. So that's the one thing that would move me away from that. It's such a vague, such a vague scenario to be like, you've accepted this person who values this. What should you do? So little context.

Well, okay. So, and then I I kind of blanked over engagement goals. I was sort of like I had myself in the coaching session, into it. Like maybe we're in session 3 or 4. And so that's interesting. Yeah. If I had really honed in on engagement goals, I would have gone with B. Yeah.

Okay. And hence the value of preparing in community. Uh, so please, if you're watching this video, share if you see something different than us or have questions that arise and connect with the community because we love supporting people in exam prep and we've got a lot of folks in our community who enjoy that as well. All right. Sample question 6. What is the key difference? What is a key difference between coaching and facilitation? A, coaching involves giving direct advice while facilitation focuses on asking questions. B, coaching is primarily for personal development while facilitation is only for professional settings. C, coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process to support a client to meet their full potential while facilitation is about guiding group discussions. D, coaching requires a license to practice while facilitation does not.

So I am seeing the echoes of the ICF definition of coaching in answer C. Agreed.

So that definitely drew me immediately. Also, the answer is true. A is incorrect. We don't give direct advice. B Not also incorrect. And D, coaching does not require a license to practice. There we go.

Woohoo!

Yeah, we— I could pause and celebrate. We're carrying on, but we'll pause and celebrate at the end.

Let's see. Okay, which of the following represents the most important purpose of silence in coaching? Allowing silence before I read. To allow a client to process their thoughts. To enable the coach and client to hear one another. To provide the coach time to think of their next question. And D is to provide the client time to think of the right response to the coach's question.

This is a kind of tricky one. Um, Wow, definitely would rule out C. It's not about the coach. D, I don't love the right response, so I'd probably rule that out too. So then choosing between A and B, I think it would be A. There's a lot in the competencies about supporting the client to be able to fully express themselves. And I think that connects the most to it.

I would agree.

All right, let's see. Yay! All right, question 8: Respecting a client's perceptions is a critical element of which coaching competency? A, cultivates trust and safety. B, listens actively. C, facilitates client growth. And D, establishes and maintains agreements.

Okay, so I'm going to go with the process of elimination. I, I'm seeing the word clients' perceptions, so I'm paying attention to that word. And so D, I mean, you want to pay attention to clients' perceptions in the entire process, but D is probably less likely C is probably less likely. Establishes and maintains agreements is D. Facilitates client growth is C. I would X those out. Now I'm down to cultivates trust and safety and then listens actively. Certainly you need it in listens actively. At the same time, I think because of it's the perception piece, I'm going to go with cultivates trust and safety.

That's where I landed as well. But this is tricky because that respect for a client's perspective is so essential to all of the competencies. So I could see B also. And here's the value of process of elimination. In this case, we were correct. Love that. But also it would have been worth it to do the elimination and have the 50/50 guess chance either way. And I'll just add one more thing there. Definitely review the Code of Ethics. Be familiar with the Core Competencies. Those are certainly going to both show up on the exam. All right. Question 9: A coach asks the client permission to coach in a new and sensitive area. What is the purpose of this request? A, to allow the client to think through their potential solutions. B, to make the client feel anxious to speed results. C, to create a space where the coach is able to accept negative feedback. And D, to create a safe space where the client has a choice.

So my answer would be D, the safe space where client has choice. Choice is back to that essential piece of partnership and collaboration. A is not a great answer in my mind because of solutions. B, that's sort of like a giveaway. Yeah, well, you don't want to make people feel anxious. B, results. And C, that's more about the coach than it is about the client. Client-centered.

Yes. There is also directly in Competency 4, Cultivates Trust and Safety, that asking permission of the client and allowing them to choose to respond in any way. There's a PCC marker about it, but I believe it's also in the sub-competencies quite directly as well. So I would go with that too.

And choice also, I think, comes into Maintains Presence. Yes. Yeah.

All right, great. We've got a good percentage going.

Last one. So using metaphors as a coaching tool is most useful in which of the following situations? A, the coach is teaching a concept. B, the coach wants to nuance a message. C, the client is seeking clarity of meaning. D, the client does not see the coach's perspective. So I am going to go with B on coach wants to nuance a message.

Okay, I would go with C here.

Another thought. What? That was my other thought.

Like, but okay, so I'll say why I went with that, and then I'd love to hear why you went with yours. The first two are focused on the coach, which I think is a pretty helpful tool for rolling out. We're focused on the client. What do they need? D, the client does not see the coach's perspective. It's not our goal to get them to see our perspective. So I think seeking clarity or meaning metaphors can be a really powerful tool there. And metaphors are part of Competency 7 as a tool in the sub-competencies. So that's my leaning there.

So I revise my response. I also see that.

Okay, but why were you going to choose B?

Honestly, because I know that we have 60 seconds before we have to end this call. So I got— isn't this interesting? So I got kind of a fight-flight panic. and I'm like, just find the fastest one. So that's my honest answer. I, and I like nuance because I also, I, I like the nuance piece of it, but I totally feel like C is a much better answer.

And that's such an important thing to make sure you are setting yourself up to be able to be in the blue zone when taking the exam. Um, I was recently hearing about how It is so powerful to be able to shift from this stress I'm feeling is anxiety to this stress I'm feeling is stress that's here to help me focus. It's excitement or attention. So set your mindset. Uh, how did you do? We'd love to hear. How are you feeling prepared? What do you need to get prepared? And we wish you the best of luck in the exam.

Absolutely.

Alrighty.