Regulations and Policies
Examination Guides and Regulations
All candidates are bound by all IoD rules and regulations governing the conduct of the examination. Please ensure that you read the regulations prior to registration. Registering for an examination will be taken as confirmation that you have read and accepted these regulations.
IoD Examination Regulations
IoD Certificate Exam Guide
IoD Diploma Exam Guide
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of assessment. To meet this commitment the qualifications are based on the IoD Director Competency Framework and there is a set of academic policies covering the following matters:
- Feedback and appeals
- Exemptions
- Malpractice
- Special Consideration
- Reasonable adjustments
1. Feedback and Appeals
The IoD recognises the importance of candidates receiving appropriate feedback following the marking of examinations, completion of assessments and publication of results. It also recognises that there may be occasions when a candidate has a genuine belief that an issue has arisen, or they have genuine grounds to appeal following the release of examination or assessment results.
The IoD will:
- Have processes in place to enable candidates to receive appropriate feedback following the publication of examination or assessment results
- To protect the integrity of the question bank, for Certificate-level examinations this will be limited to descriptions of assessment criteria where candidates have answered incorrectly.
- For Diploma-level examinations and Chartered-level assessments, feedback will be specific to the candidate’s answer highlighting, in general terms, how the candidate performed in the examination or assessment. Additional feedback can be requested.
- Provide an appeals process that enables candidates to present a clear statement of the grounds on which the appeal is being made and to provide supporting evidence.
- Conduct an investigation into the appeal, based on the evidence presented.
- Ensure that investigations are undertaken by someone independent of the process being looked into.
- Provide the candidate with the outcome of the appeal within the agreed timescales.
For more information on the IoD feedback and appeals process, please read the documents below and when you are ready, download, complete and email the relevant completed form to examinations@iod.com
2. Exemptions
The IoD recognises that in some instances certain programmes and qualifications already completed by individuals are at an equivalent or higher level to those of the IoD Certificate qualifications. Participants who have successfully completed such programmes and gained the relevant qualification may apply for an exemption, offering a faster-track completion of IoD’s Certificate modules by avoiding duplication of learning.
Candidates who qualify for an exemption will be exempt from both the relevant course and the examination.
The IoD will:
- Have processes in place to enable appropriate exemptions to be made to accommodate recognised prior learning.
- Ensure that exemptions for prior learning meet a minimum of 70% of the learning outcomes of the IoD course, and the candidate has been subject to appropriate assessment of this learning to demonstrate at least a comparable competency to that assessed in the relevant IoD examination.
- Maintain a list of recognised courses where an exemption will be applied.
- Consider courses that are not on the current recognised list.
- Annually review the list of recognised exemptions.
- Record an exemption as a ‘pass’ for that module of the Certificate.
- Provide an appeals process when a candidate is dissatisfied with the exemption decision.
For more information on the IoD Exemptions policy and process on how to apply for an exemption, please read the document below. When ready, please download and email the completed from to examinations@iod.com
3. Malpractice
The Institute of Directors (IoD) recognises that it has a responsibility to accommodate candidates with disabilities and anyone with specific learning difficulties or medical conditions. The IoD’s commitment is to ensure that no candidate with a disability is ever treated unfairly and that they are able to participate fully in the examination or assessment process. As defined in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), a disabled person is someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The IoD will:
- Have processes in place to enable appropriate adjustments to be made to accommodate recognised disabilities, learning difficulties or medical conditions.
- Establish and apply consistent adjustments for specified disabilities, difficulties and conditions.
- Provide an appeals process where an individual does not believe the adjustment offered addresses their disability, learning difficulty or condition.
For more information on how and when you can apply for a reasonable adjustment, please contact the IoD Examinations team by email: examinations@iod.com
4. Special considerations
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is committed to treating candidates fairly. As part of that commitment the IoD understands that candidates may experience incidents outside of their control which may have affected their ability to perform to their normal expectations during an examination or assessment.
In this respect, the IoD will:
- Have processes in place to enable candidates to raise a requirement for special consideration.
- Consider requests from candidates for special consideration for circumstances that have happened immediately before or during an examination or assessment.
- Such requests must be made before or at the end of the examination or assessment and, in all cases, before the candidate leaves the examination or assessment venue.
- Where results are made available to candidates immediately on completion of an examination or assessment, the circumstances must have been reported before the results have been issued.
- Consider requests that arise from aspects of the examination or assessment process that are under the control of the IoD or its partners, as well as those which, while affecting the candidate’s ability to perform to the best of their ability, are nonetheless beyond the control of the IoD.
- Not recognise requests for special consideration based on circumstances which, in its opinion, are reasonably within the control of the candidate.
- Provide an appeals process where an individual does not believe the response correctly deals with the circumstances encountered.
- If a factor which may affect a candidate’s performance has been identified before the examination or assessment date, the reasonable adjustments policy and process will apply.
For more information on how and when you can apply for special consideration, please contact the IoD Examinations team by email: examinations@iod.com
5. Reasonable adjustments
The Institute of Directors (IoD) recognises that it has a responsibility to accommodate candidates with disabilities and anyone with specific learning difficulties or medical conditions. The IoD’s commitment is to ensure that no candidate with a disability is ever treated unfairly and that they are able to participate fully in the examination or assessment process. As defined in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), a disabled person is someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The IoD will:
- Have processes in place to enable appropriate adjustments to be made to accommodate recognised disabilities, learning difficulties or medical conditions.
- Establish and apply consistent adjustments for specified disabilities, difficulties and conditions.
- Provide an appeals process where an individual does not believe the adjustment offered addresses their disability, learning difficulty or condition.
For more information on how and when you can apply for a reasonable adjustment, please contact the IoD Examinations team by email: examinations@iod.com