Damp and Timber Exams - CSTDB & CSDB Reviews

3.8 Rating 5 Reviews

About Property Care Association:

The Property Care Association is the trade association representing building specialists to promote high standards of professionalism and expertise within the sectors represented through training, exams, qualifications and other support services.

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Phone:

0844 375 4301

Email:

pca@property-care.org

Location:

11 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park,
11 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park
Cambridgeshire
PE29 6FY

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Posted 1 year ago

“Obviously exams are not meant to be easy but the pca's professionalism and friendliness certainly helped me through.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“An excellent course full of vital information for the damp specialist. The staff are fantastic and very helpful at all times”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I attended to carry out the damp part of the qualification after passing the H&S Legal part back in Feb 2022. I found it tough, but was slightly confident that I had submitted relevant answers to a lot of the questions. Results were received and I was totally shocked to find that I had failed all 3 parts of the exam. I spoke to Amber for clarification, and she advised that it'll be looked into and feedback provided. At this moment in time, I won't be reattending to retake the exam.”

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Posted 1 year ago

Hi Adrian…firstly, thank you for your feedback. Sorry to hear you did not pass the exams. Achieving the CSTDB,CSDB or CSSW qualification is not an easy task. In terms of feedback, we will look into this and get back to you shortly. We are happy to offer support and guidance to help you in passing the exams in the future should you wish to re-sit your exams. If you want to chat to us about it again, please do give us a call on 01480 400000. In the meantime, I will follow up on your feedback Kind regards, PCA Team

Posted 1 year ago

“The tests were all far too long for the allotted time, both exams were 3 hours long and the health and safety exam was again, 3 hours long and compulsory. These were impossible to complete fully in the given time to a good and detailed standard, I failed my first exam by 2% and on my second exam I ran out of time and was unable to answer the last 8 or so questions at all, and came out with a fail. I did however pass the health and safety exam and had done no revision for this at all. I would suggest that the tests are broken down into shorter tests to allow the people taking them time to relax for 10 minutes or have a drink/comfort break between sections A and B. The questions in the exams were also in my opinion too difficult and placed far too much emphasis on the Latin names for insects and mold rather than actually fixing the issue, (by the way, almost all of the molds and insect infestations have the same treatment so being able to give the Latin name of a fungus seems a moot point if you are about to poison the timber anyway to kill it off, or remove it and replace it entirely - that is the answer for 80% of the exam in one sentence by the way), I am aware that you have a standard to uphold but the actual tests were far too difficult, (look at your re-sit figures, I bet they are a rather high percentage) and this feels like a cash grab - just my opinion. After the written exams there were practical exams where you had to identify all the different woodworms and molds that you may find in UK homes and give the Latin names and the common names of each and correctly identify each type. This seems pointless to me as the treatment for virtually all of these is the same, if it is bad cut it off and remove it, (burn it if you can) or treat it with wood treatment if it can be salvaged, or reinforce with more timber if you can. That is genuinely the answer to the 3 hour exam without all the additional wordplay. I am submitting this as anonymous as I may have to actually go back for the qualification and do not want the ass ache of putting my name on it.”

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Posted 2 years ago