PWC Tax Higher Apprenticeship Assessment Centre HELP!

I have made it through to the PWC Tax Higher Apprenticeship Assessment Centre in London and would just want some more information about the following please:

1. What to expect.
2. Difference in working in London to anywhere else in the UK
3. Pay
4. If you are or have currently worked in PWC what are your views
5. Tax or Audit, and how easy is it to switch between the two

Thank you, all feedback will be much appreciated

Firstly well done for getting through to AC! you'll do intray, group exercise and numerical and verbal reasoning tests. The intray exercise is really tough so practice a lot for that - this is the part I messed up and didn't get through, if you pass the Assessment Centre then you've basically got the job, the final stage is an interview with a partner. The pay is much more in London than anywhere else, I think around 22K which is excellent for someone without a degree. Not sure how easy it is to switch between the two but I'll say Tax because it more interesting than Audit.
Good Luck!

Hey thanks for the response, lol thought no-one was going to then!

And i've been doing some research about the assessment day and the only thing i'm worried about is the group assessment and intray. I hear in the intray if you do not complete the report automatic fail!

how do I prepare for this, information about it seems limited.

How you communicate with others
How you work with others
Your ability to work towards a collective end goal
How you deal with change as a situation progresses
When reviewing the information provided, think about which key facts are critical and therefore the ones you need to communicate to your group/your individual assessor.
To what extent have you considered the strengths and weaknesses of your argument? How would you solve any issues that may arise with your position
Consider your pitch and tone when speaking; can others hear you clearly? Are you articulating your points succinctly? Are you bringing others round to your way of thinking?
You may have some group members who are more dominant and those who are more intermittent with their contributions during the exercise; think about how you might manage this during the exercise. What could you do to make sure everyone’s opinions are heard and valued?

No problem! yh haha only saw this thread today so wanted to share my experience and tips for the AC.
If you fail any of the tests its an automatic fail to be honest.
The group exercise was the best part of the day! I kept thinking i'm not going to do well on it but it went really well, you have to read your unique info and try to persuade your team to choose your method and then you have an urgent email from a manager who now wants to spend less money on the project- say there's less cost and it will have an immediate effect on society etc but ofc if you like/don't like other people in your group's method then you have to give your reasons why. At the end you have to all reach a conclusion and say why you want to go for that choice. The discussion we had was about how a company could be more sustainable and which methods would benefit the company remember to work out any calculations accurately - or you will be marked down, also get other people to speak if they are quite, keep an eye out for time and say e.g. we now have 4 minutes to reach a conclusion if no one else says it.. also maintain eye contact with the person talking, nod you head etc.

For Group assessment they are assessing your ability to:



I don't know if your intray will be exactly the same as the one I did (i applied for tax as well and did the AC in London), if i remember correctly for the first section of the intray exercise you have about 8 emails - quickly jot down the main points and then write if its important or not - you get around 20 minutes to read all the emails and then answer multiple choice questions
The second section is the written exercise, basiclaly we had to write an email persuading some lady to attend an event because the guy who was initially called over fell ill or something so couldn't make it. They test you on your language structure and content. Use appropriate structure for email, introduction and conclusion, subheadings, bullet points and all the main points about the event and why you want her to be a speaker.

For written exercise:

Remember they aren't looking for a perfect result on the intray they just want to see potential. To assess how you hande pressure, manage time workload and how you prioritise what is important and what isn't.

For numerical you have a 20 mark (it was definitely 20) test and for verbal a 30 mark (I think). Make sure you don't lose above 5 marks on each, they only mark those questions you've answered don't worry if you left some out..

This link has really good info on how to do well on each tests and what PwC are looking for in each to pass the AC: http://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/student/doccentre/assessment-day-feedback.jhtml I know this is for those who failed the AC but still lol it should be somewhere on the school leaver page - its really helpful!

Links to help you with intray, numerical and verbal reasoning:
http://freeexampapers.com/#Online Tests/SHL
http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/assessment-centres/275463-what-are-in-tray-exercises
timed tests:
http://www.shldirect.com/en
http://www.psl.com/practice/
http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/


I hope this helps.

Wow I couldn't of asked for a better reply!!

This is honestly everything I could of asked for, thanks so much buddy, my assessment day is on Monday, so i'll be sure to let you know how i've done

Wow I couldn't of asked for a better reply!!

This is honestly everything I could of asked for, thanks so much buddy, my assessment day is on Monday, so i'll be sure to let you know how i've done

Hi, How did you find it?

Overwhelming!

So glad you gave me an insight of what to expect... Its just a waiting game now, should find out by the end of this week... fingers crossed!!

Thanks again for the help tho

Overwhelming!

So glad you gave me an insight of what to expect... Its just a waiting game now, should find out by the end of this week... fingers crossed!!

can any of you tell me what the apprenticeship actually involves? like on a day to day basis? will you have to go to college to get your qualifications?

I think some days you go college others you get on the job training not too sure- there's many qualifications you could get for example for tax you could get ATT and a diploma (Level 4 qualifications) after the two years, the work also depends on what department you work in e.g. for tax you might need to attend meetings, involved in technical research, providing tax advice etc. more info here:
http://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/schools/careers/what-are-apprenticeships.jhtml

http://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/schools/careers/tax.jhtml

you could also work in either assurance, consulting, deals or public services.

yeah, thanks for the reply. i've applied for tax in manchester.

No problem, Good Luck!

Mighty Frog, how did you find writing the email? They failed me because of details. I didn't know what information we suppose to add. Can you help?

Hi! I will pm you in a bit.

Hi! I will pm you in a bit.

I am still waiting for your message