I’ve spent years helping coaches build sustainable businesses. That’s what people know me for, so when I released an ACC exam prep tool, more than one person asked what I was doing.
It’s a fair question, so here’s the answer.
Since I started The Coaching Revolution more than eight years ago, I have been hearing the same story from coaches who’d completed 60+ hours of training and logged 100+ client hours. These were good coaches doing solid work, and they weren’t taking their ACC exam. Not because they couldn’t, but because they were afraid. There’s a lot of ‘noise’ around about the ACC exam and all of it is based around fear.
Some of the coaches I spoke to never did complete the credential, which is just mad. You’ve done the work and met the requirements, but you’re stuck because exam anxiety is real and the available study materials are not up enough.
Current ACC Exam Prep Materials
Most exam prep is a PDF containing a static list of questions. You read through it once, maybe twice, and then what? Some are one-time quizzes where you answer the questions, get a score, and that’s it. There’s no repetition and no way to test yourself again with fresh material.
They’re also expensive. I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on these PDFs, and even the good ones (and plenty aren’t) give you a single pass through the material. That’s not how learning works.
How Memory Works
Effective revision isn’t about rereading notes. It rests on five principles that reflect how human memory actually operates.
Active recall forces you to retrieve information rather than recognise it, and every time you pull something from memory, that neural pathway strengthens. Spaced repetition means revisiting material at increasing intervals so you interrupt forgetting just as it starts, which keeps the memory trace alive. Interleaving mixes topics rather than drilling one area repeatedly, forcing your brain to discriminate between ideas so retention improves.
Elaboration happens when you connect new information to what you already know, and the detailed explanations for each answer option help you build those connections. Metacognition is monitoring what you actually know versus what feels familiar, and the tool supports this by giving you honest feedback on every answer rather than letting you convince yourself you understand something when you don’t.
Real learning happens when you engage with material at the edges of your comfort and revisit it until retrieval is automatic.
What Our Tool Does Differently
The tool gives you three options, each serving a different purpose in your preparation.
The Revision Tool serves endless questions covering all eight core competencies and the code of ethics in random order. Each question has four multiple-choice answers, and when you submit your choice you get immediate feedback. If you’re wrong, it explains why. It explains every option so you understand the distinctions between competent answers and excellent ones. You can use this mode repeatedly, and questions recur over time to embed the learning through spaced repetition.
The Timed Practice Test replicates exam conditions. The real ACC exam gives you 90 minutes for 60 questions, and our practice test gives you 15 questions with a countdown timer – 90 seconds per question – just like the real thing. You don’t get instant feedback here. At the end, you see your score, your percentage, and whether you’d have passed (the pass mark is 76%). Then you review all 15 questions with explanations for each of the multiple choice answer options. After all, if you have the answer wrong, it’s important to know why you are wrong
The Harder Revision mode contains PCC-level questions that are more complex. They still ask you to choose the best option (not the best and worst as the PCC exam does) but the scenarios are more complex.
What It Costs And Why
It’s £10 per month (+VAT). You subscribe when you need it and use it as much as you want – on your laptop, on your phone, in a waiting room, on a train. When you’re done and you’ve passed your exam, you cancel your subscription.
Testers told me it had “driving theory test vibes”, meaning they’d used similar tools to prepare for that exam and found them effective – I used that same principle here.
If the ICF updates the core competencies or code of ethics, the tool updates in real time so it doesn’t go out of date.
What Happens When Coaches Use It
Every tester who used the tool passed their ACC exam, but more importantly their confidence increased significantly. One tester had four weeks before their exam whilst others used it for months because their exam anxiety was high. The subscription model exists precisely because coaches need different amounts of practice.
The fear is real. Many coaches haven’t taken an exam in years and have no way to experience what the test feels like. PDFs don’t replicate that and neither do finite quizzes. This tool lets you practice until you feel ready, with questions similar to those you’ll face in the exam.
Why This Matters To The Coaching Profession
Both sides of our coaching businesses matter – the delivery skills side (our coaching credentials etc) and the ‘creating the opportunity to do the delivery’ side. Excellent coaches shouldn’t abandon their credential because the available exam prep is inadequate.
The Coaching Revolution exists to support coaches in building sustainable businesses, and that includes completing the professional development you’ve already earned. I’m currently building a PCC tool for the same reason.
You’ve done the training and logged the hours. Now pass the exam.
The ACC Prep Tool is available here. Subscribe when you’re ready and cancel when you’ve passed your exam.
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