I'm a Certified Coach! Top Tips for other coaches writing the new International Coaching Federation (ICF) Exam

Associate Certified Coach Crediential

One of my summer goals was to get ICF certified to open up more corporate coaching opportunites and to join a trusted coaching accreditation organization. Mission accomplished! 🎉 After a quirky trip to a testing center with 90s computers and salt lamps (weird, ICF), I passed and got my new letters. Staying true to my values of community and growth, I’m sharing my ICF exam tips while they’re fresh. CTI prepared me well, and a few days of studying helped with the format.

My Top ICF Exam Takeaways

• Language in the exam is important when looking for “best” and “worst”

• Apparently most native English speakers only take 1.5 hours for the test but you have 3. Answer all the questions in 2 minutes or less and flag any that have you stumped.  But Answer! I didn’t change much when I went back but it's good to reflect

• Take at least some of the 10 minute break to stretch and reset your brain. 

• Overall, the further you are from the client and where they are, the worse the answer.

• There are methods and practice involved in picking best and worst, you need to study

• Get in your coaching mindset and just flow! You need 75% to pass but I found the test questions prepare you well and they are no easier than the actual exam

Starting Your Study

Here are the steps I’d take to start your study off on the right foot:

• Familiarize yourself with ICF’s Credentialing Exam parameters

• Read ICF’s page on the Credentialing Exam content. You’ll notice that the exam covers all the competencies fairly evenly (12 or 13% for each competency). Don’t review the 8 sample questions at the bottom of the page yet because you can’t read the options without seeing which one they marked as correct. There are options to take the pre-test out there without seeing the answers.

• Read (and re-read) the ICF Core Competencies and highlight important words. Words matter when you are making best/worst decisions

• Read (and re-read, and re-read) the ICF Code of Ethics again paying attention to language

• There are also YouTube videos if that is more your thing

Test Tips

• Not a lot of memorization is needed as it’s all scenario based.  I did memorize the competencies as from what I could tell, each question focuses on one competency and it helped to review if I was stuck.

• Remember, you are trying to find “best” and "worst” so it helps to understand the competencies  if you are stuck. 

• A general theory I heard was that each question is focused on one competency. If this is true, the two options you need to pick for each question (best and worst) are opposites of the same competency. I definitely struggled to pick the worst option sometimes, and finding the opposite of the best option seemed to be a helpful tactic.

• I also really liked going through it in the video with Awaken as it helped me understand a pattern (watched on 1.25x!)

• Try and get into the mindset of coaching- “What would be the best next step” helped me a lot.  

• Pay attention to the wording of the question. Often, WORST answers were a language thing meaning that the language contained no-nos. .Ie.  Praise, Immediately, Fail, Why questions, judgent (aka that’s Normal), suggest. This is why I liked highlighting the language used in the competencies when I first read through.  For example, coaches “champion” they don’t “praise”

Acronyms and Preparation

I did memorize the competencies and write them down when I got into the testing facility (they give you a paper and pen)

This is all I wrote from an acronyms standpoint (there are a bunch out there- but this worked for me!)

E-MATS PLAG

(I pictured my friend Matt with the plague in a computer to remember!)🤢

Foundations (Ethics)

1. Demonstrates Ethical Practice

   • Embodies a coaching Mindset

1. Co-Creating Relationships

   1. Establishes and Maintains an Agreement

   2. Cultivates Trust & Safety

2. Communicating Effectively

   1. Maintains Presence

   2. Listens Actively

1. Learning and Growth

   1. Evokes Awareness

   2. Facilitates Client Growth

The other one I saw floating around was Lyssa deHart’s acronym AACAT (yup, I picture “a cat”) This one was a simpler way to get at the basis of competencies:

ACCAT (😸)

Asking

Client Centered

Curiosity

Awareness of judgments and bias

Transparency

Overall parting words: The further you are from the client and where they are, the worse the answer.

Sending you positive vibes on test day.

✨Coach Sara ✨