Turn your workbooks into your formal Level 4 qualification
Passing your final assessment is how you earn your government-recognised Level 4 qualification — and it's built from the real work you're already doing. This tool explains what the assessment involves, gives you the templates to capture your evidence, and helps you track which KSBs you've covered so you can spot any gaps early.
What the Assessment Outcomes (AOs) are
An Assessment Outcome is simply a group of KSBs — the Knowledge and Skill statements from the standard, bundled into six themes. The full details, and exactly which KSBs sit in each outcome can be found in the official ST1512 standard.
All six will be assessed. Behaviours aren't grouped into an outcome; you demonstrate those throughout.
So wherever you see "AO" in this tool, it is basically a group of KSBs with the following breakdown:
- AO1 — Strategic and Ethical Adoption of AI Automation.
- AO2 — Solution Design and Development.
- AO3 — Testing, Evaluation and Iteration.
- AO4 — Governance, Assurance and Ongoing Risk Management.
- AO5 — Stakeholder Engagement and Workforce Enablement.
- AO6 — Continuous Improvement and Change Delivery.
The KSB Tracker in this tool lists all 58, grouped by project report, and the Flexible Assessment.
How you get your Level 4 qualification
During the programme
The Project Report
~2,500 words
A written account of a real AI or automation solution you've designed, built and tested at work. You'll already have done the work — this writes it up and shows the value it created.
Graded on how you design, build and test your 8-week project (AO2 & AO3)
At your final checkpoint
Your Flexible Assessment
You choose one way to show the rest of your skills:
- Portfolio — evidence gathered as you go
- Professional discussion — a conversation you lead
- Presentation — present your work
- Q&A — answer the assessor's questions
Graded on your wider skills and knowledge:
- Ethical AI adoption
- AI governance and risk management
- Stakeholder engagement and workforce enablement
- Change management
(AO1, AO4, AO5 & AO6)
There are four Flexible Assessment methods — Portfolio, Professional Discussion, Presentation, and Q&A Session — and this tool covers all four, with a guide and a template for each.
Choosing your Flexible Assessment
A hint: if you've completed your workbooks thoroughly, in continuous prose, a Portfolio is likely your best route. If you've mostly used them to jot ideas down, think critically about whether there's enough there for an assessor — you might pick one of the oral options (Professional Discussion or Q&A), or tighten your workbooks up first.
How it's graded
Between them, the two components above cover all six Assessment Outcomes.
- Every outcome must be passed. Each of the six AOs is graded Fail, Pass or Distinction — you need at least a Pass in all six.
- Every KSB is in scope. Each outcome is graded against two sets of criteria — one covering its ★ KSBs and one covering the others — and you need to meet the pass descriptors in both. The rest aren't optional: the unstarred KSBs are graded too, so aim to evidence every KSB, not just some of them.
- Mandatory KSBs (★) must be assessed in every version of the assessment that is made available. That's a fact about how the assessment is designed, not a choice you or your assessor make. The rest can still come up, so the ★ isn't a shortlist to revise from — it's just the part that's guaranteed.
- Some criteria aren't KSBs at all. Four outcomes are also graded on a broader dimension with no KSB attached: how you use information and reach decisions (AO3), how you apply regulatory and procedural requirements (AO4), how clearly you communicate and collaborate (AO5), and how much responsibility and autonomy you show (AO6). Ticking off every KSB doesn't cover these — they're about how you work, not what you've covered.
- You can reuse your work. The same underlying project can evidence both your Project Report and your Flexible Assessment — you don't need to create separate examples.
The Assessment Methods Guide
Get to know the Assessment Methods Guide (ST1512 v2.1, assessed by Progress Minded) — it sets out the grading criteria, KSBs, and what each assessment format needs.
Progress Minded is our independent assessment organisation — the government-registered body whose assessment this Guide describes. AiCore teaches and prepares you; Progress Minded is who actually assesses and grades you. That independence is why your evidence has to stand on its own: the person marking it has not seen you at work.
Spend 30 minutes reading this, then add it to your off-the-job (OTJ) tracker.
A few conditions that apply whichever route you take
- The live sessions are recorded. The Professional Discussion, Presentation and Q&A Session are all video recorded, and both you and your assessor have to stay visible on camera throughout.
- You'll declare that the work is yours. Whatever you submit, you confirm it's your own work, completed in line with the assessment requirements. Your employer may be asked to confirm this too.
- Anonymise anything sensitive. You'll be writing about real systems and real people. Where workplace information is confidential, commercially sensitive or personal, anonymise it — that's expected, and it won't count against your evidence.
Additional Information
How a Distinction is awarded
Each outcome is graded Fail, Pass or Distinction. For a Pass, you need to meet every pass descriptor in that outcome's grading criteria. For a Distinction, you need to meet every pass descriptor and every distinction descriptor.
The difference between the two is consistently about depth rather than volume. Where a pass asks you to apply knowledge or provide evidence, a distinction asks you to evaluate options, justify your choices, anticipate risks and show the impact your work had. So the route to a Distinction isn't more evidence — it's explaining your reasoning and its consequences in the evidence you already have.
If you need a reasonable adjustment
If you have a disability, health condition or additional need that could affect your assessment, support is available. Reasonable adjustments are designed to remove unnecessary barriers without changing the competence being assessed — so asking for one never makes your assessment easier to pass or less credible.
Raise it with your instructor or consultant as early as you can, ideally well before you approach assessment, and bring any supporting information you have. Arrangements have to be considered and put in place before the assessment happens, so early conversations matter more than detailed ones.
If you disagree with a decision
If you believe an assessment decision is wrong, or that the assessment process wasn't followed correctly, you have the right to appeal. If you're unhappy with any other aspect of the service you receive — from AiCore, Progress Minded or your employer — you can raise a complaint.
Start by speaking to your instructor or consultant; most concerns are resolved quickly through a conversation. If that doesn't resolve it, both routes are set out formally in Progress Minded's policies, linked below.
Using AI in your assessment
You're training as an AI practitioner, so this deserves stating plainly: AI tools must be used appropriately and in line with the guidance you're given. Your assessment evidence has to be your own work.
Using AI as part of the solution you build is the point of the apprenticeship. Using AI to write your Project Report, or to generate answers you then present as your own reasoning, is a different thing — that's the work being assessed, and passing it off as yours is malpractice. If you're unsure where a particular use falls, ask before you do it rather than after.
Appeals, complaints, malpractice and reasonable adjustments are all covered in full in Progress Minded's policies.