Every apprenticeship programme concludes with an End Point Assessment, often called the EPA. The idea of a final assessment can often be a little nerve wracking, but if you know what to expect, the whole thing becomes a lot more enjoyable!
In this blog, we’ll take you through the EPA process for the Level 3 Digital Marketer apprenticeship, covering each element of the End Point Assessment and sharing key tips that can help you approach your EPA with confidence.
What Does a Digital Marketing EPA Involve?
As a Level 3 Digital Marketer, your EPA will be assessed on four different elements – but the good news is that by the time you’re EPA ready, you’ll already have two of these sorted!
The Digital Marketer EPA includes:
- A Summative Portfolio
- An Employer Reference
- A Synoptic Project (don’t worry we’ll explain this later)
- an Interview
What is a Summative Portfolio?
On a Digital Marketing programme, your summative portfolio is just a fancy term for the collection of Workplace Projects that you completed as part of your apprenticeship programme. These are sometimes called Assessment Plans.
Each Workplace Project has been designed to showcase the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviours listed in the Apprenticeship Standard. By the time you’re ready for EPA, you’ll already have a top-notch portfolio.
During EPA, this is used by an independent assessor to match your skills to the apprenticeship requirements. You can also talk about the examples in your portfolio during the interview stage.
How to Prepare Your Digital Marketing Portfolio
As your portfolio is built up throughout your digital marketing apprenticeship, you don’t need to do anything special with it for the EPA.
However, it can be valuable to read over your portfolio before your interview date and remind yourself about all the amazing things you’ve learned during your apprenticeship.
This way, everything will be at the forefront of your mind if you’re asked about a project or want to use any examples to back up a point.
Employer Reference for EPA
As part of your portfolio, the assessors will want to see a statement from your employer. This is a great opportunity for your manager to share your skills and explain the impact you’ve made on the team and wider business.
The Employer Reference is another element of the EPA that’s already in the bag before things get started.
If you’re a Baltic apprentice, your Digital Marketing Coach will take care of the reference for you, working with your employer to make sure it hits all the top notes your assessor will be looking for. This is usually arranged before your final review session, all ready for you to read over, experience a warm and fuzzy feeling, then sign off.
What is a Synoptic Project?
The Synoptic Project is one of the main parts of your digital marketing EPA. For your Level 3 apprenticeship, you’ll schedule a week away from your usual work to complete a project based on real-life marketing activities.
With the Digital Marketer Synoptic Project, you’ll be given a choice of bespoke brands, each with a different scenario to work on. You’ll then have a full working week to complete and submit the project.
How to Prepare for a Digital Marketer Synoptic Project
The Synoptic project is a great opportunity to demonstrate your abilities away from your day-to-day routine.
Although you’ll be working on a fictional company during the project, you can pick the project option that lines up best with the skills you’ve developed in your job.
“The best way to prepare for the Synoptic Project is to start thinking about what skills you’ll need in advance,” says Digital Marketer Zoe Crossman, who recently passed her apprenticeship with a Distinction.
“You get your choices a few weeks in advance, so you can pick the one you feel most confident with. I do a lot of social media in my job, so I chose a project where social media was the main focus.”
Before you start your EPA, your Coach will provide a list of options, with short summaries so that you can make your decision. The full project brief arrives at the start of your project week. This means that you won’t know everything about the project before you begin, but you’ll know enough to help you feel ready.
“From the project summary I knew a bit about what sector the brand was working in, so I could do a bit of research to see what other organisations in that field were doing on their socials,” said Zoe. “This definitely got me thinking of some ideas, saved me time, and helped me feel more prepared going into the project itself.”
What is the EPA Interview?
On a Level 3 Digital Marketer programme, you should get a date for your interview shortly after your Synoptic Project Week.
If you’re an apprentice with us, your interview will take place remotely. You’ll join a video call, where the independent assessor will ask you questions related to your portfolio, your job role, and your Synoptic Project.
The interviewer isn’t there to catch you out or give you a grilling – they ask questions designed to draw out your knowledge, skills and behaviours so that they can demonstrate that you’ve met the Apprenticeship Standard.
The interview is your opportunity to talk about everything you’ve achieved so far and share your knowledge. It might sound a bit strange, but lots of learners report back that they really enjoyed the interview!
How to Prepare for Your Digital Marketing EPA Interview?
Before you reach EPA, your Coach will run a support session and practice interview to help you get started on your preparation.
The best way to prepare for your EPA interview is to familiarise yourself with the key skills and competencies listed in the Apprenticeship Standard.
You can then map some examples to each one, so that you have your talking points ready to go. You can use your portfolio for inspiration, but it can also be helpful to think of other examples from your job so you can show how you apply these skills every day.
A useful tip for answering interview questions is to practice the STAR method. This is a great framework for structuring your answers. For each question, you can think about the following:
- S – Situation: What was the context?
- T – Task: What did you have to do?
- A – Action: How did you do it?
- R – Result: What was the outcome?
If you’re nervous about the interview, practice can definitely help! Ask a friend or colleague to come up with some questions and have another practice session.
Read More: How to Become a Confident Communicator
Next Steps:
We hope this article has been useful and that you feel more confident going into your digital marketing EPA. Knowing what to expect can make the whole process seem easier.
If you have any further questions about your End Point Assessment, your Baltic Marketing Coach will happily support you and help you feel ready to thrive at EPA.