ICF Coach Competencies and Code of Ethics Study Tool

You’ve completed your coach training and you are ready to start working on your ICF credential! Bravo, you! Applying for an ICF credential and studying for the Coach Knowledge Assessment, can be a daunting task. ICF Coach Competencies, ICF Code of Ethics, oh my! Who wouldn’t want some kind of ICF study tool?

I know. I remember feeling absolutely swamped! There seemed to be so much to learn and I had no clue how to tackle it. I wasn’t sure how to study the ICF Coach Competencies and ICF Code of Ethics material in a way that would help. Even though I’d been a university lecturer and prepared exams for students, I hadn’t written an exam in years! Confession: I was petrified.

Sound familiar? Maybe you’ve been hesitating to get moving on coach credentialing because you don’t quite know where to start. Maybe you’ve even been feeling a hint of test anxiety too. You are not alone. When I created the ICF Competency Quick Quiz, I discovered that a lot of coaches could not easily recall the fundamentals of the competencies.

In fact, out of 2,616 coaches who have completed the ICF Competency Quick Quiz to date, only 45% were able to correctly answer the question “Which categories form the basis of the ICF Coach Core Competencies?”

So, I’ve been working for several years now on designing various tools to help coaches learn and integrate the ICF Coach Competencies into their coaching and lots of coaches have used and loved them.

But, I was still searching for an easy way for coaches to study the ICF Coach Core Competencies and ICF Code of Ethics.

Then, I remembered that when my daughter (a die-hard flashcard user) was studying for her nursing finals, she used online flashcards and could study anyplace, anytime using her smartphone.

Turns out, she was using a free online study tool called Quizlet. It made a million or so anatomy terms a lot more manageable.

I got to thinking…what if I used the same tool to help coaches to work on their recall and understanding of the competencies and ethics?

What if Quizlet could even help them get started preparing for the ICF Coach Knowledge Assessment (CKA)?

Even though the CKA is a situational judgment test (coaching situations presented with multiple-choice options), it’s important to start by having a solid understanding of the core content.

So, I built a set of study cards on the Quizlet platform!

I tested them myself and sent them out to a bunch of my coaching colleagues to pilot test. I added cards for the updated ICF Coach Core Competencies and Code of Ethics that will be integrated into coach learning and assessment in 2021. There is also a set for the PCC markers for coaches who are in my Group Mentor Coaching sessions to use. The feedback has been very positive.

Here’s what coaches who’ve used the study tool have said:

Thanks so much for this tool! It has helped me so much!! I passed my CKA yesterday! So excited to be an ACC officially! Your questions really helped me understand the way they pose the questions and answers on the test. Simona Radencich, CHRL, CEC, ACC

I passed!!! I am so elated!!? The Quizlet was absolutely pivotal for studying.? Thank you for everything Cathy!! Abbie Grafstein, MSW

Now that I’ve completed the pilot, I am sharing the Quizlet tool with other coaches who are preparing for ICF credentials. You are welcome to give them a try!