TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[small dreamer]

Hey - did anyone else receive an email from CC on thursday regarding an August newletter for future trainers and offer holders - I am not a future trainee or an offer holder

 

[bristol rovers]

How did people find the Penningtons first stage interview?

 

[LandLaw629]

How did people find the Penningtons first stage interview?

Hey. Which office did you apply for? I still haven’t heard anything but assume it’s a PFO.

 

[bristol rovers]

Hey. Which office did you apply for? I still haven’t heard anything but assume it’s a PFO.

London

 

[lhmb26]

I can’t believe it, but after 4 cycles I have finally got a TC, and it quite literally dropped in my lap.

June I got to final stage direct TC for a firm and was CERTAIN I got it. Only to find out 3 weeks later I was unsuccessful. I was so disappointed, I wholeheartedly believed I finally did it. But, I took another rejection on the chin and pretty much wrote off this cycle. I assumed this was over for 2025/26. I stopped submitting further applications and mentally prepared to brush myself off and start my 5th cycle later in the year, and do it all over again…

Then I get an interview invite in my inbox from a firm I forgot I applied to. I didn’t put 100% into the interview, because I had mentally accepted that this cycle was over. To no surprise to me, I received a reply saying I was unsuccessful, but had been put on the reserve list for the final-stage AC. I put it to the back of my mind and didn’t think about it at all. I had never made it off a reserve list before, so why was this time any different? The day before the AC the firm called and said someone dropped out and asked if I wanted to take the place. I quickly booked the day off of work and had 8 hours to prepare. I was so close to not going because I thought, what’s the point if everyone else has had weeks to prepare and I’ve had half a day. I thought maybe I should just save the train fare and energy and not go.

I ended up going to the AC with no real expectation of anything coming from it. I approached it with a completely different mindset than I ever have. I put no emotional weight on getting a place. When I left I didn’t agonise over all of my answers trying to tally up points on how I may have scored.

I have since recieved a TC offer from the firm. From reserve list to TC, I just couldn’t believe it. Out of all the final stages I’ve poured weeks and weeks of preparation into, the one time it all worked out was when it was dropped in my lap last minute with no preparation!

This was not the way I expected to end this slog, but I am soooo over the moon. I just wanted to share this so people know there is hope, even when you think there is none left! Your TC offer is probably much closer than you think, don’t give up!

 

[summersun]

I can’t believe it, but after 4 cycles I have finally got a TC, and it quite literally dropped in my lap.

June I got to final stage direct TC for a firm and was CERTAIN I got it. Only to find out 3 weeks later I was unsuccessful. I was so disappointed, I wholeheartedly believed I finally did it. But, I took another rejection on the chin and pretty much wrote off this cycle. I assumed this was over for 2025/26. I stopped submitting further applications and mentally prepared to brush myself off and start my 5th cycle later in the year, and do it all over again…

Then I get an interview invite in my inbox from a firm I forgot I applied to. I didn’t put 100% into the interview, because I had mentally accepted that this cycle was over. To no surprise to me, I received a reply saying I was unsuccessful, but had been put on the reserve list for the final-stage AC. I put it to the back of my mind and didn’t think about it at all. I had never made it off a reserve list before, so why was this time any different? The day before the AC the firm called and said someone dropped out and asked if I wanted to take the place. I quickly booked the day off of work and had 8 hours to prepare. I was so close to not going because I thought, what’s the point if everyone else has had weeks to prepare and I’ve had half a day. I thought maybe I should just save the train fare and energy and not go.

I ended up going to the AC with no real expectation of anything coming from it. I approached it with a completely different mindset than I ever have. I put no emotional weight on getting a place. When I left I didn’t agonise over all of my answers trying to tally up points on how I may have scored.

I have since recieved a TC offer from the firm. From reserve list to TC, I just couldn’t believe it. Out of all the final stages I’ve poured weeks and weeks of preparation into, the one time it all worked out was when it was dropped in my lap last minute with no preparation!

This was not the way I expected to end this slog, but I am soooo over the moon. I just wanted to share this so people know there is hope, even when you think there is none left! Your TC offer is probably much closer than you think, don’t give up!

Congratulations !!!!

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

I can’t believe it, but after 4 cycles I have finally got a TC, and it quite literally dropped in my lap.

June I got to final stage direct TC for a firm and was CERTAIN I got it. Only to find out 3 weeks later I was unsuccessful. I was so disappointed, I wholeheartedly believed I finally did it. But, I took another rejection on the chin and pretty much wrote off this cycle. I assumed this was over for 2025/26. I stopped submitting further applications and mentally prepared to brush myself off and start my 5th cycle later in the year, and do it all over again…

Then I get an interview invite in my inbox from a firm I forgot I applied to. I didn’t put 100% into the interview, because I had mentally accepted that this cycle was over. To no surprise to me, I received a reply saying I was unsuccessful, but had been put on the reserve list for the final-stage AC. I put it to the back of my mind and didn’t think about it at all. I had never made it off a reserve list before, so why was this time any different? The day before the AC the firm called and said someone dropped out and asked if I wanted to take the place. I quickly booked the day off of work and had 8 hours to prepare. I was so close to not going because I thought, what’s the point if everyone else has had weeks to prepare and I’ve had half a day. I thought maybe I should just save the train fare and energy and not go.

I ended up going to the AC with no real expectation of anything coming from it. I approached it with a completely different mindset than I ever have. I put no emotional weight on getting a place. When I left I didn’t agonise over all of my answers trying to tally up points on how I may have scored.

I have since recieved a TC offer from the firm. From reserve list to TC, I just couldn’t believe it. Out of all the final stages I’ve poured weeks and weeks of preparation into, the one time it all worked out was when it was dropped in my lap last minute with no preparation!

This was not the way I expected to end this slog, but I am soooo over the moon. I just wanted to share this so people know there is hope, even when you think there is none left! Your TC offer is probably much closer than you think, don’t give up!

Huge congratulations, that is an amazing achievement!! I was in a super similar situation when I received my TC, and it ended up being the firm I hadn't expected to succeed with - it just goes to show you never know when you'll get that one "yes"! We would love to have you in our future trainee group, if you'd be interested in joining!

I hope you take some time to celebrate!

 

[trainee4u]

Did anyone else get their GLD feedback today? I got mine - there's one clear 4 ('adequate') , while the rest of the scores look a bit better, but overall it's clearly not overwhelmingly superior such that I'd be confident of coming in the top 65

 

[Gwarne]

I got mine today. It was better than I expected, particularly for the written part which I found quite challenging in the time we had, but I couldn't begin to guess scores etc. Do you think they use standard wording?
I hate the waiting!

 

[trainee4u]

I got mine today. It was better than I expected, particularly for the written part which I found quite challenging in the time we had, but I couldn't begin to guess scores etc. Do you think they use standard wording?
I hate the waiting!

the scoring is pretty easy to guess from the rubric

1. Not Demonstrated - No positive evidence and/or substantial negative evidence demonstrated
2. Minimal Demonstration - Limited positive evidence and/or mainly negative evidence demonstrated
3. Moderate Demonstration - Moderate positive evidence but some negative evidence demonstrated.
   Look for the word sometimes
4. Acceptable Demonstration - Adequate positive evidence and any negative evidence would not cause concern.
   Look for the words/phrases acceptable, adequate, reasonable, quite well, suitable number, quite a few, majority
5. Good Demonstration - Substantial positive evidence of the competency or behaviour.
   Look for the words good, often, well, clear, clearly, promptly, detailed
6. Strong Demonstration - Substantial positive evidence; includes some evidence of exceeding expectations at this level
   vast majority, very, significantly, fully, strong, many, regularly
7. Outstanding Demonstration - The evidence provided wholly exceeds expectation at this level
   I didn't see any of these!

When there is no quantifying word, it's likely a 4. E.g., "they indicated " = 4, vs. "they often indicated" = 5.

The final feedback sentences are standardised with only the adjectives/adverbs changing to indicate scores 1-7.

So e.g.,

"They recognised quite a few patterns and trends in the information presented." = 4
"They recognised a good number of patterns and trends in the information presented." = 5
"They recognised many patterns and trends in the information presented." = 6

Given that there are six behaviours, but four or more sentences for each behaviour, where each sentence has a clear score, say 4,5,5,5, then you could give that an overall score of 5.

However.... There are two problems with that approach - a score of, say, 5,5,5,5 is clearly stronger than 4,4,5,5, but if you allocate both a score of 5 overall for that behaviour by taking the mean to the nearest whole number, it seems a little unfair/imprecise.

In addition, if you only allocate integer scores, you're going to probably end up with a bunch of candidates tied on 28 or 29 or whatever, whereas if you treat 5,5,5,5 as 5.0 and 4,4,5,5 as 4.5, then tied scores would be much fewer.

So my guess is they use the mean of all sentences (interview & written) for each behaviour and add them up and rank them.

 

[Kakaboo]

Hello, has anyone done the Macfarlanes online assessment? Any tips?

 

[1136PX0]

Still nothing from Paul Hastings?

 

[Gwarne]

the scoring is pretty easy to guess from the rubric

1. Not Demonstrated - No positive evidence and/or substantial negative evidence demonstrated
2. Minimal Demonstration - Limited positive evidence and/or mainly negative evidence demonstrated
3. Moderate Demonstration - Moderate positive evidence but some negative evidence demonstrated.
   Look for the word sometimes
4. Acceptable Demonstration - Adequate positive evidence and any negative evidence would not cause concern.
   Look for the words/phrases acceptable, adequate, reasonable, quite well, suitable number, quite a few, majority
5. Good Demonstration - Substantial positive evidence of the competency or behaviour.
   Look for the words good, often, well, clear, clearly, promptly, detailed
6. Strong Demonstration - Substantial positive evidence; includes some evidence of exceeding expectations at this level
   vast majority, very, significantly, fully, strong, many, regularly
7. Outstanding Demonstration - The evidence provided wholly exceeds expectation at this level
   I didn't see any of these!

When there is no quantifying word, it's likely a 4. E.g., "they indicated " = 4, vs. "they often indicated" = 5.

The final feedback sentences are standardised with only the adjectives/adverbs changing to indicate scores 1-7.

So e.g.,

"They recognised quite a few patterns and trends in the information presented." = 4
"They recognised a good number of patterns and trends in the information presented." = 5
"They recognised many patterns and trends in the information presented." = 6

Given that there are six behaviours, but four or more sentences for each behaviour, where each sentence has a clear score, say 4,5,5,5, then you could give that an overall score of 5.

However.... There are two problems with that approach - a score of, say, 5,5,5,5 is clearly stronger than 4,4,5,5, but if you allocate both a score of 5 overall for that behaviour by taking the mean to the nearest whole number, it seems a little unfair/imprecise.

In addition, if you only allocate integer scores, you're going to probably end up with a bunch of candidates tied on 28 or 29 or whatever, whereas if you treat 5,5,5,5 as 5.0 and 4,4,5,5 as 4.5, then tied scores would be much fewer.

So my guess is they use the mean of all sentences (interview & written) for each behaviour and add them up and rank them.

Thank you. This is really helpful. Wishing you the best of luck. What did you select as your preference?