A Scrutiny of the April 2017 CII AF2 Exam Paper
Last updated on September 25th, 2019 at 4:30 am
It’s now the turn of CII AF2 the Business Financial Planning module and the scrutiny of this April’s exam paper. This review of the questions set last time around will be useful to AF2 candidates in focusing their exam revision.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the link:
http://www.cii.co.uk/media/7495529/af2_april_2017_qp.pdf
Question 1
The first question was, as is usually the case, an interesting scenario made up this time, of 3 shareholding directors in a firm with 15 employees. The questions were on a wide variety of topics, with the first one on calculations of different ratios – namely operating profit margin, current ratio and quick ratio. These have been tested in the past, but for those who hoped the formulas might be given, this question would have been a disappointment. The questions continued with:
- SSAS funding;
- wrongful trading;
- voluntary liquidation and administration process,
- pensions and bankruptcy
- and areas of employment law
Those candidates who had put in place a programme of study that covered the whole of J03 should have been happy enough.
Question 2
The next question covered the well-trodden path of shareholder protection and key person. AF2 students know this will be tested, and so there should be no excuses for not getting the fundamental facts right.
With the #CII #AF2 exam, it’s all about the application of the knowledge. Share on X
Question 3
The final question introduced us to 2 employees planning on starting their own business. Questions involved self-employed tax and the best year end to choose; business structures and contract terms. Again, well prepared students, using J03 to study from, should have had all these areas pretty much covered.
All in all it seemed to us like a fair paper.
Historically, the pass rates for AF2 have been low; see the table below to see what they’ve been since 2012. We wait with bated breath to see how 2016 pans out…
As we have reported before, the CII have said that J03 (The Tax and Legal Aspects of Business) is the only manual you need to study for this exam. Although it is one of the chunkier manuals, most other AF units rely on at least two manuals. As with all of the AF exams, it’s all about the application of the knowledge – so remember to study past exam guides and read the examiner’s comments, as these are so useful to pick up where candidates went wrong and they provide tips for you to stay on track.
Comparing to the October 2016 Exam Paper
There was little or no overlap on the knowledge tested with the previous exam sitting – here is the link if you haven’t seen it:
http://www.cii.co.uk/media/7162797/af2_october_2016_qp.pdf
It is vital, therefore, that you look at a few of the past papers as well as the last one. By doing this, you will get a very good feel for the type of questions that come up, where candidates have not answered well and the ability to study model answers in preparation.
Best Tip for AF2 Revision
The best tip of all when studying for AF2, is to plan a study schedule incorporating the 15 chapters from J03. Stick to this plan and by the time the exam comes, you will have all the necessary knowledge you need to apply it to the advanced exam.
Grab the resources you need!
If you’re studying for your CII AF2 exam, and you’re wanting to feel confident on exam day, you’ll need to practise applying the knowledge. Grab our free taster to try out one of Brand Financial Training’s resources for yourself. Click the link to download the AF2 calculation workbook taster now!
Over to You…
If you’re planning on sitting AF2 in the near future, which areas do you think will pose the greatest challenge for you?