CII Exam Combinations to Consider

For those of you starting to plan your exam journey for 2024, you’ll be pleased to hear the CII have released the exam dates for all their written exams. We use the word ‘written’ in its modern sense as, post-COVID, all these exams, except AF4, are actually written online rather than with pen and paper. The CII refers to them as ‘written’ to distinguish them from their multiple-choice exams. The multiple-choice exams can be taken at any time throughout the year. Now we’ve cleared that up, in this article, we thought we’d give you some food for thought about some of the exams you may want to consider sitting close together as you plan your route towards the Advanced Diploma in 2024.

This article is correct as at 14 November 2023.

There is significant overlap in technical content in some of the CII exams. If taken close together, it can reduce the need to study the content twice. Here are some combinations to consider:

Taxation and Trusts – AF1 and J02

It’s definitely worth considering taking these two exams together. The technical content for AF1 is from R03 and J02. Both AF1 and J02 test the technical knowledge around trusts and/or the taxation of the different trusts. The sittings in 2024 are 20th Feb (AF1), 12th March (J02), 10th Sept (AF1), and 19th Sept (J02). So, enough time to get some bespoke revision in before each of the exams but close enough to retain the technical knowledge. Knowledge gained from studying AF1 is useful also for AF4 and certainly for AF5; hence, AF1 is often the first AF exam students take. So, if you are just starting out on your route to chartered, the spring exams could be a good option here.

Investment Exams – AF4, J10, and J12

Many students choose to sit J10 close to AF4 as it does have significant overlap and is a good grounding for the AF exam. All the CII investment exams will cover asset classes, investment advice, portfolio construction, investment ratios and analysis, and investment performance and reviews.

J12 is the newest of the investment exams, and in this syllabus, you will see more specialist areas of investment tested – for example, depositary receipts in the equities section, and much more detail on warrants and foreign exchange. The dealing, settlement, and clearing chapters are of course only relevant to the J12 module.

J10 and J12 are multiple choice, so you can choose the date to fit around AF4 which has sittings on the 7th of March and 1st October.

Pension Exams AF7 and J05

The pension transfer exam AF7 will require detailed knowledge of pension income options/decumulation and death benefits. Again, there is some cross-over with J05 but perhaps not as much as some of the combinations above. The 2024 sittings are 29th Feb (J05) and 5th March (AF7). The September sittings are only two days apart (AF7 on 24th and J05 on 26th) so the spring exams may be the better option here.

AF5 and R06

This combination is more contentious! Whilst we generally advise candidates to take AF5 as one of their last exams, there is a case to be heard for taking R06 and AF5 close together. Both exams pull on all areas of technical knowledge e.g., trusts, pensions etc. Both these exams require a similar approach to exam technique and some questions will be very similar e.g., the review question, and the fact-finding question.

However, R06 tests the practical applications of the R0 exams whilst AF5 can call on knowledge from other level 4 exams and level 6 exams such as AF1, 4 and 7. AF5 also requires a deeper dive into the clients’ financial situation therefore, with more industry experience, candidates may find some of the questions more relatable and hence easier to interpret and answer.

The other issue to consider is that there are only two AF5 exams in 2024 so if you did want to combine them, you would be looking at R06 on the 23rd of January and AF5 on the 13th of Feb, so you’ll need to get your skates on! There are the later autumn sittings, the AF5 exam is on the 17th of September, whilst the R06 exam is on the 3rd of October however we definitely would not recommend taking AF5 before R06. There are two other R06 sittings in April and July.

We hope that’s given you some food for thought. It’s always worth mapping out your exam journey as it can end up saving you a lot of time and effort!