CII R06 and AF5 Exams – April 2014

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Wondering what to study for the upcoming CII R06 and AF4 exams? We’ve included some initial thoughts below about what might be examined given the pre-exam material provided.

Are you sitting either of the above exams next week?   If so, you will of have received the case studies and fact find and busy planning for the exam.  Here at Brand Financial Training we’ve worked hard on producing case study analysis for R06 and fact find analysis for AF5 to help get you through both exams.  As part of the analysis, we also offer email support for any last minute queries.

You can find out all about that at http://www.brandft.co.uk/drfp/r06casestudy.asp  and http://www.brandft.co.uk/advdf/af5analysis.asp

In the meantime, here are some initial thoughts.

R06 –as usual there is a lot to case study 1 and a lot of preparation will be needed to be fully prepared for every possible angle.  One thing that does stand out is the mention of standard deviation; the measure of the volatility of a share price – which is a first as far as we can remember.  Research might be needed here to ensure you can explain this should you need to – R02 will of course help if you have it.   There’s also the scope for some calculations – pension contributions perhaps or income tax considering Tim has a P11D benefit plus he’s contracted into a DC scheme.  We have 12 pages of analysis just on case study 1 to help you prepare as much as you possibly can.

Case Study 2 covers some old ground and as before focuses on an older couple where retirement and IHT are the main issues.  You’ll need to be prepared with the detail for all options available to George for his PP funds.  Recommending ways to mitigate an IHT liability is a firm favourite so have that answer ready up your sleeve too.

AF5 – there are no great surprises here.  This time we have an unmarried couple – with no wills – where one has children from a previous marriage.  So we need to expect the usual protection issues – intestacy, a property held as tenants in common and not enough life cover.  But also the fact find throws up funding for university, business protection and pensions and a CGT liability.

AF5 is fairly formulaic with the ‘fact finding’ question for immediate and long term objectives; often a ‘recommend and justify’ question and usually a calculation as well as a ‘comment on’ the protection or retirement objective.

For both exams you should expect  the ‘review’ and the ‘risk’ questions – these two have come up in the majority of past exams and there’s no excuse for not getting near maximum marks.

The key to a successful pass in both is of course preparation; you need to be confident that you have considered, researched and prepared every possible scenario that all sets of client present.  There might be a curve ball question that no one can predict but it should only be a worth a few marks.

For our full analysis of April R06 case studies and AF5 fact find and information on our email support please go to:

http://www.brandft.co.uk/drfp/r06casestudy.asp
http://www.brandft.co.uk/advdf/af5analysis.asp

In the meantime, good luck to all those taking exams next week.