Current CII Exams Pass Rates – as at April 2021
The current CII exams pass rates have now been published. Here, we look at a selection of CII qualifications and their exam pass rates. Those who are planning to sit CII exams in the near future will want to know how past exam candidates have fared.
The CII now publishes current pass rates for their exams on their website although it is not clear how often these are being updated.
We have done our best to collate the pass rates for you, and the pass rates discussed in this article are those as showing in April 2021.
Looking at the Diploma in Financial Planning first, current figures show pass rates range from 50% to 90%. J10 (discretionary investment management) always has an impressive pass rate and still holds the top 90% position. J09 is the paraplanning coursework module and this had a pass rate of 48% in 2018 which jumped to an impressive 79% in 2020 only dropping back slightly to 76.8% in 2020. J02 (trusts) has also seen a big jump from 49% to 67% with J03 (tax and legal aspects of business) dropping again from 52% back to its 2017 rate of 50%. J05 though (pension income options) has increased again from 79% in 2019 to 88%.
The figures in red show where the pass rate has dropped from 2019 figures. You can see this only applies to just two of the J0 units.
J0 Exams
| Unit | Annual Pass Rate 2017 | Annual Pass Rate 2018 | Annual Pass Rate 2019 | Annual Pass Rate 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J02 | 50.95% | 52.23% | 49% | 67% |
| J03 | 50.00% | 59.09% | 52% | 50% |
| J05 | 69.33% | 69.58% | 79% | 88% |
| J07 | 48.51% | 53.26% | 44% | 76% |
| J09 | 48.00% | 79% | 76.8% | |
| J10 | 86.24% | 85.94% | 88% | 90% |
| J11 | 46.94% | 50.00% | 54% | N/A |
| J12 | 73.98% | 74.73% | 74% | 78 |
R0 Exams
For the R0 units, we now see increased pass rates for all units except R07. It’s particularly encouraging to see R03 (personal taxation), an exam that students have tended to struggle with, continue to show improved figures.
| Unit | Annual Pass Rate 2017 | Annual Pass Rate 2018 | Annual Pass Rate 2019 | Annual Pass Rate 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R01 | 64.46% | 63.77% | 64% | 69% |
| R02 | 62.79% | 59.99% | 60% | 64% |
| R03 | 48.71% | 52.55% | 56% | 65% |
| R04 | 55.04% | 57.89% | 58% | 61% |
| R05 | 78.26% | 76.35% | 78% | 79% |
| R06 | 73.4% | 77.69% | 67% | 78% |
| R07 | 74.26% | 78.32% | 77% | 76% |
AF Exams
With the advanced financial planning subjects, we can see an impressive rise in the AF2 (business planning) pass rate and the AF5 (financial planning process) pass rate. AF4 (investment planning) has also crept up slightly with AF6 and AF7 pretty much the same.
AF8 (retirement income planning) is a coursework module and figures have dropped slightly from 2019 from 76% to 71.5% although it’s not clear if this is first time or after further attempts at the assignments.
| Unit | Annual Pass Rate 2017 | Annual Pass Rate 2018 | Annual Pass Rate 2019 | Annual Pass Rate 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AF1 | 49.10% | 55.58% | 49% | 49% |
| AF2 | 48.28% | 51.66% | 40% | 59% |
| AF4 | 48.96% | 47.86% | 49% | 55% |
| AF5 | 64.60% | 58.00% | 57% | 72% |
| AF6 | n/a | 60.00% | 99% | 98.8% |
| AF7 | 43.74% | 44.23% | 43% | 43% |
| AF8 | 76% | 71.5% |
In summary, the J0 exams and the R0 exams show good levels of increase in pass rates. It’s interesting to see that AF7 has taken over as the advanced financial planning exam with the lowest pass rate but this is the pensions transfer paper and marking is, quite rightly, stringent.
Both coursework modules have impressive results showing that this type of assessment may suit students more than the traditional method of examination.
