Hot Topic – CII R06 – Post Exam Analysis of our Analysis
Having spoken to one of the team in Brand Financial Training who sat the R06 exam this time round, I was pleased to hear that our R06 case study analysis hit the spot.
Case Study 1
We predicted that there would be a fact finding question on the couple’s retirement aims and we were right. We also correctly predicted that there would be a ‘recommend and justify’ question on IP. We also covered the pros and cons of setting up as a limited company and this was asked on exam day too (4 drawbacks, 4 benefits). We provided the full calculation for the CGT on one of the couple’s rented house, covering periods of residency and the letting exemption – and this came up and was worth a good number of marks. The Child Benefit Tax Charge also came up and although there was no calculation required, delegates had the information to answer the question which was ‘explain what would happen’.
Case Study 2
On the day delegates had to show the calculation for capped phased drawdown; they had to answer a question on lasting powers of attorney; ask the clients relevant questions about their state pension; also why it made sense for the husband to make the gift for IHT purposes rather than the wife who was terminally ill – all of these areas were covered in our analysis and would have given good marks.
The review question was asked in Case study 2 but not Case Study 1 – the question was ‘what would you discuss at a review meeting with the clients?’ and it was worth 10 marks! This is a massive amount of marks for a question where many are generic answers and apply to most clients – economic changes, tax changes, attitude to risk changes etc. Most delegates should have got at least 7 out of 10 and many would have given 10 good answers I’m sure.
There is always going to be a curve ball question and this time round it was a question on the use of a discretionary fund manager. A difficult question to predict! Most IFAs however would have picked up some of the marks; it was a pros and cons type question which general knowledge would have enabled most to give a reasonable answer even if it hadn’t been specifically revised.
All in all I am pleased to say that our R06 analysis was well received and helped our customers to prepare well for their exam. Now we just have to wait a month for the results…