CII R06: How I Approached My Study

Preparing for the CII R06 exam can feel overwhelming, particularly when it comes to knowing where to focus your time. As part of our commitment to staying closely aligned with the real exam experience, members of our technical team – including our Managing Director, Jen – sit the exams themselves. In this article, Jen shares her first-hand experience of how she approached her R06 study, from early revision through to exam day, and what helped her feel calm and confident walking into the exam.

This article is correct as at 9 April 2026.

I sat R06 in January 2026, and here is how I approached my exam prep, this time around. Whilst I am sure my process wasn’t perfect, I did manage to walk into that exam centre feeling calm and confident. There were other candidates sat around me frantically flicking through revision notes and reading their study text but I always think that on exam day it’s best not to do any more study and trust you’ve already put the work in.

When it comes to a revision plan, firstly it’s important not to leave all study until the case studies come out. It’s a common misconception that there is enough time in those two weeks but there just isn’t. That said, you probably don’t need 6-8 weeks of full-time study either. I found that fitting the key bits into small revision windows had worked well.

Pre-Case Study Revision

Your priority before the case studies are released is twofold, focusing on exam technique and revising the standard, most examined questions and their model answers.

Exam Technique

When it came to more general exam technique, personally the thing I found most helpful was studying past exam papers (and past analysis documents) to learn what a typical model answer looks like depending on the question style, I then practised structuring my answers using mnemonics where I could. This made the structure and content much easier to remember, as I could use the letter prompts to draw on my own technical knowledge to fit the client scenario in the question. In the exam, the first thing I did was write out the mnemonics using the paper provided, so I could just refer back to them once I got into the swing of typing my answers.

Something else that became evident when working through the model answers, was what the CII view as a separate or the same mark. You can see patterns in a lot of model answers. Answers that would get one mark are separated by obliques, for example ATR/CFL are almost always just one mark, not two. If you don’t realise this, you may walk out of the exam thinking you made enough points when in fact, they score the same mark.

The Most Examined Questions

R06 questions are, in the main, predictable. You are pretty much guaranteed to get a missing information question (sometimes two) and an ‘annual review’ question, and there is nearly always an advice question for a protection product and for improving tax efficiency. I set some time aside to work through each of these question types in turn over the past five exam sittings – I made sure to revise what the questions looked like and their model answers.

Case Study Analysis

Once the case studies came out, it was all systems go. I used the Brand Financial Training Case Study Analysis. This gave me all of the predicted questions and model answers based on the information in the case studies. This meant that in the exam, for 13 out of my 14 questions I felt like I had already seen and worked through them before. So in that moment, the stress was low, all I had to focus on was making sure my answers were in the correct format and that they were answering the exact question.

There was a question about Venture Capital Trusts – again something that was in the analysis and I had revised in detail, but I had focused on the disadvantages in my preparation (as I didn’t think it was suitable for the client) but the question was focused around why it was suitable, i.e. the positives. So I did feel a little underprepared there.

I used the analysis in two ways – firstly, I read through it cover to cover and made notes of the technical areas where I knew I needed to do more revision. Then, I wrote out each of the predicted questions and had a go at answering them. When I used the model answers to mark what I had written, I saw where I had missed points or if I had completely misinterpreted the question. So this was great practice for making sure I fully read and understood the question, but also to practise formatting my answers.

Visual Learning

The other thing that helped me was attending an online training course, delivered over two days. I am a very visual learner, so I found myself in my exam recalling the slide visuals and the notes the trainer made on the course. The course was run by an ex-CII examiner, so I felt confident that the training delivered was very relevant, and actually a lot of what we discussed did come up in the exam. This really helped me to prepare, and it helped me in my learning, so much so that I felt it was important to make this more widely available and made it my priority to ensure Brand Financial Training could offer this training to all customers from the April 2026 R06 exam sitting.

Exam Familiarisation Test

Another thing that I would say is key, is familiarising yourself with the online platform. It took me a few goes before I worked out how to navigate around the system. We always encourage candidates to format their answers in line with the model answers, but there aren’t any bullet points on the online system. You can use a ‘-‘, but if you do, you can’t add a space immediately after it else it removes the ‘-‘. So we suggest a new line for each point. It’s also common for us to hear that candidates didn’t know they could edit their answers. Make sure you know where the ‘edit’ button is.

The Result

I was relieved to learn I had passed my exam. Overall, I found the process to be enjoyable and because I felt so prepared, I enjoyed sitting and typing out my answers in the exam. I actually finished a long time before the timer ran out. I won’t say the exam is easy, but I think having a structured approach to exam prep really helps. As the MD of a training company, it is my objective that in providing exam support for R06, we equip candidates with the skills and technique to walk into the exam and approach their answers confidently and knowledgeably. Most candidates will already have the necessary technical knowledge from sitting R01-5 before R06, it’s about turning that knowledge into an answer in the exam that the examiner wants to see.

Next up I’ll be writing what R06 examiners tell us are the three most common reasons candidates fail their R06 exam – so stay tuned for that.

Grab the resources you need!

If you’re preparing for the CII R06 exam and want a clearer sense of what’s expected, our free R06 analysis taster gives you an insight into our approach to exam-style questions. Download it here.

This Taster Case Study Analysis PDF is provided for preview purposes only. The full analysis is delivered online via our learning platform and is not provided as a downloadable or printable PDF.