Posted by The Team at Brand Financial Training on November 9, 2021 in Newsletter
9 November 2021
Congratulations to all of you who passed your R06 exam after what we understand was a tense morning for all when the CII website crashed just as results were due out. It’s good to hear for most of you it was worth the wait.
For those of you who will be taking this exam in 2022, we have some exciting news. We will be introducing online training support for the R06 (and AF5) 2022 exams.
After years of experience of writing analyses and working with R06 and AF5 candidates, we know one of the biggest challenges of these exams is how to interpret the questions and how to answer the questions the CII way. Our new online support session (for customers who purchase our analysis) will talk candidates through the case studies (or fact-find for AF5) looking at the relevant technical areas, how questions may be asked around these areas, and how to answer the questions to maximise marks. This will also give you the opportunity to ask questions directly to our lead analysis author.
It is also clear from speaking to many candidates over the years that they wished they had spent more revision time on exam technique especially for R06 where, for most candidates, this is their first CII written exam. So, we will also be running a pre-exam pointers webinar. This will be open to all candidates (not just those who have purchased our analysis) and here, the focus will be on exam technique so again looking at the types of questions and studying the model answers. We will also include help on how to approach revision both before and after the case study (or fact-find) is released and looking at how you can gain those quick-win marks.
Best Wishes,
The Team at Brand Financial Training
Featured Article
2022 CII Exams: Mapping the Route Ahead
With the release of next year’s written CII exam dates, now is a good time to think of how different units can contain overlapping content and how this might affect when units are taken.
As the CII state on their website, it is assumed that candidates already have the knowledge gained from a study of Personal Taxation (R03) and Trusts (J02) as well as elements of Financial Protection (R05) or equivalent before sitting the AF1 exam.
AF1 also has its own case study workbook entitled: AF1 Personal tax and trust planning. This is very useful for acquiring the additional technical content that the diploma level units might not cover in enough depth.
With the units in the Advanced Diploma testing application of knowledge, it is crucial that candidates use the case study workbook and/or past exam guides to ensure they practise in full in preparation for the exam. The key to passing any AF exam is in the preparation and understanding that knowledge must be applied to the case study.
AF1 is often the first exam students take after the Diploma. This is a good idea as the knowledge gained from studying AF1 is also useful for AF4 and certainly for AF5.
There will always be calculations within the AF1 exam, and these are tested at a much higher level than is possible within the R03 exam. Practising how to set these out is crucial; candidates must show all their workings out and here is where marks can easily be picked up. Even if the final answer is incorrect, marks will be awarded for demonstrating the correct process.
Investments – AF4/R02/J10/J12
AF4 has cross-over with R02 and in particular J10. Many students choose to sit J10 just before tackling AF4 as so much of what is learned will be useful grounding for the AF exam.
All of these investment exams cover asset classes, investment advice, portfolio construction, investment ratios and analysis, as well as investment performance and reviews.
Within the J12 syllabus, more specialist areas of investment are tested – for example, depositary receipts in the equities section, much more detail on warrants and foreign exchange. The dealing, settlement, and clearing chapters are of course only relevant to the J12 module, but much of the rest of the syllabus is covered elsewhere, so if you have already completed R02 and J10, then J12 might be a natural progression.
Calculations are also tested within the AF4 exam and the same applies here as it does with AF1; ensuring that you show all your workings out so marks can be awarded for process.
Negative Thinking: One of the Biggest Revision Mistakes
In this article, we share a story about a time when a person’s negative thinking was setting him on a path of certain failure. What he didn’t realise is that he needed to acknowledge that his revision strategy wasn’t serving him and that he needed to find out what a successful revision strategy looks like and do that instead.
Written by Lysette Offley
A while back, I delivered a study skills presentation within a particular company, that had several employees taking exams. I delivered the presentation twice, in the morning to one group and in the afternoon to a second group.
Evidence that the Techniques Work
There was one member of the audience in the first group who was there out of curiosity and to support his staff. Let’s call him John. He didn’t need to worry about study skills for himself, as he’d already passed his exams. As the presentation unfolded, he got more and more excited, interjecting occasionally with, “I did that!” and “that’s what I did” etc.
It turned out that John already had a great revision strategy that worked well for him, hence already having passed his exams.
Each time he declared that he had used one of the techniques I mentioned in my presentation, I of course replied, “There you are then! There’s the proof that these techniques work!”
A very interesting thing happened in the presentation to the afternoon group.
Resigned to Failure
There was one member of the audience who seemed very down and despondent, and he wasn’t really paying a great deal of attention to the presentation. He was listening all right, but you could see that it didn’t appear to mean anything to him. Let’s call him, Rob. I decided to speak to him privately afterwards, because I had been told that this guy still had many exams to do and that not passing them soon would mean that he would lose his job.
Very quickly, in our conversation it was obvious how resigned he had become to failing his exams – after all, he had taken the same exam over and over and failed it each time. Naturally enough he supposed that if he couldn’t pass this first exam, he had no chance of passing the others either, especially in the limited time that he had left.
I acknowledged that while he had a big challenge in front of him, I would help him, and that he still had time to pass the requisite exams before the deadline. I have helped so many, many people, pass exams simply by having a good revision strategy, that I felt sure I could also help him.
However, it became clear in the conversation that Rob had already made up his mind that he just simply wasn’t going to succeed.
And do you know his reason for believing that? He referred to John in the first group!
But not from my perspective which was, if John could do it, let’s find out what John did, what strategy he used, and do the same thing in order to get the same results.
Available for AF1, AF4, AF5, J02, J05, J10, R01, R02, R04, R05, R06
..."Your study [revision] notes were invaluable… I would advise everybody who is due to sit these to use the study notes and the mock exams as these will give you a terrific insight into how the exams work. Good luck."...
Brian Lynn, Partner, Brian Lynn Financial Services
Passing your CII exam can seem like a struggle, especially when there is so much content to learn. Our revision notes are for when you are further into your studies and are ready for a more condensed version of the study text so you can spend time revising what needs to be revised and get focused on what is needed.
Use them with the other resources in our study kits and you’ll be well prepared for your exam.
Why not try before you buy? Download one of our free tasters:
..."The Brand training material certainly helps you to focus on the key information required and get straight to the salient facts. Having to read all of RO4 and JO5 was daunting but by using the notes as a guide it helped me to condense a lot of this information quickly."...
Mandy Saunders, Verifier
How to Pass Guides for R06 and AF5
Need some help with AF5 or R06 revision?
AF5 and R06 are very different from the other CII exams, and often candidates get fooled into thinking they can wait until after release of the case studies or fact-find to start their studies. But, make no mistake, these are difficult exams and the unprepared candidate will usually get found out.
To help you with your revision, we will shortly be launching our ‘How to Pass’ guides. These are free guides available to all our customers. They includes tips on exam technique, help with understanding the different styles of questions and guidance on how to revise pre- and post-case study/fact-find release.
2022 CII Exam Dates
2022 exam dates are now out! Full details are available on the CII website.
Updates to CII Study Texts
Here’s a reminder that the CII update their study texts throughout the examinable year to either incorporate new legislations, correct errors or clarify information. Many candidates aren’t aware of this, which can result in candidates studying out-of-date information.
To find out if you have the most up-to-date information, visit the CII website, navigate to your chosen exam and click on ‘learning solutions update’ in the ‘Unit updates’ section in the sidebar.
Note that we keep our resources up-to-date with any updates from the CII.
Did You Miss These Posts on Our Blog?
Articles and Help for All Your Exams
You’ll find that there’s something for everyone when you check out our blog:
specific topics and how-to articles;
reviews of recent CII exam papers;
our Friday Five – a weekly quiz to give you a fun break from reading the study text;
study techniques that help you to retain your revision and keep your brain working for you, when you need it
Here are the blog posts you might have missed since our last newsletter:
There’s such a variety of information on offer to help you as you tackle your CII exams, that you won’t want to miss a single post. We’ve made it easy for you; just click the button below and enter your email details. Be ‘in the know’ with CII-exam-related tips and info – straight to your inbox!
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Gail Devers
Friday 5 Focus on...
"5 Questions in 5 Minutes Every Friday"
Each week, we ask questions relating to one of these topics: Investments, Taxation, Pensions, Protection, or Regulation. The challenge is for you to answer them in 5 minutes.
Where do I find the Friday Five?
We post each week’s Friday Five to our blog first thing every Friday. You can either visit our blog every Friday at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ or you can simply go there now, and click on the subscribe button in the top right-hand corner of the blog and sign up to receive notifications of our Friday Five posts.
Note that we don’t email the Friday Five out to everybody every Friday, so we recommend you sign up to our blog at https://brandft.co.uk/blog/ so that you receive an email notification when it is posted. It will only take you a minute to sign up.
A bit of Friday Fun, but with the added benefit of testing your exam knowledge!
