Our Post-Exam Review of the July 2025 CII R06 Exam
Our Post-Exam Review of the July 2025 CII R06 Exam
The exam guide from the July sitting of R06 has been released by the CII, prompting us to see how we did in predicting the questions and model answers in our pre-exam analysis.
This article is correct as at 19 August 2025.
You can access the exam guide here.*
Case Study 1
Case Study 1 introduced us to Adam and Lauren.
Their financial aims were to:
- ensure they have sufficient income in retirement;
- improve the tax-efficiency of their current financial arrangements;
- ensure as much of their estate as possible is passed to their children on second death.
| Question | Our Analysis |
|---|---|
| State the additional information that a financial adviser would require to enable them to recommend a suitable retirement income strategy for Adam and Lauren. | As usual the exam started with a fact-finding question focusing on information needed to advise the clients on retirement income. We had provided full model answers for this question in our analysis. We therefore hope candidates who used our analysis were able to secure the full 15 marks on offer. |
| Explain to Adam the key factors that he should take into consideration, before deciding whether he should accept the guaranteed annuity rate offered by his former employer’s pension scheme. | When something as specific as a Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR) is mentioned in the case study, it’s highly likely to be examined. In this paper, the questions focused on the factors to consider when assessing the GAR. We had provided model answers outlining the benefits and drawbacks of using the GAR, which could have been easily adapted to suit the exact question asked in the exam. |
| Explain to Adam and Lauren how a Discounted Gift Trust (DGT) operates and explain why a DGT might be suitable for them once they have retired. | The clients had stated that they wish to consider trusts and there was a requirement for income so this strongly pointed towards the use of a DGT. We had therefore covered DGTs in detail and full model answers were provided. |
| Identify the actions that Lauren could take to improve her retirement savings whilst she remains employed for the next two years. | We had covered the actions that Adam and Lauren could take to ensure they have sufficient income in retirement. The answers provided could be used/adapted to focus on Lauren alone allowing candidates to confidently answer this question in full. |
| Explain to Adam and Lauren why retaining their current cash balances could result in them failing to meet their longer-term objectives. | Our analysis had covered a question around the reasons why they should invest some of their current cash holding into other asset classes this covered all the relevant model answers. |
| Recommend and justify a range of actions that Adam and Lauren could take to improve the tax-efficiency of their current financial arrangements. | When ‘improving the tax efficiency of their financial arrangements’ is one of the clients aim we know from experience a ‘recommend and justify a range of actions to improve tax-efficiency’ question is never far behind. We had therefore anticipated this exact question in our analysis. |
Case Study 2
Onto case study two where we met Sanjeev and Kamini.
Their financial aims were to:
- ensure they have adequate protection in place to meet their family’s needs;
- assess the suitability of their existing savings and investments;
- put in place a suitable investment strategy for their new funds.
| Question | Our Analysis |
|---|---|
| Explain in detail the key reasons why Sanjeev and Kamini’s current investment holdings may be unsuitable in meeting their future financial needs. | Investment strategy was clearly an area of concern for Sanjeev and Kamini. We had therefore considered in depth, within our analysis, the reasons why their current holdings may not be suitable. We paid particular attention to the UK Corporate Bond and Asia Pacific funds as did the CII model answers. |
| Outline the key benefits for Sanjeev and Kamini of making regular overpayments to their current mortgage. | This was another subject that was highly likely to be examined. We had looked at the issues of using some of the inheritance to pay of the mortgage and the benefits of making overpayments. These model answer could have been used to answer this questions in full. |
| Recommend and justify a suitable low-cost protection policy that would provide Sanjeev with an ongoing income for the family in the event of him suffering a long-term illness. | Our analysis included model answers for a ‘recommend and justify’ question for an affordable long-term income protection policy. The key points were therefore covered in our model answers such as recommending the longest deferred period and reviewable premiums. |
| Explain in detail to Sanjeev and Kamini the key differences between a family income benefit policy and a level term life assurance policy. | This was a bit of a curveball question; however, we had provided significant detail of FIB policies and level term policies. We hope candidates were able to adapt the answers to demonstrate how a lump sum compared to a regular income could meet the family’s needs. |
| Explain to Sanjeev and Kamini the benefits of diversification and why it is important to consider this when setting up a new investment portfolio. | As their investment strategy was an area of concern for them, and the CII love a question on diversification, we had covered the benefits of Sanjeev and Kamini diversifying their portfolio. |
| Outline to Sanjeev and Kamini the key limitations of using cashflow modelling to assess their future financial needs. | We had clearly signposted in our analysis that we felt cashflow analysis was likely to be tested for this case study. The clients had potentially unknown income levels due to future maternity leave and decisions on mortgage repayment. Our analysis had therefore included a lot of information on cashflow models including a full list of their limitations. |
| Identify eight key issues that should be discussed with Sanjeev and Kamini at their next annual review. | The exam finished with the usual question of identifying issues for discussion at the next annual review. We had, as always, anticipated this question on this case study and full model answers were provided. |
Chartered Insurance Institute (2025). R06 – Financial planning practice: July 2025 Examination Guide. Retrieved from www.cii.co.uk.
Exam Overview Summary
Overall, this paper was very generous. All the expected question types appeared, and in the formats we typically anticipate. For example:
- A fact-finding question focused on identifying the client’s key aim (Case Study 1)
- A ‘recommend and justify’ question for a protection product
- A question on the actions to improve tax efficiency when this was a stated aim.
- An annual review question (Case Study 2)
As expected, a question on fund suitability was included, and more technical areas such as Discounted Gift Trusts (DGTs) and Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs) were also tested – both of which were clearly signposted in the case studies.
Well done to everyone who passed and for those who didn’t, we hope this paper provides valuable learning, as it contained all the typical elements of an R06 exam.
Grab the resources you need!
If you’re studying for your CII R06 exam, and you’re wanting to feel more confident on exam day, grab our free taster analysis to try out one of Brand Financial Training’s resources for yourself. Click the link to download the R06 case study analysis taster now!
* The CII has updated their retention policy and now only provides the last two exam papers. Older papers referenced in this article may no longer be available on the CII website.
