Our Post-Exam Review of the June 2026 CII R06 Exam
Our Post-Exam Review of the June 2026 CII R06 Exam
The exam guide from the June 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 18 August 2026.
You can access the exam guide here.*
Case Study 1
Case Study 1 introduced us to Daniel and Abby, a couple approaching retirement with the following financial aims:
- ensure that they will have sufficient income to meet their retirement needs;
- improve the tax efficiency of their financial arrangements;
- assist their children in meeting any future Inheritance Tax liability on second death.
| Question | Our Analysis |
|---|---|
| State the additional information that a financial adviser would require in order to advise Daniel and Abby on whether they can afford for Daniel to retire at age 65. | As expected, the exam began with a general fact-finding question covering one of their key objectives. Our analysis had provided full model answers for this question. There is no negative marking, so candidates should include as many points as possible for these fact-finding questions. Using the mnemonic provided in our analysis is a great way to ensure all the key points are covered. |
| Identify the reasons why Abby may be considered to be a vulnerable client. | Our experts had predicted a question on Abby’s vulnerability. Identifying the reasons why is something we have seen before in R06, and full model answers were provided in our analysis to this exact question. |
| Explain to Abby why she may be eligible for Carer’s Allowance and the benefits it might provide. | This was another subject that was likely to be tested given Abby has stopped work to care for her mother. We have often seen State benefit questions in this format asking for the eligibility and benefits so our analysis had covered this exact question. |
| Outline the key reasons why Abby might wish to delay purchasing a lifetime annuity for the next few years. | It was clear that buying an annuity now would have a number of drawbacks for the couple, so our analysis had considered these. We had also covered the possibility of delaying the purchase until Daniel retires. |
| Recommend and justify a suitable protection policy that Daniel and Abby should consider setting up to provide sufficient funds to enable their children to meet any future Inheritance Tax liability. | We had identified a whole of life policy as an area highly likely to be examined and had included a recommend and justify question on this product. We hope candidates were able to follow our lead in the analysis and pick up full marks by not only recommending this product but also the way it should be set up e.g. in trust with waiver of premium, etc. As with all ‘recommend and justify…’ questions, the CII are looking for a number of recommendations with a justification for each. |
| Recommend and justify a range of actions that would enable Daniel and Abby to improve the tax efficiency of their current financial arrangements in advance of Daniel’s retirement. | As tax efficiency was one of Abby and Daniel’s aims, we always suggest candidates prepare for this question and, nine times out of ten, it comes up. Hence, model answers were again provided. |
| Identify the benefits for Daniel of investing in gold-based investment funds. | Commodity funds were again mentioned as something Daniel wanted to consider, we had weighed up the benefits and drawbacks of this option. A top tip for future R06 candidates: For anything the clients are considering ensure you understand both the benefits and drawbacks! Even if you think it’s a bad idea for the client - you never know which angle the CII are going to take with their question. |
Case Study 2
Onto Case Study 2 where we met Alan and Nadira a couple in their mid-thirties with two children aged 7 and 10.
Their financial aims were to:
- ensure that sufficient financial protection is in place;
- ensure their investments meet their ethical criteria;
- set up an appropriate investment strategy to build up their savings for the future.
| Question | Our Analysis |
|---|---|
| Identify the key personal and financial information that Alan and Nadira would need to consider when determining an appropriate amount of cover to meet their protection needs. | When identifying the key information needed, you should include both the relevant information that has been provided in the case study, as well as any missing information that would be needed. Top tip for future candidates: If the question asks for the information to be considered, this should be answered in the same way as if it asked for the ‘key factors’ or ‘key issues’. Our question in the analysis asked for the factors around their protection needs – the model answers are the same! |
| Explain to Alan and Nadira the reasons why they might consider replacing their existing level term assurance policy with a more suitable policy to protect their mortgage. | In our analysis we had considered the benefits and drawbacks of replacing the level term assurance policy with a decreasing term assurance policy. Many of the model answers could have been adapted to answer this question well. |
| Recommend and justify to Alan and Nadira why making further pension contributions to their workplace pension plans might be more beneficial in the longer-term than investing further monies into their existing ISA plans. | Comparing ISAs and pensions has been examined in the past and is something we always include in the generic section of the analysis. The more focused points were included in Section 4 of the analysis and the mock paper. |
| Explain to Alan why it is important for him to maintain an up-to-date nomination on his workplace pension plan. | This question had not been included in our analysis. We hope candidates were able to draw on their own knowledge to pick up marks here. |
| Describe to Alan and Nadira how they could identify suitable funds to meet their views on ethical investments when setting up any new investment portfolio. | It is always tricky to know the exact question the CII will examine on ethical investments, so we covered a lot of the key financial planning implications in our technical note. Most of the points needed to answer this question were included, and we hope candidates were able to pull them together accordingly. |
| Explain to Alan and Nadira the key issues that they should consider when reviewing the suitability of the investments held in their pensions and ISAs. | We had considered the issues with their existing investments for the longer term and the issues that should be taken into account when determining their future investment strategy. Together, these could have been adapted to answer this question in full. |
| Identify eight key issues that a financial adviser should discuss with Alan and Nadira at their next annual review. | Most prepared candidates should have ended the exam on a high note as the usual eight-mark annual review question was asked. We hope anyone using our analysis picked up full marks here. |
Chartered Insurance Institute (2026). R06 – Financial planning practice: June 2026 Examination Guide. Retrieved from www.cii.co.uk.
Summary
This paper was broadly as expected. Case Study 1 provided a lot of specific information, making the questions easier to anticipate. In contrast, the objectives for Case Study 2 were more open and vague, making the specific questions harder to predict. This highlights the importance of understanding the subject areas and being able to adapt your knowledge and your answers to the questions asked (rather than the question you are hoping for).
Grab the resources you need!
In R06, it’s not just what you know – it’s how you apply it to the case study. Curious how we structure an R06 case study analysis? Take a look at our free taster.
* 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.
