R01 Exam: Financial Services, Regulation and Ethics

What to Expect from the R01 Exam

The CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning is comprised of the R01, R02, R03, R04, R05 and R06 units. R01 to R05 are multiple choice question exams and cover different subjects within the diploma. There is very little cross over in the syllabus so most people take the exams one at a time – the order is really up to you but don’t be fooled into thinking that R01 will be an easy starter for ten!

The R01 exam can also form the basis of many of the other CII qualifications such as the Certificate in Paraplanning and Certificate in Mortgage Advice.

R01 is a level 4 exam and has 100 questions with 13 multi response questions which can be harder and more time consuming than the standard multiple choice questions.  Many candidates find the content for R01 very dry, whilst some of the content is likely to be familiar to those working in the industry, the focus is on indepth understanding of financial services regulation so working your way through the study text can be tedious!

Top Tip

Study the exam syllabus and look at the learning outcomes and how many questions are likely to be examined on each area as the questions are not spread evenly across the syllabus, for example there are 11 learning outcomes but over a quarter of the questions are from learning outcome 5 so you may wish to give extra time to studying those areas.

Subjects

The R01 syllabus covers the financial services industry in the United Kingdom, with emphasis on the retail customer, the ‘regulatory’ framework and the powers and responsibilities of the Financial Conduct Authority and it’s Code of Ethics.

Exam Components

The R01 Exam is worth 20 CII credits at Diploma level. It is an online exam and candidates log onto the system with their allocated pass number to answer the questions. It must be completed within 2 hours and the nominal pass mark is 65%. Before the exam starts, a short tutorial is available, which demonstrates the required procedure. Upon completion candidates receive an immediate notification of their result. A formal letter confirming the result is then sent within seven working days.

Costs

Costs for sitting the R01 exam can be found on the CII website, and a reduced rate is available for members of The Chartered Insurance Institute.

Preparation

Mock exam questions are considered by most exam candidates to be crucial to their success in the R01 exam. Brand Financial Training offers 3 mock papers as well as study notes, audio masterclasses and E learning.. Click below to see more information.

https://brandft.co.uk/cii-r01-ro1-financial-services-regulation-and-ethics/

Information in this article is correct as at November 2020