The CII AF5 exam: Should you take it last?
A common question individuals ask around working towards Chartered with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is: “Which AF unit should I start with, especially since the CII recommends completing three Advanced units before AF5?”
Lewis Prosser, Head of Professional Development at SJP provides some key insights into AF5. “Having supported St. James’s Place (SJP) in growing their Chartered Adviser population to over 1,190, my experience in professional development consultancy has shown that the AF5 Financial Planning exam doesn’t have to be your final Advanced Diploma hurdle. In fact, it’s highly effective – and successful – as the first unit for many individuals, especially those who have recently completed the Regulated Diploma and the R06 Financial Planning Practice exam.
Why? AF5 shares many similarities with R06: both are case study-based exams that require specific exam techniques. These parallels make it an approachable, practical, and relevant choice for new advisers or paraplanners transitioning into the advice world.”
Why consider AF5 early?
- Highly successful: AF5 is one of the most consistently passed Advanced exams (excluding coursework), with SJP’s February results showing an 82% success rate. Of those individuals, circa 75%, took AF5 as their first Advanced unit.
- Efficient preparation: Most of the work can be completed in four to five weeks, with intensive study focused in the two weeks leading up to the exam, once the case study/fact-find is released.
- Practical relevance: AF5 delves into vital aspects of the advice journey and client-adviser relationship, offering invaluable insights for new advisers.
Supported success
At SJP, we’re fortunate to have Redmill Advance as our trusted training partner. Their comprehensive support extends across R0 training in the SJP Financial Adviser Academy and preparation for CII Level 6 AF exams, ensuring candidates are set up for success.
Here is an insight from Redmill Advance into their AF5 exam support.
When first looking at AF5, the breadth of the syllabus at level 6 can seem quite overwhelming.
You may feel that you must have all the technical knowledge from all of the level 6 papers to be able to attempt this exam. However, AF5 does not have the depth of the individual technical units at level 6. Rather, the focus is on technique and good financial planning practice. It is that that makes this exam a nice follow-on point from R06.
In addition to this, a glance at recent AF5 past papers reveals that the format of the exam is fairly predictable. What we mean here is that, although the case study will be unique, it is likely that the themes and the format of the questions on your paper are similar to those that have previously been tested in this unit. That makes exposure to past papers early in your AF5 study very important.
This activity is also usually quite comforting for delegates as it reveals the level of technical knowledge expected.
The most challenging part of AF5 study for the majority of delegates is understanding expected responses to questions – this is where we spend the majority of time in our revision courses: ensuring the delegates are familiar with the language of the exam and how this translates into the examiner’s marking scheme.
Mercifully, the AF5 study period is normally shorter for delegates when compared to the duration required for the technical units. We recommend that an individual starts looking at past papers four to five weeks away from their exam and then focuses in on the specific case study/fact-find once it is released by the CII. This is approximately two weeks before the exam.
The revision sessions that we offer at Redmill Advance are split into two single day workshops: the first helps you to understand the ‘rules of the game’ and, at the end, we will set you some work to do prior to the second session, which will focus on your particular case study. In between those two sessions we will issue you with a comprehensive analysis document based on your case study which includes technical guidance.
This is a tried-and-trusted approach which sees us get the vast majority of delegates through this examination at their first attempt.
In addition to the formalised support, delegates can contact us at any time through their studies via a dedicated support inbox.
What’s next after AF5?
Those who pass AF5 often find moving on to AF8 – Retirement Income Planning coursework particularly beneficial. Like AF5, AF8 is built around a fact-find, offering a natural progression.
To sum up, AF5 is a versatile, well supported and insightful exam that can be taken at any point in your journey toward Chartered Financial Planner status.
Article written by:
Lewis Prosser MSc (Finance), FPFS, Chartered Financial Planner, Head of Professional Development
Jon Dodson FPFS CIPD, Technical Manager, Redmill Advance
