Sitting a CII Exam, Home and Away
When I first started my diploma in financial planning through the CII, I sat my exams both remotely and in a test centre, and I thought it would be useful to share my experience on both of them.
I sat my first exam, R05, remotely from the comfort of my own home. When I logged in to my exam, I was provided with a remote invigilator (who watches you through your camera). Before you even start your exam, you have to complete a number of checks with the invigilator. There are standard things such as checking your identity with a driving licence or passport etc and then you have to prove that you aren’t cheating (important part of remote exam sitting!) this means a full 360 degree scan of your room through your camera, showing your desk space and under your desk space and holding up a mirror to the camera to show that you don’t have anything on your computer that you could be using to cheat. This process can take up to 20 minutes, and after the long wait to get started, the added stress of this process isn’t the best way to kick off an exam sitting.
During the exam, the invigilator is watching you the whole time, to make sure you aren’t trying to cheat. They do watch you closely and if you look away from screen, put your hand on your face and/ or read the question out loud, the invigilator will give you a warning and if you continue to do any of these natural things, your exam could be ended by the invigilator right there and then.
This is based on my experience and there are definitely benefits to sitting exams remotely:
- Not having to travel to an exam centre
- Sitting the exam from the comfort of your own home
- and the ability to sit the exam at any time of the day is definitely a big plus.
Having sat my first exam at home, I decided to sit my next exam from a test centre. When you get to the test centre, it is a group sitting and there are a number of computers to accommodate this, although each individual can be sitting a different exam. There is an invigilator who monitors all individuals throughout their exam to make sure that nothing untoward is going on.
At the test centre the invigilator signs you in, provides you with a computer and off you go. There is no faff with having to show your desk space and you can act as you naturally would during the sitting (except talking out loud as that would be distracting to others).
The one caveat to sitting the exam in the test centre is the fact that you have to travel. This isn’t always easy for everyone. As the test centre for me was in Glasgow city centre, driving really wasn’t an option due to location and time of day, so I used public transport to get there. Luckily the test centre was 5 minutes from the train station, but I appreciate this isn’t always the case.
Overall, there are pros and cons to sitting the exam remotely and from a test centre and at the end of the day, it is entirely based on your preference as to which avenue you go down to sit the exam.
I hope you find this useful and wish you the best of luck in your exams. If you have any questions or would like information on how we can help you in your qualification journey – please get in touch here https://redmilladvance.com/contact-us/
Jack Morris, Redmill Advance.
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