Studying for exams - Here's some handy hints and tips

Caroline Stuart • Jun 05, 2023

Setting the Standard...

We all know we work in a highly regulated profession, requiring a set level of knowledge and understanding to be able to provide advice and recommendations to clients. Whilst there is no minimum qualification requirement to be a paraplanner, in my experience, paraplanners have set their own high standards for our profession. Most of the many paraplanners I speak to are already at or aiming for Level 4, with many looking to become level 6 or level 7 qualified and beyond.

Anyone who has studied for a financial planning qualification will know that they are not easy – and neither should they be!


We are privileged to be trusted by clients to help them look after their wealth so they can achieve their goals and plans in life, and be financially secure. To be able to provide them with the best service we can and warrant the trust they place in us, will require initial and then ongoing, lifelong learning. 

Getting started...

Whilst there are now a number of ways to take qualifications, all will need extensive preparation, and so here are some of my hints and tips for getting study ready and giving yourself the best foundation you can: 


  • My first tip and biggest tip (and might seem like the most obvious!) would always be to make sure you read the syllabus – exams and qualifications test on the syllabus not on the text book!
  • Look at the additional reading list on the syllabus and try to read more widely than just the text book. The more you read, the more you’ll know!
  •  For exams, try and practice them as much as you can – past papers are great for this and try and recreate an ‘exam environment’ as much as possible. Only give yourself the exam time allotted to get used to the time you’ll have on the day.
  •   Past papers include examiner’s notes – these give feedback from the examiners of how questions were answered, and common errors or misunderstandings from candidates including any themes to these. These are particularly useful for written exams and will make sure you’re able to learn from previous candidates’ errors so you don’t make them yourself.



  • The guide number of study hours for an exam is usually a good indicator of how long you should study for, but the key thing is to have a study plan:


                     o  Work backwards from your exam or submission date: how many hours a week do you need to study to be                               ready?

                     o  Build yourself a timetable: Look at the syllabus and the learning objectives for each section – focus study on                               the learning objectives and sections that will award the greatest marks, and allocate your time accordingly.

                     o  Study in bitesize bits: Your brain will lose focus after a while, schedule in little breaks every hour or so – get                                    some fresh air or have a cup of tea and then come back with your brain refreshed for the next bite!

                     o Make plenty of notes: Make notes and use highlighters – but only for the pertinent bits or you’ll end up with                                the whole study book highlighted! Also, post-its dotted here and there with little reminders are a great help.

                     o Get a study buddy or join a study group: This is a great way to share ideas and get help from others in the                                   same boat – again particularly good for written exams. 

What order should you do qualifications in...

Well, that’s up to you of course, and it depends on what you are studying for, (e.g. a level 4, 6 or 7), which qualification provider you are using and the pathway that they offer. For Level 4, my advice would be to do a tax exam as early as you can as understanding tax is fundamental for many and most parts of financial planning.



 

If you are also looking to do an advanced level exam, it’s often easier to do this at the same time as the level 4 exams. For example, a level 6 pensions exam will need the info you’re learning for a level 4 exam. Whilst they will be testing from a different perspective – (level 4 is knowledge and level 6 tends to be application of that knowledge) and will require different techniques, the foundation learning will be the same. You could kill two birds with one stone by doing them together! 

 



We all learn in different ways though, and for some of us, exams can be challenging and perhaps not the best way to test knowledge and understanding. So find out the best method of learning and testing for you, and go with that to give yourself the best chance of success. 




Whether you are working towards exams or completing coursework, all will require studying and hard work. So my final tip, be honest with yourself, put the work in that you need to, if you do, I’m a great believer that you’ll get the result you deserve!

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Fancy joining the financial planning profession? – Here’s a (hopefully!) useful blog

by Caroline Stuart • 22 Feb, 2021
Thinking of financial planning as a career.... As a profession, we are crying out for new people to come and join us, but are we an easy career to get into or do we have barriers that those on the inside just don’t see? On a recent Linkedin post, someone asked a number of questions about the financial planning profession that a new person may want to know: 1. Can you be a paraplanner without being qualified? 2. Why are there junior/senior administrator and paraplanner roles? 3. At what point does the administrator become a paraplanner? 4. How confusing is this for a new entrant? These are all very good questions so I thought I’d try answer some of them with what’s my view but hopefully helpful! 1. Can you be a paraplanner without being qualified? ‘Technically’ no, you don’t ‘have’ to have any qualifications to be a paraplanner, but this is also true of the administrator role. However, do you ‘need’ qualifications? I would say, to be able to do the paraplanner role fully, to understand the technicalities of how to put together and then continue to monitor and review a client’s plan, th en yes, you would need the technical knowledge that comes from studying. Again, to what level and in what type of exams very much depends on the type of paraplanning work you are doing, and the level you and your employer want and feel you need to get to, to be able to look after the number and type of clients your business has. Do exams give you the competence to be able to do a paraplanning role? Again, yes and no. The best paraplanners I know and work or have worked with have a balance of qualifications and experience. I have worked with some who had not yet got to level 4, and were excellent paraplanners, some who were not. I’ve worked with some who are level 4, or chartered and/or Fellow, and are excellent, and again some are not .

Profession or Industry?

by Caroline Stuart • 13 Jun, 2020
Lockdown is really giving people the opportunity to take stock, review the way they do things and look for improvements. I don’t know if the two are related but recently I’ve also noticed an increasing number of people from all areas of the financial services sector, voice their views on where we are as a profession. I use that word quite deliberately. We may have started as an ‘industry’, but I firmly believe that over the years, we have developed into a profession: Any type of work that needs special training or a particular skill, often one that is respected because it involves a high level of education.

Doesn't time (Mc)Fly

by Caroline Stuart • 16 May, 2020
We live in the modern age, we have apps, gadgets and gizmos galore to make our lives easier and more convenient but unfortunately no-one has invented anything giving the one thing that most people would really like a bit more of – time. At the start of lockdown, I saw lots of posts on social media giving really good ideas for all the different things you can do to while away all the spare lockdown hours. Several weeks in, and I’m still waiting for all this extra time to materialise! I’m sure I can’t be the only one; how often have you felt you could just do with a couple more hours in the day? I’m not going to be wandering into HG Wells or Marty McFly territory here obviously (although a time travelling DeLorean would be terrifically useful) but how often have you felt you could just do with a couple more hours in the day? Being busy is a good thing and many people thrive when under a certain amount of pressure. However, if ‘busyness’ turns to ‘overwhelmed’, it can lead to stress or anxiety if we no longer feel we're in control; this is exacerbated if we are not always the best at delegating or asking for help. I, like many pe ople I’m sure, have been in situations in the past where you have so much to do that you don’t even know where to begin, and don’t feel you have the time to do it. There are tips and techniques to deal with this of course, but the best thing is having top quality people around who can pitch in and pick up the slack when you need a bit of help, giving you just that extra bit of time you’re needing.

To be or not to be called a paraplanner...

by Caroline Stuart • 20 Feb, 2020
Should you have a minimum level of qualification before you can use the title ‘Paraplanner’? Many think so, in particular, it should be at least Level 4, aspiring to Level 6 or 7. I used to think this myself, passionately in fact; once I’d achieved Level 4. Then I met and worked closely with a number of paraplanners (and they absolutely were paraplanners), who hadn’t quite got to Level 4. They had started their qualification journey and had several exams under their belt but for various reasons, had not quite made it to the full Diploma. Whilst they weren’t Level 4, they all had really good technical knowledge from regularly completing CPD, they were experienced in research and cashflow planning, were articulate with excellent grammar and communication skills in their report writing, and had a fantastic ‘client first’ attitude. In short, everything I would be looking for in a paraplanner.
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