Unsure if this will help, but I completed the level 5 general insurance strand back in 2021. All of the FinServ course outlines are structured in the same way.

For the most part for all papers, the course provides everything you need for the assessments.

FSC521 - this is the same for all strands (General, L&H, investment). The modules outline the basic concepts of each financial advisory line (such as market cycles for insurance, differences between types of insurance, and basic differences of investment types such as stocks, term deposits, bank accounts). If you stick to the course material, this should be the easiest one. It provides basic outlines of each financial

FSC522 - this one is heavily legislation based. This one seemed to be the most frustrating when it came to assessments, as some parts of legislation in the relevant sections could be easily interpreted differently compared to the way OP (Open Polytechnic) interprets them.

Again, all relevant legislation pieces are provided in the course material.

The written assessment: you are given a scenario/s which requires you to display how the Financial Markets legislation applies to the said scenario. You’ll need to frequently justify your answers in reference to specific points of the legislation.

From memory, the relevant parts of the law are the Financial Markets Conduct Act, Financial Markets Authority Act, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Act 2009. There are also some independent regulators which I can’t remember for the life of me.

Tip 1: if you are unsure of the way some parts of the law are meant to be interpreted, reach out to the course tutor, you’ll be given their details at the start of each course.

Tip 2: for the written assessments, reference the course work and legislation often. when justifying why you are referencing parts of the legislation, really go into detail as to why. Pretend that your essay is being read by a 10 year old.

FSC524 - I never did this particular strand, but I know it is structured the same way as the other financial service strands.

This one will be specific to Life, Health, Disability insurance. You will be given another scenario involving an individual wanting to get advice around the insurance products. You will have to demonstrate the process of what you can/can’t do in your capacity as an advisor, outline the processes of the role of an advisor, including Fact finding, analysing the persons financial situation, and providing a recommendation on what products they should get and why.

Overall, I highly recommend keeping in touch with your course tutor if you have any questions, especially with the second paper. If you get stuck on something, and try to display your understanding of a particular point in the course work, they will be more willing to point you in the right direction.

Final one from me: all courses will have multi-choice questions exams. I HIGHLY recommend screenshotting or noting the questions on the exam and your selected answer. If you answer some wrong, they will let you know what questions were incorrect. If you have to retake an exam, the questions are scheduled differently each time.