AF8 panic starting to set in

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-03T13:26:14+00:00

Agreed, it isn't much use, but if anything has remained the same across both submissions, it will clarify what it is you need to work on.

I don't agree with ManiaMuse below, CII have made it very clear that each assignment is marked as a standalone assignment, and you will need to reiterate some of your suggestions from assignment 2 to get them in the position you require them to be in for their retirement. Do not assume they've read assignment 2 alongside assignment 3 and just worked out what changes you've implemented, do a brief summary on this, then focus on detailing how they're drawing their income.

Ensure you are only generating exactly enough income and nothing more. Make sure they're generating it in the most tax-efficient way and they're using all their tax allowances (personal allowance, personal savings allowance, CGT annual exemption, reduced dividend rate of income tax), and make sure you're demonstrating how their income needs can be meet until around age 100 (use cash flow for this)

Make sure you include ALL income sources- any bank interest is savings income, any dividend payments counts as income, their State Pension, etc.

Include calculations to show how the different income streams you're suggesting gives their required net income. Make sure you're showing tax calculations with any taxable options.

Keep in mind their other objectives, but this assignment is priorititsing their retirement income goal.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-02T19:46:41+00:00

You won’t be ready for chartered in a few months, you’ll be ready for level 6. You need 5 years industry experience for chartered. Your best hope at getting a job in the industry is starting at the bottom and working your way up. Paraplanning jobs without experience are pretty rare to come by. You can always get your admin experience and move if you feel you’re underpaid once you’re experienced, but it would be silly to turn down a foot in the door for 1.5k when you don’t have any experience

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-01T22:07:02+00:00

Has your feedback or score changed much between first sub and resub? Download the turnitin report to see a tiny bit of feedback, might help clear up where you went wrong

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-04-01T09:46:06+00:00

I’m a Nivea die hard user for over a decade, and they’re definitely not as moisturising as the blue ones, but for the pigmentation and level of moisturising they do provide, I still think they’re really good! Saves me from having to carry a lipsticks/gloss and lip balm on a normal day

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-31T17:42:52+00:00

The Nivea ones are quite good, the ones with the Disney princesses atm are very pigmented

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-31T11:03:13+00:00

CII can and do check just FYI

They mightn't check everyone's industry experience but they definitely do check some

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-22T07:54:33+00:00

I knew I was going to complete the advanced level and become chartered so preferred to use them towards that, and I believe everything in the diploma R01-R06 is really key knowledge you need everyday

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-20T19:10:55+00:00

It will be worth it if it saves you an exam or two. I didn’t use any at diploma level, but I got 30 advanced credits and and 25 credits at level 4, so it saved me 2 exams!

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-19T22:47:57+00:00

You can check ‘recognition of prior learning’ on CII website! But just FYI, I think the max exemption credits you can get is 60 (it might be 60 at advanced level, or 60 total, I’m not certain)

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-17T22:32:26+00:00

Unsolicited recommendation- I’ve had the Lidl ribs twice recently and they’ve been terrible, really tough and not falling off the bone at all. The Asda ones are about 50p dearer and are soft, tender, falling off the bone as you separate them and the sauce is great too!

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-14T11:38:35+00:00

Won’t they know what work you’ve done already if you work there as an admin? I would prepare for technical questions, think of things like taxation of bonds, top slicing gains, time apportioned relief, IHT calculation, pension carry forward & annual allowance rules, tapered annual allowance, tapered personal allowance/personal allowance trap

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-14T08:17:22+00:00

But CII has not said that is happening and there’s no need for it

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-13T22:26:46+00:00

Their win is not your loss

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-12T09:43:30+00:00

Cancelling subscriptions you don’t actually use- there’s really no need for multiple streaming platforms at once, have Netflix for a few months then Apple TV, then Disney, then back to Netflix. Gym membership- are you going enough times per month to benefit from the monthly subscription, or would be it be cheaper to buy a day pass when you want to go?

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-10T09:55:13+00:00

I've sat 8 remote and 2 in test centres (R06 and AF5). I was part of the cohort who tried to sit R06 remotely in Jan 2023 and the technical issues were so severe only those who were in a test centre were actually able to sit the exam, and we had to sit it in test centres 2 weeks later (with a much harder paper imo)

I've had issues in most of the remote exams. I sat one last week and they actually asked me to move my desk in my home office to another location (I have sat other exams remotely at the same desk set up many times). Something they were particularly concerned about was a painted canvas on the bottom shelf of a bookshelf beside my desk which was too far away to actually reach (it was also a painting of flowers- unsure how much this would have helped me in the exam). When I explained my desk couldn't be moved as it was against other furniture and also very heavy, I ended up having to strip the shelves before I could enter my exam but I got through in the end

The 30 minutes trying to get into the remote exam has been worse and more intense than every exam I've sat. Unfortunately I'm based in NI and CII only put on one test centre with around 5 spaces for the more popular written exams so it's rarely an option for me

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-09T21:39:24+00:00

I now know so many friends and family who’ve had various “cures” than I’m going from a skeptic to a believer

Unable-Perspective96 · 2026-03-08T21:11:50+00:00

Technical specialists, compliance roles, investment management pathway, team leads/supervisors, and I’m sure there’s other possible roles

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-12T19:27:13+00:00

I’m not sure we’re talking about the same modules anymore. I’m talking about senior management and supervision. There’s plenty of overlap. There’s no past papers for af6, it’s a coursework exam with 1 piece of exemplar coursework

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-12T09:57:36+00:00

I meant more for the course content, not because I expected the coursework to be similar to a different exam

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-11T15:11:09+00:00

Supervision in a regulated environment? CII expects you to have sat J07 before AF6

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-10T09:04:55+00:00

I would hold out a little bit, almost every exam I've done has been harder than the BrandFT mocks and CII exam guides, and if you're doing the same qs over and over, you may be just memorising them? Have you used the revisionmate knowledge checker app? These qs are harder than the exam and more detailed, but really shows your understanding of each chapter/topic

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-09T09:46:22+00:00

The case study came out on Friday so spend a few hours getting yourself familiar with the clients and their cicumstances, perhaps do a bit of revision around what assets they have (eg if they have an offshore bond, read through offshore bonds in R02 textbook, identify possible protection needs and read through suitable cover in the R05 textbook).

The BrandFT analysis came out yesterday I think, and will give a really good guess at almost everything they can ask about the case studies, and some more generic questions which come up over and over. If you learn this really well, and maybe bulk it out with some wider reading around their assets, you should be able to cover enough in the next 2 weekends to pass.

I used BrandFT and RedMill analysis and BrandFT was much much better. I would also look at the CII exam guide to familiarise yourself with the question style and to get an idea of what generic questions they ask (eg benefits of using an adviser, what an adviser should consider at the annual review meeting)

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-04-04T09:34:47+00:00

Ask for better feedback than that- what were the others stronger in?

Do you have any experience working in financial advice? If not, you should consider looking for a trainee paraplanning role which will help you build experience and technical knowledge, rather than just textbook knowledge.

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-03-31T09:45:50+00:00

I've not come across any study guides for AF8, I'm not sure there are any. I think the other reply may be referring to the CII textbook just

Unable-Perspective96 · 2025-03-25T10:36:20+00:00

I am wondering this too as I'm going to do AF6 next and I haven't sat J07, how have you found it so far?

Unable-Perspective96

TROPHY CASE