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FAIS RE Exams: When all else fails…

I am, like most males, definitely guilty of thinking that I can achieve anything without directions. The availability of the GPS makes my life a lot less embarrassing, especially when I have to traverse the highways of Johannesburg without Table Mountain as a guide of roughly where I am.

Those who qualified to rewrite before the end of September, as well as those who missed the June deadline, have a slightly more tense time ahead. Hopefully, the advice below will help you to focus on what is important.

Read the instructions.

I repeat the content of this article at least five times a day, every day, when candidates call for assistance. Here’s hoping that it may benefit all those who still need to write the level 1 regulatory exams.

The instructions I refer to are contained in the Preparation Guide compiled by the FSB. The first 12 pages provide useful information to prepare you for what to expect. The qualifying criteria (QC), which follows this, tells you what you need to know, and where to find it. For example:

QC: Describe the roles and responsibilities of key individuals as defined in the FAIS Act.
Reference: FAIS Act - Sec 1 Definition of Key Individual/ Guidance Note on Key individuals/FAIS Act - Sec 19.

Candidates who are unsure of whether they have the latest, up to date legislation to hand, may want to purchase this from a reputable publisher. There is even one which provides you with the actual page reference where the required section of the legislation can be found.

I have no doubt that those who spent many hours working through study material, have more than the required amount of knowledge; it is condensing this information into what you need to know for the exam that prevents you from completing the exam successfully.

If you wrote more than once, and still not managed to pass, a different approach may be required. These guidelines may just make the difference.

Read the questions:

A caller recently complained that, in one question, three of the answers were correct. He could not recall what the question was, and I pointed out that, possibly, there were supposed to be three correct answers. He had to choose the incorrect one.

It is only natural, when one is nervous, to skim over the questions, and focus on the answers. An extra 30 seconds spent on making sure you understand the question, may make the difference between success or failure.

By using the regulatory exam GPS, you can save yourself a lot of unnecessary hardship.

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