FAIS Regulatory Exam Roundup 23 January 2012
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2012
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23
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Level 1 Regulatory Examinations - Forewarned is forearmed
One advantage that those have who have not yet written a level 1 RE, is that they can benefit from the experience of those who wrote before them.
In the first of a series of articles, we discuss how you can apply the composition of the paper to your advantage.
By now you should know that there are four different “complexity” levels of questions:
- Knowledge
- Comprehension
- Application and
- Analysis
The first two are “easier” than the last two, and make up the biggest part of both the Rep (70%) and KI (68%) exams. For KI’s in licence category II, IIA and III, it only constitutes 40% of the paper.
Every paper has a predefined layout, almost like a recipe. You will find most of the knowledge and comprehension questions at the beginning and end of the paper. The application and analysis questions are concentrated towards the middle of the paper.
The nature of the latter types of questions is such that it tends to be longer, and takes more time to read and understand than the ones which simply test your knowledge, for instance. Yet, they only count one mark, like the shorter ones.
It therefore makes sense to briefly scan the paper when you start to identify the questions you want to tackle first. This also gives you a lot more confidence when you do tackle the longer ones, knowing that you have a number of certainties in the bag, as it were. It also helps to prevent exam pressure if you spend so much time on the longer questions that you rush through ones you would normally not have a problem with.
Lastly, please commit yourself to a date and plan accordingly. The FSB recommends a three month preparation period. If you have not done any preparation yet, nor committed yourself to a specific date to write, you may very well find that there are no seats available.
Please do not leave this too late.
Level 2 Regulatory Examinations
On Saturday morning, I bumped into my friendly banker in Woollies. She and her team have successfully completed their level 1 REs and are keen to stay in the learning curve.
She wanted to know when she can expect more specific information about the level 2 REs, which prompted me to do some digging over the weekend. One does such things for a personal banker, if you know what is good for you.
If there is one lesson we have learnt from the level 1 experience, then it is that one should read the instructions before all else fails. In the case of the REs, Board notice 105 of 2008 is where you will find the relevant criteria. This was an enormous document when published, so the FSB split it in 5 sections to make it possible to download the information.
It is available on the new look Moonstone website www.moonstone.co.za. Go to the Information Refinery Page and look in the Library section on the right.
I am sure that some training service provider will break this up into specific licence category sections, but until then, one will need to download and print the relevant Board Notice 105 section.
The Inseta website already contains study material for a number of licence categories. Go to http://www.inseta.org.za/fais/default.asp?thepage=FAIS_learning_material_docs.asp to see what is available.
My information is that this material was developed using the qualifying criteria. To make sure that you understand exactly what is required, we strongly urge readers to first read the actual qualifying criteria, and then the study material.
A final word: please make sure that you understand exactly what products you are licenced for. You have to write a level 2 RE for every product you are licensed for, unless you have a qualification specifically approved by the FSB which exempts you from having to write such a level 2 RE.
Several amendments to Board Notice 105, of which BN 60 of 2010 is probably the most important, have been published since 2008. Board Notice 60 contains the latest available information on qualifications.
And sadly, contrary to popular belief, your 30 or 60 credits which you obtained as part of the transitional requirements, will not exempt you from any level 2 RE – only a recognised qualification.
Source: Paul Kruger: Moonstone Information Refinery (Pty) Ltd
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