Professional Paraplanner is delighted to be running our annual January exam Q&A with Brand Financial Training. If you are studying for the next tranche of exams or lining up to take them later in 2026, you’ll want to read these articles, where the Brand Financial Training team answer some of the more common questions they are asked by paraplanners seeking to achieve success with their qualifications.
We will be running an article a day from Monday 12 to Friday 16 January 2026. We hope you find them valuable.
If you’d like more help with your studying for your exams the Brand team are here to help. You can find out more at: https://brandft.co.uk/ or contact the team at: at: [email protected]
Today, the team cover two regularly asked questions around AF5 and R06.
Q1. Should I attempt AF5 straight after R06?
Q2 .What are the similarities between AF5 and R06?
Our answer to the second question really answers the first. There are a lot of similarities between AF5 and R06, so yes, for many candidates it makes sense to take AF5 straight after R06.
If you’ve just passed R06, you’ll have a good grasp of the exam technique, and this will be almost identical for AF5 so you’re already off to a really strong start!
The other key area is, of course, the technical knowledge. Whilst AF5 will involve some more complex subjects, you may be surprised at the amount of overlap. If you set aside a solid two and a half weeks of revision, once the fact-find is released, you should be able to get your technical knowledge up to speed and give yourself a strong chance of passing.
Let’s take a look at some examples of the the key similarities between these exams:
For both exams, you’ll receive your client scenarios before the exam. While the source material differs (R06 is two shorter case studies while AF5 is a detailed fact-find), the revision structure is the same. You’ll identify the missing information, consider relevant financial advice processes, analyse their existing arrangements and look for suitable solutions.
Identifying additional information – ‘the fact-finding’ questions, are very similar so this is an area R06 candidates shouldn’t struggle with.
Questions around the relevant financial planning processes (such as cashflow modelling or assessing ATR or CFL) also cover very similar concepts. Successful R06 candidates should be well positioned especially if they are involved in the financial advice process in their day-to-day work. For example, Consumer Duty was tested in both the latest R06 and AF5 exams.
Questions around analysing the suitability of the clients’ existing arrangements are also fundamentally the same. They will include questions such as looking at tax angles, the funds, the features of a policy i.e. stating the benefits and drawbacks of retaining an investment or factors to consider when assessing protection needs. However, in AF5, the clients are likely to have more complex arrangements or objectives. For example, the most recent AF5 exam featured an investment trust trading at a discount to net asset value, whereas R06 is more likely to involve a straightforward unit trust.
“Recommend and justify” questions are also similar in the way they are worded and answered. The key difference is again the level of complexity of what you are likely to be asked to recommend. In R06, it tends to be more straightforward recommendations such as ways to improve tax efficiency or recommending a family income benefit policy. With AF5,you’ll still see familiar concepts but there is likely to be one or two more difficult subjects such as recommending the purchase of a commercial property through a pension or setting up a protection policy through a company.
The good news is that these more technical areas are usually signposted in the fact-find, giving candidates time to focus their revision. Most AF5 topics are covered in detail in the Diploma syllabus (R01–R05) but there may be a subject where you need to draw on knowledge from other units, for example J02 for more complex trust planning. Training providers’ fact-find analysis can help you here by providing technical detail in each of the areas highlighted and anticipated questions and answers based on these subject areas.
In summary, delaying AF5, which is only available to sit in February and September, risks allowing your exam technique skills and the technical knowledge you revised for R06 to fade. By sitting AF5 straight after R06, candidates can:
- Reuse a large proportion of their existing knowledge.
- Capitalise on fresh exam technique skills.
- And of course, progress towards Chartered status quicker!
Our advice is clear: if you’ve just completed R06 and plan to work towards Chartered status, strike while the iron is hot and book AF5!
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