Natalie Dawes, Candidate Support, Trainer and Business Development Adviser, says while it would be reasonable to say the R05 exam is probably the ‘easier’ unit of the R0s, that doesn’t make it a piece of cake to pass.
Two of my favourite things; R05 and cake – although they are of course entirely different things. I have truck load of experience in both the CII Financial Protection unit and cake – whether that be eating it or baking it.
The saying having my cake and eating it springs to mind here. I am fortunate enough to be in a role I love, where I get to talk all things exams and financial services qualifications all day, every day.
Work has got to be balanced with a little downtime too though hasn’t it. So, at the weekends, when I’m not helping learners with their very own study recipe of success, you’ll likely find me baking up a storm in the kitchen, or out for tea and cake in one of our favourite local coffee shops.
Here’s another baked goods phrase
Piece of cake. Is it one that we can use with R05 though? Well, it is certainly one of the things that gets hurled around in the exams arena.
‘Start with R05, it’s the easy one.’
‘It’s a level 3 unit, so it’s not difficult.’
‘Anyone can sit this exam, it’s just about common sense.’
If you were to rank all of the R0s in terms of difficulty, then it would be reasonable to say that R05 is probably the ‘easier’ unit of the R0s – but it doesn’t make it ‘easy’. And here are a few reasons why…
The broad syllabus. For a unit that is ‘just’ about financial protection, it does cover a wide range of areas, areas that you wouldn’t necessarily think of at first either. I’d be proper ‘caked up’ (sorry, couldn’t resist) if I had £1 for every time a learner brought up taxation, state benefits, trusts and contract law in relation to R05.
More evenly weighted learning outcomes. At first glance, learners could be forgiven that each learning outcome (LO) requires the same amount of time and energy. However, some LOs are more complex than others, both in their nature and how they are tested. We need to understand where those complexities are to know we knead to work it a little more – LO5 anyone? The taxation of life policies isn’t exactly simple!
You only know what you know. Let’s say you listen to those that say not to even both opening the study guide. You are risking being tested on areas you potentially know nothing about. R05 has more layers than Paul Hollywood could shake a rolling pin at.
Rocky road ahead?
To reference the experience I mentioned at the start of this article with R05, there are a couple of different angles here and I’m sharing both in hope of you avoiding a rocky journey with R05.
First of all, I sat the exam again this week, to see first-hand exactly what is being tested and how. The exams evolve so it’s important that we keep up with any changes to be able to offer the very best support.
I must be honest here, sitting an exam at 7pm in the evening is never a good idea when you’ve been sat at a screen all day, and I’m pretty sure my proctor must have seen me go cross-eyed a few times from trying to focus on the barrage of really wordy questions!
In terms of content, some of the exam felt like an extension of the long-term care exam I recently sat, it was a good job I had brushed up on state benefits because that helped me no end in this sitting. Taxation, taxation, taxation; I’m pretty sure that I had a tax related question for pretty much every product type.
And lastly, something I wasn’t surprised by at all was the usual mixing up of products or signposting down the wrong path due to wording of questions or answers. This in itself, if you haven’t done the leg work for this ‘easy unit’ can be the thing that catches you out.
The other experience I can draw on is from learners. Where we have the opportunity, we talk to our learners about how they are finding the studies and also how they found their exam sitting.
Time and time again, we hear of learners finding the same areas that we’ve already talked about, really hard. I have also met learners that have come to BTS for some support because they’ve sat the exam a couple of times already. I am so glad that these individuals have got in touch but at the same time, it’s awful to see someone’s confidence on the floor because they were told that R05 is easy.
Ready, steady, bake! (Your R05 showstopper!)
I want to make a bold statement. The day I have stopped hearing of learners failing the R05 exam, is the day that I will get back in my R05 cake box! But until then, I want to encourage you all to really consider your prep for this unit.
Yes, it is the easier one, yes the study guide is a little bit thinner but it is still packed with a complex syllabus that requires some serious efforts in terms of learning. Give this unit the time it needs, using the ingredients that work for your own study recipe.
Not sure what those ingredients are? That’s ok – it isn’t the same for everyone. Give one of the team a shout at BTS and we’ll make sure you have everything you need to make R05, an absolute showstopper of an exam!
Bespoke Training Solutions, a Davies Company, have been supporting regulated exams for over 20 years. Known as ‘the exam experts’ within the industry, BTS provide support for the CII regulated exams by way of study guides, e-learning resources, and workshops for L3, L4 & L6 units. You can learn by visiting https://www.bespoketrainingsolutions.com
You can also visit https://careerszone.bespoketrainingsolutions.com/ and check out the BTS Careers Zone for study plans, answers to exam FAQs and lots more to support your journey.
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