When studying for your Level 4 diploma, following the numerical order of the exam units makes sense. It’s logical to start with anything labelled ‘Unit 1’, so that is how some exam bodies structure their Level 4 qualifications.
The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment does not number the units of its Level 4 investment advice diploma, but the London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) advises candidates to sit the Unit 1 exam of its diploma for financial advisers before starting work on Unit 2.
Maybe doing Level 4 and Level 6 at the same time as learning on the job wouldn’t go together
However, those studying for the diploma in regulated financial planning with the Chartered Insurance Institute can complete the six core units — RO1 to RO6 — in any order, although they may not realise they have a choice.
What is the best order for sitting those papers?
No right or wrong
Training experts say there isn’t a right or wrong order. It depends on the individual’s, or in some cases the employer’s, preference.
“Some people just prefer doing RO1 to RO6 in that order as they find it comforting, but others do it in a different order,” says Bespoke Training Solutions director Luiza Todd.
“There isn’t a best order — you may find RO1 doesn’t excite you so you may want to start with RO3, the personal taxation paper. It depends where your passion lies.”
If you get your diploma then leave it a couple of years before doing Level 6, you have to relearn the stuff you don’t use all the time
Few would say financial services regulation and ethics, as covered by the RO1 paper, is their passion, but it is the exam with which many advisers start. Succession Wealth wealth planner Jake Bernardi has an engineering background and found RO1 a good first exam because it gave him a grounding in the basics.
Bernardi went on to qualify at Level 4 with a different body, the LIBF. He found studying topics he came across on the job enhanced and accelerated his learning. Applying what he’d learned brought those topics to life in a way reading from a textbook did not.
Consequently, he sees merit in first doing the units most relevant to your job, and being aware of any Level 6 units that will also be useful — even if you do not want to become fully qualified to Level 6.
There isn’t a best order. It depends where your passion lies
“I knew I wanted to give advice on final-salary pension schemes, which is a specialist area of advice, and I needed a Level 6 qualification,” says Bernardi. “So I started studying for it at the same time as Level 4. You don’t have to wait until Level 4 is done.”
Oakmere Wealth Management managing director Carla Brown wishes she’d known how closely linked Level 4 and Level 6 exam modules were before she became chartered in 2012.
“A lot of people go through the learning process to get their diploma, then develop their knowledge when they deal with clients,” she says. “But, if you get your diploma then leave it a couple of years before doing Level 6, you have to relearn the stuff you don’t use all the time.”
Some people just prefer doing RO1 to RO6 in that order as they find it comforting
Brown says, once you’ve swotted for your exams, you lose that knowledge if it is not something you use in your job. Doing related Level 4 and Level 6 units at the same time gets around that problem, and the difficulty some people face in getting back into the swing of exams after a gap.
Structurally different
Commentators in the advice profession and those involved in training see no problem with studying the odd Level 6 unit that flows logically from your current Level 4 unit. It depends on the individual and the advice firm.
Last year, Bournemouth-based advice firm Strategic Solutions told Money Marketing its advisers worked across Level 4 and Level 6 units at the same time — doing the investment exams, and the tax and trusts exams, together.
“We’ve been successful at this and it means people may get chartered on the same day they get qualified,” said Kevin Forbes, the firm’s managing director.
However, there are some reservations in the profession about doing Level 4 and Level 6 exams at the same time — not least, as Brown points out, because they are structurally very different.
I started studying for Level 6 at the same time as Level 4. You don’t have to wait until Level 4 is done
Todd is against the idea because she sees Level 6 as a big step up from Level 4. Bernardi sees the benefit for some people in getting all the exams out of the way at once, but wonders if it could cause confusion among candidates in terms of muddling how each paper should be answered, and ultimately could prove just too difficult.
“It would consume all your brain space and maybe doing Level 4 and Level 6 at the same time as learning on the job wouldn’t go together,” he says.
“It would also be a huge balancing act if people had caring responsibilities on top of their job and studying.”
This article featured in the April 2022 edition of MM.
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