Well done everyone, and sorry to hear that AJW. Only a few marks off so hopefully you can do it next time.
I passed with 102, so that's the whole diploma done here. It's a very odd exam because I basically gave model answers (from a mixture of past CII questions and Brand/Wizard analyses) and then added some extra points in for good measure. There were only one or two smaller questions where I didn't have a model answer at the ready, but I felt good about those too, so I don't know where I dropped 48 marks! I suppose it doesn't matter now, but it's odd.
Hi, I missed out this time round unfortunately and I believe this was due to lack of prep. I placed my faith in a question pack provided from my firm and a 2 day course and as soon as i opened up the paper in Oct I knew I was in trouble.
In January I will be better prepared but wondered which companies provide the best pre case study release revision guides and which provide the best case study analysis? Brand, Redmill etc
Any help or suggestions on how to prep better this time around would be appreciated.
@pwall said:
Hi, I missed out this time round unfortunately and I believe this was due to lack of prep. I placed my faith in a question pack provided from my firm and a 2 day course and as soon as i opened up the paper in Oct I knew I was in trouble.
In January I will be better prepared but wondered which companies provide the best pre case study release revision guides and which provide the best case study analysis? Brand, Redmill etc
Any help or suggestions on how to prep better this time around would be appreciated.
Sorry to hear you failed, I passed with 99 marks and all I used was the brand analysis, I bought some flash cards and copied all the breakdowns onto these cards and just learnt them and that was enough to get me through.
@pwall said:
Hi, I missed out this time round unfortunately and I believe this was due to lack of prep. I placed my faith in a question pack provided from my firm and a 2 day course and as soon as i opened up the paper in Oct I knew I was in trouble.
In January I will be better prepared but wondered which companies provide the best pre case study release revision guides and which provide the best case study analysis? Brand, Redmill etc
Any help or suggestions on how to prep better this time around would be appreciated.
Sorry to hear you didn't pass. I bought Wizard and someone kindly let me have Brand, and of the two I found Brand much clearer and more akin to the CII answers, but I found it really useful to be able to cross reference the two. However, I initially bought Wizard as people in previous exams had found this better, so I think it's a bit of a gamble. I was sent the RedMill but it was so intense that I didn't even look at it in the end for worry of overwhelming myself! My advice would be:
Download all the available past papers on CII website now and spend significant time doing them. It might seem silly as they won't be your case studies but it gets you used to answering the way CII expect you to, will show you the generic questions they ask a lot (e.g. pension factfind has been on every paper i've ever looked at!) and it's definitely a tactical exam more than anything else.
When you get your case studies see if there are similar policies/circumstances etc. to any of the CII past papers and then look at the questions they asked and the answers they would have given full marks for.
Two analyses can be useful (someone here might swap with you) because it highlight questions that both companies have identified as being likely. You can then focus in on learning the answers they have given for those questions. Once i had them i basically treated each analysis like it was a past paper and went through it again and again answering the questions and then seeing how many marks I'd gotten.
I failed spectacularly yet was writing for virtually the entire time, my impression is that the aim is to apply minimal "planning" in the responses and it becomes a test of the technique to simply write what may be pertinent, a practice in speed more than anything else and so practice is paramount.
Comments
Well done everyone, and sorry to hear that AJW. Only a few marks off so hopefully you can do it next time.
I passed with 102, so that's the whole diploma done here. It's a very odd exam because I basically gave model answers (from a mixture of past CII questions and Brand/Wizard analyses) and then added some extra points in for good measure. There were only one or two smaller questions where I didn't have a model answer at the ready, but I felt good about those too, so I don't know where I dropped 48 marks! I suppose it doesn't matter now, but it's odd.
Hi Guys, I failed, got 73. The feedback on CII is useless.
Hi, I missed out this time round unfortunately and I believe this was due to lack of prep. I placed my faith in a question pack provided from my firm and a 2 day course and as soon as i opened up the paper in Oct I knew I was in trouble.
In January I will be better prepared but wondered which companies provide the best pre case study release revision guides and which provide the best case study analysis? Brand, Redmill etc
Any help or suggestions on how to prep better this time around would be appreciated.
Sorry to hear you failed, I passed with 99 marks and all I used was the brand analysis, I bought some flash cards and copied all the breakdowns onto these cards and just learnt them and that was enough to get me through.
Morning all congrats guys!
I passed with 95 so very happy - I'm Diploma qualified now! Very good start to a Friday Morning!
Sorry to hear AJW - I think sdeighton is right though on the feedback front x
Sorry to hear you didn't pass. I bought Wizard and someone kindly let me have Brand, and of the two I found Brand much clearer and more akin to the CII answers, but I found it really useful to be able to cross reference the two. However, I initially bought Wizard as people in previous exams had found this better, so I think it's a bit of a gamble. I was sent the RedMill but it was so intense that I didn't even look at it in the end for worry of overwhelming myself! My advice would be:
Download all the available past papers on CII website now and spend significant time doing them. It might seem silly as they won't be your case studies but it gets you used to answering the way CII expect you to, will show you the generic questions they ask a lot (e.g. pension factfind has been on every paper i've ever looked at!) and it's definitely a tactical exam more than anything else.
When you get your case studies see if there are similar policies/circumstances etc. to any of the CII past papers and then look at the questions they asked and the answers they would have given full marks for.
Two analyses can be useful (someone here might swap with you) because it highlight questions that both companies have identified as being likely. You can then focus in on learning the answers they have given for those questions. Once i had them i basically treated each analysis like it was a past paper and went through it again and again answering the questions and then seeing how many marks I'd gotten.
I failed spectacularly yet was writing for virtually the entire time, my impression is that the aim is to apply minimal "planning" in the responses and it becomes a test of the technique to simply write what may be pertinent, a practice in speed more than anything else and so practice is paramount.
Has anyone tried to book a resit yet? CII website not giving me any options for ANYWHERE?!?
January exam dates not announced yet, will happen in the next couple of weeks
Thanks.
@pwall
Do you mind if I ask who the 2 day course was through. There dont seem to be many face to face courses available