Redmill Advance - R01
Dxm87
Member
Hi All,
I recently passed my LP2 and now I've moved on to Level 4. I decided to start with R01, after doing some research I decided to use Redmill Advance as I was told trying to read all of the CII textbook for R01 can be really difficult and very boring.
On Redmill they managed to condense all of outcome 1 & 2 to 21 pages when in the CII book outcome 1 is 19 pages and outcome 2 is 33 pages! Now I know they are notes so will be shorter but that just doesn't seem right to me, I found the Redmill stuff quite easy to follow (which is good I suppose) but it just feels like I'm missing something? I'm still trying to figure out the best way to study for these exams so not sure if I should just concentrate on the Redmill notes and that they will be enough?
Comments
Hi Dxm,
Firstly, congratulations on passing your LP2 and welcome to the wonderful R0's... I passed R01 a couple of months back and although I cannot vouch for Redmill I can say that the CII textbook does go into great detail and in a lot of cases content overlaps chapters which helps to reinforce but can become tiresome.
Personally, I did slog through the textbook and used the Aviva Notes that are available on the thread here: https://thebigtent.paraplannerspowwow.co.uk/discussion/comment/2109#Comment_2109
I do know people that have passed this exam with just the use of the Aviva Notes but they may be getting a little dated now so I wouldn't rely on them solely. What I would suggest is you use a combination of the two materials you are using and perhaps change them up to keep it fresh.
After all the hardest part of R01 is probably staying awake...
Good Luck!
Thanks for the response and thanks for the link, that's excellent!!
I have decided to read the book, going to do 20 pages a day then will move on to the Aviva notes. Is the information that changes just the changes to tax etc? So most of the information should still be relevant?
More on the redmill, I did the questions on revisionmate for outcome 1 and there was nothing on the redmill notes for these questions, so I'm a bit apprehensive now about using them. Disappointed as it cost me £120!!
Hi Dxm,
I also passed R01 a couple of months back. I used a combination of the Aviva notes and the Cii Key Facts booklet which only cost £30, and doesn't have so much dry detail.
Good luck
Yeah, for the most part the information will be still correct. As you said allowances and tax rates may have altered differently. Furthermore, this year's syllabus may go into more detail about Mifid II and GDPR that previous Aviva Notes may not as these are new legislation. However, they are great material to quickly pick up and read!
Quite reassuring to hear others are finding R01 material a bit dry. I felt the first 4 chapters were fine, particularly for someone who doesn't yet work in the industry at all, but I'm now on Chapter 5 and it's dragging!!! As this is my first time delving into this industry and obviously my first exam, I'm constantly second guessing myself as to which areas to focus on more than others, and since Chapter 5 appears to be one of the longest chapters, it's a bit overwhelming trying to remember as much as possible.
I think I'll persevere, try to digest as much as possible, and then focus mostly on the content covered in the Aviva notes as it appears many of you guys have passed the exam using the Aviva notes as your main reference.
Just wanted to share!
If using the Aviva notes, I think it's more useful to do them first because you have the big picture to attach the CII detail to (you already know what they're on about before they finally get to the point!).
Don't worry about trying to make yourself remember everything just from reading through - it's impossible or you're super human. The point of the read through is that when you start doing your practice questions and looking up your incorrect answers, the process is quicker because you're just re-reading.
Spending more time on practice questions rather than more time slogging through the book will do more to bump your points up.
Hi Clare,
Thanks for the tip regarding using the Aviva notes first - this seems a much more efficient way of doing things! I'm also going to change tactics and focus more on the questions, I've got both questions packs so surely if I can work through those and correct my mistakes along the way I should be in a good position for the exam.
I'm not actually familiar with the original intent of the Aviva notes; were they designed to be a study aid alongside the CII reading material, or were they issued under the impression they're all you need to complete the exams? Just curious because they seem a lot shorter than the CII material.
Thanks again for the pointers!
So I thought I would just give an update, I've been using the notes from redmill, and then doing the questions on there and using wizard learning. I have not even touched the textbook and I have passed the CII past paper and been passing on both sites when doing the 100 question tests.
The notes are fantastic, they just get straight to the point and make is so simple to read. I can't believe there is 66 pages in the textbook for a learning outcome that only has 12 questions?! It's only 10 pages or so on redmill and I've been getting all those questions right when doing the practice questions.
But my exam is 5th December so will see then if they really are good haha.
Hi guys,
I am starting to revise for R01 & found this conversation. I noticed the Aviva notes are out of date would it be ok to use them still or does anyone have an up to date version?
Thanks!
Hi Sara, I haven't heard anything about any more Aviva notes unfortunately. I think 2017/18 was the end of that. Personally, I would still use them, I have some idea of what no longer applies and already have a confused jumble of figures in my head from different tax years... but perhaps you should avoid the out of date material if you're newish to the industry.
Dxm87 thanks for the tip on the Redmill papers. I'm a minimal cost person myself but glad to hear it's going well.
Not a free option unfortunately but Brand Financial Training do condensed study notes which I have found quite useful and easier to digest than the chunky book. If you sign up with a new account and purchase they send a discount code too.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has the R01 mock exam paper they could share please?
Thank you so much!
Well I passed thank god. I definitely recommend Redmill, I only used the CII textbook as reference when doing past papers and checking the questions I got wrong. I think if I relied on that it would have been a different story.
So did you use the pastpapers from redmill or the packs from CII?
I used past papers from CII, Brand, Aviva and Redmill. Since this exam I've passed R02, R03 and R05 and my studying is to first read redmill then do the past papers and simply use them them as reference with what to study in the CII textbook.
I reckon I do each past paper around 7 to 8 times so basically I do 1000s of questions, seems to be working as I've passed them all first time apart from R03 where I was 1 mark out but retook it a week later and got 80%.