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Introduction
I have been helping students through their DIPFA qualification for almost two years now and this article is designed to share all the best practices, tips and strategies that go into scoring really well in this challenging exam. can help you do that.
I am going to share with you various tips which have come from the reports of examiners, students I have worked with over the years and also share with you a really good structure which can help you prepare.
First of all what is the final exam?
How does the test work?
This is a 3 hour written, soon to be typed, exam where you first need to digest the case study and then create a carefully written report to your imaginary client.
Case studies are provided to you in advance, approximately two weeks in advance. You’ve had time to prepare, read up on areas of weakness, put together some statistics to support your report, and write it thoroughly in advance. And you should too, why not, so they already ship it to you.
On the day of exam, you will see some ups and downs i.e. some subtle changes in the exam paper which may slightly change your report but if you have done your preparation well then these last minute changes Won’t be a problem for you. You have many problems.
portray your customer
The case study will be as real as possible, there will be some inconsistencies and these need to be verified. However you should treat it as a real person and write the report to this person and not to the examiner, however you would like to impress him/her to get the marks. Be careful with impressing too much as you may fall foul and the examiner may mark you for not completing the technical aspects.
Simple language is very important, keep in mind who the customer is and write in a way that they can understand. See them sitting with their feet together with a cup of tea, reading their reports, and sipping their brew trying to make heads or tails of it.
marking system
It is important to appreciate the marks obtained from the paper so that you can focus in the right area.
You get a total of 150 marks –
- 10 for introduction, summary
- 10 for strength calculation
- 30 for presentation, language, style
- 100 for your options, recommendations and advice.
So spend some time on a well crafted introduction, calculation and style and you will already be in for 50 marks, and you only need 75 marks to pass.
a time honored structure
- Introduction
- purpose of the report
- essence of the situation
- summary of objectives
- Need more information
- risk taking
- strength assessment
- quick fix/quick fix
- recommendations
- next steps
structure explained
Introduction
Begin the report by writing to the client and addressing him by name and speaking in the first person such as “Brian we talked about your desire to buy a home overseas and I’m looking to do so….”
Agree with the purpose of the report and it should be linked to its aims and objectives. Talk about the information gathered, but be brief here, don’t just repeat what’s in FactFind. Summarize in your own words and language to match the client
It’s here that you can start to make some assumptions so that you can clearly agree with his objectives. This can be followed by some questions to ask them if you need more information or to confirm or clarify something. Estimates are fine as long as you know how to articulate them or you just ask the customer to confirm. I know in real life you wouldn’t guess but would you?
Only when you and your customers know where you’re going can you really delve into the reports and decide actions for that.
ability assessed
Here you can show your knowledge of Income Tax and National Insurance to get some handy points to find out how much money a customer can pay for your regular income product that you are going to recommend.
Don’t tuck your calculations away like in a textbook; Instead write them for the client to understand. Describe each row of figures so they know what you mean and can follow.
Be precise, obviously, you will get points for correct answers. But you’ll get more points for doing things along the way. It’s just like taking a math test in school.
quick fix/quick fix
There may actually be some quick things that can improve your customers situation and don’t deserve to be headlined in the recommendations section.
For example, renaming investments from the husband to the wife’s name to reduce taxation, or paying off credit card or other high-interest debt with money from the deposit.
recommendations
This section carries 100 marks and is the meat of the entire report. Break your recommendations down into chunks and allocate time based on how important they are. Try to decide how many marks the examiner can allot to each section and then spend relevant time on each.
Try to put them in priority order as this is a good financial planning exercise.
Place the options in front of the client, explain them, and talk to the client as you go.
Make your recommendations and justify it, using real data where you can. Don’t leave it open for the customer to decide and lots of “we’ll figure it out when we get back.”
You want to earn points with a strong recommendation with a good reason.
If you are not qualified to give advice, give it to someone who is a lawyer or another professional such as a lawyer.
Think about your five W’s – eg What, Who, How, Why and When
- what advice
- Who is involved
- how would you make it work?
- why do they need it
- When should you start it?
next steps
The last part of the report is the Next Steps section. Here you would like to wrap things up, give a clear direction to the client to know his next steps, confirm your review arrangement, fee structure.
some final tips
Keep track of time – 3 hours is a long time when you’re on the beach doing nothing, but it goes by really quickly when you’re enjoying yourself. Seriously though, plan your time and make sure you complete the reports. You score maximum marks in the first few minutes of any section, so you need to at least start each section.
Presentation and Structure. It should be clearly laid out and look like a proper professional report with headings, sub headings. Maybe a table, a series of bullet points, graphics, pictures. Why not, it is for the customer after all, so maybe a risk graph might work better than a wall of words. Most of the people, nowadays are visual in nature and pictures can depict a thousand words.
All technical terms explained. Don’t throw out any technical terms without explaining them, just don’t. Anything a little too complex will need to be explained in terms the customer can understand. Beware of TLA’s – The Three Letter Abbreviation – Our world is full of them, you know what they mean but does your customer?
less is more. Good communication is powerful and uses few words, just take a look at the posters and leaflets; They are conservative in their use of words. Why procrastinate on it when a short concise statement will do the job. Also you have only 3 hours to write.
Summary
Some useful ideas and tips here, I hope you agree. Remember to prepare as much as possible in advance to maximize your success in the exam. wish you success
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