In correspondence to AIOFP members, FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield confirmed that those who sat in either January or March would have an opportunity to sit the exam two more times if necessary ahead of the 1 January 2022 deadline.
Mr Glenfield confirmed that registrations for the January exam session, which runs from 28 January to 2 February, would close today, with bookings for the 25-30 March session closing on 5 March.
“Advisers who have registered for January, but who feel they need further preparation time may transfer their registration to the March sitting at no cost up to the closure date of booking for the January exam, and at a small administration fee thereafter,” he said.
A technicality within the FASEA exam legislative instrument means that advisers are only able to sit the exam once within a 90-day period, meaning despite the six sittings offered over the 2021 calendar year, candidates who fail will be capped on their number of attempts.
Those who do not pass by the deadline would also need to re-enter the industry as a new entrant, with the full education and training standards applicable including a Bachelor level degree and undertaking a professional year.
According to the most recent FASEA figures, just over half of advisers on the ASIC register – or 11,241 practitioners – have passed the exam so far.
Mr Glenfield said FASEA made “a good deal of exam practice and preparation material available on its website”.
“This includes practice questions that will give members a good guide to how the exam questions are structured,” he said.
Mr Glenfield also flagged the possibility of a pre-exam briefing webinar for the association if enough members were interested.
If advisers hadn’t booked to sit the exam last year before the deadline extension you would have to think they are not very likely to sit it and those that do will definitely be the exception rather than the rule. Maybe half of all advisers don’t see a future in the profession to be a worthwhile investment any longer.
Some of us used the extension and chose to do the smarter congnitive process of doing the mind numbing 120 hrs FARSEA Ethics course first. At least then that 1/3 of the course has been studied pre exam.
And guess what, regardless of passing the Ethics course, we then have to sit 1/3 of the exam on the exact same topic we just passed 2 assignments and an exam on.
FARSEA, why do I have to waste 120 hrs doing the FARSEA Ethics course.
And then also sit an exam that is 1/3 on the exact same topic, that I just passed with Distinction.
FARSEAcal the whole thing.
I sat,I was confused after 2 hours ,I failed,I will not be so humiliated again after 30 years,I will sell up and leave this year.Another industry destroyed by government incompetence
MIke, I completely understand your humiliation. Whilst I did manage to pass that exam, the manner in which we were treated during the exam process was demeaning, humiliating and lacked any professional dignity. The woman barking orders at us was outrageous and I was embarrassed to witness, in particular, my elder and longer practising colleagues treated in such a way. It was a stark reminder of how easily good people acquiesce to ‘authority’ when they feel that they are powerless, even collectively. I am sorry that you will be leaving and have no doubt your new prospect will be far richer from the abundant experience and wealth of wisdom that you will be taking with you.
Yes , lovely of you Esther to reach out to our elder statesman. Industry experience is vanishing -rapidly.
Government should step in they have just removed this organization everything they have done is to cull advisers…
a lot of job are about to be loss if the government doesn’t step in to fix this mess, not just the advisers, support staff BDMs, people that work in admin, IT, paraplanning the list goes on all the while people need access to advisers like no tomorrow due to covid…
FASEA has already been removed aon. Keep up with the program.
My guess is that the law will be changed so that from July 1st or so you can sit a monthly exam but I wouldn’t count on it.
The law won’t change again. This is a was never a great priority for the government or opposition, not even on the radar now with all that is going on.
Those who haven’t sat the exam yet are either very optimistic about their chances or may not be worried about failing, or, is it because they use the ostrich method of observing their surroundings? It is a bit like the fact that only 15% of life claims from what I heard are terminal illness claims even though 85% of deaths are through illness – people do not want to acknowledge they are terminal despite the huge financial benefit to them.