The exam was held in eight metropolitan and 11 regional centres across Australia from 5 December to 11 December, FASEA said in a statement.
More than 86 per cent of the 2,981 advisers who sat the exam received a pass mark, slightly lower than the 88 per cent who passed the September 2019 exam.
“FASEA is pleased with the outcomes of the third exam and congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act,” said FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield.
“Unsuccessful candidates are able to resit the exam and these advisers will receive guidance on which knowledge areas they need to improve to enhance their ability to pass at a future sitting.”
Registrations for the February exam are open until 31 January 2020, and will be offered in 17 locations from 13 to 18 February. Currently over 2,200 advisers are enrolled for the February sitting.
Starting from the February exam, regional candidates will have the option to sit the exam remotely.
In addition, registrations are currently open for the April 2020 exam to be offered in 18 locations including regional locations from 2 to 7 April. Over 600 advisers are currently registered for the April sitting.
Registrations for the June exam open on 2 March, with the exam to be held in 18 locations from 11 to 16 June.




hi everyone, please consider the following sequence that I followed:
do the bridging subjects (round 1) then the cfp ethics (that will be a second round for ethics) then do the fasea exam (third round). then you will pass and be super ethical (like me) as you will have done ethics three times, once in the bridging subjects, then cfp 1 which is ethics, then the fasea exam
I posted to Linkedin I passed……. after all I was pretty stoked….my staff all said they were worried about there jobs if I failed. My retirement savings, my business, my life long work would have come to an end, my education all for nothing, so yeah I ran out in the street and kissed an old lady and fist bumped some random. What stood out in Linkedin was the number of leaches/ people in sales in this industry that are not actually face to face Financial Advisers, whether that’s a Coach, an Area Sales Manager but did the exam regardless just so they can say they can “relate” but in reality have nothing to lose, accept their next sales bonus. That’s whats wrong with this industry. One person (the advisers) we’re shit scared of doing anything wrong and having our phones tapped by ASIC, and another sector has no consequences. Yet it’s the latter that’s steering the ship in most cases.
what you state is the reason why advisers are under so much pressure. we are the ones taking all the risk but we have no control over our present or future and everything could be taken from us at a whim of someone’s fancy. I passed the exam, but I like to keep under the radar because I am highly qualified, very well-off, very successful and I have a lot to lose so I go incognito.
do not big note yourself, keep to yourself and pretend you are poor and a battler so the leeches do not come after you.
I passed the December exam, that’s all I care about. Done and dusted..NEXT ;-).
“FASEA is pleased with the (financial) outcomes of the third exam and congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act,” said FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield. A nice little $1,800,000 in exam fees generated…
Let’s have a mandatory exam on ethics for prospective politicians. If you want to run for office, you have to pass to prove you are clean and above board. Let’s set the registration cost at $5,000 and you can only attempt it once. This will weed out all the potential Bridget McKenzie types who continue to infest the parliaments of this country.
I sat the exam and left not really knowing how I went. I thought it was difficult…thankfully I passed but am surprised with the high pass rate.
It’s very much an anti-climax considering the stress it’s caused.
That is not an easy exam and the high pass rate is very impressive. I was surprised when the pass rate was over 50% for the second and now the third group.
it was basic comprehension… read the question, then look up the answer.. I don’t know how anyone failed it. Yes I was nervous to see my result but really we should pass this
I dont know if you sat the same exam as me but the multi choice questions in my exam had no direct link to the available reading material. Trying to look up the answer proved mostly fruitless and a waste of time.
The multi choice answer options were tricky and I felt often more than one answer was correct depending on information that was not provided.
If I was to give advice to future participants it would be just stick it out during the painful 3 and a half hours and do your best, particularly with the short answer questions, as you only have to do better than 15% of the fellow people in your exam pool to pass.
Makes you wonder if the more capable candidates went early and are skewing the pass rates higher. Will be interesting to see what happens as we get nearer to the last sittings.
BTW unless the extension legislation is passed or FASEA changes their exam scheduling, the last exam sitting opportunity to get a pass recorded before the deadline is October this year.
that’s exactly what’s happening. the highly experienced advisers who already have a fasea approved degree or another related degree are going first. it will get worse from here on especially ones the limited licensed accountants sit it. they won’t know what hit them when they see a behaviour finance or ethics question
The pass rate (for the 3 sittings) has been: 90% (1), 88% (2) and 86% (3). Now about 5,000 Existing Relevant Providers – roughly 20% of the industry – have taken the exam, probably the most progressive people in advice. Expect the pass rate to keep falling this year.
I tend to disagree. I’ve studied for over 10 years whilst working fulltime in this job. I completed my Masters in FP when most advisers were thinking the CFP was the one to strive for. I’ll hold off this silly exam for as long as i can. My Linkedin contacts are also shrinking in line with the amount of people holding up their certificates saying “i passed FASEA”.
Gez, make sure you have a look at the sample papers in the FASEA website, its a fairly good representation of the trick wording of the questions.
Bad move to defer sitting this. If you fail, and have to do it again you will be in trouble. 2 months to get your results. It’s a very ambiguous exam and just his week two Masters graduates posted to social media that they failed! You said you disagree with my post. Why? B/c you have a Masters? That won’t move the needle on the overall pass rates for 80% of the Industry. More likely you disagree just b/c you’re opinionated and felt like a rant. Your qualifications will not save you at the exam (I have plenty). NB I have not posted to LinkedIn that I passed as I think that’s a pretty goofy think to do.
You could at least learn to repect one’s opinion. You didnt understand what i was getting at. I was once progressive but now im not according to your simplistic modelling. Does that more sense?
Good luck with the exam, sincerely. It’s quite tricky. Posted by “I passed”