FASEA on Monday released exam results from the 14th Financial Advisers Exam held in September 2021, revealing that only 61 per cent of all candidates passed the exam.
“FASEA congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act,” said FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield.
“In recognition of their achievement, passing candidates who give consent, will have their names added to the successful candidates list on the FASEA website.”
Overall, 16,850 advisers have passed the adviser exams held to date. Of those who have passed, over 14,630 are recorded as active financial advisers on ASIC Financial Adviser Register (FAR), representing 76 per cent of active advisers on ASIC’s FAR; over 1,840 are ceased advisers on the FAR and may be re-authorised; while over 360 are new entrants and may be authorised as a Provisional Financial Adviser.
“Over 19,034 advisers have sat the exam, with approximately nine in 10 demonstrating they have the skills to apply their knowledge of advice construction, ethics and legal requirements to the practical scenarios tested in the exam. The high pass rate reflects that the exam is an achievable exam for competent relevant providers regardless of their area of specialisation,” said Mr Glenfield.
To date, 2,226 unsuccessful candidates have re-sat the exam, with 66 per cent passing at a re-sit. Sixty-five per cent of candidates sitting the exam for the first time passed the September exam, compared with an average of 78 per cent across all exams.
Candidates who were unsuccessful in the September exam will receive additional individual feedback to highlight the curriculum areas where they have underperformed and are eligible to sit the November exam, bookings close 29 October 2021.
The exam is fundamentally flawed in many areas, but it really wasn’t that difficult. My highest education at the time I sat the exam was the ADFS, so I’ve never done any uni-level study or exams. I did, however, read a couple of books about how to study better prior to taking the exam and found these incredibly useful (not just for this exam, but for life in general).
It’s a silly requirement, but as it has to be done, I’m not sure why people have left it this late to do it. Really makes no sense. Just do a practice exam, revise areas where you have had problems, and give it a go.
Surely people aren’t still talking about this?
It would be so much more helpful if there was a clear cirriculum to follow and complete visibility around incorrect answers
Part of the intention of higher education standards is to ensure advisers have appropriate analysis and judgement skills to apply in a wide range of circumstances that are subject to frequent change. That’s what good advisers do in their day to day jobs.
Neither the exam, nor the adviser’s job, should be about regurgitating a narrow range of simplistic answers learnt by rote.
I thought it was pretty clear…they were FASEA, established to design a code…they then wrote that code and then launched an exam…shock… on the code. Did you go into the exam thinking they were testing you on PE ratio’s or how managed accounts worked or something? Thought it was pretty clear myself.
I think they should provide us the actual mark obtained , rather than a simple pass or fail. I passed first time but have no idea if I got 100% or just fell over the line. Others who have failed don’t know if they missed by a mile or just failed.
I have seen good advisers fail this exam 2 and 3 times and just dont do well on exams which sux for them.
The thing that is just very wrong with FASEA is not giving any feedback on how much they fail by and in what areas so they can work hard on these points .
If you fail an exam anywhere else you will get this feedback to help the student – yes even Universities do it so why not set the exam with the intention to help advisers instead of hinder.
…and eat into the profit they get with the exhorbitant exam fee they charged…don’t be silly – that would mean being ethical…which we all know they are not.
There’s three main areas that are tested. If you’ve failed and they come back telling you that you need to brush up on all three areas, then it’s pretty obvious that you’ve stuffed up big time. If these advisers were really any good, they wouldnt have failed 2 or 3 times. I get failing once, but the second or third time….really?? I wonder what these people did between the various attempts to ensure the didnt fail that second or third time??
Hi Doubting Thomas, the truth is you have too much experience and have seen an incredible number of “TRUE LIFE” scenarios to pass the exam as ALL of this is clouding your judgement in answering the exam questions.
I have 30 years experience and passed 1st time in May 2021 WITH NO STUDY and only did the MetLife webinar on “How to take the exam” done by Jeffery Scott which was brilliant! I didn’t care and walked in laughing at how deadly serious the moderator was and winged it. I was only taking it for experience as I thought I would fail so I could then maybe find time to study later.
The problem is that we (advisers of +20 years) have too much experience and cannot think of each question like a narrow minded “educator” that structured each question looking for a specific answer only to prove if you have the knowledge. We haven’t lived this university or student mentality for many years or at all in most cases so it really comes down to US learning how to TAKE THE TEST not what is on the test because we most likely already know that.
Because I didn’t overthink it and didn’t care about this stupid exam I found it very easy. The people who wrote the exam are only thinking on 1 level and cannot fathom the real life complexities because they have never done our job for 20 plus years!!
You make some very valid and thoughtful comments – which I am in general agreement with. The exam was a “classic” academic slanted exam – because that is who jumped on the moneytrain of FASEA.
It is nice to hear someone who passed the exam – not taking cheap shots at those who have struggled. In my humble opinion – those who engage in that behaviour – automatically fail the test of a being a great adviser – that is empathy.
As an older planner told me when I started – clients don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Please do not conflate passing the exam with honesty or integrity and before the trolls get too excited – also competency.
Very well said Gary. Way too many advisers left in this industry that have no empathy for other advisers. It is a sad indictment on them and l would hate to be a client of theirs.
Look at the big picture. Thankfully this whole FASEA process has allowed a few Directors at some of Australia’s largest corporations including the board and CEO of the FPA to keep their jobs. Well done. Let’s not forget about the job retention and consulting opportunities created for Griffith Uni..So we should all be thankful and move past failure rates.
Yes, got the bad news failed again at the second attempt. Just under 40 years in the business. Have always passed everything, have completed a lot of other education also, always passed with good marks. Haven’t passed this though, even though I felt extremely good about my chances. Anyone else engage ‘the knowledge people’ or the like for tutoring? Feel free to cluck your tongues, & pass your judgements. I’m ok with that…:)
HI mate,
Kaplan exam prep course is good (KAPE)
TAL Masterclass is better, excellent I and others found. Also CPD points for this.
Practice exams at Kaplan and FASEA website.
I did all of the above before sitting and got through.
Hang in there, third time is a charm. See you in 2022.
Hi DT – I sat the exam for the first time in September and luckily passed. I can see how its difficult to pass as it was quite abstract though years of under/post-grad allowed me to see what they were asking (and, I suspect, which is why the younger applicants seem to be doing well in the exam). My tips with how I passed: There’s some FASEA PD Sessions on YouTube (do a search); TAL FASEA Session; and MyIntegrity Education courses (and Joel Ronchi) were very helpful…
You have two more chances. Go for it.
Hopefully third time lucky…
May or may not be relevant for you but it is for some…
Don’t rely on your dealer group’s compliance processes to give you the right answers for the exam questions. There is a big divergence between some dealer groups’ compliance and the law. Make sure to learn the law.
Correct! Good advice.
The compliance teams in many dealer groups often don’t know what the law is because they’re not the ones who have to comply with it. So they couldn’t care less.
It should be mandatory for all compliance staff to pass the FASEA exam at a minimum, so that they at least have some idea, instead of just giving the usual glib answer of ‘look it up in the licensee standards.’
With adviser numbers plunging, they will soon be realising the danger of biting the hand that feeds them.
The AFSL that I’m with made all their compliance staff sit the first exam. They all passed. Maybe you need a better AFSL…
TAL masterclass is good. Practice exam questions from FASEA are good, and reflect the exam standard. I found Kaplan practice exams quite easy. My best tip – spend time reading and learning the material eg. FASEA CoE and guide, and ASIC regulatory guides. They have lots and lots of examples in them. You may think you know, but I found the main difficulty is that there are so many permutations and combinations of circumstances, and slight changes mean different documents, procedures etc.
Dt, I did the kaplan legal framework subject and also the ethics bridging subject. All the questions relates to these areas. Best of luck
It is getting pretty clear now. About 240 out of 420 re-sitters passed, or 57%. Overall about 1,040 passed. Only 1,312 sat the exam.
That leaves the November exam, which will probably add at most another 1,000 who pass the exam.
Therefore active financial advisers who will have passed will be down to 15,600 or fewer by the end of the year plus an unknown number of double failures but the double failures won’t be more than 34% of 2,226 or 757.
5,000 only will be left after 2025. 90%+ risk advisers will be gone. Watch this space.
Goodbye FASEA good riddance