AF8 Coursework Help
Where a student regularly underperforms in the AF8 exams is in the ‘application and analysis’. The key reason for this is that they don’t understand what is required and what the examiner is testing. What’s commonly happening is that students – particularly re-submitters – start off on the wrong foot where the case studies are concerned and then leave it too late to get the help they need in order to pass – costing them time and money.
AF8 Coursework – what am I letting myself in for?
I decided to give a ‘different’ type of exam a go and enrolled myself for AF8 which is the CII’s Retirement Income Planning qualification. It is designed to enable you to advise clients on income planning approaching and during retirement, including later life.
Instead of the usual multi choice or written exam papers that I’m used to by now, AF8 is assessed on submission of 3 written coursework assignments, the first two being 2,500 words and the third 3,000 words. Although, the enrolment for this qualification spans 12 months, you have to submit each assignment within a maximum timescale – Assignment 1 within 3 months of enrolment, Assignment 2 within 6 months and Assignment 3 within 9 months. Because of this some people may see it as the ‘easy option’ – it’s not, it is just the ‘different option’.
I paid my money, received my CII study text and then thought…where do I start?
Assignment 1
My first stop was RevisionMate where there are lots of useful resources with theory on how to prepare assignments / coursework FAQ’s / Plagiarism and Collusion / your approach to coursework and of course…your own case study that your assignments are going to be based on, along with details of your three assignments.
What I really wanted then was an example of ‘what good looks like’ even to understand how to structure my first assignment (being new to this type of exam). The CII do give an exemplar fact find and answers for each of the assignments but if I’m honest, I was quite disappointed with the exemplar for this first assignment. I understand the CII can’t ‘spoon feed’ you with the perfect answer otherwise people would just follow this and the examiner wouldn’t necessarily see what YOU know and how YOU would assemble this information, but I had expected they might give us an example of one that achieved more than 60 marks. It did however give details on where high marks had been gained and a few pointers as to what the individual might have done to increase those marks.
I thought to myself ‘Where do I go now?’ for more guidance, exemplars and importantly, a cash flow modelling tool because I saw in the CII exemplar that the person would have gained more marks by using a cashflow illustration but I personally didn’t have access to one…the place where I could find ALL of this was Expert Pensions.
How can Expert Pensions help?
What they provided me with in the AF8 course in terms of instructional videos and documents, helping you to understand where to start, how to structure your answer and what to make sure you include. Importantly for me personally to remember, it’s not all about the facts it’s how you apply them so… evaluation, taking those technical points and as it says in the video ‘turning them into something useful’, so exactly what I was looking for. The cashflow modelling tool was a godsend – it was quick and super easy to use and produced very nicely presented reports that would only enhance my overall assignment – there were a couple of little quirks to work around but once I got used to these (in about 30 seconds!) I LOVED it.
It was great to break the learning into bite size chunks that you could do at your own pace….mine! I wanted to get this first assignment completed and submitted ASAP BUT I also wanted it to be something I was proud of and comfortable submitting – not, oh well, sure we’ll give this a go and see what happens!
I have spent many hours writing / rewriting / reviewing and amending this first assignment but it has just been submitted to the CII for review. One tip that I picked up on in the Expert Pension videos was ‘always sleep on it’. When you have completed your assignment, it is so tempting to think ‘great I’ll just submit that now’ but DON’T…sleep on it and review it again with fresh eyes before you submit it. I can almost guarantee that you will find little (or big) things that you’ll want to change / reword / add or delete – I certainly did!
With the combination of assistance available on RevisionMate (to be honest I didn’t really look at the CII study text for this Assignment at all – maybe I will for the next 2) and from the Expert Pensions AF8 course, I feel confident in what I have submitted to the CII for my 1st Assignment is so much better than anything I would have achieved had I had to work alone.
Now to get started on Assignment 2 and wait up to 40 days to see what the examiner thought of Assignment 1.
Ready to join us?
We live and breathe the mission of designing study plans that deliver high-value solutions. We have put in place a comprehensive blended-learning solution combining PDF downloads and videos which are written, presented, and supported by some of the best pension trainers and technicians in the UK. Our AF8 course doesn’t focus on teaching technical concepts. You are already Level 4/6 qualified. You know technical. We focus on technique: critical analysis; sound financial planning; cash flow modelling; essay writing; and the application of technical concepts.
