The pass rate of the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) candidates that passed the exam after two or more sittings at 65% is better than Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams, according to FASEA.
In answers to questions by Senator Ben Small, FASEA said across 12 exams sittings so far there were 1,516 candidates who had completed two or more sittings, and the pass rate for this group was 65%.
“This pass rate compares favourably with other certification assessments in the industry,” FASEA said.
“For example, the Level I and Level II exams run by the CFA Institute report pass rates of between 40% and 50% respectively.”
FASEA said it considered it an “achievable exam for prepared advisers” given the overall 89% pass rate across the 12 exams.
“The credit-level standard required to pass the Financial Adviser Examination reflects the minimum level of competency required for professional practice,” it said.
“A credit-level standard is commonly accepted as requiring a percentage score of at least 65 and is a widely accepted basis for awarding a pass in licensure and certification exams.”
FASEA noted the percentage of exam candidates that achieved a raw mark of between 50% and a credit level standard (65%) and had therefore failed were:
- Exam 1 June 2019 – 7.77%
- Exam 2 September 2019 – 10.14%
- Exam 3 December 2019 – 12.51%
- Exam 4 February 2020 – 9.68%
- Exam 5 April 2020 – 11.91%
- Exam 6 June 2020 – 12.67%
- Exam 7 August 2020 – 4.54%
- Exam 8 October 2020 – 4.64%
- Exam 9 November 2020 – 8.86%
- Exam 10 January 2021 – 10.66%
- Exam 11 March 2021 – 13.25%; and
- Exam 12 May 2021 – 13.52%.
FASEA said the average number of attempts needed by a candidate to pass was 1.08, and that this suggested the vast majority of candidates who passed did so on their first attempt.
“The maximum number of attempts by an individual relevant provider across the 12 sittings to date is five. Eight advisers had this many sittings and four ultimately passed on the fifth attempt,” FASEA said.
