Although the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) exam is marked on a pass or fail basis, FASEA has indicated it gives advice to advisers that are close to a pass that they can apply for a re-mark.
The admission to a Senate Estimates committee should give some certainty to advisers who failed the exam and were unsure if it would be worth the effort to apply for a re-mark, which would cost $198 plus GST.
This was particularly notable as with only three sittings left before the 1 January, 2022, deadline, applying for a re-mark might help advisers avoid any issues by being trying to get re-instated on the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) Financial Adviser Register (FAR).
Money Management previously noted examples of a successful re-sit attempt, which would help advisers paying another $540 plus GST to sit the exam.
Stephen Glenfield, FASEA chief executive, said any adviser that did not pass could apply for a re-mark, but were warned it may not be worth it.
“If they’re nowhere near the pass mark, they’re advised [that] you can apply for a re-mark, but your mark is not sufficient,” Glenfield said.
“If your mark is close to the border, the opportunity is there to apply for a re-mark, so it gives them an idea of where they sit without giving an actual mark.”
Glenfield said FASEA had made “good progress” on the feedback it gave advisers after the exam.
“Candidates used to get feedback that said whether they’d underperformed in one, two or three of [the exam] areas,” Glenfield said.
“The feedback that unsuccessful advisers are now getting is, for example, ‘in the legal and regulatory compliance area, the areas you underperformed in were A, B, C and D’.”
“It’s broken it right down into which bits they’ve struggled with. And we’ve gone back, so all those who have been unsuccessful in the past can access that depth as well.
“That can be really important for someone who has perhaps failed two or three times, so they can look for any particular trends.”
Glenfield said FASEA now offered pre and post exam webinars to help advisers at both ends of the process.
“Once you sign up for the exam, you’re invited to a pre-webinar that FASEA hosts, where you can ask questions and where FASEA gives a rundown of what the exam will be about, what it will look like and what types of questions will be on it,” Glenfield said.
“Post exam, we run a webinar for unsuccessful candidates, to talk about the areas that unsuccessful candidates struggled with and what they’ll need to look at going forward.”
