Standard Set B assessment guidance note

THURSDAY 12 AUGUST 2010 [Updated 30 September 2011]

The following information is intended to assist financial advisers in their preparation for sitting the Standard Set B examination. It reflects recent changes to the Financial Advisers Act and the final form of the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers as recommended to the Commissioner for Financial Advisers by the Code Committee.

Unit Standard 26360: Demonstrate understanding of the legislative framework for financial advisers

Unit standard 26360 [Demonstrate understanding of the legislative framework for financial advisers] sets out what will be assessed in the examination under four main groupings:

• FAA Act & FSP register
• consumer legislation, conduct and disclosure
• the Code of Professional Conduct
• complaint resolution and consequences for financial advisers.

The examination sections that require a pass mark are based on the four elements set out in the unit standard. The elements have been divided into critical topic areas. It is these critical topic areas that form the sections requiring pass marks.

Financial advisers who sit the Standard Set B examination on or after 1 October 2011 must meet the following criteria: 

The questions in the examination cover all of the performance criteria which you can find detailed in the unit standard. The unit standard is available here

The performance criteria will be assessed either in standalone topics or across several areas where an overall level of competency is more relevant.

Further detail is provided in the performance criteria and range statements, with the variations outlined in the previous section of this guidance note.

Examination questions are intended to assess an adviser’s understanding of the application of regulations to the every day practice of financial advice. The questions will not examine the margins of the various Acts or the Code of Professional Conduct. For example;

• scenario questions regarding the interpretation of a class service and a personalised service will not focus on the precise line of transition from one to the other, but will offer a scenario that is clearly one or the other.
• questions on offences will not focus on precise dollar values of fines, but the nature of the penalty in relation to the offence.

Passing the examination

The one hour examination is expected to include 30 multi-choice and multi-select questions randomly selected from a larger pool of questions.

For multiple choice questions, one of the range of options is chosen. For multi-select questions, all correct options must be chosen within that question for the answer to be correct.

To pass the examination candidates must achieve:

• 70% as an overall pass mark

and

• a preset pass mark for each section/topic area of the examination. Section/topic area pass marks will vary. Some will require 50% to pass and others a higher pass mark e.g. 60%. In the specific topic areas, the requirement varies depending on the level of knowledge required in that topic area.See further details in the table above.

Further information

The unit standard can be downloaded here

If you need further study materials, you should approach registered and accredited training providers to discuss your training needs. Click here for the list of registered and accredited training providers.

• The information contained in this guidance note is correct as at Friday 30 September. It is recommended that advisers continue to refer to this website for any further updates to Standard Set B examination guidance.