I wanted to take a break for health reasons, including IVF treatment. I now have to take 6 exams instead of the 3 I had outstanding. The IFOA is not supportive at all. I therefore don’t see how the change in curriculum is beneficial. I am going to have to study the same boring and useless material which I have looked at countless times in CT6 since I never passed CT4. I also don’t see how you will study with children. I don’t mean to discourage you and I am sure you already appreciate it, but it will be very stressful to manage work, children and study. If you have to work 100pc to pay your mortgage and study on top, even with time given from employers, it is going to be difficult to spend weekends, early mornings and evenings studying 6 months of the year. If you recall another poster had issues juggling his religious commitments. I know people do study with children but it is certainly much more difficult if you have an family to take these exams than without.
Another poster didn’t receive his exam fee back due to illness of one of his children.
The ifoa keep changing exam dates etc at the drop of a hat and with children I’m sure you are going to have to try to plan your exams well in advance. Juggling school holidays with your own study season will be challenging. The ifoa will only make consideration if you are within 5pc of the pass mark, so if you have issues with your pregnancy and do not fall within this category then you are simply awarded a fail.
The ifoa have been completely unsympathetic to my case so I would be interested to hear if they assist you in anyway.
I do believe that the ifoa have stopped the inhumane 6 hour 30 minutes exams being on one day. This is likely due to access arrangements for disabled people or pregnancy perhaps. But they never told anyone the reason why they did this.
Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2018