A surge in new entrant financial advisers is expected over the next few weeks now that the latest financial adviser exam results have been released, says Wealth Data.
In analysing the March 2024 financial adviser exam results, Wealth Data’s Colin Williams says this latest exam had both the highest number of candidates at 298 and candidates passing (210) since Aug 2022 (see: Latest Results Released).
He also found the number of candidates for the March exam “…was a significant uptick on exams held during 2023. The most [advisers] sitting one exam in 2023 was 219 in November.”
Williams says it would appear the new exam format, of removing the short answer questions and increasing the number of multiple-choice questions “…did not make a significant difference to the pass rates. The pass rate at 70% was similar to all pass rates since the start of 2023, which have fluctuated between 63% and 73%.”
However he notes his chart below, ‘Total Passed Versus Current Advisers’ highlights that “…as at the end of March, 3,955 candidates have passed the exam but are not currently practicing as an adviser.”
“This number may shrink over the next weeks, as we tend to find advisers joining the FAR as Provisional Advisers, after passing the exam,” he says.
