RE1 Practice Exams & Answers

Written for key individuals, not representatives

RE1 is a longer, heavier paper than RE5 — 80 questions over 2 hours 30 minutes — and it is written from the point of view of the person who must manage and oversee an FSP, not the person who advises the client. These three papers are built around that difference, so the questions push you into oversight decisions: what a key individual must approve, monitor, report and be able to prove.

If you have already written RE5, expect a change in tone rather than completely new law. The same FAIS Act and General Code of Conduct come up, but the questions ask what you must do about them as a key individual.

• Paper 1 concentrates on licensing, fit and proper requirements and the appointment of representatives
• Paper 2 concentrates on governance, internal controls, oversight duties and compliance reporting
• Paper 3 is a full mixed paper covering the entire RE1 syllabus as a final readiness check
• Each paper comes with a complete answer memo explaining the reasoning behind every option

A realistic RE1 practice routine

Book two and a half uninterrupted hours for each paper and write it in one sitting, closed book. RE1 candidates fail more often from running out of time and concentration than from not knowing the law, and the only way to build that stamina is to practise at full length.

After marking, group your wrong answers by theme rather than by question number. If most of them sit under oversight and monitoring, that is one focused study session, not eighty separate corrections.

Themes RE1 candidates find hardest

• The dividing line between the duties of the FSP, the key individual and the representative
• Managing and overseeing representatives, including supervision arrangements and competence records
• Licence categories and subcategories, and what an FSP may and may not do under each
• Reporting obligations and time frames, including compliance reports and material changes
• Risk management, internal controls and the records that must be kept to prove them
• Consequences of non-compliance: debarment, licence suspension and withdrawal