FCA exams in UK

Due to take the FCA in the summer as I start the FT Analyst stint. I've heard the FCA can be a bit tricky...can anyone give further insight into it or is there any materials or prep work I should be doing now?

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You’ll most likely be asked to take the regulations and securities exams (possibly also derivatives if you’re going into ECM or a related product group).

Most banks pick Fitch Learning to do the teaching, and rightly so. They are very good, and give weight to the right topics.

I studied just a few days for each exam. If you come from a finance background, securities is super simple - bar all the UK specific rules you need to learn on clearing, dividends, market conduct, etc. Otherwise it’s like any corporate finance course you took at university. Regulations is a little trickier, but absolutely doable - all about memorising some of the driest content you’ll ever read.

Didn’t need to do derivatives, so can’t really speak to that one.

Fitch give you a few mock exams as part of their package, which, in my experience, were broadly similar to the actual exam. If you can do these, you should be fine.

The CISI (certifying authority) give a few textbooks, which contain all the information you could possible need, but Fitch does a good job of distilling it into the stuff they will actually put on the exam, so would avoid giving too much time on these books.

Good luck, friend.

 

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