Checked 25 October 2026. The format, the learning-outcome weightings and the edition dates were read on the CII’s R01 unit page, syllabus and examination guide on 25 October 2026. This syllabus applies to exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027; check the unit page before relying on a figure.
The CII R01 exam is 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours: 87 standard format and 13 multiple response. R01, Financial services, regulation and ethics, is in the CII’s words “a core unit for the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning which meets the FCA’s qualification requirements for retail investment advisers.” The syllabus now in force is examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. This page sets out the two question formats, how many questions the syllabus gives each of its eleven learning outcomes as a guide, the pass mark and how the CII adjusts marks, and the official practice material. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not affiliated with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), and nothing here is official. Every format fact below is quoted or summarised from the CII’s own pages and documents, read on 25 October 2026.
CII R01 unit page, syllabus and examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, read 25 October 2026.
The two question formats
The examination guide describes both. A standard format question “consists of a problem followed by four options, labelled A, B, C and D, from which the candidate is asked to choose the correct response. Each question will contain only one correct or best response to the problem posed.” One mark is awarded for each correct response, and “No marks are deducted for candidates choosing an incorrect response.”
A multiple response question “consists of a problem, followed by between four to six options. For each question more than one option is correct. Candidates must select all the correct options to gain the mark.” Miss one of the correct options and the question does not gain the mark. The syllabus puts all 13 of these in two learning outcomes, 5 in outcome 6 and 8 in outcome 7, both of which are “apply” outcomes.
| Format | How many | Options | Correct options | To score the mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 87 | Four, A to D | One (the correct or best) | Choose that option |
| Multiple response | 13 | Four to six | More than one | Select every correct option |
From the examination information on page 5 of the CII’s R01 examination guide for 2026/27.
The syllabus: eleven learning outcomes
The syllabus gives a number of questions for each learning outcome. It calls this a guide: the specification “has an in-built element of flexibility”, is “not a statement of actual number of questions that will appear in every exam”, and the number testing each outcome “will generally be within the range plus or minus 2 of the number indicated.” Learning outcome 5, the regulators’ responsibilities and approach, is given 29 of the 100 questions on its own.
| Learning outcome | Questions (2026/27 syllabus) | What it covers (our summary) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Understand the UK financial services industry in its European and global context | 6 standard | The UK and international markets and their participants, how financial services work in the economy, and the government’s role. |
| 2. Understand how the retail consumer is served by the financial services industry | 12 standard | Obligations to consumers; consumers’ needs (debt, borrowing, protection, saving and investing, retirement, estate and tax planning) and the products and state benefits that meet them. |
| 3. Understand the legal concepts and considerations relevant to financial advice | 9 standard | Legal persons and powers of attorney, contract and agency, ownership of property, insolvency and bankruptcy, wills, intestacy and trusts. |
| 4. Understand the regulation of financial services | 6 standard | The FCA, PRA, HM Treasury and the Bank of England (Financial Policy Committee); other bodies; FSMA 2000 and later Acts; global regulation. |
| 5. Understand the financial regulators’ responsibilities and approach to regulation | 29 standard | The regulators’ objectives and powers, financial crime, the Consumer Duty, the High Level Standards, training and competence, COBS, CASS, market conduct, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, supervision and enforcement. |
| 6. Apply the principles and rules as set out in the regulatory framework | 4 standard + 5 multiple response | Authorisation, regulated persons’ responsibilities, record keeping, complaints, money laundering and proceeds of crime, data protection, the Financial Ombudsman Service, FSCS, Pensions Ombudsman, MoneyHelper and the Pension Protection Fund. |
| 7. Apply the regulatory advice framework to ensure fair outcomes for the consumer | 5 standard + 8 multiple response | Types of client, duty of care, disclosure of services and charges, execution-only and insistent clients, referrals, cancellation rights, vulnerable clients, adviser charging, advice standards and reviews. |
| 8. Understand the range of skills required when advising clients | 4 standard | Communicating clearly, gathering and analysing information, reaching recommendations, dealing with insistent clients. |
| 9. Understand the financial regulators’ use of principles and outcomes based regulation to promote ethical and fair outcomes | 7 standard | The FCA’s Principles for Businesses, corporate culture and leadership, responsibilities under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, conflicts of interest. |
| 10. Apply appropriate ethical and professional standards to business behaviours of individuals | 2 standard | Professional principles, the FCA conduct rules, ethical theories and codes, the Bribery Act, CSR, and managing ethical dilemmas. |
| 11. Critically evaluate the outcomes that distinguish between ethical and compliance driven behaviours | 3 standard | Ethical behaviour compared with doing only what the rules require, and what each leads to for consumers, advisers, firms and the industry. |
Question numbers from the R01 syllabus examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027; the summaries are ours, from the CII’s indicative content for 2026/27. Read the syllabus and indicative content themselves for the full list.
From the R01 syllabus for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. The syllabus calls these numbers a guide: each will generally be within plus or minus 2 in any one exam.
What is the R01 pass mark?
The CII’s R01 unit page states: “The standard pass mark is 65%”, and “The 2025 pass rate for this unit was 72.82%”. The standard is not a fixed raw mark on every paper. The CII’s guide “Understanding your exam result” explains that it uses information about how difficult each exam version is and, “where necessary, automatically adjust the marks that every candidate receives on that exam version to compensate them for the degree of difficulty encountered”. It adds that it “will always report to you the moderated number of marks/adjusted marks relative to the standard pass mark”. The examination guide adds that “A pre-defined quota of passes to be awarded does not exist. If all candidates achieve a score of at least the pass mark, then all candidates will be awarded a pass grade.”
So the standard pass mark is 65%, but the raw mark needed on a given exam version can be higher or lower. In the CII’s own worked example, where an exam version is judged slightly harder than the standard the pass mark is lowered (for example to 63) and candidates’ marks are adjusted up to match; on a slightly easier version the marks are adjusted down. The examination guide says your feedback also shows, for each learning outcome, the percentage of questions you answered correctly.
Which edition you sit
The 2026/27 R01 syllabus is examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, and it says candidates “will be examined on the basis of English law and practice in the tax year 2026/2027 unless otherwise stated”. The CII’s R01 unit page states the general rule: “the new tax year and changes arising from the Finance Act will be examined from 1 September each year. Other changes, not related to the Finance Act, will not be examined earlier than 3 months after they come into effect.”
| Change named on the CII’s R01 unit page | In effect from | Examined from |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Services Compensation Scheme deposit protection limit | 1 December 2025 | 27 February 2026 |
| Financial Ombudsman Service award limits | 1 April 2026 | 1 July 2026 |
From the “Qualification update” on the CII’s R01 unit page, read 25 October 2026. The same panel still names the 2025/26 tax year; the 2026/27 syllabus and examination guide name 2026/27. The study text edition for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 is the 2026–27 edition.
How the exam is taken
You can sit R01 at an exam centre or by remote invigilation. The examination guide points you to the CII’s familiarisation test for the exam layout, and says that once you have booked a remote-invigilation exam you can launch a tutorial from your MyCII/MyPFS dashboard, which “can only be accessed three times”. Extracts from tax tables are provided in the exam and you may not bring your own. A calculator must be silent, battery or solar powered and non-programmable; a financial or scientific calculator is allowed if it meets those rules. You may make rough notes.
Official practice from the CII
| Resource | What it holds | Where |
|---|---|---|
| R01 examination guide | The syllabus, examination information and a specimen examination with its answer key and the learning outcome each question covers | On the R01 unit page |
| Enrolment plus | The study text and revision aids (Key Facts booklet, Audio Revision, Knowledge Checker, E-learn) for 12 months, plus an exam voucher valid for 18 months | Bought from the CII |
| Revision Extra | A digital course with video support and practice questions; not part of Enrolment plus | Bought separately from the CII |
From the CII’s R01 unit page and examination guide, read 25 October 2026. No prices were in the page text we read.
For more questions in the same format, our R01 practice questions page works through three questions from the ProSyllabus CII R01 practice test, an independent test of two full 100-question exams.
What we could not find
| Question | What we found |
|---|---|
| How far marks are adjusted on a given exam version | The pages we read give a worked example only, not the adjustment for any real exam version. |
| R01 fees | No fee amounts were in the unit-page text we read, so none is quoted here. |
| Past R01 papers | None on the pages we read; the examination guide contains a specimen examination. |
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are in the CII R01 exam?
100 multiple-choice questions: 87 standard format and 13 multiple response, in two hours.
What is the R01 pass mark?
The CII’s R01 unit page states that the standard pass mark is 65%. Where necessary the CII adjusts marks for the difficulty of each exam version, and it reports your result against the standard pass mark. The page gives the 2025 pass rate as 72.82%.
How do R01 multiple response questions work?
Each has four to six options, more than one of them correct, and you must select all the correct options to gain the mark. There are 13 multiple response questions; the syllabus’s indicative allocation is five to learning outcome 6 and eight to learning outcome 7.
Is there negative marking in R01?
No. The examination guide says no marks are deducted for choosing an incorrect response.
Which learning outcome has the most questions?
Learning outcome 5, the financial regulators’ responsibilities and approach to regulation, which the 2026/27 syllabus gives 29 of the 100 questions as its guide.
Which syllabus applies to my exam?
For exams sat from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, the 2026/27 R01 syllabus, on English law and practice in the 2026/27 tax year unless otherwise stated.
Can I take R01 by remote invigilation?
Yes: the examination guide covers sitting at an exam centre or by remote invigilation, and asks remote candidates to check that their equipment is suitable first.
More in this series
Sources
- official — CII: Financial Services, Regulation and Ethics (R01), unit page with the testing position and exam guide updates (read 25 Oct 2026)
- official — CII: R01 Financial services, regulation and ethics, examination syllabus, examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026)
- official — CII: R01 indicative content 2026/2027 (assessment criteria and indicative content per learning outcome)
- official — CII: R01 examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026), with a specimen examination
- official — CII: Understanding your exam result (how marks are moderated)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
