Checked 25 October 2026. The format facts were read on the CII’s R05 syllabus and examination guide for 2026/27 on 25 October 2026. The three questions use the CII’s tax tables for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (tax year 2026/27).
R05 practice questions are most useful in the exam’s own shape: 50 questions in one hour, each with four options and one correct or best answer, on the 2026/27 syllabus. Below are three questions worked through, with the explanation behind each answer: a claim after a careless misrepresentation, a State benefit sum from the tax tables, and why shareholder protection uses a particular agreement. They come from our own independent R05 practice test, written to the CII’s 2026/27 syllabus with every benefit amount and tax figure taken from the CII’s 2026/27 exam tax tables. The CII’s own specimen examination is in its R05 examination guide, which you can download from its R05 unit page; use that too. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not affiliated with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), and nothing here is official. Every exam fact and figure below is quoted or summarised from the CII’s own pages and documents, and the rules behind the worked questions from legislation and GOV.UK, read on 25 October 2026.
Three worked R05 questions for 2026/27
Each question is printed exactly as it appears in the ProSyllabus CII R05 practice test, with the explanation the test gives after you answer.
Question 1 · LO4 Life assurance and pension-based policies
When Tom applied for £150,000 of life cover, he carelessly gave a wrong answer to a clear application question about high blood pressure, which he had. He was charged £20 a month; had he disclosed it, the insurer would have offered the same cover for £30 a month. Tom dies and the insurer discovers the misrepresentation. Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, how much is the insurer liable to pay?
- Nothing, with the premiums returned
- £100,000
- £50,000
- £150,000
Answer: B. A qualifying misrepresentation that was careless, where the insurer would still have offered cover, but at a higher premium, allows the insurer to "reduce proportionately" the claim (Schedule 1, paragraphs 7 and 8): the Financial Ombudsman Service says it is likely to find that the insurer can reduce the claim in line with the proportion of the premium paid. £20 / £30 = two thirds, and two thirds of £150,000 = £100,000. For a careless qualifying misrepresentation, the insurer may avoid the policy and refuse the claim (returning the premiums) only if it would not have offered cover on any terms.
From the ProSyllabus CII R05 practice test: an original question, not a CII specimen or exam question. It is one of that test’s three free questions.
Question 2 · LO3 State benefits
In 2026/27 Kate's husband dies. She meets the eligibility conditions for Bereavement Support Payment, gets Child Benefit for their two children, who live with her, will remain under State Pension age for the next two years, and claims Bereavement Support Payment within three months of his death. What is the total she will receive?
- £4,300
- £9,800
- £3,850
- £7,700
Answer: B. As she meets the eligibility conditions and gets Child Benefit for children who live with her, Kate qualifies for the higher rate. The CII tax tables 2026/27 give the higher rate as a lump sum of £3,500 and monthly payments of £350; GOV.UK says you usually need to claim within 3 months of the death to get the full amount, and as she stays under State Pension age she receives the lump sum and all 18 monthly payments. Total: £3,500 + (18 x £350) = £3,500 + £6,300 = £9,800.
From the ProSyllabus CII R05 practice test: an original question, not a CII specimen or exam question. It is one of that test’s three free questions.
Question 3 · LO10 Needs, priorities and solutions
The shareholders of a private company want their shareholder protection to leave the shares able to qualify for Business Relief on a death. Why are they advised to use an agreement giving the survivors an option to buy the shares, rather than a binding agreement to buy and sell them on death?
- A binding agreement makes the policy proceeds subject to Income Tax
- An option agreement means no life cover is needed to fund the purchase
- A binding contract for sale can cause Business Relief on the shares to be lost
- An option agreement forces the company to buy back every share
Answer: C. HMRC (IHTM25292): an agreement under which the personal representatives are required to sell the shares and the surviving shareholders are obliged to buy them (a buy and sell agreement) is a binding contract for sale, and it prevents the shares qualifying for Business Relief. An agreement under which the shares fall into the estate with an option for the survivors to purchase them is not a contract for sale, so it does not prevent the shares qualifying for Business Relief by reason of IHTA84/S113. The funds for the purchase may be provided by appropriate life assurance policies.
From the ProSyllabus CII R05 practice test: an original question, not a CII specimen or exam question. It is one of that test’s three free questions.
| Question | Learning outcome | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LO4 Life assurance and pension-based policies | B: £100,000 |
| 2 | LO3 State benefits | B: £9,800 |
| 3 | LO10 Needs, priorities and solutions | C: A binding contract for sale can cause Business Relief on the shares to be lost |
The table repeats the three answers for readers on a version of this page that does not show the cards.
FreeTests: LO4 Life assurance and pension-based policies · LO3 State benefits · LO10 Needs, priorities and solutions
CII R05 Practice Test: free sample
Answer 3 questions against the clock, like the real exam. You then see the right answer, the reason and your time on each. About 4 minutes · free · no sign-in.
3 questions to answer▶ Start nowThis one is free · no sign-in neededYour result shows how long each question took you.What the three questions have in common
Each turns on a rule that can be applied, not just recalled. The misrepresentation question uses the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012: where a qualifying misrepresentation was careless and the insurer would have charged a higher premium, Schedule 1 lets the insurer “reduce proportionately the amount to be paid on a claim”. The benefit question is a sum from the tax tables, read alongside GOV.UK’s rule on when a claim gets every payment. The shareholder protection question links a business protection arrangement to an Inheritance Tax relief. In our questions, as in these three, knowing why a product or arrangement works the way it does matters more than recalling its name.
How R05 questions are worded
The R05 examination guide says that each question has “only one correct or best response”, so two options can both sound reasonable while only one is the best answer to the question asked. It asks candidates to “pay particular attention to any words in the question which are emphasised in bold type, for example, maximum, minimum, main, most, normally and usually”, and says negative wording is emphasised in capitals, “for example NOT, CANNOT.” It also notes that the exam tests generic product knowledge: answer for the typical product described in the syllabus, not for one insurer’s version of it.
Using a timed mock well
| Step | What to do (our suggestion) |
|---|---|
| Time it | Sit 50 questions in one hour in one go: 72 seconds a question on average (our arithmetic). A steady pace leaves time to read each stem twice, which the guide’s advice on emphasised words rewards. |
| Use the tables | Practise with the CII’s published 2026/27 tax tables open, especially the State benefits and Inheritance Tax sections, rather than from memory or an older year’s figures. |
| Score by learning outcome | The CII’s own feedback reports the percentage you answered correctly on each learning outcome. Do the same with a mock, and compare your total with the 70% standard pass mark: 35 of 50. |
| Rework every question you missed | Read the explanation and the rule or Act behind it, then write down in one line why each wrong option was wrong. |
The format facts are from the CII’s R05 syllabus and examination guide for 2026/27. Our R05 format guide sets out every learning outcome and its indicative number of questions from the CII syllabus, and some of the figures from the CII’s 2026/27 tax tables.
Reading your mock score
| Correct answers out of 50 | Against the 70% standard pass mark | What we would do next (our suggestion) |
|---|---|---|
| 38 or more | Comfortably above | Keep one timed mock for the week of the exam; rework every question you missed. |
| 35 to 37 | At or just above | Too close to rely on. Work on your weakest learning outcome, then sit another timed mock. |
| 32 to 34 | Just below | Go back to the study text for the outcomes where you dropped most marks, starting with outcome 4, which has the highest indicative allocation: eight questions. |
| 31 or fewer | Well below | Finish the study text before another timed mock; use a mock to find gaps, not to learn the material. |
The same comparison without the tool. The 70% standard pass mark is from the CII’s R05 unit page; the bands and suggestions are ours. The CII adjusts marks where necessary for the difficulty of each exam version.
FreeTests: LO4 Life assurance and pension-based policies · LO3 State benefits · LO10 Needs, priorities and solutions
CII R05 Practice Test: free sample
Answer 3 questions against the clock, like the real exam. You then see the right answer, the reason and your time on each. About 4 minutes · free · no sign-in.
3 questions to answer▶ Start nowThis one is free · no sign-in neededYour result shows how long each question took you.Traps to watch for in R05 questions
| Trap | What the source says | What to do (our suggestion) |
|---|---|---|
| Careless versus deliberate misrepresentation | The 2012 Act gives different remedies: for a deliberate or reckless qualifying misrepresentation the insurer “may avoid the contract and refuse all claims”; for a careless qualifying one the remedy depends on what the insurer would have done, from avoiding with a refund of premiums to a proportionate reduction of the claim. | Decide first which kind of misrepresentation it was, then what the insurer would have done. |
| Missing part of a benefit | GOV.UK: you must claim Bereavement Support Payment “within 3 months of your partner’s death to get the one-off payment and all 18 monthly payments.” | Check the timing and the rate (higher or standard) before adding up the payments from the tables. |
| The £3,600 limit on qualifying policies | HMRC: for a policy issued on or after 6 April 2013, if “the total premiums payable in any 12 month period exceed £3,600 or could exceed £3,600 as a result of options or terms within the policy, then the whole policy will be non-qualifying.” | Multiply a monthly premium by 12 before deciding a policy’s tax status. |
| Who paid the income protection premium | HMRC: one condition for benefit from a policy to be exempt is that the insured did not receive Income Tax relief on the premiums (the policy must also cover a qualifying risk, pay in the qualifying period and be genuine insurance on arm’s length terms); under an employer’s scheme the employer is the insured, and benefit not matched by the employee’s own taxed contributions is taxed as employment income. | Ask who owns the policy and who paid the premiums before deciding the tax. |
| Negative wording | The examination guide says negative words are emphasised in capitals, for example NOT and CANNOT. | Read the stem twice when it contains a capitalised word. |
The traps are drawn from the CII’s R05 examination guide, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, GOV.UK’s Bereavement Support Payment page and HMRC’s Insurance Policyholder Taxation Manual (IPTM2073, IPTM6110, IPTM6120); the suggestions are ours.
Official practice from the CII
The CII’s R05 examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 can be downloaded from its R05 unit page. It contains a specimen examination with specimen tax tables, the answers and the learning outcome each question covers. The CII’s Knowledge Checker is a set of multiple-choice questions on the study text, and its E-learn includes an assessment tool.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find CII R05 practice questions?
The CII’s R05 examination guide, on its R05 unit page, contains a specimen examination with answers, and its Knowledge Checker adds multiple-choice questions on the study text. Independently, the ProSyllabus CII R05 practice test has two full 50-question exams for the 2026/27 syllabus, three questions of which are free and worked through on this page.
Are the questions on this page real R05 exam questions?
No. They are original questions written to the learning outcomes of the CII’s 2026/27 R05 syllabus. They are not CII specimen or exam questions and the CII has not written or endorsed them.
Which tax year do these questions use?
The 2026/27 tax year, with every benefit amount and tax figure from the CII’s tax tables for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027.
How long should an R05 mock take?
One hour for 50 questions, the time the real exam allows.
What score should I aim for in an R05 mock?
The standard pass mark is 70%, which is 35 of 50. Because the CII adjusts marks for the difficulty of each exam version, aim to score comfortably above 35 rather than just reach it.
More in this series
Sources
- official — CII: R05 examination guide for exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026), with a specimen examination
- official — CII: R05 Financial protection, examination syllabus, examined from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 (published June 2026)
- official — CII: R05 Financial Protection 2026/2027, assessment criteria and indicative content
- official — CII: tax tables 2026-2027 (the supporting exam documents page lists them for R05 exams from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027)
- official — CII: Financial Protection (R05), unit page with the assessment, revision aids and exam guide updates (read 25 Oct 2026)
- official — CII: Understanding your exam result (how marks are moderated)
- official — legislation.gov.uk: Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, Schedule 1 (insurers’ remedies for qualifying misrepresentations)
- official — GOV.UK: Bereavement Support Payment
- official — HMRC: Insurance Policyholder Taxation Manual IPTM2073, the annual premium limit for qualifying policies
- official — HMRC: Insurance Policyholder Taxation Manual IPTM6110, sickness, disability and unemployment insurance: scope of the exemption
- official — HMRC: Insurance Policyholder Taxation Manual IPTM6120, sickness and unemployment insurance under employer schemes
- official — Financial Ombudsman Service: underinsurance complaints
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.
FreeTests: LO4 Life assurance and pension-based policies · LO3 State benefits · LO10 Needs, priorities and solutions
CII R05 Practice Test: free sample
Answer 3 questions against the clock, like the real exam. You then see the right answer, the reason and your time on each. About 4 minutes · free · no sign-in.
3 questions to answer▶ Start nowThis one is free · no sign-in neededYour result shows how long each question took you.
