About 2900 candidates took the chartered insurance institute exam this year; it has been decided that they will all get special consideration during the marking of the exam scripts due to the exam delivery issues a lot of them faced.

So what are the issues faced by the students? For starters, the students experienced issues accessing the remote invigilation sessions. Some candidates faced issues in accessing their preferred exam centers. There were other technical issues different students faced when sitting for the exam.

The Chartered Insurance Institute has stated that they are aware of these issues. They understand how this issue would have caused stress and inconvenience for the students.

In a similar scenario in 2019, 491 candidates who faced different issues during their exam sittings were given post-examination mark adjustments.

The Covid-19 crisis did cause some delay in the schedule of the financial planning exams; the exam continued till late November this year. The financial planning exams' main sessions were taken in January, July, and October of this year. This year alone, about 32000 candidates sat for the CII exams, and the pass rate for 2020 will be published in the first quarter of next year.

Due to the need for social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, only 30% of the exam taken from the beginning of this year to late November had remote invigilation.

70% of the multiple-choice exams were taken with remote invigilation from mid-august to late November.

During an Interview with money marketing, the Chartered insurance institute chief customer officer, Gill white, said that session-based candidates who had issues during their exams were contacted to talk about their problems. Some were offered free resits.

She also said the CII has and will continue reviewing any multiple-choice question candidate who had issues sitting for the exam and has contacted them.

All these cases are treated differently, and free resits are only offered to appropriate cases. The CII noted that pass rates vary from unit to unit, but most of the results for July and October beat the average expectations of the body.

Talking to the money marketing, about the remote invigilation process this year. Gill White said the remote invigilation has helped to promote the relationship between CII candidates and CII members. It has allowed the smooth running of the exam proceedings allowing insurance and personal finance professionals to continue their studies by allowing the smooth process of obtaining qualifications during the covid-19 pandemic.

She adds that the remote invigilation system is still far from perfect. This year CII conducted on-screen invigilation using the new CII assessment center and remote invigilation provider PSI. However, they have gotten mixed feedback on the system. CII continues to try to better the system for better delivery in future examinations.

CII is working to resolve all the issues encountered since the march exam session when the PSI system was launched. To make the PSI performance better in the near future.

CII is planning additional session-based exams in the first quarter of 2021. They are improving the overall user experience, improving the communications systems, and the booking process.

The 2021 exams will have limited physical centers and would also support remote invigilation. Gill white ended by saying the CII continues to work to better user experience for the multiple-choice exams.