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Tuesday, 22 September 2020

2/3 through my Masters in Financial Planning degree

Last Friday I got my result for the subject I did in Q3 (Portfolio Management) - I got another Distinction grade, which was actually a bit disappointing as I need to pick up another HD this year to get on the Dean's List again in 2020 (I recently got the notification that I made it onto the 2019 Dean's List), and keep on track to graduate "with Distinction" next year. Unfortunately I only got a Credit for the subject I did in Q1, so I'll need to get another HD during 2020 to offset that result.

I'd gotten about 88% for the assignments and mid-term quiz (collectively worth about 55% of the course mark), so I must have only received a 'credit' grade on the final exam. Not entirely surprising as one of the six questions was about a theory we'd covered at the start of the course and I'd forgotten one particular definition (which was basically the question, worth about 20% of the exam!). There's nothing more annoying than sitting in an exam knowing that you've read about a particular piece of terminology, but not being able to recall exactly what the definition was. I was actually a bit surprised to find that question was even in the exam, as the final was supposed to only be on material covered in modules 5-9 of the course (as modules 1-4 were covered in the mid-term exam, and that definition was covered in module 2). I also probably didn't get full marks on a calculation question as I didn't have a calculator available during the online exam. Although the uni subject and exam guides had both said that any "non-programmable" calculator could be used in the exam, when I logged in with ProctorU to sit the online exam they told me that according to their exam instructions only a "financial" calculator was allowed, so I couldn't use my standard scientific calculator! I emailed and tried phoning the lecturer to clarify this, but couldn't get hold of him before the exam was due to start, so I had to sit the exam sans calculator. After I logged out of the exam session I was able to check my emails, and the lecturer had meanwhile responded that it would be fine to use by scientific calculator - D'Oh!

I was going to lodge a 'misadventure' form, but they all required supporting letters for broken legs, illness etc. and there was no form that seemed to cover "total stuff-up by the university and ProctorU" as an option ;)

Anyhow, I've decided to revert to only doing one subject in Q4 (I've been doing the normal one subject workload as a part-time student so far, but had initially enrolled in two subject for Q4 with the idea of finishing the degree by the middle of next year) as that will make it more likely that I can get an HD in Q4. The Q4 subject is 'Insurance' so I already know most of the material from my DFP and CPD studies, but the trick will be to put enough effort in to actually get an HD.

My main goals for the next few months are to: complete the Q4 subject with an HD grade (so I get onto the Dean's List for 2020 and get my GPA back up to the 6.0 minimum required to graduate "with Distinction" next year), finish off the two 'specialist' financial planning courses I'm doing (in Margin Lending and SMSF), and get one of the four ADFP modules completed by the end of this year. It would also be nice to get a paying financial planning client by the end of this year.

Next year's goals will be to: finish the MFP degree, finish the ADFP qualification, do the required TPB course to be registered as a financial (tax) advisor, and do the course required for CFP (I'll get a credit for three of the four required CFP courses for completing the MFP degree). I'll also apply to enrol as a part-time PhD student at WSU when I've completed the Masters degree. Looks like 2021 will be quite a busy year (aside from my full-time job).

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