Tips for the fiduciary exam in Switzerland

Ask yourself the following questions before you start studying to ensure a structured, efficient, and effective learning phase.

Exam:

• When is the exam date?
• Do I have all the relevant information about the exam content?

Study plan:

• ‍How do I learn best?
  • Alone or in a team?
  • By listening, reading, writing, speaking, or discussing?
    

• ‍When do I learn best?
  • In the morning, afternoon, or evening?

• ‍Where do I learn best?
  • At home or in a library?

During what period do I want to study?

• Which weeks?
• On weekends?
• Full days or half days?
• Do I need time off from work to study?

Personal:

• What are my strengths?
• What are my weaknesses?

Studying with past exams has a great impact on your learning success. They allow you to become more familiar with the type of exam questions and you will feel more comfortable during the exam because you already know the type of questions.

You can also use past exams to find out what you are good at and what you need to practise.

We recommend that you start solving old exams early, before you have finished studying the material. You should also complete all available exams so that you can practise as much as possible.

Wait until the end of the study phase to complete the last two exams for each subject area so that you can take a final test. Make sure you are aware of any changes in the law.

Here are some tips for creating a study plan and organizing your study time:

• Plan each day leading up to the exam
• Set aside time for each subject
• Plan different types of study sessions (e.g., different subjects, reading, editing articles, course material, exercises)
• Set aside time to review material
• Plan extra days
  
• Plan days off and breaks

It is essential to set realistic goals, otherwise you will quickly lose motivation!

In the final preparation phase, we recommend setting aside the last two weeks before the exam to solve old exams. You should also keep the last few days before the exam free to allow time for revision.

The learning phase is an intense and stressful time. That's why we've put together the five most important tips to help you make the most of your preparation time:

1. Don't panic if something doesn't work out the way you imagined! You've planned extra days for just such cases.
   
2. Use your scheduled time efficiently. Various studies have shown that you can only concentrate for 6 hours a day when studying. After that, your performance drops significantly.
3. You should also make sure to take breaks. They help you concentrate better afterwards. Go for a walk, meet up with friends, and take enough time to eat.
   
4. Let your family and friends know that you are in a study phase. This will help them understand if you are stressed or don't have time.
5. And last but not least: always make sure you take time off and do things that make you happy. This will help you stay motivated.

Don't take anything to the exam that you haven't read thoroughly beforehand!

Our tips for preparing documents for the TREX exam:

• Good document structure
• Prepare the documents at the beginning of the learning phase and study them so that you know them inside out.
• Take your time to prepare the documents.
• Make a table of contents.
• Take as few documents as possible with you so that you can find the information as quickly as possible

Possible sources

• ‍Law books: Good highlighting is particularly important‍
• Textbooks: Difficult to use under time pressure‍
  
• Course material: Only use the most important slides and diagrams‍
• Summaries: Very helpful if they have been prepared during class time‍
• Fact sheets: There are lots of good topic overviews online from banks, associations, and the Big 4
  

Here are some things to keep in mind the day before the exam and during the written or oral exam.

Before the exam

We suggest doing a few practice problems on topics you're comfortable with the day before the exam. This will help you feel more confident going into the exam. Also, make sure you have all the documents you need ready.

Buy healthy snacks and drinks for the exam. Make sure that they are not too noisy when you eat them and do not leave stains on the exam paper.

Plan your journey to the exam venue or arrive a day before the exam.

Have a quiet evening and go to bed early. Studying on the last evening before a long exam is usually not a good idea, as you will use up energy that you will need for the exam.

Written exam

On the day of the written exam, get up early, eat a good breakfast, and arrive early. Then place all your materials systematically on the table to avoid chaos.

Before you start solving the problems, get an overview of the exam and then start with the problems you feel most confident about.

Always pay attention to time management during the exam. If you get stuck on a task, move on to the next one so you don't lose any time.

Nevertheless, write something down for each task and check at the end that you haven't forgotten any tasks.

Oral exam

Before the oral exam, review all the topics covered. Current topics may also be asked, so find out before the exam what issues are currently being discussed in the fiduciary industry and whether any changes to the law are planned.

Before the exam, sit down with a colleague and do a practice run.

Dress nicely for the oral exam, but make sure you feel comfortable and confident.

Don't let yourself get flustered during the oral exam. If you don't understand a question, you can always ask the experts. If you don't know the answer to a question, explain to the experts how you would proceed to find a solution.

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