Study plans and method

How to prepare for a closed-book regulatory paper around a working week.

How to build an HKSI Paper 1 study plan that survives your jobGive Paper 1 about 100 hours if regulation is new to you, spread over eight to twelve weeks. That figure is our recommendation, not an HKSI number: ni…
An 8-week HKSI Paper 1 study plan, week by weekEight weeks at 12 hours a week is our default Paper 1 plan: Topics 1 and 2 in week one, Topic 3 across weeks two and three, Topic 4 in week four, the …
A 4-week HKSI Paper 1 plan, and the four things it deliberately dropsFour weeks at 24 hours a week can pass Paper 1, but only by inverting the order: Topics 3 and 4 in week one, the codes in week two, everything else co…
The 2-week HKSI Paper 1 crash plan: a salvage job, not a strategyTwo weeks at 45 hours means six to eight hours a day for fourteen days, and it is triage rather than preparation. You cover Topics 3, 4, 5 and 6 prope…
A 12-week HKSI Paper 1 plan built for long working hoursTwelve weeks at 8 hours is the plan for people whose evenings get cancelled: four 45-minute weekday blocks plus one five-hour weekend session, ten wee…
How to study for HKSI Paper 1 when you already have a jobMatch the material to the slot. Commutes are for recall only, lunch is for ten questions and their explanations, evenings are for one 45-minute block …
How to memorise legislation for HKSI Paper 1 without hating itDo not learn the Ordinance verbatim. Group its Parts into four blocks - who regulates, the market infrastructure, what an intermediary must do, and wh…
A note-taking method for HKSI Paper 1: nine pages, no moreKeep one page per topic and nine pages in total. Write nothing until you have attempted questions on a heading, then record only the line you got wron…
The last three weeks: an HKSI Paper 1 revision scheduleRevision is rotation, not re-reading. Over the final three weeks, cycle all nine topics twice from your own notes, sit three timed mocks spaced roughl…
Spaced repetition for HKSI Paper 1: about 100 cards, not a thousandBuild about 100 cards, not a thousand. Cards belong to facts with no structure to reason from: periods, deadlines, thresholds, licence types, code nam…
What to study first for HKSI Paper 1 (and what to leave until last)Start with Topic 1, but give it one session rather than a week - it is the map everything else refers to. Then Topic 3, then Topic 4, then the codes i…
HKSI Paper 1 final week checklist: seven days out to the doorSit your last mock on the Monday or Tuesday, then spend the rest of the week rotating your nine topic pages and the numbers card. Close all admin - ve…
HKSI Paper 1: the night before and the morning ofStop studying by lunchtime the day before. Pack your identification and booking details in the evening, eat normally, and go to bed at your usual hour…
How to use the HKSI study manual (and why reading it cover to cover fails)Treat the manual as a lookup tool indexed against the syllabus, not a book to read. Attempt questions on a heading, find the gap, open the two or thre…
HKSI Paper 1: self-study or a course? The honest comparisonSelf-study passes Paper 1 for most people, provided you have practice questions with explanations. The real divide is not course against no course - i…
Study groups and HKSI Paper 1: useful for two things, useless for the restStudy alone for the content and use a group for exactly two things: explaining a topic out loud to someone who will challenge you, and turning up to s…
HKSI Paper 1 time allocation: how many hours each topic deservesSplit about 100 hours as eighty on topics and twenty on mocks and review. Of the eighty, Topic 3 takes 20 hours and Topic 4 takes 14, because they hol…
A weekend-only HKSI Paper 1 plan: ten weekends, ten hours eachTen weekends at ten hours each: six hours on Saturday for new material, four on Sunday for questions and consolidation, and 15 minutes of recall cards…
How to tell whether your HKSI Paper 1 preparation is workingTrack four things: how many of the 66 syllabus headings you have covered with questions, your mock score trend, your accuracy per topic, and how often…
Not burning out before the HKSI Paper 1 examMost abandoned plans die around week four, when novelty has gone and the exam is still far away. Build one rest day into every week from the start, cu…