RFRA Course:

Making Your Online Studies a Success

Registered Financial and Retirement

Advisor Course (RFRA)
Making Your Online Studies a Success
Congratulations on taking the initiative to further your professional education and welcome to
the Registered Financial and Retirement Advisor Course (RFRA)!

The RFRA Course is delivered in a Web-based format. For most of us, performing our jobs via
an online environment has become second nature however, for many of us, actually studying and
learning online is still a relatively new concept.

When all is said and done, regardless of the medium that is used, learning is learning. However,
there are some significant differences between learning in the instructor-led, physical classroom
environment in which many of us grew up and the self-paced, self-directed learning that is part
of an online offering such as the RFRA Course.

To this end, we offer some suggestions and best practices that we hope you will find of value and
that will help ensure your experience with our online course is pleasant, engaging and most
importantly, maximizes your comprehension and retention of the learning objectives presented
during your studies.

Online Course vs. Printed Text

Any time you wish to review the RFRA Course, by default, you should login to the online course
as it contains all of the course content, interactive exercises, the formal assessments that you are
required to submit, a sample examination and for RFRA Part I, your final course examination.

A printed version of the course content is also available and while it replicates most of what is
presented online, importantly, it does not contain the course content in its entirety. Notably,
interactive exercises, supporting PDFs and external links, assessments and the sample and final
course examination cannot be reproduced in paper format. The printed text is intended for your
convenience to be used when you do not have access to the Internet (e.g. when you want to study
during your commute to and from work while on public transit) however, it is not a substitute for
the actual online course.

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3660 Hurontario Street, Suite 600, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C4

Toll-free: 1-844-SCOTIA1 Fax: (647) 723-6457 Web site: Scotiabank.CIFP.ca
 RFRA Course:
Making Your Online Studies a Success

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

In your role as an advisor, how often do you counsel your clients about the importance of having
a financial plan—a plan that includes setting realistic and attainable objectives and the
implementation of strategies? Your answer is very likely to be, ‘just about with every client’.

The key point is that planning is an integral part of success in any endeavour, be it financial
planning for your clients, coaching your team to win the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup
and…yes, successful completion of this course. Why should it be any different?

So, before you get into the actual course, you need to set realistic and achievable timelines for
the academic journey on which you are about to embark. To start, you need to identify two
important dates: the date on which you intend to commence your studies and the date by which
you want to complete the RFRA Course. These dates are important so, give them careful
consideration before settling on them. You should adopt the attitude that these dates—and what
they stand for—are definitive and can only be altered in the event of unforeseen and unavoidable
circumstances.

Be realistic, reasonable and honest with yourself when you pick your dates and the number of
daily or weekly hours of study time needed for you to meet your targets. Ensure to factor in all
the other things that are taking place in your life, both personal and professional, that require
your time and attention. In the same way that it is not reasonable to expect a client who has a
mortgage and a family to allocate 90% of his or her monthly income towards their retirement
savings, it is not realistic for you to target 40 hours of studying a week when you have so many
other commitments, not the least of which is your full-time job.

Whether it is a financial plan or your study plan for this course, a plan with unrealistic objectives
is ultimately doomed to failure. By all means, be ambitious. Challenge yourself and test your
limits—this can be motivational and inspirational and it is how we learn—however, setting
unrealistic and unattainable objectives will actually have the opposite effect, causing you
unnecessary anxiety and stress and leaving you feeling deflated, overwhelmed and demotivated.
Devise a plan that you are confident you can follow.

To achieve success, you should have a game plan. More importantly, have a game plan that
requires effort but, with that effort, is achievable.

Frequency is More Important than Duration

Pedagogically, logging into your course with greater frequency, even if it is for relatively short
periods of time, is more beneficial than logging in for longer periods of time but, only
occasionally and irregularly. In other words, accessing your course for 30 minutes on a daily
basis will be more effective than logging in for four, 31/2 hour study sessions randomly dispersed
over the month.

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3660 Hurontario Street, Suite 600, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C4

Toll-free: 1-844-SCOTIA1 Fax: (647) 723-6457 Web site: Scotiabank.CIFP.ca
 RFRA Course:
Making Your Online Studies a Success

It is all about creating a consistent pattern of studying where each session is linked and flows
into the next session as opposed to choppy, infrequent sessions where inevitably the learner has
to spend the early part of each session just trying to get back into study mode and then,
reminding themselves of what was learned in the previous session. Moreover, we all know that it
is more difficult to keep your focus over long stretches of time, particularly when you are
learning new and sometimes technical concepts such as in this course. With shorter sessions, you
can focus the entire session on one or a small number of learning objectives and dramatically
improve your level of understanding.

With this said, it is no accident that the manner in which you see your course content laid out,
lends itself perfectly to shorter but more, frequent study sessions. You will be able to work
through most lessons, and even some units, in the course within one manageable study sitting.

You are Not Learning Unless You Take Extensive

Notes
Reading the course material is one thing; understanding what you have read and retaining it, is
an entirely different matter. To maximize the benefits of your considerable efforts, as you review
the course content, get in the habit of actively taking detailed notes. Each time you read a
passage that you identify as an important concept either for your comprehension or for purposes
of the examination, paraphrase the concept in point form in a separate notebook. Try to build
extensive notes using your own words, rather than simply copying chunks of content from the
course. Learning a concept and then forcing yourself to articulate your understanding of it in
your own words, will confirm your understanding of the concept.

The other benefit of taking notes, is that when it comes time for you to prepare for your final
course examination, the notes you have created will serve as your primary study reference.
In the absence of good notes, you will have no choice but to reread significant parts, if not all, of
the entire course—a far more time consuming and a far less appealing and effective prospect for
most learners.

Use the Study Aids Provided in the Course

The online course offers you a variety of study aids that supplement the actual course content
including informal assessments found at the end of each lesson, interactive exercises sprinkled
throughout the course, PDF documents that expand on certain learning objectives and a sample
examination. These types of aids are unique to the online learning environment and cannot be
replicated in a text book. Notwithstanding the fact that they do not play a part in determining
your final course grade, resist the temptation to skip over them. Studies have shown the more
frequently you reinforce concepts that you have just learned, the greater your level of
understanding. The study aids in this course serve precisely this purpose so, take advantage of
these tools as they will enhance your learning experience.

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3660 Hurontario Street, Suite 600, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C4

Toll-free: 1-844-SCOTIA1 Fax: (647) 723-6457 Web site: Scotiabank.CIFP.ca
 RFRA Course:
Making Your Online Studies a Success

Create an Environment Conducive to Studying…and

Success
The area where you will do most of your studying must be conducive to learning if you are to
derive the maximum benefits from your efforts. To this end, consider the following:

 Clear your desk of anything that is not needed for your studying. Less is more. So, get rid of
the clutter and keep only the essentials in front of you: your computer, a calculator, a
notebook, a highlighter, a pen, pencil and eraser.
 Eliminate distractions. Effective studying requires your undivided attention so, on your
computer, close all windows other than the actual course. In particular, do not leave sites or
programs open in the background that could potentially be a distraction such as social media
sites, e-mail accounts and messenger services. Turn off message alerts. If at all possible, turn
off your mobile devices and treat your study session as if you are attending an important
meeting at work.
 If you are in fact studying at work, close your office door and ensure your schedule has been
cleared for the duration of your allotted time. Do not keep client files, memos or any
documents on your desk that could compete for your attention. Put the phone on your desk
on ‘do not disturb’ mode. Again, close off e-mail accounts and message alerts.
 Take frequent breaks. If you are studying for an extended period of time, force yourself to get
out of your chair at regular intervals. This will also give your eyes a break from staring at
your computer screen. Walk around or stretch to stimulate your circulation and to clear your
head.

Additional Information and Support

General or administrative questions
If you require further information about your course or you have general or administrative
questions, you can contact the CIFP Education Department as follows:

 E-mail: scotiabank@cifps.ca
 Telephone: (647) 723-6589 or 1-844-SCOTIA1 (7268421) (8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. EST)

Academic and course content questions

If you have questions specifically related to the course content, you can send an e-mail to the
academic department (coursequestions@cifps.ca) for assistance. Please provide your full name
and the exact location of the content in question (i.e. unit, lesson and page title) in your e-mail.

We hope you enjoy the course and we wish the best of luck in your studies!
CIFP

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3660 Hurontario Street, Suite 600, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C4

Toll-free: 1-844-SCOTIA1 Fax: (647) 723-6457 Web site: Scotiabank.CIFP.ca