We all strive for success by studying for university degrees, attend courses and continuously look for a spark for direction in life and it's not until we see a professional person in front of us that we realise that it's a job that we would like to do. It seems easy watching that individual working at the height of their career without realising what price they have had to pay to achieve success.

Being in the Financial Services Industry for over 20 years, many people have asked me what it takes to become a qualified mortgage advisor. As the Marketing Director of Money Marketing Limited, a company that trains hundreds of budding UK mortgage advisers per month, I feel that I am well qualified to answer that question.

" It takes dedication, focus, hard work, the ability to strive for success and a little help from cemap training courses."

So what criteria should you use when deciding on your future career direction? Well, try asking yourself a few of the following questions:

? Do you think that you would enjoy helping people with their finances?

? Would you prefer to be an employee?

? Would you like to be self-employed?

? Are you determined to become a high earner?

? Are you intent on being successful?

? Would you like to be in charge of your own destiny?

A ?yes? answer to most of these could mean that you should consider investigating cemap training courses and how to become a mortgage adviser, but before you do, let us look a little further. The start to becoming a UK mortgage advisor is passing a mortgage advice qualification and in my opinion the most recognised one in the UK is the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)

Do you need to have a degree to pass the exams? No! You will not need academic qualifications to be able to pass the Cemap exams but one thing you will need is a strong desire to succeed in a highly competitive industry.

If you are looking to start a career in Financial Services as a mortgage advisor but are finding it hard to get your foot in the door, let a dedicated team of industry-experienced CeMAP training professionals lead the way. Many people people are travelling to cemap training course venues from all parts of the country including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The best cemap training courses are five days long and are based on groups of around 10 people for ease of control and ability to interact with the tutor. The courses are extremely focused, intensive and prepare delegates for the CeMAP 1,2,3 exams. The courses fast track candidates in five-days per intensive course, in hotels throughout many regions of the UK, including London, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and the North West, ensuring that one of the CeMAP courses will be near to you.

The trainers successfully help individuals to pass their mortgage advice qualifications in literally days of intensive, fast track cemap training. Having said that, it can be easy for the gifted people who are just natural at passing academic exams.

I recently spent a week with a group of 10 delegates on a combined CEMAP 2 & 3 training course and the range of abilities on the course was extremely diverse. The challenge for the cemap trainer was to get them all to the same standard by the end of the week and prepare them for their exams, the following week. Nine out of the ten of the delegates successfully passed their relevant exams.

The challenges of the CeMAP exams are that you need to learn the course content and pass the exams at 70% but that is not all. Many people coming into the mortgage industry have not sat exams for years and in some cases not since they left school. The best CeMAP training courses are five days long and are constructed for individuals who are new to the mortgage industry and as a consequence they teach the course content and mock examine you on a daily basis.

The advantage to this system is obvious, not only are you learning the course content but the exam techniques as well. With strengths and weaknesses identified on a daily basis, it is easy to identify the areas that require extra tuition during the week. This proven system helps hundreds of candidates get through their Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice (CeMAP) exams per month.

Do take care, as the route to becoming a mortgage adviser could be fraught with dangers for the unprepared and under researched person, as the journey could be a long and arduous one. Care should be taken when choosing the company for the initial CeMAP training as many organisations are strictly in the business of offering either a two-day revision course or a self-study CeMAP examination course that in our opinion is not enough.

Furthermore, there are unscrupulous organisations that may try to lure individuals into offering cheap CeMAP training courses and then taking ?5,000, ?6,000 or even ?9,000 off them in an attempt to recruit them into their mortgage business as mortgage advisers or offering them an expensive and unnecessary mortgage franchises.

Have you ever wanted to know before hand how a CeMAP training course might run on a daily basis? Well here is a fly on the wall account of a recent CeMAP 2 & 3 combined training course that I attended in London run by Money Marketing Limited for 10 budding mortgage advisers.

Monday 9.00 am

We all reported to the conference centre of the Premier Travel Inn at Enfield London, where the trainer greeted 10 very apprehensive and nervous delegates all looking for our allocated seats and nodding to each other in greeting. The most pleasing thing was the friendly atmosphere that was created by the welcoming trainer and quickly putting us at ease and introducing the week ahead. The most surprising thing was two large folders in front of each delegate, one labelled Course Notes and the other Course Exams.

Well, away we go covering the first part of the course and hey, what's this? Are we being tested so early? Yep, sure thing, mock multiple-choice questions at the end of each section covered. Not used to this though, I've not done exams since my school days. Still, must attempt them and see how it goes.

The first day flew by. What? Homework? Not much chance for socialising in the bar tonight then. Still, I had better get my head down and focus.

Tuesday 9.30 am

Later start today, needed that extra half hour to pull myself together. Marked the homework first thing and got 72% not bad. Off we go following the course notes, delegates asking questions to the trainer who shows a high degree of knowledge. Quite liked being able to ask questions and clarify things, certainly couldn't do that on a self-study course. I'm getting into this multichoice exams system now, usually there are two definitely wrong answers and that only leaves two left to think about.

Some of these questions are rather difficult and I haven't done formulas and maths for ages. Hey, the trainer said that all us that are struggling with our maths could stay behind for some extra tuition. I like the trainer! Goes out of his way to help. Good sense of humour too. Homework again? Looks like it's going to be a daily thing.

Two days gone, had five mock exams already and done OK so far.

Wednesday 9.30 am

Mid week and I'm starting to get the hang of this course and really enjoying it at last. Although it's not easy, people on the course are starting to make friends, forming groups, bonding and socialising. Enjoying today even more as it's about mortgage products and that what the job's all about anyway.

Stayed behind last night with a few of the others to get to grips with the formulas. It's OK for some of the young people on the course as it's not long since that they left school but me, I haven't done any serious maths for twenty odd years.

More mock exams today and I think that I am coming to terms with the style of questions and the time allocated. Some of my mock examination marks are starting to improve, including the homework. Missing the family though, not long to go now!

Thursday 9.30 am

This trainer is incredible, cracking jokes and light conversation about some of the homework answers has certainly clarified one or two things that I was a bit shy to ask about, just in case I showed myself up in front of everyone. It's as though the trainer knows how we think and act in front of other people.

Starting to feel tired today as it is starting to catch up on me. Although the exam technique is now OK, the course content is getting a bit much but we are all in the same boat and it's full mock exams all day tomorrow. Last day to learn about mortgages and things but I must admit that all the insurances are rather confusing.

What with Full Endowments, Low Cost, Unit linked, Decreasing term, Level term, it's all a but confusing at the moment. Must stay behind tonight to go through these different policies to better understand them. More homework for tonight, last chance to get the preparation right for tomorrow. Must get a good night sleep tonight, no Stella Artois.

Friday 9.30 am

I don't believe it, the week has gone so fast, yet I feel so tired. Full mock exams today on both CeMAP 2 and 3 papers. Hope that I do well but it should be a good test today to see if I'm ready or not to sit the proper exam next week. We are all tense and ready for the mocks but don't know what to expect.

Here we go, start! Hey this is OK, some of the questions are easy and I don't know what I was worried about. Whoops! There goes that low cost endowment question again. Don't really understand why they ask questions about endowments as they are not arranged anymore. 85% in the CeMAP 2 mock exam that only took me 1.5 hours of a two-hour question makes me feel good this morning and I'm dying to discuss some of the questions with the others. Not looking forward to the CeMAP 3 exams this afternoon.

Just got through the CeMAP 3 mock exam with a score of 71%. Not good enough as it's borderline and I need to do more work for next week before I take the proper exam. The good news is that I can take my Course Notes and Course Exams booklets home with me and test myself on a further three mock exams before I sit the actual exams.

This was a fly on the wall interpretation by Joe Kocsis the Marketing Director of Money Marketing Limited who attended a recent CeMAP 2 & 3 combined CeMAP training course.