My Experience and Advice for CFCS Exam

"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." - Kofi Annan

I have recently qualified CFCS (Certified Financial Crime Specialist) exam with significant marks and subsequently approached by many Linkedin connections and colleagues for tips and insights. Although I have shared my experiences with them already but I have decided to share my experience and advice about the preparation, exam scheduling and attempt in the form of article for all CFCS aspirants.

Preparation

? The 6th edition of ACFCS study material should be read out. There are 14 chapters in this edition but you must pay attention to Money Laundering, Cybersecurity, Compliance programs and controls, Financial Crime Investigations, Money Commodities and flow and Asset Recovery chapters as these are heavily tested in the exam.

? You must read the study material once in detail and attempt the practice exam questions available in the study material after each chapter and check your understanding and familiarity with the topic.

? You must read the study material thrice before attempting the examination.

? You must go through the SCORM or video tutorials which are available chapter-wise with your ACFCS certification package, where you can find practical case studies by different professionals and you can improve your concepts significantly.

? You may find chapter-wise audios available at ACFCS account but I didn't listen those as the same is just an audio of the entire textbook.

? Once you are done with study material and SCORM or video tutorials, you must attempt practice exam questions (around 100) available with your CFCS certification package. In your first attempt, I would suggest to take sufficient time to read and understand the structure and basis of questions and then respond accordingly.

? Must check time spent on practice questions and passing marks and focus on weak areas to allocate more time to studying those topics. I would suggest to practice these questions until you get 100% marks.

? I got around 15 questions from practice questions in my practical exam, some questions were exactly same and some with same scenarios but having different names of involved parties.

? Practice questions available in CFCS certification package and study material are good enough and don't search mock exams on google as you will not find a lot of questions and in those most of the answers are not correct.

Tips for Exam

? I would recommend to submit your exam application to ACFCS before 30 to 45 days. Once you get the confirmation from ACFCS, you can book the date and time of your exam.

? As this is a four hours long exam, you may book the time slot earlier of the day like 11 AM or 12 PM and must reach at the examination center at least 30 minutes before.

? You may attempt this exam online from your home/office but I recommend to do this at the examination center.

? There are 145 questions in total out of which 125 questions will be marked and rest 20 questions are given for quality assessment only. Don't try to identify those questions in exam as it would be a wastage of time.

? You will find several questions having detailed scenarios, I would suggest to skip or mark (attempt later) those questions as you can use your time to respond questions having short or average scenarios.

? You may skip or mark questions if you don't find the answers or have a doubt on it. Try to attempt all questions at least 30 minutes before the end of the exam and focus on the unanswered questions first and review all the answers at least once.

? Read out the whole scenario twice at least and just focus on the question. Try to respond the answer keeping in view the question and scenario specifically.

? Composition of questions against each section may slightly differ from one exam to another. Below, I am mentioning the break up of questions section- wise which I had in the real exam:

Section 1: Financial Crime Scenarios- 20 questions

Section 2: Money Laundering - 18 questions

Section 3: Ethics - 8 questions

Section 4: Compliance - Regulation and Supervision - 8 questions

Section 5: Compliance - Program and Controls - 18 questions

Section 6: Enforcement Mechanisms and Actions - 10 questions

Section 7: Investigation - 17 questions

Section 8: Asset Recovery - 8 questions

Section 9: Money and Commodities Flows - 9 questions

Section 10: Data Security and Privacy - 9 questions

? CFCS is neither an easy paper nor much difficult but you can pass it if your concepts are clear along with time management skills in exam. Try to understand the different terminologies used in the study material and always focus on the subjects/topics mentioning "financial crime specialist should know/aware".

Disclaimer: The views or advice expressed in this article are solely based on my personal experiences and I gathered above high level pointers for CFCS aspirants for their guidance as I faced some difficulties during preparation and want to provide ease and comfort to potential candidates.

I will be available for any support and guidance.

Thanks