Book the M8A exam without paying twice: SCI's rules

To book the M8A exam, register on the SCI website, choose M8A and pay by Visa or MasterCard. SCI doesn't allow cancellation, refund or a substitute candidate after you submit. A weekday daytime sitting costs S$109.00 for members and S$130.80 for non-members, and evening and weekend sittings cost more, all with GST included.

Member or non-member

SCI has two rates for M8A, and the difference is who your employer is. The member rate goes to candidates from SCI member companies or IBF member companies. Everyone else pays the non-member rate.

Weekend sessions between 9am and 5pm, where SCI offers them, cost the after-5pm rate. Each figure holds a non-refundable registration fee of S$21.80. A retake costs the same as a first attempt, and SCI sets no limit on how many times you sit.

SCI has rules for claiming the member rate. Register through your company's corporate account, or register individually using your unique corporate email address, with your company's name and UEN where one applies. A personal email address isn't accepted for the member rate. Confirm that your company is a member before you pick the member fee, because SCI expects any short payment to be made up before the sitting. Ask your agency's compliance or training team first.

What you can't undo

Under SCI's policy there's no cancelling, no withdrawing, no refund and no swapping in a colleague. Check the paper, the date and the rate before you hit submit.

Dates can move, within limits that SCI measures in working days (weekends, public holidays and the exam day don't count). With seven or more working days to go, your first request is free and any later one is S$32.70. From six down to three working days, each request is S$32.70. At two or fewer, the answer is no.

S$32.70 equals 30 percent of the member daytime fee and a quarter of the non-member one. Moving from day to evening adds a top-up fee; evening to day is allowed without a refund. A wrong name, birth date or ID number can only be corrected in person at SCI, with original documents, before the exam.

Booking step by step

1. Sign in at SCI, or create an account. Registration happens online only.
2. Find M8A, Collective Investment Schemes II, in the exam list. M8 and the combined CM-CIS sit nearby, so read the line twice.
3. Pick the member or non-member rate that matches your employer, then a session.
4. Pay by credit card. Individuals registering online have no other option.
5. Wait for the Confirmation of Examination Registration, which brings the eBook link.

The address on your form receives both. If you registered with a corporate address for the member rate, check you can still open that mailbox, and check spam first if nothing arrives.

M8A on its own, or CM-CIS

SCI also sells CM-CIS, which puts M8 and M8A into one sitting. You need at least 70 percent in each part, a combined sitting costs more than two single sittings at every rate, and SCI grants no exemption for it. Sitting M8A alone lets you pass one paper now and book the other when you're ready. Our M8 or M8A first guide compares the two papers, and the M8 booking guide covers the other half of that pair.

Choosing a session

SCI's schedule on 2 November 2026 listed M8A from 13 November to 31 December, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with no weekend sessions. Every sitting lasts an hour: afternoon ones ran from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm, in the daytime band, and evening ones from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Dates move, so read the live schedule when you book.

The 2:30 pm sitting costs less and leaves your evening free, but you need half a day off. The 6:00 pm one fits an office day and costs more. Derivatives and structured product questions need a clear head, so weigh how you think at that hour against the price.

A timeline that avoids change fees

Here's a way to pace the weeks, counting working days as SCI does.

At eight days out, compare your mocks with the pass mark of 35 out of 50. Short of it, take the free change now. A week later the same move costs money, and in the last two days it can't be done.

After you pay

SCI sends the eBook link with your confirmation and switches it off once you've sat the exam. SCI's M8A contents list six chapters, from structured products and their risks to derivatives, structured funds and case studies. Follow the M8A study plan and use the weeks to work through them. Our M8A practice page has timed mocks, and you can start M8A as a single paper.

Who needs M8A, and exemptions

SCI says M8A is for new or existing representatives of financial advisers who must show the knowledge to advise on collective investment schemes. It points to MAS Notice FAA-N26 for the rules and tells candidates to check with their compliance department for the modules that apply to them. For approved exemptions, SCI sends you to the MAS website under that notice. Sort this out before you pay.

On the day

The paper is 50 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour, closed book, on a computer screen at SCI, 9 Temasek Boulevard, unit 14-01 of Suntec Tower Two. You need 70 percent, which is 35 right. SCI provides no calculators or stationery. You may bring a non-programmable calculator from SCI's approved list: Casio FC 100, FC 100V, FC 200 or FC 200V, Hewlett Packard hp 10b or hp 10b2, Texas Instrument BA2+ or BA2+ Professional, and Sharp EL735, EL738 or EL738F. SCI holds you responsible for what's inside its case, so keep it empty. The exam day guide covers ID and the rest. A pass earns 1 CPD hour.

Sources

• SCI, M8A Collective Investment Schemes II exam details, fees and schedule, read 2 November 2026
• SCI, Examination Registration Policies, Study Texts and Calculator Policy for M8A, read 2 November 2026
• SCI, CM-CIS exam details and fees, read 2 November 2026