CMFAS study text 2026: where the textbook is out of date

SCI released new CMFAS study text versions for RES 5, M9 and HI this year, and your sitting date decides which one you're tested on: RES 5 and M9 switched for exams from 22 September 2026, and HI switches on 22 October 2026. Two texts also carry figures older than the rules you'll quote to clients. M8 still gives the old SDIC deposit insurance limit, and M9 Version 1.1 still teaches the 2019 critical illness framework. We checked both against the current rules on 11 October 2026.

2026 study text versions and the dates exams switch

SCI's notice on new study-text versions, last updated on 30 June 2026, ties each paper to an exam date. The day you downloaded the eBook doesn't matter.

SCI released the new RES 5, M9, CM-LIP, CM-LIC and HI texts on 20 July 2026, and the BCP text on 3 August 2026.

What that means for your sitting:

• RES 5 or M9 from now on: you're on the new versions, because both switched on 22 September 2026.
• HI before 22 October 2026: study the 8th Edition. From 22 October the paper follows the 9th Edition, which we haven't read yet.
• M9A: it isn't on the notice. The M9 change covers M9 and the combined CM-LIP and CM-LIC sittings, so don't assume your standalone M9A text moved too. Check SCI's M9A exam page or ask your compliance team.
• M8, M8A, PGI and ComGI: none of them is on SCI's current notice, so no new version is due.

Where the texts and the rules differ

A new version doesn't fix everything. These are the figures we compared in the current texts:

The HI and PGI rows show the texts aren't all behind. The M8 and M9 rows are the two to mark in your notes.

M8: the deposit insurance limit is S$25,000 short

The M8 study text we checked is the 6th Edition, published in February 2020. Chapter 1 says insured deposits are protected up to S$75,000 per depositor, per Scheme member, and it traces the limit rising from S$20,000 to S$50,000 and then to S$75,000.

That history ends before the latest increase. SDIC raised the limit to S$100,000 on 1 April 2024, after MAS announced the change in September 2023. Money you place under the CPF Investment Scheme with a Scheme member bank is insured separately, also up to S$100,000.

The text's own worked example shows the gap. It puts S$100,000 of CPFIS money with one bank and finds S$25,000 of it uninsured. Under the current limit, the whole S$100,000 is covered.

SCI's 2026 notice doesn't list a new M8 text. Your eBook may still carry an update, so check its Version Control Record before you assume it matches ours.

M9 and HI teach different critical illness rules

M9 and HI both test critical illness, and their texts disagree with each other.

The M9 7th Edition, Version 1.1, teaches the LIA Critical Illness Framework 2019 in chapter 5. It says insurers must apply a 90-day waiting period to the severe stage of five conditions:

• major cancer
• coronary artery by-pass surgery
• heart attack of specified severity
• angioplasty and other invasive treatments for coronary artery
• other serious coronary artery disease

LIA abolished that 90-day rule on 16 November 2022. Since then, each insurer decides its own waiting periods. LIA's Framework 2024 went on to update 7 of the 37 standard definitions, and from 1 October 2025 insurers can no longer sell products that use the 2019 definitions.

The HI 8th Edition (Version 1.2) and the PGI 8th Edition both teach Framework 2024. Both say the 90-day waiting period was removed in November 2022. If you sit M9 and HI a few weeks apart, you'll read two versions of the same rule.

M9 moved to Version 1.2 for exams from 22 September 2026, and we haven't seen Version 1.2 yet. If you're sitting M9 now, the Version Control Record at the back of your eBook tells you whether the critical illness section changed.

FIDReC: S$150,000 a claim since July 2024

FIDReC can adjudicate a dispute up to S$150,000 per claim for claims filed on or after 1 July 2024. Before that date the cap was S$100,000. Mediation at FIDReC has no claim limit at all.

The M9 text (chapter 1) and the PGI text both give these figures correctly. The risk sits in older material. If a set of notes or practice questions gives S$100,000 as FIDReC's limit, it was written for claims filed before July 2024 and needs correcting before you rely on it.

Updating your notes when your version changes

A new version rarely rewrites the whole book, so you don't need to start again. Do this once, when you first open the eBook for your sitting:

1. Write down the edition and version printed inside the eBook. A file name like "M9 notes final" tells you nothing.
2. Open the Version Control Record at the back. SCI puts every change into the eBook and lists it there, so you can mark the changed sections instead of rereading everything.
3. Redo your practice questions on the chapters that changed. A streak of right answers on the old wording proves less than it did.
4. Write any figure that differs from the current rule side by side in your notes, for example "text S$75,000, now S$100,000".

When your notes, questions and textbook disagree

You'll meet this most in M8 and M9, where a question bank written for the current rules can contradict the text.

In the exam, answer from the text your sitting is based on. SCI sets each paper on the study text in force for that date, so the text's figure is the safer answer when a question turns on one of these numbers.

With clients, use the current rule. Someone who asks how much of a deposit SDIC covers should hear S$100,000, whatever your M8 text says.

The week before your exam

• Check that the paper code on your SCI booking matches the code on your study text. M9 and CM-LIP are different sittings with different texts.
• Open SCI's study-text notice again, in case a newer version has been announced since you started.
• If your firm has told you to sit a different set of papers, your compliance team's instruction comes first.

Practise M9 against the current paper

If M9 is your next paper, the M9 page shows what the paper covers and how our practice works. You can start M9 as a single paper and work through it chapter by chapter, with an explanation on every answer.

For a week-by-week plan, read the M9 study plan. M8 and HI have plans of their own: the M8 study plan and the HI study plan.

Sources

• SCI, release of new versions of study texts for regulatory examinations, read 11 October 2026
• SCI, M8 Collective Investment Schemes exam details, read 11 October 2026
• SDIC media release on the deposit insurance limit, 1 April 2024, read 11 October 2026
• SDIC, deposit insurance FAQ, read 11 October 2026
• FIDReC, adjudication limits, read 11 October 2026
• LIA, Critical Illness Framework 2024, part 1 of 4 (MU 58/25), read 11 October 2026