CMFAS M9A exam: format, pass mark, fee and who needs it
CMFAS M9A is 50 questions in 1 hour with a 70% pass mark. SCI's fees and booking rules, MAS's exemptions, CM-LIP or two papers, and who has to sit it.
CMFAS M9A gives you 1 hour for 50 multiple-choice questions, and the pass mark is 70%: 35 right. It's SCI's paper on structured products, derivatives and structured investment-linked policies, held on screen every weekday. A daytime sitting costs S$130.80 at the non-member rate or S$109.00 at the member rate. MAS's FAQ on adviser exams says anyone who'll advise on and arrange life policies, investment-linked ones included, needs it with RES 5 and M9, unless an exemption applies.
What you need to score on M9A
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Life Insurance and Investment-Linked Policies II |
| Questions | 50 multiple choice |
| Time | 1 hour, so 72 seconds a question |
| Pass mark | 70%, so 35 right and 15 you can miss |
| Wrong or blank answers | Score zero, nothing deducted |
| Format | Closed book, on a computer screen at SCI, every weekday |
| Result | On screen when you finish, then a result slip (no certificate) |
| Resits | No limit, and each attempt costs the full fee |
| CPD | 1 hour once you pass |
Source: SCI's M9A page, read 4 November 2026. On a 50-question paper each question is worth 2%. One badly misread case can cost several marks at once, so 15 wrong answers is a thinner margin than it sounds.
RES5, M9 and M9A: who MAS says needs all three
M9 is the long paper, 100 questions on 17 chapters of life insurance and investment-linked policies. M9A is the short second paper: SCI says it tests structured products and structured investment-linked policies, their risks and how they behave in different markets, so you can judge whether one suits a client. SCI's own M9A page describes it as the paper for advising on or arranging investment-linked policies. MAS's FAQ on its notice FAA-N26 goes further. Asked what someone who'll advise on and arrange life policies, investment-linked policies included, has to pass, MAS answers: RES5, M9 and M9A. The notice's table of papers ticks all three for life policies.
There's a narrow way round it. MAS's FAQ says a representative can advise on Excluded Investment Products only, but that the firm should assess whether they need M9A, and it strongly encourages anyone advising on life insurance to pass M9A anyway. A specialised unit set up to deal only in life policies that aren't investment-linked doesn't need it, if the firm controls and supervises that limit. Most agencies sell investment-linked policies, so most recruits sit M9A. Your compliance team decides your list.
Six chapters, and where the marks go
SCI lists six chapters:
- Introduction to structured products
- Risk considerations of structured products
- Understanding derivatives
- Introduction to structured ILPs
- Investment portfolios with an insurance element
- Case studies
If you've never studied derivatives, chapters 2 and 3 are the new ground. The payoff of a call against a put, or a long position against a short one, takes practice before it takes memory, so draw the payoff before you choose an answer.
Chapter 6 is case studies, which put the earlier chapters to work on a client. When a question describes a product, pull out the facts that drive the answer before you read the options: what it invests in, how much of the capital is protected and who stands behind that protection if the issuer can't pay, what triggers a payout, when it matures, what the client gets back if they leave early, and what they get in the worst case.
SCI publishes no pass rate for M9A, so ignore any figure you see quoted. Your own timed mock scores are the number to watch.
Can you skip M9A? The three exemptions
Exemptions come from MAS, not SCI. SCI's page says it can't advise on them and points you to FAA-N26. The notice's Annex B lets you skip M9A if you hold:
- the CFA, awarded by the CFA Institute;
- a degree in actuarial science or in insurance; or
- a degree in finance, in financial engineering or in computational finance.
MAS's FAQ adds that the finance degree has to major in or put its emphasis on those subjects; a degree with some finance content doesn't qualify. And if you joined without the usual academic qualification under the notice's older-adviser exemption, the M9A exemption holds only while you haven't had a break from advising longer than a year since 1 February 2014. Whether you qualify is your compliance team's call.
Book M9A without paying twice
Booking is online at SCI, and an individual registration takes Visa or Mastercard only. Each attempt costs, GST included:
| Rate | Before 5pm on a weekday | From 5pm |
|---|---|---|
| Member company | S$109.00 | S$127.53 |
| Everyone else | S$130.80 | S$149.33 |
Source: SCI's M9A Exam Fees tab, read 4 November 2026. Member rates go to candidates from SCI or IBF member companies, who register through the company's corporate account or with their own corporate email, the company's name and its UEN; a personal email can't claim the member rate. A weekend daytime session, where SCI offers one, is charged at the after-5pm rate. S$21.80 of each figure is a registration fee SCI keeps whatever happens, and SkillsFuture Credit doesn't cover CMFAS exams.
SCI allows no cancellation and gives no refund. Your first change of date or time, made 7 or more working days ahead, is free. After that, and for any change made 3 to 6 working days ahead, each one costs S$32.70, and within 2 working days you can't move it at all. Our M9A booking guide walks through the account and payment.
Sit M9 and M9A apart, or as CM-LIP?
CM-LIP puts M9 and M9A in one sitting, and FAA-N26 accepts it in place of the pair.
| M9 and M9A apart | CM-LIP | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | M9: 100 questions, 2 hours. M9A: 50 questions, 1 hour | One 3-hour paper of 150 questions |
| Pass mark | 70% on each paper | At least 70% in each part, same sitting |
| How often SCI runs it | Every weekday | Once a week |
| Exemption from the M9A part | Yes, under Annex B | None |
| Member weekday fee | S$109.00 each, S$218.00 for both | S$239.80 |
Source: SCI's M9, M9A and CM-LIP pages, read 2 and 4 November 2026. Two separate papers cost less at every rate and give you more dates. If you pass M9 and slip on M9A, only M9A needs a resit. CM-LIP makes sense only if a single exam day matters more to you than the price, and you're already scoring well on both halves. Our guide to M9 or M9A first covers the order, and sitting M9A soon after M9, while the investment-linked chapters are fresh, is what we'd suggest.
Does an M9A pass expire?
The lapse rule in FAA-N26 (paragraph 4.15) covers RES5: that pass stops being valid if you don't begin work as an appointed representative inside three years of passing, or leave and stay out longer than three years. MAS's FAQ says someone in that position retakes RES5, not the product papers, then adds that to advise on Specified Investment Products they have to pass CM-SIP, M8A or M9A as relevant. Ask your compliance team how that reads for an old M9A pass before you rely on it.
How to know you are ready
Book when you finish timed 50-question papers with a few minutes left, can sketch the payoff of a call, a put and a structured note without notes, and can pull a product's protection level, trigger and worst case out of its summary on the first read. Then wait for 38 or more on two full timed mocks in a row, so a couple of unlucky questions on the day still leave you over 35.
Our M9A study plan sets out the chapters week by week.
Know exactly which M9A chapter to drill next
Our M9A practice gives you full 50-question mocks on the 1-hour clock, chapter practice on all six chapters and an explanation on every answer. After each mock, your results list up to three chapters where you scored below the pass mark, and a retest brings back the questions you got wrong. See what's covered on the M9A paper page, or start M9A as a single paper.
This guide isn't from SCI or MAS. Every fee, format and rule above comes from their pages, read on the dates below, and Fees and formats are SCI's to change, so look at its M9A page again before you register.
Sources
- SCI, M9A exam details, contents, fees, exemption policies and registration policies, read 4 November 2026
- SCI, M9 exam details and contents, read 4 November 2026
- SCI, CM-LIP exam details, format, frequency and fees, read 2 November 2026
- MAS, Notice FAA-N26 on competency requirements for representatives of financial advisers, read 4 November 2026
- MAS, FAQs on the competency requirements for representatives of financial advisers, read 4 November 2026
Practise M9A now
300+ exam-style M9A questions with instant explanations.
Frequently asked questions
70%, which is 35 of the 50 questions. A wrong or blank answer scores zero and nothing is deducted, so you can miss 15 and should answer every question.
Usually, yes. MAS's FAQ on FAA-N26 says advising on and arranging life policies, investment-linked ones included, needs RES5, M9 and M9A. Only a representative confined to non-investment-linked policies may go without it, and your firm decides.
Under Annex B of MAS Notice FAA-N26: holders of a degree in finance, financial engineering or computational finance, a degree in actuarial science or insurance, or the CFA. Your compliance team confirms it.
SCI charges S$130.80 for a non-member weekday sitting before 5pm and S$149.33 after 5pm. Member rates are S$109.00 and S$127.53. Every figure includes GST and a non-refundable S$21.80 registration fee.
Only if you want one exam day. CM-LIP is 150 questions in 3 hours with 70% needed in each part, runs once a week and costs more than the two single papers at every rate.
