SOCPA Fellowship Regulations Study Plan: Topic Order and Traps from Changed Laws

Information last checked: 31 October 2026. Exam details can change, so check the Fellowship exam page on the SOCPA website before you start. This is an independent guide with no connection to SOCPA, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority or any government body.

The regulations subject asks you to know a lot of legal text in a short time, and you cannot memorise it all equally well. This plan orders your revision by the official topic weights, with the traps that come from laws that changed or were repealed. The six topics and the laws they cover are explained in the exam content guide.

Numbers to build your plan on

Order the topics by number of questions

The official weights are ranges; the question counts below are the split of our 50-question practice tests:

Commercial laws and the profession law alone are 28 questions, about 56% of the exam. Add the laws related to the profession and it is 40 questions out of 50. So start with commercial laws and the accounting and auditing profession law, and do not leave them to the last week.

How to reach 30 correct answers

The pass mark is 30 out of 50, and the split of our questions gives you more than one route:

• From commercial laws and the accounting and auditing profession law (28 questions): if you get 24 of them right, you need 6 more from the rest.
• With the laws related to the profession added (40 questions across the three topics): you need 30 of 40, which is 75%.
• The rest (10 questions in the other three topics): their rules are shorter and easier to memorise, and every correct answer there takes pressure off the big topics.

Do not rely on half the exam, though. Hardly anyone answers a whole topic correctly, and the laws in the commercial laws topic are scattered, so leave yourself a margin by covering every topic.

Revision plan

6 weeks before

1. Take the free practice test (10 free questions) to find your starting point and weakest topics.
2. Weeks 1 and 2: the Companies Law and the Bankruptcy Law. They are the heaviest of the commercial laws.
3. Week 3: the rest of the commercial laws (commercial papers, commercial contracts, finance, capital market, competition).
4. Week 4: the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law and the auditor's legal position under the Companies Law and Banking Control Law.
5. Week 5: the laws related to the profession: anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism, labour, social insurance, arbitration, anti-concealment, estates, waqf and fundraising.
6. Week 6: financial transactions, principles of commercial law and the introduction to law, then a test after your revision to measure what changed.

2 weeks before

• Practise by topic in the practice area, starting with your weakest.
• Go back to every question you got wrong and read the article it relies on, not only the explanation, then add it to your mistakes notebook.
• Memorise the numbers you get wrong: periods, percentages, the competent authority, penalty minimums and maximums.

The final week

• Sit a timed full mock exam of 50 questions in 120 minutes with the pass mark at 60, and see your result in each topic.
• Review the mistakes notebook, then redo the topic where your score fell below the others.
• The day before: go over the numbers and periods you studied, and do not start a new law.
• Remember that regulations is in the afternoon and follows zakat and tax if you registered for both. Prepare for a short break between the two exams.

Traps from laws that changed

This subject is affected by laws issued or changed in recent years. The most common mistakes come from studying old notes:

• The old and new Companies Law. The Companies Law of 1443 AH replaced the earlier law. Anything written before it about company forms, minimum figures, management and rulings may no longer be right. Read the new text.
• The Social Insurance Law. The one issued in 1445 AH is in force. Do not study contribution rates and pension rules from the old law.
• The Accounting and Auditing Profession Law. The one issued by Royal Decree (M/59) dated 27/7/1442 AH replaced the old certified public accountants law. Licensing conditions, disciplinary penalties and SOCPA's powers come from the new law; if an old note gives rules for the certified accountant, check they come from the new law.
• The Fundraising Law. The topics document names the "Regulation of Fundraising for Charitable Purposes". It was replaced by the "Fundraising Law" under Council of Ministers decision no. 116 of 1446 AH, which applies 180 days after publication. Study the new law.
• The Investment Law. The topics document names the foreign investment law; the one in force now is the new Investment Law issued in 2025.

Mistakes that repeat in regulations questions

• A number close to the right one. The four options differ in a period or a percentage. If you have not memorised the number, you are guessing between two close ones, so write each law's numbers on one sheet and revise it.
• The competent authority. Who issues the licence, who rules on the dispute, who receives the report: the Capital Market Authority, the commercial court, SOCPA or the financial intelligence unit. Tie each authority to its law.
• The compound condition. The text requires two conditions together and the question shows only one. Read the whole question and look for "and" and "or".
• Mixing two similar laws. Money laundering and terrorism financing, bankruptcy and its procedures, cooperative insurance and banking. Their questions swap details.

What this site adds to your plan

• Free practice test: 10 free questions covering the six topics, with the answer, an explanation and your score at the end, no sign-up.
• Practice area: practise topic by topic, with every answer explained and the article it relies on, and a mistakes notebook to return to.
• Full mock exam of 50 questions in 120 minutes with the pass mark at 60. The remaining questions and the full mock exam need a paid pass.

SOCPA's own resources include the practice questions for professional exams (September 2025) and the Fellowship exam topics document.

This is an independent exam preparation website with no connection to SOCPA, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority or any government body.