Registering for the CME-1A Exam: SAR 1,100 Fee, Centres, Rescheduling and Resits

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Fees, conditions and dates can change, so check the CME-1A exam page on the Financial Academy website and the CISI exam policy page before you register and pay. This is an independent guide, not affiliated with the Financial Academy, the Capital Market Authority, CISI or any government body, and it cannot register you.

Registering for CME-1A is easy in its steps and strict in its rules. You need no qualification or earlier certificate, but the fee is paid in full in advance, the language cannot be changed after booking, and bookings cannot be cancelled. A mismatch in the name on your booking can keep you out of the room. Read this page before you press pay.

Registration steps

1. No prerequisites. No certificate or training programme is required before you register.
2. Account. Create an account on the Financial Academy website or sign in, then open the exam registration page. Dates and centres appear only after you sign in.
3. Exam and language. Choose CME-1A and the exam language, Arabic or English. The language cannot be changed after booking, so pick the one you studied in.
4. Date and centre. Book your exam day and centre.
5. Payment. Pay SAR 1,100 in full in advance. The fee is not refunded after payment is confirmed unless the Academy cancels the exam.
6. QRF form. Complete it online before the exam. CISI requires it, and your official result is not issued until it is done.

A booking cannot be swapped to another person, because CISI bookings are not transferable.

Fees

The Academy adds one more condition: if you reschedule less than 14 days before the exam and the new date falls when a newer edition of the study text is released, the full exam fee applies and it is treated as a new booking under the new edition. The validity period of each edition is printed at the start of the book. The old figure of SAR 1,250 belongs to the previous two-part CME-1 and no longer applies.

Test centres

The exam is taken on a computer. The Academy's test centres page lists six cities and seven sites:

• Riyadh: King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD)
• Jeddah: Institute of Public Administration
• Abha: Institute of Public Administration
• Dammam: Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
• Jazan
• Hail: two sites

The Academy's public pages do not say whether remote proctoring is available to candidates who register through it. Check the list and the dates when you book, as they can change.

Exam day: ID and calculator

• ID: it must be valid, and the name on it must match the booking name exactly, or you will be refused entry. Under its general policy the Academy accepts a Saudi or GCC national ID and a non-Saudi resident's iqama, with further details on the policy page. Enter your name when booking exactly as it appears on your document.
• Calculator: handheld calculators are not allowed. The exam screen provides a calculator, and according to CISI's workbook it is the only one permitted. Practise with it on yield, value and ratio questions.
• Arrival: the Academy's general policy for its exams asks you to arrive 30 minutes before the start, so plan for that.

Failing and resitting

The pass mark is 35 out of 50. A score of 46 or more is a pass with merit according to CISI's official sample paper. If you do not pass, these are the rules under the Academy's CISI policy:

• At most three attempts at the same subject in any 12 months.
• After the third attempt you wait six weeks, counted from the third exam date, and then you may make up to three more attempts within 12 months of your first exam.
• You cannot resit before three full days have passed after failing. If you sat on a Thursday, the earliest date is the following Monday.
• Every attempt is paid in full: SAR 1,100.
• In special cases an exception for a fourth attempt can be requested through the Academy from CISI.
• You cannot register for an exam you have already passed, and CISI may refuse to test you again.

CISI's page gives pass rates for the matching IISI exam: 54% in English and 43% in Arabic, with no statistics period stated, and recommends about 80 hours of study. Those are CISI's figures, not ours. Since each attempt costs SAR 1,100, find out where you stand before you book: take the free practice test, then pass the mock exam (50 questions in 60 minutes) in the question bank with a comfortable margin above 35 before you pay.

CME-1A and CME-1B: how they fit together

The CME-1 certificate is two separate exams, each with its own registration and a SAR 1,100 fee (SAR 2,200 in total): CME-1A is an international syllabus in securities and investment, and CME-1B covers the Saudi capital market laws and regulations. You receive the certificate only after passing both, and no order is required between them.

Our suggestion, which is an opinion and not a rule: start with CME-1A if the terms equities, bonds, funds and derivatives are new to you, because CME-1B assumes you know these products when it covers the rules that govern them. If your employer has a deadline for CME-1B, or you have worked in the market for years, the reverse may suit you better. Watch each study text's validity period when you choose a date: the current CME-1B workbook covers exams up to 31 December 2026, the Arabic CME-1A text (edition 18) covers exams up to 10 January 2027 before Arabic edition 19 begins, and for English, edition 19 has been in force since 10 September 2026. The details are in the CME-1A syllabus guide.

Hadaf support

The Financial Academy's exam page says that after you pass, you can apply for support through the Hadaf platform (the Human Resources Development Fund). The stated condition is that you pass CME-1A and CME-1B together and meet the certificate requirements; support is not given for passing only one. So you pay up front from your own pocket and apply after the certificate. The platform sets the conditions and amounts, so check them there and do not build your budget on it being guaranteed.

After you register

Start with the syllabus guide to see that equities alone are 9 of the 50 questions and equities and bonds together are 16, then set your schedule with the study plan and practise in the question bank. To go back to the exam page: CME-1A exam.

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Fees and rules can change, so confirm them on the Financial Academy website before you pay. This site is independent and has no link to the Financial Academy, the Capital Market Authority, CISI or any government body.