CME-1B Study Plan: Chapter Order and Common Mistakes with Legal Figures

Information last checked: 31 October 2026. Exam details can change, so check the CME-1B exam page on the Financial Academy website before you book. This is an independent guide with no connection to the Financial Academy, the Capital Market Authority, CISI or any government body.

CME-1B has 50 questions in 60 minutes, and you need 35 correct answers. The questions test the text of laws and regulations, where numbers and periods look alike. This plan orders your revision by the number of questions in each chapter and lists the mistakes that repeat in the figures of the current texts. The eight chapters are explained in the exam content guide, and the booking steps in the registration guide.

Numbers to build your plan on

Order the chapters by number of questions

The counts come from the exam specification in the official workbook, and each chapter can vary by up to two questions:

The first five chapters carry 39 of the 50 questions. Do not leave Regulated Activities to the last week: it has 13 questions and seven topics, from funds to corporate governance. The last three chapters (anti-money laundering, systems and controls, authorisation) carry 11 questions, and neglecting them uses up your 15 allowed mistakes fast. Authorisation is only two questions, but its figures (capital, term of authorisation) come back in other chapters.

Revision plan

4 weeks before

1. Open the free practice test (10 free questions, no sign-up) to see your score today and your weakest chapters.
2. Week 1: Regulated Activities (13 questions): fiduciary duties, funds, prospectus, ways of offering, corporate governance.
3. Week 2: Introduction to the Capital Market Authority (7 questions), Securities Business Regulations (6) and Authorisation (2).
4. Week 3: Prohibitions (7) and Capital Market Institutions Regulations (6).
5. Week 4: anti-money laundering (5) and systems and controls (4), then a test after your revision to measure what changed.

2 weeks before

• Practise by chapter in the practice area, starting with the weakest chapter in your result.
• For every question you got wrong, read the article the answer relies on, not only the explanation, then add it to your mistakes notebook.
• Write on one sheet the numbers you mix up: capital figures, percentages, periods in days and years, and fine ceilings.

The final week

• Sit a timed full mock exam of 50 questions in 60 minutes with the pass mark at 35, and see your result in each chapter.
• Review the mistakes notebook, then redo the chapter where your score fell below the others.
• The day before: go over your numbers sheet and do not start a new regulation. Check your ID and that the QRF form is complete, because the official result is not issued without it.

If you have only two weeks, take the free test today, split your time across the five big chapters and then the three small ones, and sit a full mock exam two days before the date.

Mistakes that repeat in CME-1B

The figures below come from the texts in force. If an old note shows a different number, the current text wins.

• Minimum capital. SAR 50 million for dealing and custody, and SAR 20 million for managing with fund operation. Managing investments alone, arranging and advising need capital covering a year's expected expenses. The legal form restriction covers dealing, custody and managing only; arranging and advising may use any legal form (Capital Market Institutions Regulations, Article 6).
• The five securities businesses. Dealing includes selling, buying, managing a subscription and underwriting, as principal or agent. Managing means exercising discretion over another person's security or operating investment funds. Arranging includes advising on corporate finance business. Custody includes taking the necessary administrative measures (Securities Business Regulations, Article 2).
• Who is an insider. Not only employees or directors. An insider is anyone who obtains the information through a family, business or contractual relationship, and is barred from trading on it or passing it on to someone expected to trade. Anyone who trades on information from an insider, knowing the disclosure breached the Law, also violates Article 50 of the Capital Market Law.
• The beneficial owner. Always a natural person, never the owning company. For a legal person it is whoever owns 25% or more of the shares or exercises control, and in doubt the senior managing official as a last resort. The know-your-client form in the Institutions Regulations (Annex 5.3(A)) asks for the names of those owning 25% or more.
• Anti-money laundering record keeping. At least ten years from the completion of the transaction or the closure of the account (Anti-Money Laundering Law, Article 12). Do not mix it up with the other periods in the same chapter.
• Margin has two numbers. At least 50% of the transaction value before executing on listed shares, then daily monitoring so margin never falls below 25% of the current value of each position, and close-out after 5 days of failure (Capital Market Institutions Regulations, Article 45).
• Look-alike periods in the same regulation. The periodic review of client information is at least every five years (Article 39), not three. The governing body's review of responsibilities and controls is every three years (Article 56). An employee discloses personal dealings within 7 days (Article 50). Telephone recordings, committee minutes and documents are kept ten years.
• The two fine ceilings. The Committee's fine is up to SAR 25 million for an intentional violation (Capital Market Law, Article 59(b)), and the fine the Authority imposes itself instead of bringing an action is up to SAR 5 million (Article 59(c)). Anti-money laundering has different figures, so do not carry a number from one law to another.

One pattern repeats in text questions: the four options differ in a number or a period, and one of them is a correct figure from another article. Ask yourself which article the question is about before you choose.

What this site adds to your plan

• Free practice test: 10 free questions covering the main chapters, with the answer, an explanation and your score at the end, no sign-up.
• Practice area: practise chapter by chapter, with every option explained and the article it relies on, and a mistakes notebook to return to.
• Full mock exam of 50 questions in 60 minutes with the pass mark at 35. The remaining questions and the full mock exam need a paid pass. Exam page: CME-1B.

This is an independent exam preparation website with no connection to the Financial Academy, the Capital Market Authority, CISI or any government body.