Before you plan your study time, know what you're walking into. This guide covers the CAMS exam as it stands in 2026. ACAMS updates its candidate handbook from time to time, so confirm the details there before you book.
The basics
- Questions: 120 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
- Time: 3.5 hours (210 minutes).
- Pass mark: a scaled score of 75.
- Delivery: at a Pearson VUE test centre or online with remote proctoring.
The exam is built around four domains: risks and methods of money laundering and terrorist financing, compliance standards, AML/CFT compliance programmes, and investigations. Programme questions and risk questions together make up more than half of the exam.
Question types you will meet
Straight recall. "Which FATF Recommendation deals with politically exposed persons?" These are the minority, and they are the only type free question generators reliably produce.
Scenarios. A paragraph describing a customer, a transaction pattern or a compliance situation, then a question about it. Most of the difficulty is in reading the scenario carefully and spotting which fact matters.
"Best", "first" or "most" questions. Several options are reasonable; only one is the best answer. For example, a bank discovers a monitoring gap: is the first step to exit the customers, to report to the regulator, or to assess the gap? These questions reward understanding how a programme should work, not memorised definitions.
Select two or select three. You must choose all the correct options and no wrong ones. There is no partial credit, so one careless click costs the whole mark.
How to practise for it
- Take a diagnostic first. Ten or twenty questions spread across the domains shows where you are weakest. Our free CAMS diagnostic takes about eight minutes.
- Train by section. Rather than random question sets, work through one section at a time until you clear 75% on your last attempt, then move on.
- Do multi-select questions on purpose. They feel different under time pressure. Practise reading the instruction ("Select TWO") before the options.
- Sit at least two timed mocks. Two minutes per question is plenty for recall, tight for long scenarios. A mock tells you whether your pace works.
- Review every wrong answer. Read the explanation and the source. Most mistakes repeat.
Common mistakes
- Choosing the "strongest" action (close the account, file a report) when the question asks what to do first.
- Confusing FATF Recommendations with US or EU rules.
- Missing the word "NOT" or "EXCEPT" in the question.
- Treating sanctions and AML as the same thing: a sanctions match is blocked or rejected, a suspicion is investigated and reported.
Ready to see where you stand? Start the free CAMS test.