The most common way to waste money on CMFAS is to buy study material for the wrong paper. It happens because candidates start from the wrong question. They ask “what should I study?” when the answer is determined upstream, by the exact regulated activity their firm intends to appoint them for. Get that straight and the module list falls out of it almost mechanically. Get it wrong and you can spend weeks on a paper that does not appear in your licensing requirement at all.
In one line
Don't pick modules from a list — derive them. Name the regulated activity, then take the rules module for that regime plus the product module for what you'll actually sell. Confirm the combination with compliance before you pay for anything.
Start from the regulated activity, not the module list
CMFAS is a licensing prerequisite, and licensing in Singapore is organised around regulated activities. Advising on life policies is one activity. Dealing in capital markets products is another. Fund management is another again. Each carries its own examination requirement, and the applicable examinations for each regulated activity are set out in the MAS notices that took effect on 1 April 2024 — Notice FAA-N26 under the Financial Advisers Act, and Notice SFA 04-N22 under the Securities and Futures Act.
That structure explains something candidates find counterintuitive: two people with the same job title at different firms can face different papers. What matters is the scope written into the appointment, not what the business card says. So the first practical step is not opening a syllabus. It is asking your firm which regulated activities you will be appointed for.
If you have not yet read the general overview of how the papers are organised, the CMFAS exam guide covers the rules-versus-product split that everything below assumes.
Two administering bodies, two halves of the map
Part of the confusion is that CMFAS is administered in two halves. The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) handles the capital markets side — securities, derivatives, fund management, corporate finance, REIT management. The Singapore College of Insurance (SCI) handles the financial advisory and insurance side, including RES 5 and the life and health insurance product modules.
This is not trivia. It determines whose website you register on, whose syllabus you study, and which announcements are authoritative for your papers. If you are an insurance-side candidate reading an IBF announcement about derivatives dealer modules, none of it applies to you.
The code renames you need to know about
A large share of outdated advice online still uses pre-2024 codes. When the new CMFAS examinations launched on 1 April 2024, the “Rules and Regulations” modules were renamed to “Rules, Ethics and Skills” (RES), and several product-knowledge modules were renamed to reflect the securities and derivatives product classifications under the SFA. A few of the changes candidates hit most often:
| Old code and name | Current name |
|---|---|
| M5 — Rules and Regulations for Financial Advisory Services | RES 5 — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Financial Advisory Services |
| M1A / M1B — Rules and Regulations for Dealing in Securities | RES 1A / RES 1B — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Securities (Exchange / Non-Exchange Member) Dealers |
| M2A — Rules and Regulations for Trading in Futures Contracts | RES 2A — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Derivatives Exchange Dealers |
| M3 — Rules and Regulations for Fund Management | RES 3 — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Fund Management |
| M4A — Rules and Regulations for Advising on Corporate Finance | RES 4 — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Corporate Finance |
| M6 — Securities Products and Analysis | CM-EIP — Capital Markets, Excluded Investment Products |
| M6A — Securities and Futures Product Knowledge | CM-SIP — Capital Markets, Specified Investment Products |
| M10 — Rules and Regulations for REIT Management | RESP 10 — Rules, Ethics, Skills and Product Knowledge for REIT Management |
On the insurance side, the single product modules kept their codes — M8 and M8A for Collective Investment Schemes, M9 and M9A for Life Insurance and Investment-linked Policies, and HI for Health Insurance — but combined examinations were introduced alongside them: CM-CIS covers M8 and M8A, CM-LIP covers M9 and M9A, and CM-LIC covers all four.
Role to modules: a working map
The table below is a starting point for conversations with compliance, not a licensing determination. Every row should be read as “candidates in this role commonly sit”.
| If your role involves… | Modules commonly involved |
|---|---|
| Advising on or arranging life insurance and investment-linked policies | RES 5, plus M9 and M9A (or the combined CM-LIP) |
| Advising on life insurance and on collective investment schemes | RES 5, plus M8, M8A, M9, M9A (or the combined CM-LIC) |
| Advising on units in collective investment schemes | RES 5, plus M8 and M8A (or the combined CM-CIS) |
| Health and medical insurance work | RES 5 typically applies to the advisory activity; HI is the health insurance product module |
| Dealing in securities, exchange member firm | RES 1A, plus the relevant capital markets product module |
| Dealing in securities, non-exchange member firm | RES 1B, plus the relevant capital markets product module |
| Derivatives dealing | RES 2A or RES 2B depending on exchange membership, plus product module |
| Fund management | RES 3 |
| Advising on corporate finance | RES 4 |
| REIT management | RESP 10 |
Notice the shape of it. Almost every path is one rules module plus one or more product modules, and the branching happens on two axes only: which regime you sit under, and what you will actually recommend or trade. Once you can state those two things in a sentence, your paper list is nearly written.
This map is a conversation starter, not an authority
Everything above describes typical patterns. The definitive requirement for your appointment comes from your firm's compliance team and the official examination body — verify both before you register or pay for study material. Module scope, formats and requirements change.
Where candidates get the mapping wrong
Three mistakes account for most of the wasted effort.
The first is assuming a job title maps to a module set. It does not. “Financial consultant” at one firm may cover life insurance only; at another it may extend to collective investment schemes, which pulls in a different product paper entirely.
The second is copying a colleague’s list. Your colleague may have been appointed for a broader or narrower scope, or may have joined before a rename. Their receipt is not your requirement.
The third is buying material by an old code. Because so many modules were renamed in 2024, searching for “M5 notes” or “M6A practice” will surface material written for a superseded syllabus. Search by the current name, and check the publication date on anything you buy.
How to lock your list down before you pay
Ask compliance to write down the regulated activities in your intended appointment. Take that wording to the relevant examination body’s website — IBF for capital markets roles, SCI for advisory and insurance roles — and match it against their current examination pages. Confirm module names and formats there rather than from a forum post, since question counts, durations and pass marks are set by the examination body and can change.
Only once that list is fixed should you start preparing. If your list includes RES 5, the RES 5 exam guide covers what that paper demands. If it includes the life insurance pair, the M9 and M9A guide explains how they relate, and the HI health insurance guide does the same for the health module. For structuring the actual revision, the mock questions and study plan lays out a method.
Drilling a multi-module list without mixing them up
The awkward part of a derived module list is that it is usually more than one paper, and those papers arrive close together. A rules module and two or three product modules, each with its own vocabulary, sat within a few weeks of each other, is a recipe for cross-contamination — recalling a product feature under a rules question, or attributing an M9A detail to M9.
The fix is to drill per module rather than reading across all of them at once, and to review wrong answers module by module so you can see which paper is actually weak. That is how CMFAS KAKI is built: original exam-style multiple-choice questions organised by module, with per-module wrong-answer review, for short sessions between appointments. Once your list is confirmed, start practising the modules you landed on.
Module names, formats and requirements can change — always confirm the latest details with the official CMFAS examination body before you register. CMFAS KAKI provides original practice questions and is not affiliated with MAS, IBF, SCI or any examination institute.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Clear answers to the questions candidates usually need before choosing a paper or planning their study.
Which CMFAS modules do I need?
There is no single answer, because the module combination follows the regulated activity your appointment covers, not your job title. The usual pattern is one Rules, Ethics and Skills (RES) module matched to your licensing regime, plus the product-knowledge module or modules covering what you will advise on or deal in. Someone advising on life insurance and investment-linked policies sits a different set from someone dealing in securities. Your firm's compliance team and the examination body confirm the exact combination — check with both before you register.
Is it M5 or RES 5 now?
RES 5. The Singapore College of Insurance announced that the CMFAS M5 module, Rules and Regulations for Financial Advisory Services, was renamed RES 5 — Rules, Ethics and Skills for Financial Advisory Services — as part of the new CMFAS examinations that took effect on 1 April 2024. If you are reading study material or forum advice that still says M5, it predates the change. The subject area is the same family of regulatory and conduct content, but the syllabus and format were revised, so study from current material.
Which CMFAS modules does an insurance agent typically take?
A representative preparing to advise on or arrange life insurance and investment-linked policies commonly sits RES 5 on the rules side, plus the life insurance product knowledge — historically the M9 and M9A pair, now also offered as the combined CM-LIP examination. Someone whose scope extends to health insurance commonly adds HI, and someone covering collective investment schemes commonly adds the CIS modules. The word to hold on to is commonly: your firm's compliance team defines the actual scope of your appointment.
What happened to M6 and M6A?
The Institute of Banking and Finance announced that the product-knowledge modules were renamed to reflect the securities and derivatives product classifications under the Securities and Futures Act. Module 6, Securities Products and Analysis, became CM-EIP, and Module 6A, Securities and Futures Product Knowledge, became CM-SIP. A combined module, CM-CMP, was also introduced. If you are searching for study material by the old codes, you may be looking at superseded content — confirm the current module name before you buy anything.
Can I choose which CMFAS modules to sit?
Not freely. The modules are tied to the regulated activities your firm intends to appoint you for, and the applicable examinations for each regulated activity are set out in the relevant MAS notices — FAA-N26 on the financial advisory side and SFA 04-N22 on the capital markets side. In practice your compliance team tells you the scope, and you sit the examinations that scope requires. Sitting extra modules out of interest is possible, but it does not by itself widen what you are permitted to do.