CISI ICWIM International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management Level 3 Course

 

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The CISI International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management (ICWIM) exam is 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours, and the marks sit in three places. Economics and Investment Analysis and Investment Advice carry 21 questions each; Investment Management carries 15. That is 57 of the 100 marks before you reach anything else. This course covers all eight elements while concentrating your study time where the marks are.

Work through the syllabus at your own pace alongside the official CISI workbook, then use the practice questions to find the elements you are still losing marks on before you book the exam.

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The CISI examination is booked and paid for separately, directly with the CISI. The price on this page covers the Tadawul Academy preparation course only. Current CISI fees are set out below.

Who this ICWIM course is for

The syllabus is written for practitioners advising clients internationally rather than under one national regime, which makes it useful to:

• Relationship managers and private bankers dealing with high-net-worth clients
• Investment advisers, paraplanners and support staff preparing client recommendations
• Discretionary portfolio managers, fund managers and fund administration staff
• Staff moving into wealth management from operations, banking, insurance or compliance
• New entrants who need a recognised benchmark qualification before taking client work

There are no entry requirements. CISI advises proficiency in English to CEFR B2 level, since the questions test close reading as well as knowledge, and several of them are calculations wrapped in a short scenario.

What passing the ICWIM exam awards you

One exam gives you the whole qualification. On the Regulated Qualifications Framework it is titled the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management, which is the name that appears on your certificate; on the European Qualifications Framework it sits at level 4. Total qualification time is 154 hours.

Passing entitles you to apply for CISI Associate membership and the designatory letters ACSI, and the qualification meets the ESMA appropriate-qualification requirements for investment advisers. You hold free CISI Student membership while you are studying. It is not the Level 4 Certificate in International Advanced Wealth Management — ICWIM is the exam most candidates take before it.

What the CISI ICWIM exam covers

The current specification is syllabus version 7, effective from 2 March 2025. Eight elements, with the number of questions each contributes:

Element	Questions	What to prepare for
1. The Financial Services Sector	4	Wholesale against retail activity, and where investment managers, financial planners, private banks, platforms and custodians fit.
2. Industry Regulation	5	Rules-based against principles-based regulation, ethical standards, and financial crime: FATF, the laundering stages, client identification and market abuse.
3. Asset Classes and Financial Markets	14	Cash and money market instruments, foreign exchange, bonds and yields, property, equities, derivatives, commodities, digital assets, settlement and corporate actions.
4. Collective Investments	7	Open- and closed-ended funds, UCITS, ETFs, and the specialist vehicles — structured products, hedge funds, private equity, commodity funds and sukuk.
5. Economics and Investment Analysis	21	Macro and micro theory, the economic cycle, monetary and fiscal policy, statistics, present and future values, fundamental against technical analysis, company ratios and valuation models.
6. Investment Management	15	Risk and return, alpha and beta, Modern Portfolio Theory, CAPM, APT, behavioural finance, active and passive strategies, ESG, benchmarking and the Sharpe, Sortino and Treynor ratios.
7. Investment Advice	21	Client categorisation, best interests and conflicts, know your client, charging structures, business and personal taxation, withholding tax and double taxation relief, risk tolerance and capacity for loss, suitability, and how recommendations are presented and reviewed.
8. Lifetime Financial Provision	13	Retirement planning and calculating retirement need, protection priorities, life assurance and critical illness, business protection, estate planning, trusts and foundations.

The count for any element can shift by up to two questions between papers, but the shape holds: Elements 5, 6 and 7 are 57 of the 100 marks between them.

This paper examines calculation, not only recall. You are expected to work out a forward exchange rate from interest rate parity, present and future values of lump sums, annuities and perpetuities, simple and compound interest, means and standard deviations, and the sum a client needs for retirement. Practise those before the exam, not during it.

View the official CISI ICWIM qualification page or download the official version 7 syllabus. CISI publishes amendments in its Candidate Update area between syllabus editions, so check it before you sit.

What is included

• Recorded video lectures covering every element of the syllabus, chapter by chapter
• Chapter summary slides and study notes for revision
• Multiple-choice practice questions designed around the CISI examination format, organised by chapter
• Worked calculation examples for the Element 5, 6 and 8 formulae
• An Ask the Trainer section for questions on the material
• Access options of two weeks, one month or three months
• Three months access to the Tadawul Academy job board — current wealth management, private banking, investment and compliance vacancies in the UK, the Gulf, Egypt and India

The practice questions are written by Tadawul Academy for preparation. They are not official CISI examination questions, and no training provider has access to those.

ICWIM exam format

Questions	100 multiple choice
Duration	2 hours
Pass mark	70% — 70 correct out of 100 scored questions
Total qualification time	154 hours, CISI’s estimate of study, revision and assessment combined
Delivery	Computer-based test, on demand
Where	CISI’s global test-centre network, or online by remote invigilation
Trial questions	Up to 10% extra unscored questions may appear. They are not identified, they do not count towards your result, and you are given proportionately more time.
Results	Available in MyCISI within 24 working hours, provisional for five working days
Resits	Up to six attempts at the same subject in any rolling 12-month period. After three attempts within a 12-month period, a six-week rest period applies, counted from the date of the third sitting.

Read that resit rule carefully. It runs on a rolling 12 months from each sitting, not a calendar year, and the six-week pause after a third attempt is enforced. An employer can apply to CISI to waive it once, for a fourth attempt.

What the CISI ICWIM exam costs

CISI’s own fees, separate from the price of this course. From the CISI price list covering 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, checked 3 August 2026. What you pay depends on where you book.

Booking in the UK

• Exam: £283
• Workbook, mandatory with the booking: £105
• Exam, workbook and Revision Express together: £403

Booking internationally

• First sitting: £403, including the workbook and Revision Express access where available
• Resit within the same syllabus version: £283
• Some countries add a local invigilation fee

Other CISI fees

• Qualification Registration Fee: £68, paid once, on your first CISI qualification
• Revision Express bought on its own: £45
• Performance Review after a failed attempt: £40, and free once you have failed the same subject three times

The Performance Review is worth knowing about: it breaks your score down element by element. On a paper this wide, that is the difference between revising everything again and revising the two elements that cost you the pass. Fees are reviewed annually, so confirm on the current CISI price list before booking.

How to plan your ICWIM study

CISI puts total qualification time at 154 hours, covering lectures, reading, revision and the exam — substantially more than its 50-question units, and planning for one of those is the most common mistake. Two schedules that reach it:

• Sixteen weeks at around 10 hours a week
• Twenty-two weeks at around 7 hours a week

These are our suggestions, not CISI rules. Whichever you pick, order the material by weight rather than by chapter number:

1. First. Elements 1, 2 and 3 — 23 marks, and Element 3 supplies the asset vocabulary that Elements 5, 6 and 7 assume you already have.
2. Second. Element 5, 21 marks and most of the calculations. Give it more time than its share suggests: formulae need repetition rather than reading.
3. Third. Elements 6 and 7 — 36 marks together, and both build directly on what you covered in 3 and 5.
4. Fourth. Elements 4 and 8, 20 marks and self-contained, then mixed practice across the whole syllabus and back to any element scoring below 70%.

Start the practice questions around the halfway point rather than saving them for the end — they show where your recall is weak while there is still time to fix it. Book the exam once you are clearing 80% on mixed practice sets, which leaves margin for exam-day pressure.

Using this course with the CISI workbook

The CISI workbook is the definitive examination text. Tadawul Academy adds guided explanations, revision slides, practice questions and trainer support so you can work through that text systematically and identify the topics that need more revision.

1. Watch the lecture for the chapter.
2. Read the matching workbook section.
3. Review the summary slides.
4. Answer that chapter’s practice questions.
5. Revisit anything you answered incorrectly or guessed.

At Level 3 you are expected to apply what the workbook explains to situations it does not spell out, and an answer can draw on more than one part of the book: a suitability question can turn on tax status from Element 7 and a product feature from Element 4 at the same time. That is why working through practice questions matters more than re-reading.

Before you enrol

• We do not run classroom training or live online sessions. This is a self-paced e-learning package of recorded video lectures, study notes and practice exams.
• You can create a free account on our e-learning portal and try two chapters before buying.
• After you order, we activate your account and email confirmation within a few hours. Please check your email address is correct when you place the order.
• When your access expires, place a new order here to extend it.
• You need the current CISI ICWIM workbook. We are not permitted to supply it — CISI does, as part of your exam booking, under its mandatory workbook policy. Format and delivery differ between UK and international bookings, so confirm the arrangement with CISI when you book. Study it properly before you sit.

Book the ICWIM examination with CISI

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the CISI workbook as well as this course?

Yes. The workbook is the examination text and CISI requires it to be purchased with your exam booking. This course does not replace it — it adds lectures explaining the harder parts, worked calculations, slides to revise from, and practice questions to test whether the reading has stuck.

How much does the CISI ICWIM exam cost?

Booking in the UK, £283 for the exam plus £105 for the mandatory workbook, or £403 for both together with Revision Express. Booking internationally, £403 for a first sitting with the workbook included, and £283 for a resit within the same syllabus version. Add a one-off £68 registration fee if this is your first CISI qualification, and check whether a local invigilation fee applies in your country. Figures from the CISI price list for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.

Are there mock exams and practice questions?

The course includes multiple-choice practice questions written around the CISI examination format, organised by chapter so you can test each element as you finish it, plus mixed sets once you have covered the syllabus. They are our own questions — no provider has access to CISI’s live exam questions.

Are there past papers or official sample questions for ICWIM?

CISI does not publish past papers for this exam, and any PDF of “real” ICWIM questions circulating online is not an official document. What CISI does publish is the syllabus, which lists every learning objective the paper can test. Prepare from that and from practice questions written to the same format. If you fail, the Performance Review is the only official element-by-element feedback available.

How long does ICWIM preparation take?

CISI puts total qualification time at 154 hours. Sixteen weeks at 10 hours a week, or twenty-two at 7, both get you there. Your own timing depends on how comfortable you already are with the Element 5 calculations, which is where most candidates spend longer than they planned.

Is ICWIM a Level 3 qualification, and what do I get for passing?

Yes. Passing the single exam awards the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management, a complete qualification in its own right, and entitles you to apply for Associate membership and the letters ACSI. It also meets the ESMA appropriate-qualification requirements for investment advisers, and sits at level 4 on the European Qualifications Framework.

Does this course include live classes?

No. Everything is recorded and self-paced. For questions on the material, use the Ask the Trainer section and you will get a written answer.

How quickly is my account activated?

Within a few hours of your order, and we email you to confirm. The most common cause of delay is a mistyped email address at checkout.

Is the job board really included?

Yes, at no extra cost, for three months from activation. It lists current vacancies in wealth management, private banking, investment and compliance across the UK, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and India, with ICWIM named in the requirements for a large share of the client-facing wealth roles.

What happens if I fail, and how many resits am I allowed?

Up to six attempts at the same subject in any rolling 12-month period, with a six-week rest period after the third attempt in that period. A resit within the same syllabus version costs £283 booked internationally. If you fail the same subject three times, CISI provides a Performance Review free of charge, showing your score element by element.

Can I sit the ICWIM exam from home?

Yes. CISI offers this exam by remote invigilation as well as at its global test centres, on demand rather than on fixed dates. Confirm the remote option is available in your country, and run CISI’s system check on the computer you intend to use, before you book.

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