IFoA exams explained: the qualification route

The IFoA qualification has two main levels: Associate and Fellow.

Associate requires the core actuarial subjects, professional development and the required period of work experience. Fellowship adds specialist subjects and further experience.

Most UK actuarial graduates work towards the qualification while employed, so the exams, study leave and day job run alongside one another.

In numbers: Associate needs ten subjects passed or exempted (CS1, CS2, CM1, CM2, CB1, CB2, CB3, CP1, CP2, CP3), 24 months of recorded work experience and both Professionalism Courses. Fellow adds two Specialist Principles subjects, one Specialist Advanced subject and 36 months of experience in total. Thirteen subjects, with an experience clock running alongside that no exam speed shortens.

The structure comes from the IFoA Qualification Handbook 2025/2026. Exam fees changed on 1 July 2026 and subscriptions change every 1 October, so the figures below are the 2026-27 position. Check the live IFoA pages before you budget.

What are the subjects?

CS is statistics, with a practical paper in R. CM is compound interest, life contingencies and financial economics, with a practical paper in Excel. CB is business; CP is actuarial practice, modelling and communication. Some older subject codes have been retired, so use the current IFoA subject names when researching the qualification. CP1 to CP3 sit inside the Associate qualification, whatever older blogs say about "Fellowship exams".

The IFoA's recommended study hours come to about 1,860 for the ten Associate subjects and about 2,560 for the full route, of which CP1 alone is 400. That adds up to a substantial amount of study alongside full-time work, which is why employer study support matters.

Which specialist subjects go with which practice area?

Life and pensions candidates take their second SP from another track. SP1 and SA1 are health and care; SP9 is enterprise risk management and leads to the CERA credential; SP10 and SA10 are banking, delivered by the Actuarial Society of South Africa. The courses on general insurance, life insurance, pensions and investments are the place to work out which track is yours.

Associate, Fellow or Chartered Actuary?

The Associate (post-nominals AIA or AFA) is a qualified actuary at generalist level: 24 months of recorded experience and 15 PPD credits. The Fellow (FIA or FFA) is the profession's highest qualification: 36 months and 20 credits. Anyone who joined after 2 January 2019 qualifies as an Associate first, then records at least a further 12 months from the transfer date before Fellowship.

Graduate schemes point at Fellowship, partly because statutory roles such as Scheme Actuary need a Fellow holding a Practising Certificate. Fellowship normally takes several years because the exams are completed alongside work and the professional-experience requirement sets a minimum timescale. The IFoA publishes no "typical years" figure.

Since 12 November 2024 both levels may add the optional Chartered Actuary designation (AIA C.Act, AFA C.Act, FIA C.Act, FFA C.Act), and plain AIA or FIA remains fine. "Actuary" on its own is not a protected title in the UK, so anyone may use it. "Chartered actuary" is protected in law and restricted to qualified IFoA members.

How do degree exemptions work?

Route A lets graduates of accredited programmes claim exemptions from named subjects, based on the modules taken and the marks achieved. Coverage usually spans CS1 to CB2, and on some programmes reaches CP and SP subjects. Which subjects, and the module marks needed, vary by agreement, so a 2:1 on the wrong modules unlocks nothing.

Use the IFoA's accredited-course directory to check the exact university, programme, modules and exemptions. A prospectus is not the definitive source; the directory is. Our degree guide compares actuarial science with maths on this basis.

• Claimed, not conferred. You apply through the IFoA member portal and pay per subject. From 1 July 2026 that is £248 for a CS, CM or CB subject, £333 per SP, and for the Core Practices £635 (CP1), £478 (CP2) and £350 (CP3). Employers usually cover it.
• Five years to claim. For awards made after 1 January 2019 the window is 60 months from the award date, and it runs whether or not you have joined the IFoA.
• The experience clock does not move. Associateship still needs 24 months of recorded PPD, so for an exemption-heavy graduate the experience clock, rather than the exam queue, becomes the limiting factor.

Three other routes exist: other professional bodies (the CFA Institute, ACCA, ICAEW and others, depending on level and date), a maths-based degree from a university with no agreement (CS1, CB1 and CB2 only, evidenced by your own module mapping), and SP0 for an approved Masters or MBA dissertation.

What is PPD, and why does it matter as much as the exams?

PPD is the IFoA's record of professional experience and development. Trainees record work and learning against the required competencies and discuss it with a supervisor.

It matters because passing the exams alone is not enough to qualify. You also need the required period of recorded experience and the professionalism requirements: Stage 1 Professionalism, about five hours of e-learning, must be completed before you can apply for CB3, and Stage 2 is a case-study course needed before Associateship or within six years of joining.

The exact recording rules, credit minimums and audit arrangements change from time to time, so use the IFoA's live PPD guidance rather than a description in an article.

When are the sittings, and what is exam day like?

Two main sessions a year, April and September, each spread over roughly two weeks. Entry is short and early: for the September 2026 session it ran 13–24 July, with exams from 14 September. September results land in December, April's in July. An autumn starter on a graduate scheme has already missed that autumn's window, so the first realistic sitting is the following April.

Since April 2025 the exams have been closed-book and closed-web, sat predominantly in person at invigilated centres and typed on provided laptops. A remotely invigilated option exists through a secure browser, but it is the minority route. AI and translation tools are prohibited.

Exam formats as at July 2026:

There is no fixed pass mark. The Chief Examiner agrees one each session according to paper difficulty, scripts are double-marked, and scripts near the boundary get a third marker. You can sit the subjects in any order; the IFoA recommends CS1, CS2, CM1, CB1, CB2, CM2, CB3, CP1, CP2, CP3, then the SPs and the SA. One thing to recheck each session: an Objective Based Assessment format for CB1 and CB2 had still not launched as of July 2026, so treat both as conventional written papers until the IFoA says otherwise.

What does it cost?

IFoA exam-entry fees effective from 1 July 2026, applying from the September 2026 session onwards:

These fees change, so use the current IFoA fee schedule before budgeting.

Illustrative straight-through exam-entry total: with no exemptions and no resits, the thirteen entries come to £5,906, our arithmetic on the published schedule. Most candidates will not pay exactly that, because exemptions, resits and employer funding all change the picture.

Then the rest of the bill: a one-off £50 admission fee; the annual subscription, which from 1 October 2026 is £290 as a student, £610 as an Associate and £785 as a Fellow; PPD sign-off at £86 for Associateship and £133 for Fellowship; the professionalism courses at £103 and £193; Core Reading; and tuition, because the IFoA examines but does not teach. ActEd dominates the UK tuition market, and on its April 2026 price list a Combined Materials Pack ran £287–£321 per CS or CM subject, with live tutorials at £136 a day.

Reduced rates are only for members already granted a reduced subscription on income grounds, and a funded trainee will not qualify. Non-members may sit CS1 or CM1 to test the water, at £423.

UK graduate schemes commonly cover most of these costs through study support; ask what your package includes.

What do the pass rates tell you?

April 2025, from official IFoA figures compiled by the actuarial employer APR LLP: CS1 44%, CS2 48%, CM1 40%, CM2 48%, CB1 59%, CB2 63%, CP1 44%, CP2 59%, CP3 53%, SP 44%, SA 41%, overall 48%. September 2025 was harsher. By group: CS 40%, CM 33%, CB 63%, CP 53%, SP and SA 44%, overall 46%.

Pass rates vary substantially by subject and sitting. The practical lesson is that resits are normal and you should not build your study plan around passing every subject first time. The IFoA no longer keeps a public pass-rate page, so check the latest session yourself. The Exam Route works through what that means for a study plan.

How do employer study packages work?

The IFoA pays you nothing for a pass and mandates nothing of employers; its line is that they can help through "mentoring, tuition, study leave, financial assistance". On UK graduate schemes the standard package covers entry fees, the subscription, materials and tutorials, plus paid study days and a study mentor. The detail is contractual and it varies. LCP states that it funds at least two attempts at each exam, with study leave and a study mentor. Barnett Waddingham describes study days, financial support and an assigned mentor.

Study days typically run to around one a week in the run-up to a sitting, sized by subject and capped per exam year, and a second attempt usually earns a smaller allowance.

Some employers link salary increases directly to individual exam passes. In the single employer policy used in our salary analysis, Core Principles subjects attract increases of roughly £750–£1,500, CP1 and Specialist Principles subjects £3,000, and the Specialist Advanced subject £3,500. Under that policy, the increases total approximately £11,500 across the Associate subjects and £21,000 across the full Fellowship route. Other employers use different amounts or progression structures, so treat this as a real example rather than a profession-wide tariff.

Before you accept, get five answers in writing: how many attempts at each exam are funded, how many study days a year and how they fall around sittings, what happens to support after a failed sitting, whether there are salary increments per pass, and who provides the materials and tutorials. Then ask about clawback if you leave: what it covers and over what period it tapers. A £38,000 offer with two funded attempts can be worth more than a £41,000 offer with one, and the salary calculator only handles the cash side.

Want to understand the route in more detail?

The Exam Route course looks at the qualification, study commitment, exemptions, cost and how it fits alongside your first actuarial job.

If you are still deciding whether to apply, Become an Actuary puts the exams in the context of the wider career.

Explore the Exam Route → · Explore Become an Actuary →