Responding to COVID-19: insight, support and guidance

CIPFA Exams

CIPFA runs four exam sessions a year to accommodate the needs of our growing Student Network. Students can choose to sit their exams at home with the aid of an online invigilator, or at their place of work with a nominated member of staff invigilating their exam.

For further information on sitting your exam with CIPFA, including exam dates, booking deadlines and applying for special arrangements, please follow the guidance outlined below.

December 2021 exams session

In line with government guidelines around COVID-19, CIPFA venues will remain closed for the December 2021 exams session.

Students can instead choose to sit their exams with either an online or local invigilator.

Talk to us

Telephone: 020 7543 5600
Email: StudentSupport@cipfa.org

Access your Calibrand account

What are online (remote) exams?

To deliver our exams and practice tests, CIPFA have partnered with online assessment platform Calibrand to create CIPFA Assessment.

Students sit their exams at home or their place of work and are invigilated by ProctorU.

Find out more

How are local exams invigilated?

Local exams are taken on the student's computer and are sat at the student's place of work.

These are invigilated by a member of staff at the student's place of work.

Find out more

How do I practice?

Practice is the key to exam success. At CIPFA we give our students a unique opportunity to hone your exam skills by using our LIVE exam system with practice tests of exam standard questions.

CIPFA does not publish past exam papers.

Find out more

Dates
Applications
Strategic
Results
Appeals
Assessment regulations
Prizes

Exam dates

Exam dates for the 2021 exam sessions are available for download:

For further dates in the CIPFA calendar, please visit key dates.

PQ exam dates 2021

IPFM exam dates 2021

Book your exam

Online bookings for the December exam session are now open.

Bookings made after Friday 22 October will be subject to late fees.

Dates	Late fees
23 October – 29 October	£75
Thereafter	£225

Book now

2021 exam sessions

Sittings	Exam week
September	6 – 10 September
December	6 – 10 December

Special arrangements

Students with special needs may be eligible for pre-examination adjustments. Special arrangements allow students with learning, physical, social and health needs to sit our exams with reasonable modifications.

Applications for the December exam session are now open. Please submit your application by 22 October.

Apply now

Deferrals

Students looking to cancel their exams will have to formally apply for a deferral. CIPFA will only consider deferrals that fall under the following categories:

medical
bereavement
local emergency

Applications for the September exam session are now closed.

Special considerations

If you experienced technical difficulties during your exam, you may wish to apply for special considerations. To apply, please provide a brief overview of the issues you encountered with evidence where possible.

Applications for the September exam session are now closed.

SCS Advanced Material for the December exam will be published on 9 November 2021.

Strategic Public Finance (SPF)

Past papers from previous SPF exams are available for download:

Strategic Case Study (SCS)

Past papers from previous SCS exams are available for download:

Results days

Exam session	Results published
March 2021	9 April 2021
June 2021	16 July 2021
September 2021	15 October 2021
December 2021	21 January 2022

Access your results

Your September exam results will be published on Friday 15 October.

To view your marks, please select My Latest Results in My Qualification, or click Feedback and Results in CIPFA Assessment (Calibrand).

If you would like to share your results with your employer, you can do so by adding your manager as an exam contact in My Qualification.

View pass rates

Previous exam results

CIPFA no longer provides successful candidates reports.

View our previous pass rates

Appeals

Appeals for the September 2021 results are now open.

You may appeal against your exam result within then working days of receiving your results if you believe:

there is evidence of bias, prejudice or discrimination as defined by the UK Equality Act 2010
new evidence exists of extenuating circumstances which, for valid reasons, the student could not disclose to CIPFA in line with the published timetable for special considerations applications
there is evidence of a substantial procedural irregularity with respect to an aspect of the conduct of the exams and/or determination of results

Appeals based on any other grounds will be rejected.

How to apply

Download and read CIPFA's assessment appeals policy.
Send an email to quality and compliance requesting to appeal, including details of your case.
Once your case has been approved, you will be asked to download the appeals application form.
Make a payment of £75 in the 'Appeal your exam result' tab.

If you have any questions, please contact qualitycompliance@cipfa.org

Please confirm that you took each of these precautions prior to sitting your Live Exam:

Sat your Live Exam using Google Chrome Browser
Ensure that you were using the latest version of Google Chrome
Sat and completed the complimentary CIPFA technical test (remote invigilation only)
Ensure ProctorU is whitelisted by your internet provider, as instructed in your Candidate Admissions mailing.

Assessment appeals policy (pdf, 169 KB)

Application appeals form (doc, 62 KB)