Most CAMS candidates study while working full time. This plan assumes about twelve weeks at roughly one hour a day, a little more at weekends; compress each phase by a quarter if you have eight. The whole method is one sentence: textbook builds the frame, real questions build judgement, wrong answers close gaps, mock exams set the pace.
Phase 1 — Build the Frame (Weeks 1–4)
Read the official textbook end to end and draw the knowledge map of the four modules under the current seventh edition: financial-crime risks and methods; the global framework and regulation; compliance programmes; tools and technology. One chapter a week is a workable cadence — read the chapter summary before the body.
The goal is not retention but orientation: closed-book, you should sketch the four-module map and name three to five core concepts per chapter (customer due diligence, the risk-based approach, sanctions screening…). While reading each chapter, run the matching chapter in the question bank once — accuracy does not matter yet; what matters is meeting the style of the questions early.
Phase 2 — Drill Real Questions (Weeks 5–8)
Complete the first pass of the bank and push accuracy above 75%. The 45-question V7 bank (expanding) can be finished in a first pass within a week; reinvest the saved time into wrong-answer review and the textbook. V6 candidates keep the long-horizon rhythm: 729 questions at roughly 180 a week. Work with explanations open: answer, read, then tag misses into the wrong-answer book and anything shaky as "unfamiliar". V6 candidates run the same loop at about 180 questions a week, prioritising the 89-question recent-focus set.
The classic failure here is drilling without review. An unreviewed miss from Monday is invisible by the next week — half the value of a question is in the read-through after it.
Self-check: re-pull ten questions from the week's chapters and hit eight; for every wrong-answer entry, say out loud which step went wrong.
Phase 3 — Close the Gaps (Weeks 9–10)
Empty the wrong-answer book. Redo every miss and every "unfamiliar" tag; whatever fails again gets its explanation copied and its topic grouped. Misses cluster — typically sanctions compliance, monitoring-rule application and CDD tiering. For each cluster, return to the textbook section and redo every bank question touching that topic. The linked-mnemonic notes (which chain related, confusable points together) are built for exactly this stage.
Self-check: wrong-answer book at zero; any chapter re-pull at 85% or better.
Phase 4 — Mock Sprints (Weeks 11–12)
Two to four timed full papers. Train two skills: refusal to marry a question (flag and move), and whole-paper time management. After each mock, attribute every miss — knowledge gap goes back to phase 3, reading error changes your stem-reading strategy. Final three days: no new questions; re-walk the map, re-read the book, sleep normally.
Three Rules Throughout
Daily one hour beats weekend seven; frequency drives memory. Let questions pull the knowledge points — reverse-engineering from items beats passive reading. Track three numbers every Sunday: questions done, accuracy, new misses; the numbers hold the rhythm.
Bank details: sixth edition 729, seventh edition 45, all real questions with explanations; chapter drills, wrong-answer book, unfamiliar set and mock exams included, linked mnemonics open to all; the first 20 questions per chapter are free. Choosing an edition? Read the V6/V7 comparison; not yet registered? Start with the process walkthrough.
- ACAMS official textbook and seventh-edition module structure: https://www.acams.org
- This site's bank statistics (consistent with on-site data)
- Exam duration and format follow the admission ticket and official announcements