CFE Exam in 2027: Sections, Passing Score, Retakes and a Study Plan

The CFE exam is three separate timed tests: Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes, Fraud Investigations and Legal Issues, and Fraud Prevention and Deterrence. You need at least 75 percent on each one, without notes, and you can take them from home or at a testing center.

What Is on the CFE Exam?

The ACFE describes the exam as three sections, and each is a separate timed exam. Every question is multiple choice or True/False, and the questions ask you to apply an idea to a realistic scenario, not recite a definition.

Questions come from the ACFE’s content outline and from the fraud examination body of knowledge in the Fraud Examiners Manual, so the manual is the source for everything you’re tested on.

What Does Section 1 Test?

Fraud Schemes and Financial Crimes is one of the two long sections, at 120 questions and 2.5 hours. You’ll see how schemes work in different industries and how examiners prevent and detect them. Basic accounting principles and financial statement fraud show up here too. If accounting isn’t your background, this is where a quick refresher pays off.

What Does Section 2 Test?

The other 120-question block is about how an investigation runs. The ACFE lists employee rights during an investigation, the rules for collecting evidence, data analysis, interview rules and report writing.

It also covers how the legal system works in common law and civil law places, how criminal and non-criminal actions play out, and the rules for expert testimony. If you come from accounting, this is where law and investigation take over from bookkeeping.

What Does Section 3 Test?

Fraud Prevention and Deterrence is the shortest, at 70 questions in 1.5 hours. It asks why people commit fraud, how corporate governance works and what managers and auditors do about fraud. You’ll also work through fraud risk assessment, building a prevention program and the ethics of fraud examination.

Did the CFE Exam Change in 2026?

It did. The ACFE says a new version of the exam, based on its 2024 Job Task Analysis, launched on June 2, 2026. The ACFE runs a job analysis every 5 to 7 years, surveys its members and rebuilds the content outline from the results. The three-section layout above is the current one.

That matters if you’re borrowing a friend’s notes or buying a practice test. Material written for the earlier version may not match what’s tested now. The ACFE points anyone who studied from the old outline to a short “Transitioning to the New Exam” video on its outline page.

Open the ACFE’s outline from that page and treat it as your checklist, then check the date on anything else you buy.

How Hard Is the CFE Exam?

Any pass rate you see on a prep site deserves a raised eyebrow, because it isn’t coming from the ACFE. What the ACFE does publish are the rules, and they’re what make the exam demanding.

• 75 percent in every section. The ACFE’s steps page says you must answer at least 75 percent correctly in each one. A strong section can’t make up for a weak one.
• Closed book and closed notes. Unanswered questions are marked incorrect, so answer everything.
• One sitting per section. There are no scheduled breaks. In an emergency you can take one unscheduled five-minute break, and your timer keeps running.

People who’ve taken it describe it in different ways. A fraud risk manager at a regional financial institution, posting in Reddit’s r/AMA, called the exam “definitely rigorous” and said the review course, in person or virtual, is a must.

A candidate on r/CFE with a full-time job and two kids under 4 studied in the evenings after the kids were asleep, drilled multiple-choice questions and sat exams on Saturday mornings. They report passing with a 93 average.

An accountant on r/Accounting says they studied and sat the whole exam in about 2 to 3 months, during a busy tax season. They’d minored in fraud examination in college, so most of the material wasn’t new. Those are three people, not a survey. But they agree on this: the exam is passable on a normal schedule if you plan for it.

Who Can Take the CFE Exam?

You need an approved application first. The ACFE’s eligibility rules ask for three things before you can book a section:

1. Associate membership in the ACFE. Only members can take the exam.
2. 40 points. A bachelor’s degree in any field earns all 40. Without a degree, you can substitute two years of fraud-related work for each year of college.
3. Documents. The ACFE’s FAQ lists proof of education, proof of work experience and three professional recommendations.

The ACFE wants your application at least 60 days before the exam date you have in mind. The first review usually takes 5 to 7 business days, and the ACFE can’t speed it up. Our cost guide covers the application fee and membership dues.

One rule surprises people: you can sit the exam before you have two years of fraud-related work, as long as you hit the 40-point minimum. You just won’t be certified until you reach 50 points and the experience. Once you’ve passed every section, your scores stay valid for five years while you finish up. Our CFE certification guide walks through the full requirements.

How Do You Take the CFE Exam?

You have three ways to test, and the ACFE’s exam page lists them.

Once your application is approved, you activate your exam eligibility. That starts a 60-day window to schedule and finish every section. Each section is its own appointment, and the ACFE suggests booking about 30 days ahead because weekend slots fill quickly.

On exam day you’ll show a physical photo ID, go through a security check and take a short tutorial. Then you sit the section in one go.

A detailed score report is emailed within 24 hours, and the ACFE says it often arrives within an hour. If you need to move an appointment, the ACFE’s exam FAQ lists reschedule fees of $30 or $50 depending on how far ahead you change it, and our cost guide has the full list.

What Happens if You Fail a Section?

You don’t start over. You retake only the sections you missed, and the ACFE’s retake rules give you up to five attempts at each one.

• Attempts one to three come with no waiting period.
• Attempts four and five come after a 30-day wait.
• Each failed section costs $110, invoiced within 1 to 3 days of your appointment and paid before the ACFE issues your retake eligibility.
• Once you pay, the ACFE emails a fresh 60-day window within 3 to 5 business days.

If you miss a section on all five attempts, your eligibility and earlier results expire, and you wait two years from your last attempt before you can reapply. People who attend the in-person or virtual Review Course get 50 percent off retake fees, though the ACFE notes limitations.

Your score report helps with a retake. It benchmarks your proficiency in each content area, so you can see where to focus. It won’t tell you which individual questions you missed, because the ACFE doesn’t release that.

How Should You Study for the CFE Exam?

The ACFE gives you three ways to study. Pick one or combine them.

The Prep Course lets you follow a recommended plan or build your own, set a target deadline and track progress. The ACFE says the Review Course supplements the Prep Course. It isn’t meant to teach a topic for the first time, so show up having studied.

If you’d like company, the 90-Day CFE Exam Challenge is free to ACFE members. You get a monthly study plan, tips every two weeks, weekly check-ins and a private forum with other candidates.

What Does a Study Plan Look Like?

The ACFE’s advice boils down to a handful of steps, in a working order.

The ACFE doesn’t say how many hours to plan. You can work backward from your target date and your own schedule, as the parent on r/CFE did with evening sessions. If you want more depth, the ACFE also suggests adding textbooks, articles and case studies on fraud examination.

Which Forensic Degree Courses Match the CFE Exam Sections?

Plenty of them. Many forensic accounting and fraud examination programs teach the same ground the three sections cover, and the ACFE’s Anti-Fraud Education Partnership lists nearly 300 colleges and universities preparing students in fraud examination.

Of the 65 programs we track, 4 belong to that partnership. Our CFE exam prep list has 28 programs. Half of them, 14, are master’s programs, and the rest are bachelor’s degrees and graduate certificates.

Real course descriptions map to the three sections as shown in the table. The mapping is ours, based on each school’s catalog text. It isn’t a claim from the ACFE.

A few schools go further. Tiffin University’s online MBA in Forensics and Fraud Examination uses the ACFE’s manual in its courses and, the school says, parallels the content of the exam. Carlow University’s master’s in fraud and forensics says it prepares you to sit for the exam and has an educational partnership with the ACFE.

Seton Hill University’s online MBA takes you through schemes, legal systems, investigation and prevention in four courses. Those topics all sit inside today’s three sections. Southern New Hampshire University’s online bachelor’s gives you a four-course forensic concentration with a course on interviews and the legal side of fraud work.

Purdue University Global’s accounting program says its forensic accountancy courses may help support CFE preparation, and it points you to the ACFE for the full requirements.

West Virginia University’s master’s adds a fraud data analysis course and an advanced investigation course that ends in a moot court, which gives you practice for the testimony rules in Section 2. For more options, see our master’s in fraud examination and graduate certificate lists, or our guide to forensic accounting courses.

One honest caveat. You don’t need a forensic degree to sit the exam, because a bachelor’s in any field earns the 40 points. And a degree is a head start, not a substitute for exam prep. The ACFE’s own tools are built around the exam, so pairing them with your degree gives you both the depth and the drill.

What Should You Do First?

Start with the cheapest and most useful step: read the ACFE’s content outline. Then check your points, because that tells you whether you can apply now or need more experience. Join the ACFE, pick your study tool, and set a target date before you book anything.

Not sure what the whole path costs? Our CFE certification cost guide lists every fee, and our CFE salary page shows what holders report earning. If you’re still weighing credentials, read our CFE comparison guide.