Everything You Need to Know About the Certificate Examination

How do I get a certificate?
You take an online exam with multiple choice questions from your home, office or university. We also provide organizations the ability to conduct close-door exams at their respective locations.

The CIFE™ Examination: A 90 minute exam of 100 multiple choices questions. The pass mark is 70%.

The Advanced CIFE™ Examination: A 2.5 hour (150 minutes) timed exam consisting of 100 multiple choices questions. The pass mark is 60%.

Can I get sample exam questions?
The online training modules contain everything you need to take the examination. These learning modules contain quiz questions that are specifically designed to replicate the kinds of questions you should expect to receive in the examination, though the exam questions are a bit more challenging.

What topics will I be tested on for the CIFE™ certification?
The test is based on content covered in the following modules:

1. Why Islamic Finance?
2. Understanding Ijarah I - Islamic Leasing
3. Understanding Ijarah II And Quiz - Islamic Leasing
4. Understanding Mudarabah I - Islamic Investment Partnerships
5. Understanding Mudarabah II - Islamic Investment Partnerships
6. Understanding Mudarabah III And Quiz - Islamic Investment Partnerships
7. Understanding Murabaha I - Cost Plus Financing
8. Understanding Murabaha II - Cost Plus Financing
9. Understanding Murabaha III And Quiz - Cost Plus Financing
10. Understanding Musharakah I - Islamic Business Partnerships
11. Understanding Musharakah II - Islamic Business Partnerships
12. Understanding Musharakah III And Quiz - Islamic Business Partnerships
13. Understanding Salam And Istisna I - Forward Sales And Manufacturing Contracts
14. Understanding Salam And Istisna II - Forward Sales And Manufacturing Contracts
15. Understanding Salam And Istisna III And Quiz- Forward Sales, Manufacturing Contracts
16. Understanding Sukuk I - Islamic Securitization
17. Understanding Sukuk II And Quiz - Islamic Securitization
18. Understanding Islamic Insurance And Quiz
19. Liquidity Management In Islamic Finance I
20. Liquidity Management In Islamic Finance II And Quiz
21. Risk Management In Islamic Finance I
22. Risk Management In Islamic Finance II And Quiz

How do I take the CIFE™ examination?
Login and click on 'My Account' and then click on 'Take CIFE™ Exam.' Just like the training courses the examination also loads up in a pop-up window. Once you start you cannot pause or stop. Do not refresh the webpage or press enter on the browser's address bar after starting the examination. We track your browser specifications, IP and MAC (Ethernet Interface) addresses before, during and after the examination. Certification attempts by unauthorized users results in immediate account termination, banning from future use of Ethica and blacklisting on the public domain.

What topics will I be tested on for the Advanced CIFE™ in Accounting certification?
The test is based on content covered in the CIFE™ certification plus the following modules:

1. Understanding Islamic Accounting I
2. Understanding Islamic Accounting II
3. Understanding Islamic Accounting III
4. Understanding Islamic Accounting IV
5. Understanding Islamic Accounting V
6. Understanding Islamic Accounting VI
7. Understanding Islamic Accounting VII
8. Understanding Islamic Accounting VIII
9. Understanding Islamic Accounting IX

How do I take the Advanced CIFE™ examination?
Once you have studied the Advanced CIFE™ curriculum, login to our website and click on 'My Account.' Click on 'Take Advanced CIFE™ Exam' button and follow the instructions.

How do I know your certificate is Shariah-compliant?
We aim to not only be Shariah-compliant, but we also aim to follow AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization of Islamic Financial Institutions) and IFSB (Islamic Financial Services Board), the two most well recognized international standard-setting bodies in the Islamic finance industry.

The certification test is online. What prevents me from cheating?
Leading institutions now use e-learning for high stakes testing, including Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. And increasingly banks and corporates now rely on e-learning to certify their bankers, spawning the KPO, or Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry, one of the fastest growing sectors in the bank training market. The key to preventing cheating, and the one we use at Ethica Institute with our CIFE™ is to ensure that the content is sufficiently difficult, even for a specialist. So that someone who has not studied for the certification exam using our AAOIFI- based content would find it difficult to pass. Even our Shariah Auditor had to prepare well to pass the exam. On a more philosophical level, we find that good cheaters make for embarrassed bankers. We provide our Corporate License users the opportunity to test at their institution where there is a need for high-stakes, synchronous testing under controlled conditions.

What happens if I fail?
If you do not pass the first time, you pay $295 (payable in 2 installments of $147.5) for the re-attempt. You must attempt the exam during your access period. We do not share exam questions and answers. If your access period has expired, you may take the exam only or also receive module access at the study extension rates here: https://ethica.institute/contentPage/107/study-period-extension

How do I take the exam if my access period has expired?
In order to help Ethica’s students achieve certification success, for those with expired accounts who do not need access to the modules, we do not require them to re-enroll into the program, costing them up to $1495. Rather, we offer a discounted “exam only” fee of $295 (payable in 2 installments of $147.5). Please see here for more detail: https://ethica.institute/contentPage/107/study-period-extension. Exams are sold separately from study extensions.