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CSOP Exam

1. Registration
2. Fees
3. Exam dates
4. Outline & knowledge areas
5. Format and length
6. Exam preparation
7. Scoring and reporting
8. Retakes
9. Examination misconduct

Exam registration

ICB must receive your application to sit for an exam a minimum of 60 days prior to your exam date in order to make appropriate arrangements. Late applications will not be accepted. Applications received less than 60 days prior to a given exam date will be held for the next scheduled individual proctored exam administration.  You must meet the specified eligibility requirements to sit for the exam.

Fees

*The Exam Fee, minus a $100 nonrefundable Application Fee, is 100% refundable upon written request prior to the published withdrawal deadline. A $125 withdrawal fee is assessed if a candidate cancels or withdraws after the published withdrawal deadline from a scheduled exam date for which the candidate is registered. However, requests for withdrawal received on or less than fourteen (14) business days prior to the exam date will not be honored and the entire exam fee will be forfeited. ICB will consider waiving the forfeiture fee in case of a medical emergency. Your request for such a waiver must be made in writing and supported by documentation from a physician, which clearly states that you are unable to appear for the exam due to personal or immediate family medical issues. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
** Membership Fee is assessed annually every year after certification has been granted.
***Applies to individuals who hold more than one certificaton.

Exam dates

 ***Individual Proctored Exam means that the candidate has the option of taking the exam at his/her company with an ICB-certified member serving as exam proctor. Another option is for ICB to locate an exam site that is within 2 hours driving time from the candidate's company.  There will be a $100 fee for all exam site change requests less than 3 weeks prior to the exam date.

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Outline and knowledge areas

The CSOP exam measures the areas of knowledge described in the CSOP exam outline.

The CSOP advisory board has determined that a competent securities operations professional's expertise includes the following knowledge areas:

Securities and Related Products
You must have a thorough understanding of the various types of securities including corporate equities and corporate debt securities, US government and agency securities, municipal securities, international and specialized investments, etc.

Regulators, Regulation & Compliance
You must understand the entire spectrum of federal laws and regulations that are applicable to securities operations including, but not limited to, Securities Acts of 1933 & 1934, SEC rules and regulations, NASD rules and regulations, MSRB/GSA rules and regulations and NYSE rules and regulations.

Controls, Reconciliation & Audit Practices & Procedures
You must possess knowledge of how a securities operations department can manage its trading risks through implementing proper controls, relying on meticulous reconciliation procedures and following prescribed audit procedures. In addition, you need to understand how these elements assist in establishing and maintaining a properly controlled processing environment.

Industry Structures
You must have knowledge of the various roles that key industry structures have in the securities operations industry including depositories, clearing corporations and exchanges such as NASD and NYSE.

Format and length

The CSOP exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. You will be given three hours in which to complete the exam. Everything that you will need to complete the exam is provided by ICB. Assistance from calculators and other equipment is not allowed.

Click here to see sample questions from the CSOP certification examination.

Question parameters

An exam development team continuously creates new questions for consideration. The appropriate advisory board members review each question for relevance, content and difficulty.

ICB employs psychometricians to ensure that each question is complete, fair and measures only the required knowledge areas. In addition, the psychometricians along with the advisory board members ensure the exam's validity. A question is not considered for inclusion until one, right, clear answer has been identified, all cultural, geographical or organizational biases have been removed and details related to minutiae have been eliminated.

Some questions contain graphics or case studies, which you must review and resolve. Several questions may be based on a single piece of information. Some questions may contain a superlative (i.e. MOST), a pejorative (i.e. LEAST), or a negative (i.e. NOT) to recreate some types of decisions that you may confront.

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Exam preparation

Please note that, while ICB recommends these resources for appropriate examination preparation, ICB does not guarantee that you will pass the exam by completing these educational programs or studying these materials alone. The CSOP exam assesses not only your knowledge of the topics on the exam outline, but also your application of that knowledge. You should refer frequently to the CSOP exam outline when preparing for the exam.

• Cannon Financial Institute Securities Operations Schools
• State Bankers Association Securities Operations Schools

Additional study resources

• Economics: Fundamentals for Financial Services Providers, AIB
• ABA Trust Letter newsletter, American Bankers Association
  

Alternative training options

1. You can read your organization's securities operations manual.
2. It may be helpful to speak with your peers and supervisor to learn of any information tools available.

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Exam scoring and reporting

Scores are processed and communicated in writing within four to six weeks of the exam date. All scores are kept confidential and only you will be informed of your score. You must sign an Examination Score Release Form to authorize a third party to receive your score results.

All ICB exams are electronically scored using advanced methods of statistical analysis. Scores are recorded based on a "Pass/Fail" system. The advisory boards determine the exam's pass/fail standard using a criterion-referenced methodology, which defines the performance standard and degree of difficulty for each item. Your score is based on your personal performance measured against these standards, not based on a composite "grade curve" for a group or date.

All questions for an exam are scored three times: once by scanner and twice by computer. During the scoring process, a variety of electronic and manual quality controls are conducted to ensure accuracy.

Upon receiving your score, you may appeal it if you feel an error has been made by requesting a hand scoring within 30 days of the postmark date on your score report. A $75 fee is assessed for hand scoring. To request a hand scoring, please address your written request to: ICB, 1120 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036, Attn: Exam Manager. Requests for hand scoring must include: your name, examination date, the fee and an explanation as to why you are requesting that a hand scoring be performed. A response to your request will be sent to you within 14 business days upon receipt of your request. Requests submitted without the fee will be returned. Requests received more than 30 days after the postmark date of your exam score report will be returned. Should a discrepancy between the results of the hand scoring and the computer scoring be revealed, the hand scoring results will prevail.

Exam retakes

Your exam performance in each of the knowledge areas will be provided in your exam score report. This information will assist you in identifying those areas in which to place emphasis during preparation, if you elect to retake the exam.

There is no limit to the number of times you can take the exam. However, all exam retakes must occur on an individual proctored examination date only.  You must wait at least 60 days before you are allowed to retake an exam.  You must pass the exam within a three (3) year period from the date of your first exam attempt. The appropriate fee must be submitted, along with the exam retake form, for each retake 60 days prior to the scheduled date of the retake exam.

Examination misconduct

All persons taking one of ICB's examinations are expected to abide by all rules and regulations governing the examination before, during and after the examination. Possession of copies of any current or previous examination given by ICB is not authorized and is a violation of ICB's rules governing certification exams. Persons taking ICB certification examinations are not permitted to take notes about the examination.

Any person to have violated any of the rules governing ICB certification exams, or to have conducted themselves in a dishonest or unethical manner with respect to the taking of an ICB certification exam is subject to sanctions determined to be appropriate by ICB, in its sole discretion, including, but not limited to: denial of certification; denial of the right to take any or all ICB examinations. Answer sheets determined, before grading, to have been completed by a person who has violated ICB examination rules will not be graded. ICB reserves the right to pursue any and all remedies available to it, including legal remedies, with respect to any violation of its examination rules against anyone who violated ICB's examination rules or aided another in violating these rules.

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