CFCS (Other exams) study plan

Map the three stages of money laundering to at least two concrete financial-sector examples each

Draft a one-page summary of core AML program elements (policies, CDD, monitoring, reporting, training, independent testing)

Explain the purpose and triggers of suspicious transaction reporting and recordkeeping obligations from memory

Build a personal glossary of 25 AML terms with your own definitions

Compare customer due diligence tiers (standard, enhanced, simplified) and state when each applies

List at least ten red flags of structuring, smurfing, and layering and match each to a detection control

Contrast AML monitoring typologies with fraud detection typologies and note where they overlap

Solve five short scenario prompts identifying whether activity is laundering, fraud, or both, with reasoning

Categorize major fraud types (payment card, account takeover, internal, identity, investment, advance-fee) by motive and mechanism

Diagram the anatomy of at least three fraud schemes showing how each is detected and disrupted

Apply the fraud triangle to two case narratives and identify the control that would have broken each scheme

Write a short internal control recommendation for each of three fraud scenarios

Build a risk assessment using likelihood and impact scoring for five financial crime risks

Explain the three lines of defense and assign responsibilities for a sample institution

Summarize how sanctions screening, list management, and false-positive handling work in practice

Distinguish targeted sanctions from comprehensive embargoes and identify escalation triggers for matches

Trace the funding, movement, and use-of-funds stages of terrorist financing and contrast them with laundering motives

Identify at least six terrorist financing indicators, including small-value and nonprofit-sector patterns

Explain how sanctions, asset freezing, and charity oversight interact in countering terrorist financing

Draft a short narrative on why terrorist financing detection differs from profit-driven crime

Plan an investigation from intake through case closure, listing evidence types and chain-of-custody steps

Write ten open-ended interview questions and identify three questioning pitfalls to avoid

Outline the asset tracing process from identification through restraint, seizure, and confiscation

Explain mutual legal assistance and repatriation basics in your own words

Describe proper digital evidence handling: identification, preservation, acquisition, and integrity verification

Explain how volatility, hashing, and chain of custody affect admissibility of digital evidence

Summarize key legal concepts: predicate offenses, tipping-off prohibitions, and reporting safe harbors

Map at least five regulatory expectations (recordkeeping, training, reporting, governance) to operational controls

Apply an ethical decision framework to three professional-conduct dilemmas and justify each choice

Review and re-quiz weak areas from weeks 1-7, targeting any domain scoring below 80%

Complete two timed mixed-domain practice sets and log every missed question by domain

Consolidate all weekly deliverables into a single indexed study binder