BICA Qualification study plan
BICA Qualification · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Professional Ethics, Conduct, and Regulatory Compliance & Financial Products, Markets, and Investment Fundamentals
Map the ethics and regulatory framework into a one-page outline covering fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, market abuse, and reporting obligations
Define the core product families (equities, fixed income, funds, derivatives, structured products) and state the risk/return driver of each in your own words
Build a personal glossary of 40 regulatory and product terms with one-line definitions
Solve 30 practice items split evenly between ethics and product fundamentals and log every miss with its cause
Your checkpoint
A two-part reference sheet (regulatory outline plus product-family table) and a scored 30-item diagnostic log
Professional Ethics, Conduct, and Regulatory Compliance
Distinguish suitability, appropriateness, and best-execution duties and identify which applies to a given client scenario
Analyze conflict-of-interest scenarios and justify disclosure, avoidance, or mitigation choices
Outline the disciplinary and enforcement process, including record-keeping duties tied to compliance
Draft short written answers to five ethics scenarios under timed conditions
Your checkpoint
Five timed written ethics responses, each self-graded against a checklist of required points
Financial Products, Markets, and Investment Fundamentals & Client Advisory, Risk Assessment, and Portfolio Planning
Compute and interpret risk and return measures including standard deviation, beta, Sharpe ratio, and correlation
Explain duration, credit spread, and yield-curve effects on bond pricing
Match asset classes to investor objectives, time horizons, and liquidity needs
Compare portfolio construction approaches and articulate the trade-offs of each
Your checkpoint
A calculation worksheet with 15 solved quantitative problems and a one-page asset-allocation rationale for three investor profiles
Client Advisory, Risk Assessment, and Portfolio Planning & Client Onboarding, Identification, and Due Diligence
Apply a structured risk-tolerance and capacity assessment to build client profiles
Construct model portfolios for conservative, balanced, and growth clients with stated rebalancing rules
Sequence the onboarding workflow from fact-find through account opening, including KYC and beneficial-ownership checks
Classify enhanced-due-diligence triggers such as PEP status, high-risk jurisdictions, and unusual funding sources
Your checkpoint
Three complete client files (profile, risk assessment, model portfolio, onboarding checklist) plus a mid-plan timed mock of 60 items across Domains 1-4
Client Onboarding, Identification, and Due Diligence & Operations, Transactions, and Record Keeping
Apply customer-identification and verification standards to ambiguous onboarding cases
Trace the trade lifecycle from order capture through confirmation, settlement, and reconciliation
Identify record-retention requirements and the records that must be produced on request
Detect red flags of layering and structuring within transaction records
Your checkpoint
A trade-lifecycle diagram annotated with control points and a 10-case red-flag classification exercise scored at 80% or better
Operations, Transactions, and Record Keeping & Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, and Data Protection
Reconcile a sample client account and locate the errors introduced into the statement
Design a fraud-prevention control set covering internal and external fraud vectors
Apply data-protection principles to a breach scenario, including notification and remediation steps
Explain business-continuity and outsourcing-risk requirements in operational terms
Your checkpoint
A written incident-response plan for a simulated data breach plus a completed reconciliation exercise with all errors identified
Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, and Data Protection & Professional Ethics, Conduct, and Regulatory Compliance
Link fraud typologies to the ethical and reporting duties they trigger
Review all logged misses from weeks 1-6 and rewrite weak notes into decision rules
Complete two full-length timed practice exams and record domain-level scores
Prioritize the two weakest domains by expected score gain per study hour
Your checkpoint
Two completed timed practice exams with a domain-by-domain score table and a ranked remediation list
Professional Ethics, Conduct, and Regulatory Compliance & Client Advisory, Risk Assessment, and Portfolio Planning
Drill high-frequency ethics and suitability scenarios until responses are consistently complete
Rehearse the calculation types most often missed using fresh problem variants
Simulate exam-day timing, including flagging and review strategy
Consolidate final one-page summaries for all six domains
Your checkpoint
A final one-page summary per domain and a timed 100-item mock scored at or above 75% overall with no domain below 65%
Milestones
Week 2: Score at least 70% on a 25-item ethics-only quiz and produce five written scenario answers that each hit every checklist point
Week 4: Score at least 65% on the 60-item mixed mock for Domains 1-4, with at least 70% in Domain 1, and submit three complete client files
Week 6: Score at least 80% on the red-flag classification exercise and complete the reconciliation with zero unidentified errors
Week 7: Average at least 70% across two full-length timed exams with every domain at or above 60%
Week 8: Score at least 75% on the final 100-item mock with no domain below 65% and all six summary sheets complete