About the CISP Exam: Blueprint, Logistics, and Study Plan
Key Takeaways
The ABA CISP exam has 150 multiple-choice questions with a 3-hour maximum, and a calculator is provided.
ABA scores every certification exam on a 200 to 800 scale, and the passing scaled score is 500.
The February 2026 CISP Exam Content Outline has seven domains: 13%, 16%, 20%, 20%, 11%, 10%, and 10%.
The CISP exam fee is $600 for ABA members and nonmembers, and the retake fee is $350.
A CISP holder needs 24 continuing education credits every three years and pays a $290 annual fee.
Why Start Here
The Certified IRA Services Professional (CISP) credential is awarded by the American Bankers Association (ABA) Professional Certifications program. It is aimed at people who open, service, and report IRAs at banks, trust companies, credit unions, and other U.S. financial organizations. ABA describes the ideal candidate as someone with operational and technical experience across all aspects of IRAs, not just one functional area. That matters for preparation: the exam moves from account documents to contributions, rollovers, distributions, beneficiary payouts, prohibited transactions, and employer plans, and many questions combine two or three of those areas in one bank scenario.
Exam Format and Scoring
| Item | Current ABA rule |
|---|---|
| Questions | 150 multiple-choice questions |
| Time | Maximum of 3 hours |
| Calculator | Provided |
| Scoring | Scaled score from 200 to 800; 500 passes |
| Pilot items | A few unscored questions are embedded for statistical research |
| Results | Instant pass/fail at most test sites; official score report by email within 6 weeks after the window closes |
| Delivery | Meazure Learning U.S. test sites or live remote proctoring (ProctorU platform) |
ABA's FAQ explains that the score is based on the number of questions answered correctly, which is then converted to the scaled score so that every version of the exam uses the same scale. The exam is not graded on a curve. Because only answered questions are scored, you should answer every item; the testing software lets you mark questions and return to them.
The Official Blueprint
ABA's CISP Exam Content Outline (February 2026) lists seven domains and 29 tasks. Treat the weights as your study budget.
| Domain | Weight | Tasks | Where this guide teaches it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. IRA Documentation and Maintenance Requirements | 13% | Plan establishment and maintenance; disclosure statements, notices, and delivery methods; beneficiary designation; reporting and associated penalties | Chapter 1 and Chapter 12 |
| 2. IRA Contributions | 16% | Eligibility, limits, and deadlines; deductibility and other tax issues; excess contributions | Chapters 2 and 3 |
| 3. Retirement Plan Portability | 20% | Transfers; rollovers; conversions; recharacterizations; other transactions (repayments, recontributions) | Chapters 3 and 4 |
| 4. IRA Distributions | 20% | Taxation and withholding; RMDs; beneficiary distribution rules; penalties and exceptions | Chapters 5, 6, and 7 |
| 5. Retirement Planning Considerations | 11% | Beneficiary selection; trusts as beneficiaries; estate and income taxation | Chapter 8 |
| 6. IRA Fees and Investments | 10% | Prohibited transactions, prohibited investments, and exemptions; fees and disclosure; nontraditional investments; account valuation | Chapter 11 |
| 7. Employer Plans – SEP and SIMPLE | 10% | Eligibility; employer tax benefits; establishment and maintenance; contributions; portability; distributions | Chapters 9 and 10 |
Portability and distributions together are 40% of the exam. Contributions add another 16%. If your daily job is mostly deposits and account opening, plan extra time for RMD calculations, beneficiary payout rules, and the employer-plan chapters.
Testing Windows and Which Law Is Tested
ABA uses month-long testing windows. You choose a window when you buy the exam and apply, and Meazure Learning sends scheduling instructions about 30 days before the window opens. The published windows as of October 2026 are:
| Testing window | Application due |
|---|---|
| March 1–31, 2027 | January 8, 2027 |
| May 15–June 15, 2027 | March 16, 2027 |
| September 15–October 15, 2027 | July 19, 2027 |
| December 1–18, 2027 | October 4, 2027 |
ABA notes that the February/March exam covers laws, regulations, and contribution and income limits in effect through December 31 of the prior year, while the May/June, September/October, and December exams cover the SECURE 2.0 elements in effect for the current tax year. A March 2027 candidate should therefore know the 2026 limits, such as the $7,500 IRA limit, the $1,100 IRA catch-up, and the 2026 phase-out ranges.
Fees, Retakes, and Changes
- Exam fee: $600 for both ABA members and nonmembers, paid by credit card when you buy the exam. If ABA denies the application, it refunds the fee minus a $100 application fee.
- Retake fee: $350, purchased through ABA's Certification Manager.
- Retake timing: At least 3 months must separate the start date of your last window from the start date of the retake window. The test is based on window start dates, not the dates you actually tested.
- Overall deadline: You must pass within 3 years of your first attempt or submit a new application and full fee. There is no limit on the number of attempts.
- Rescheduling inside a window: Meazure Learning requires at least 2 business days' notice and charges a $50 fee.
Eligibility
ABA offers two experience tiers, and the experience must be U.S.-based:
- Two or more years of dedicated IRA operational or technical experience plus completion of one listed program: the Ascensus IRA Institute, the ABA IRA Online Institute (with Ascensus), the Cannon Financial Institute IRA Professional School, The Entrust Trust Company IRA Academy, or the Ruiz Consulting IRA College.
- Four or more years of dedicated IRA operational or technical experience.
You must meet the requirement by the time you test, and ABA will accept an application if the education is scheduled to finish before the exam date. Every candidate signs the ABA Professional Certifications Code of Ethics statement and must disclose certain convictions or findings of liability.
Keeping the Credential
To maintain the CISP you need 24 CE credits every three years, an annual fee of $290 (the notice arrives by email in October and the fee is due by January 31), and continued adherence to the Code of Ethics. The same training program may be counted only once in a three-year CE cycle.
How to Use This Guide
ABA recommends the Ascensus IRA Compliance Manual and IRA Fact Book, IRS Publications 590-A, 590-B, and 560, the relevant Code sections, and the Form 5498 and 1099-R instructions. This guide follows the same sources. A practical plan is to read each chapter once, work its quizzes, and then rework every numeric example (deduction phase-outs, NIA, pro-rata basis, RMDs, and beneficiary divisors) by hand with a basic calculator, because the exam supplies one and expects you to use it.
Tip
ABA's sample questions mix pure IRA rules with general bank compliance. One asks which data the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act protects (nonpublic personal information) and another asks which form reports federal tax withheld from an IRA (Form 945). Expect a few questions that test the bank side of IRA administration.
A candidate passes the CISP exam's content but wants to know how ABA reports the result. Which statement matches ABA's published scoring rules?
The exam is graded on a curve, so the passing percentage changes with each window's candidate pool.
Raw scores are reported as a percentage correct, and 70% of the scored items is required to pass.
Scores are converted to a 200-800 scale, and a scaled score of 500 is required to pass.
Only pass/fail is recorded, because ABA does not convert or report any numeric score at all.
A candidate sits for the CISP exam in a window that starts on March 1 and does not pass. Under ABA's retake rule, which is the earliest window start date that would permit a retake?
A window starting on or after June 1, because 3 months must separate the two window start dates.
A window starting 90 days after the candidate's actual test date, whatever its start date.
Any later window, because ABA imposes no waiting period between CISP attempts.
A window starting one full year after the first attempt, matching the annual fee cycle.
A bank IRA specialist plans to test in the March 1-31, 2027 window. According to ABA, which year's contribution limits and laws will that exam cover?
The 2027 limits, because ABA always tests the limits in effect for the calendar year of the window.
The 2026 limits and law in effect through December 31, 2026, as ABA's February/March rule provides.
Whichever limits were in effect when the candidate submitted the application and paid the $600 fee.
The 2025 limits, because ABA tests only figures that have appeared on a filed Form 5498.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.