The CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) credential is the gold standard certification for AML compliance professionals worldwide. Issued by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, it validates your ability to detect, prevent, and report financial crime across banking, fintech, and regulatory sectors.
Our free ACAMS CAMS practice test PDF lets you study the exact domains tested on exam day — offline, on your own schedule. Print it, annotate it, and use it to sharpen your knowledge of AML typologies, compliance program design, financial intelligence gathering, and investigation support before you sit for the real exam.
The first domain tests your understanding of how money laundering and terrorist financing work in practice. You'll need to know the classic three stages — placement, layering, and integration — and how criminals exploit financial systems through shell companies, real estate, trade-based money laundering (TBML), and informal value transfer systems like hawala. Trade-based money laundering involves manipulating trade documents and invoice pricing to move value across borders undetected; examiners expect you to identify red flags such as over- and under-invoicing, multiple invoicing, and falsely described goods. The exam also covers emerging typologies including virtual asset abuse, cryptocurrency mixing services, and NFT-based laundering schemes that have become increasingly prominent in recent years.
A robust AML compliance program is the backbone of any regulated institution's defenses. The CAMS exam tests your knowledge of the four pillars required under the Bank Secrecy Act: written policies and procedures, a designated compliance officer, ongoing employee training, and independent testing (audit). You must understand FinCEN's Customer Due Diligence (CDD) rule, which mandates collecting beneficial ownership information for legal entity customers — identifying natural persons who own 25% or more or exercise control. The exam covers know-your-customer (KYC) program design including customer identification programs (CIP), enhanced due diligence (EDD) for high-risk customers such as politically exposed persons (PEPs), correspondent banking relationships, and private banking accounts. FATF's 40 Recommendations provide the global framework, and you'll be tested on how jurisdictions implement risk-based approaches to AML supervision.
This domain covers the tools and techniques used to detect suspicious activity. Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) must be filed with FinCEN for cash transactions exceeding $10,000, while Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are filed when a transaction involves at least $5,000 and the institution knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect illicit activity. You need to understand SAR narrative writing standards, the safe harbor protections for filers, and the prohibition on tipping off the subject. The exam also covers internal transaction monitoring systems, peer comparison analysis, network analysis to identify hidden relationships between accounts, and the use of open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools. FinCEN's 314(a) program allows law enforcement to request searches of financial institution databases, while 314(b) permits voluntary information sharing between institutions.
AML professionals often work alongside law enforcement and internal fraud teams. This domain tests your knowledge of how financial investigations are structured, how to preserve and package financial evidence, and how to respond to grand jury subpoenas, law enforcement requests, and court orders. You'll need to understand asset forfeiture — both civil and criminal — and how structuring (deliberately breaking up transactions to avoid CTR thresholds) constitutes a federal offense. Correspondent banking risks are particularly emphasized: respondent banks present elevated risk because the correspondent bank cannot perform KYC directly on the respondent's underlying customers, creating nested account vulnerabilities. The CAMS exam expects candidates to identify red flags in correspondent relationships including banks in high-risk jurisdictions, shell banks, and accounts with unexplained transaction volumes.
The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 is the foundational US AML statute, requiring financial institutions to maintain records and file reports that help law enforcement detect and prosecute money laundering. The USA PATRIOT Act (2001) dramatically expanded BSA requirements post-9/11, adding Section 314 information sharing, Section 326 CIP requirements, and Section 312 correspondent and private banking rules. The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) represents the most significant reform in decades, establishing a national beneficial ownership registry administered by FinCEN, strengthening whistleblower protections, and expanding the definition of financial institutions subject to AML requirements to include antiquities dealers and cryptocurrency exchanges. The Corporate Transparency Company Act (CTA), part of AMLA, requires most US companies to report beneficial ownership information directly to FinCEN.
Ready to test your knowledge before downloading the PDF? Our ACAMS practice test gives you instant feedback on each question so you can identify weak spots across all four CAMS exam domains. Use the online tests for active recall practice, then use the PDF for final review.