The Certified Risk Analyst (CRA) is a board certification from the Global Academy of Finance & Management (GAFM) for people working in risk, finance and compliance roles. This page gives you free practice sets by topic, from credit and liquidity risk to ERM and business continuity. It also has worked answer explanations, the verified fees, eligibility and renewal rules, and a study plan to follow before test day.

CRA Exam at a Glance

What the CRA is and how it works

The CRA is for professionals who identify, measure and report risk inside organisations. GAFM awards it, and it lists a certification registration fee and a separate exam fee under its ISO 17024 programme.

Eligibility: FINRA's professional designations listing says you need a qualifying accredited degree, credential or approved training, plus 3 years' related work experience.

Fees: GAFM lists certification registration at $349. Your first attempt at the ISO 17024 exam costs $199. If you need to retake it, the 2nd attempt is $150 and the 3rd attempt is $100.

After you pass: the certification includes a 2-year professional membership. GAFM asks holders to complete 15 or more hours of continuing education every year.

What we could not verify: we have no confirmed source for the exam format, number of questions, time limit, delivery method or passing score, so we do not list them here. GAFM can also change its fees and rules. Check the CRA page and the ISO 17024 page on the GAFM website for current details before you register or pay.

Worked examples: how to reason through CRA questions

These are practice questions written for this site, not questions from the real exam. Each explanation shows why the right answer is right and why the others are wrong.

Example 1

Question: A company operating in a country with strict capital controls faces difficulty repatriating profits. This is best classified as:

1. Sovereign risk
2. Transfer and convertibility risk
3. Political violence risk
4. Regulatory arbitrage risk

Answer: B. Transfer and convertibility risk

Explanation:

B is correct. Transfer and convertibility risk is the risk that a government stops a company from converting local currency or moving money out of the country. Strict capital controls that block profit repatriation are the textbook case.

• A, sovereign risk, is the risk that a government defaults on its own debts or refuses to honour its own contracts. Here the company has the money but cannot move it, so the problem is not the state's own obligations.
• C, political violence risk, covers war, terrorism and civil unrest damaging assets or operations.
• D, regulatory arbitrage, means firms using differences between regulatory regimes to their advantage. That is a behaviour, not a restriction placed on them.

Rule to remember: if the money is earned but cannot be converted or sent home, it is transfer and convertibility risk.

Example 2

Question: Which type of BCP test involves walking through the plan step-by-step with key stakeholders in a conference room without activating any systems?

1. Full-scale exercise
2. Tabletop exercise
3. Parallel test
4. Cutover test

Answer: B. Tabletop exercise

Explanation:

B is correct. A tabletop exercise is discussion-based. Stakeholders talk through a scenario and the plan's steps to find gaps, roles nobody owns and outdated contacts, and no systems are switched on.

• A, a full-scale exercise, actually mobilises people, sites and systems as if the event were real.
• C, a parallel test, brings up recovery systems and runs them alongside production to check they work, so systems are activated.
• D, a cutover test (full interruption), shuts down production and moves operations to the recovery environment. It is the most disruptive and highest-risk test.

Rule to remember: rank BCP tests by disruption. Talking only means tabletop. Running backup systems alongside live ones means parallel. Switching live operations over means cutover.

Example 3

Question: The 'cliff effect' in liquidity risk most commonly refers to:

1. A sudden drop in asset market values triggered by credit rating downgrades
2. A sharp increase in collateral requirements or accelerated debt repayment triggered when credit ratings fall below contractual thresholds
3. The rapid erosion of HQLA caused by increasing repo market haircuts
4. The sudden loss of correspondent banking relationships following a reputational event

Answer: B. A sharp increase in collateral requirements or accelerated debt repayment triggered when credit ratings fall below contractual thresholds

Explanation:

B is correct. The cliff effect comes from rating triggers written into contracts such as derivatives agreements and loan covenants. When a firm's credit rating falls below a set threshold, it may suddenly have to post much more collateral or repay debt early. Liquidity needs jump in a single step instead of rising gradually.

• A describes how market prices react to a downgrade. It is not a contractual obligation that falls due.
• C describes rising repo haircuts. That is a market-driven funding pressure, not a threshold built into the firm's own contracts.
• D describes funding lost after reputational damage. That is a real liquidity risk, but it is a different mechanism.

Rule to remember: cliff effect means a contractual threshold that creates a sudden step-change in obligations. Liquidity stress tests should model downgrade triggers directly.

How to use these practice tests

1. Start with the official material. Read the GAFM CRA page and the ISO 17024 page. Confirm your eligibility, the current fees and anything GAFM publishes about the exam format, so you know the scope before you study.
2. Take a baseline. Do the Risk Identification & Assessment Techniques and ERM & COSO Framework sets without notes. These frameworks underpin most other topics.
3. Work through the financial risk topics. Next, do Credit Risk & Counterparty Exposure, Liquidity Risk Management, Monte Carlo Simulation & VaR and Regulatory Capital Requirements.
4. Cover governance and operations. Do Operational Risk Events & KRIs, BCP & Crisis Scenario Planning, Risk Appetite & Tolerance Frameworks and Regulatory Compliance & Corporate Governance.
5. Keep an error log. For every miss, write down the rule you broke, like the worked examples above do. Then retake that set later.
6. Finish with mixed review. Use the Emerging & Geopolitical Risks and Risk Mitigation Strategies sets to practise applying concepts to scenarios.

Sources & last verified

1. Global Academy of Finance & Management — exam fee (official source). “Price: $349.00” Verified Oct 21, 2026.
2. Global Academy of Finance & Management — exam fee, retake fee (official source). “1st Time Exam $199 dollars” Verified Oct 21, 2026.
3. Global Academy of Finance & Management — validity (official source). “Receive a two year membership to the AAFM professional body” Verified Oct 21, 2026.
4. Global Academy of Finance & Management — renewal (official source). “Annually, each GAFM ® charter holder and board certification holder should complete 15 hours or more of continuing education CE credits.” Verified Oct 21, 2026.
5. finra.org — eligibility (official source). “three years of related work experience.” Verified Oct 21, 2026.

How we verify: editorial & fact-checking policy. Report an error: contact us.