CIRO Director and Executive Exam study plan with 30-, 60-, and 90-day tracks, weekly sequencing, and final-review priorities.
On this page
Use this page to turn CIRO Director and Executive Exam into a controlled governance-review process instead of a loose reading project. Pair the timing blocks below with the Director and Executive guide, the Cheat Sheet, FAQ, Resources, and web practice.
Before you start
Treat this as an oversight exam, not a line-management exam. Many questions turn on what directors, executives, or the UDP should challenge, oversee, or escalate rather than implement directly.
Keep one running note sheet for governance, risk management, duties and liabilities, and UDP accountability because those areas feed one another constantly.
Start timed work only after you can explain what level of ownership the scenario is testing: board, executive management, or UDP.
30-day intensive track
Week 1: General regulatory framework; Investment Dealer business model and related areas; Offering and distribution of securities
Week 2: Corporate governance and ethics; Duties, liabilities and defences; Risk management and internal controls
Week 3: Significant areas of risk; Ultimate Designated Person (UDP) responsibilities
Week 4: run mixed timed sets, review every miss, and re-drill the 2-3 topics that still produce hesitation.
60-day balanced track
Weeks 1-2: General regulatory framework; Investment Dealer business model and related areas
Weeks 3-4: Offering and distribution of securities; Corporate governance and ethics
Weeks 5-6: Duties, liabilities and defences; Risk management and internal controls
Weeks 7-8: Significant areas of risk; Ultimate Designated Person (UDP) responsibilities
90-day part-time track
Weeks 1-2: General regulatory framework; Investment Dealer business model and related areas
Weeks 3-4: Offering and distribution of securities; Corporate governance and ethics
Weeks 5-6: Duties, liabilities and defences
Weeks 7-8: Risk management and internal controls
Weeks 9-10: Significant areas of risk
Weeks 11-12: Ultimate Designated Person (UDP) responsibilities
Across the final two weeks: slow down, clean up note cards and rule sheets, then finish with timed mixed review rather than new content.
Weekly execution pattern
Day
Focus
Day 1
Read one domain for governance logic: what oversight duty exists, who owns it, and what should be reported upward.
Day 2
Build distinction notes: oversight vs execution, director vs executive role, board challenge vs management implementation.
Day 3
Work short scenario sets and tag misses by failure type: governance, escalation, risk oversight, liability, or UDP responsibility.
Day 4
Add the adjacent domain that usually travels with it, such as governance plus risk management or duties plus defences.
Day 5
Run a timed mini-set and check whether you are identifying the right level of responsibility before choosing the action.
Day 6
Rewrite weak scenarios into one-line governance rules: who should challenge, what should be documented, and what should be escalated.
Day 7
Light review only, then choose the next block from the weakest governance chain instead of the most recent topic.
What stronger review looks like
Tag misses by why they failed: wrong owner, wrong oversight level, wrong escalation path, or wrong defence logic.
Review liability questions by asking whether the process and challenge record were strong before the failure surfaced.
Treat UDP scenarios as operating-governance questions, not just title-recognition questions.
When business-model and distribution issues appear, ask what senior oversight should have been in place before focusing on the product detail.