My own experience on CFA ESG and GARP SCR exams (with study tips) (2024)

I took both the CFA ESG Edition 3 Exam (Oct 2021 version) and the GARP SCR exam in 2022. Here I am going to share my personal experience and study tips on these 2 certifications.

If you are still considering which ESG certification (e.g. CFA ESG, GARP SCR, CESGA, or SASB FSA) to study for, please refer to this full guide to ESG exams.

1. My personal CFA ESG exam experience

• After you pay USD795 and complete registration, you can download from the CFA portal the ‘textbook’ which was a 574-page-long pdf file (like most exams, the textbook will likely be longer and longer as time goes by), and a mock exam pdf file of a set of 100 MCQs.
• Yet, it does not provide any online question bank or study tools like CFA exams do.

Is the syllabus useful to a finance job?

• The CFA ESG exam is best suitable for finance career tracks like investment manager, fund manager or equity researcher as it mainly focuses on ESG investing, such as types of ESG investment strategies (e.g. how ESG investing differs from sustainable investment/ thematic investment/ ethical investment/ impact investment) and how to take ESG into account in an investment, valuation analysis and portfolio management (e.g. materiality assessments, ESG scorecards, engagement strategies)
• The exam also covers a wide range of ESG general concepts and global trends (e.g. UN SDGs, TCFD, PRI, EU Taxonomy) which is relevant to any finance jobs.

How does the online exam feel like?

• You can book an exam timeslot within 6 months after payment, which is available on every working day through Pearson VUE testing centres (in-person) or every day via OnVUE remote-proctored exams (online).
• I like its flexiblity. You can actually make your booking at a later stage as there are many timeslots every day. For me, I reserved an online exam timeslot after I have studied 80% of the syllabus.
• During the exam, an online proctor will check your identity and your venue (Yes, you will have to use your camera to do a thorough ‘room tour’ showing every corner of your room, even inside your drawers or underneath your table… So, do move your private items away from your room in advance if you find this embarassing).
• The online proctor will man-mark you one-on-one throughout the entire exam…