SOA Exam FM (Financial Mathematics) covers interest theory, annuities, loans, bonds and cash flow analysis in 30 multiple-choice questions over 2.5 hours. At the April 2026 sitting, 48.8% of candidates passed (1,650 wrote, 805 passed) on a pass mark of 71% average correct, and the published rate has run close to 50% (SOA). Registration is $275, and there are no prerequisites.
FM was the second exam I took on my FSA path, and one of my favorites. The math is elegant and it's useful. Time value of money, annuity pricing and bond valuation all map straight onto real financial instruments, and once the structure clicks the problems are fun to solve.
Most people take FM second, right after Exam P, as college students or early-career professionals stacking exams to land a job, though you can take the exams in any order. There's no degree, coursework or work experience requirement, so anyone can register, but you'll want a solid calculus foundation. The core ideas (time value of money, bond pricing) also come up in investment banking, corporate finance and fixed income analysis, though nearly everyone who sits FM is on the actuarial path.
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| Exam FM | |
|---|---|
| Given by | Society of Actuaries (SOA) |
| Format | Computer-based, multiple choice (5 choices) |
| Questions | 30 |
| Time | 2.5 hours |
| Pass rate | 48.8% at the April 2026 sitting; historically about 50% (SOA) |
| Fee | $275 (SOA fee schedule, updated December 2025) |
| Calculator | TI BA II Plus (or Professional), TI-30XS MultiView, or another model on the SOA's calculator list |
| When | At Prometric centers, in testing windows throughout the year |
The five topic areas
Here are the SOA's five areas and their weights:
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| Area | Weight | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| Time value of money | 5% to 15% | Simple and compound interest, force of interest, discount rates, equations of value |
| Annuities and non-contingent cash flows | 20% to 30% | Annuity-immediate, annuity-due, deferred annuities, perpetuities, increasing and decreasing annuities, non-level payment streams |
| Loans | 15% to 25% | Amortization schedules, outstanding balance by the prospective and retrospective methods, principal and interest splits, drop and balloon payments, refinancing |
| Bonds | 15% to 25% | Bond pricing, amortization of premium and discount, callable bonds, yield measures |
| General cash flows, portfolios and asset-liability management | 20% to 30% | NPV, IRR, dollar-weighted and time-weighted returns, duration, convexity, immunization |
Everything else on the exam builds on time value of money, so get it solid first.
Exam P leans on setting problems up. On FM the setups are more standard and every question is a calculation, so what counts is running it quickly and cleanly on your financial calculator. That's part of why FM's pass rate runs a little higher than Exam P's mid-40s. The topics are more procedural than probability theory, and once you know the calculator functions and the standard problem types, your accuracy gets consistent. The harder part is speed. With 30 questions in 2.5 hours you get 5 minutes each, which leaves almost no room to fumble.
Studying for speed
I'd budget 250 to 300 hours for Exam FM, spread over 10 to 14 weeks at 2 to 3 hours a day. Get on the BA II Plus in week one and put 5 to 10 hours into the TVM keys, the amortization worksheet, the cash flow functions and the bond worksheet. Being quick on the calculator saves you minutes on exam day, and on FM those minutes can decide whether you pass. Candidates who pass usually work through 800 to 1,200 practice problems, enough to recognize the standard problem types on sight.
You register through the SOA website. For practice, FreeFellow's 1,000+ free Exam FM practice questions come at three difficulty levels with a full solution for each, and the readiness score is free too. Fellow adds timed practice exams, analytics by topic and focus practice on your weakest areas.