Certified Information Privacy Manager

Pass rate

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Certified Information Privacy Manager Pass Rate

CIPM

The score you need to pass the Certified Information Privacy Manager certification exam, what the cut score actually means, and how to read your mock results against it.

70% to pass
90 questions
2.1/10 difficulty

The number you need to hit

Published cut score for this certification.

Passing score
70%
300 (on a scale of 100 to 500)
Margin
30%
room for wrong answers, on a flat mock
Wrong answers allowed
27
out of 90 questions

Pass score vs pass rate

Two different numbers that get mixed up constantly.

Pass score (cut score)

The scaled score the vendor publishes. For the Certified Information Privacy Manager it is 70%. This is the number you can actually prepare against, and it is the one that decides your result on exam day.

Pass rate (percentage of candidates)

The share of candidates who pass. IAPP generally does not publish this for individual exams, and the numbers you find online usually come from candidate self-reported surveys. We would rather tell you nothing than tell you a figure we cannot source.

Where you lose points

The exam is not scored flat. Each domain carries its own weight, so a domain where you lose everything can sink a score that looks fine on paper.

Emerging Privacy Issues2%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 2% of the exam, and it has 2 practice questions here.

Privacy Program Lifecycle30%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 30% of the exam, and it has 27 practice questions here.

Privacy Program Governance40%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 40% of the exam, and it has 36 practice questions here.

Privacy Program Operations20%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 20% of the exam, and it has 18 practice questions here.

Privacy Program Communication3%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 3% of the exam, and it has 3 practice questions here.

Privacy Program Metrics & Reporting5%

Losing this domain entirely costs you 5% of the exam, and it has 4 practice questions here.

The practical version: the Certified Information Privacy Manager is not passed by knowing most of the content. It is passed by being strong in the domains that carry weight, and by not leaving one of them empty.

More about the Certified Information Privacy Manager exam

Explore the rest of this page series: format, cost, difficulty, requirements and how to prepare.

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Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about the Certified Information Privacy Manager exam.