- What "CFA" Means on This Site
- Who Issues the Credential
- The Three Preparation Areas
- Written and Practical Assessments
- Eligibility and Training Hours
- Application Fees and eCert
- The Reading List Discrepancy
- Recertification After Five Years
- Where the Credential Is Used
- A Domain-Based Study Sequence
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CFA here means Certified Forensic Artist, issued through the IAI Forensic Art Certification Board.
- The closed-book written test has 50 questions, a 2-hour limit and a 75% passing standard.
- Practical work covers two composites, one skull reconstruction and one age progression, each scored at 75%.
- Eligibility needs 2 years of experience and 120 training hours, including 40 hours of workshops, lectures or classes.
What "CFA" Means on This Site
The letters CFA are shared by several unrelated credentials, so it is worth being precise. On forensicartexam.com, CFA means Forensic Art Certification, and the title it confers is Certified Forensic Artist. It is a professional credential for people who create investigative imagery: composite drawings from witness descriptions, reconstructions of unidentified remains, and images that show how a missing person may look years later.
If you arrived looking for a finance or accounting designation, this is a different credential entirely, and nothing on this site applies to it. If you want the shorter orientation pieces, our explainers on what CFA stands for and what CFA means cover the naming question, while CFA Certification gives the broader overview.
Who Issues the Credential
The certification is administered by the International Association for Identification (IAI) through its Forensic Art Certification Board. Program rules sit in the Forensic Certification Management Board Certification Program Operations Manual (FCMB-01-2020-C27), the dated document this article uses for planning. Sections 7, 8.4 and 8.9 are the ones that matter most to a prospective candidate, covering prerequisites, examination and training recency.
Three practical points follow from that structure:
- The Board administers testing, and the written assessment is taken with a Board-approved proctor.
- Applications go through the IAI's eCert system.
- The Board's published documents, not third-party summaries, are the final word on any rule, including this one.
The Three Preparation Areas
The Scope of Certification is organized under three headings. These are unweighted preparation areas, not a percentage-based exam blueprint, and they are not an exhaustive syllabus or an official allocation of questions. Use them to organize your study, not to predict how many questions each will produce. For a deeper walk-through, see our complete guide to all three CFA content areas.
Domain 1: Composite Imaging
Building a likeness of an unknown person from a witness or victim's memory.
- Facial anatomy and proportion, since you must draw a believable head from scratch
- Memory-enhancing interview methods that draw out accurate recall without contaminating it
- Translating verbal descriptions of features into drawn forms
- How composites are used in investigations, and their limits as evidence
Domain 2: Postmortem Reconstruction
Restoring a face to unidentified remains to prompt recognition and identification.
- Skull anatomy and how underlying bone shapes the living face
- Facial reconstruction methods and the judgment calls they require
- Working from skeletal evidence while acknowledging what it cannot reveal
- Documenting your process so the result can be explained to investigators
Domain 3: Age Progression
Estimating how a missing person or fugitive may appear after time has passed.
- How facial structure, soft tissue and skin change across life stages
- Using reference images, including family photographs, to guide change
- Balancing known features against predicted aging
- Presenting a progression as an investigative aid rather than a certainty
Written and Practical Assessments
Forensic art certification is unusual because it tests both knowledge and demonstrated skill, and the two halves are delivered very differently.
The written assessment
The written portion is closed-book and proctored. It consists of 50 multiple-choice and true-false questions with a 2-hour limit and a 75% passing standard. That is the only part with a two-hour clock, so when people quote "the exam time" they should mean this section alone.
The practical assessments
The practical portion is separate and unproctored. It comprises:
- Two composite drawings
- One skull reconstruction
- One age progression
Each practical assessment must reach 75%, and all practical portions share a 14-day completion window. That window is the practical deadline; it is not the length of the written test and not a measure of how long training takes.
| Component | Format | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Written assessment | 50 multiple-choice/true-false, closed book, proctored, 2 hours | 75% |
| Composite drawings | Two, unproctored | 75% each assessment |
| Skull reconstruction | One, unproctored | 75% |
| Age progression | One, unproctored | 75% |
| Practical completion | All practical portions together | 14-day window |
For how these requirements play out in terms of difficulty, read How Hard Is the CFA Exam?. For scoring detail, see CFA Passing Score. We do not cite a pass rate here because none is supplied in the Board materials we draw on; our CFA pass rate article discusses what can and cannot be said.
Eligibility and Training Hours
Before you can test, the Board expects documented experience and training. The core requirements are:
- 2 years of experience in forensic art
- A 120-hour training program, within which at least 40 hours must be workshops, lectures or classes
- Two recommendation letters
- Two different additional references
- A signed certification agreement
Two further details trip up applicants. First, the general adjustment that lets part-time experience count toward requirements expressly excludes forensic art, so do not assume part-time years convert to full credit. Second, training acceptance and recency are governed by sections 7.1.3.2 and 8.9 of the manual, and older training is subject to the chair's discretion. If your coursework is several years old, ask the Board before assuming it counts. The IAI also publishes a list of approved forensic art training courses (dated July 22, 2026), which is the place to start when choosing instruction.
Our dedicated page on CFA requirements expands on qualifying, and CFA training covers how to plan the coursework.
Application Fees and eCert
Applications are submitted through eCert. The initial certification, recertification and retest application fees are each the same amount:
| Applicant type | Fee (each application type) |
|---|---|
| IAI member | USD $300 |
| Nonmember | USD $400 |
Note that division-only membership does not qualify for member pricing. If you are weighing whether to join the IAI to save $100 per application, confirm that the membership type you would hold actually earns the member rate. The fee schedule is published on the IAI's application fees page. For the broader financial picture, including training and materials, see CFA Certification Cost.
The Reading List Discrepancy
This is the single most important thing to understand when planning your reading, because the issuer's own pages do not agree. The current C27 operations manual specifies four titles:
- Karen T. Taylor, Forensic Art and Illustration (2001)
- Louise Gordon, How to Draw the Human Head/Techniques and Anatomy (1977)
- Caroline Wilkinson, Forensic Facial Reconstruction (2004)
- Ronald P. Fisher and R. Edward Geiselman, Memory-Enhancing Techniques for Investigative Interviewing: The Cognitive Interview (1992)
A still-accessible standalone reading list page instead names Taylor, Stephen Mancusi's The Police Composite Sketch (2010), and Gordon. The two lists overlap on Taylor and Gordon but differ elsewhere.
Key Takeaway
Plan from the dated C27 manual, since it is the governing document, and contact the Board to confirm which list applies. Do not quietly merge the two lists into one, and do not assume a title is optional just because one page omits it. Note that we have not retrieved or reviewed the books' contents; this is a planning reference, not an endorsement.
Mapped loosely to the three areas, Taylor and Gordon support drawing and anatomy fundamentals, Wilkinson aligns with postmortem reconstruction, and the Fisher and Geiselman text speaks to the interviewing that underpins composite work. Treat that mapping as a study aid rather than an official crosswalk.
Recertification After Five Years
Certification is valid for up to 5 years. Keeping it requires:
- 80 professional-development credits earned within the preceding 5 years
- An application and the recertification fee
- An unproctored assessment completed within 14 days
The renewal assessment has three parts. First, five multiple-choice/true-false written questions at an 80% passing standard. Second, the initial practical parts, unless you have previously taken them. Third, a five-image portfolio of drawings made within the last 5 years, held to a 100% portfolio standard.
Training drawings are acceptable for the portfolio. Each image needs a comparative image and a short narrative explaining how the drawing was used or what it contributed to an investigation. Because the portfolio standard is 100%, it pays to keep clean records of casework and comparisons throughout the five years rather than reconstructing them at the deadline.
Where the Credential Is Used
Forensic artists typically work in or alongside law enforcement and related investigative settings: police and sheriff's agencies, medical examiner and coroner offices, and organizations that assist with missing-person and unidentified-remains cases. Some practitioners work freelance or on contract, taking assignments from agencies that do not employ a full-time artist.
We do not publish salary figures for this field because no verified numbers are available in the Board materials this article relies on. Compensation varies widely with employer type, caseload and whether the work is salaried or contract-based. Our CFA salary guide and CFA jobs pages discuss the landscape qualitatively, and Is the CFA Certification Worth It? frames the return-on-investment question.
A Domain-Based Study Sequence
Because the written test is knowledge-based and the practical work is skill-based, your preparation should alternate between reading and drawing. One sensible ordering, tied to the three areas, follows.
Anatomy and interviewing foundations
- Work through head anatomy and proportion, since every domain depends on it
- Read the cognitive interview material to support composite work
Composite Imaging
- Practice turning verbal descriptions into drawn likenesses
- Draft the two composites you will need for the practical
Postmortem Reconstruction
- Study skull anatomy and reconstruction methodology
- Rehearse the skull reconstruction as a documented, repeatable process
Age Progression and written review
- Practice progressions from reference images
- Drill closed-book multiple-choice and true-false questions across all three areas
Skull anatomy comes before reconstruction because bone structure drives everything else, and written review comes last so the 50-question format is fresh. Remember the practical window is only 14 days, so finish your skill practice before you open it. For a fuller plan, see the CFA study guide, the one-page CFA cheat sheet, and the dates overview at CFA exam dates. When you are ready to test your recall, the CFA practice tests are built around the written format, and you can find more at the main practice site.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is the Certified Forensic Artist credential, issued through the IAI Forensic Art Certification Board. It recognizes demonstrated knowledge and practical skill in composite imaging, postmortem reconstruction and age progression. See also our overview What Is CFA Certification?.
It is closed-book and proctored, with 50 multiple-choice and true-false questions, a 2-hour limit and a 75% passing standard. The practical assessments are separate and unproctored.
You need 2 years of experience, a 120-hour training program that includes 40 hours of workshops, lectures or classes, two recommendation letters, two different additional references and a signed certification agreement. Part-time experience adjustments do not apply to forensic art.
Initial certification, recertification and retest applications are each USD $300 for IAI members or $400 for nonmembers. Division-only membership does not qualify for the member price.
It is valid for up to 5 years. Renewal requires 80 professional-development credits from the preceding 5 years, an application and fee, and an unproctored assessment within 14 days that includes five written questions at 80%, the initial practical parts unless previously taken, and a five-image portfolio at a 100% standard.
If the credential matches where you want your career to go, start by confirming the current rules with the IAI Board, then build your preparation around the three areas above and use our practice questions to check your written-exam readiness.