Certification is not only a casting test. Candidates also sit a written (paper) exam, usually at the CI Exam Workshop, before the performance exam.

What the written exam covers

FFI’s CI Exam — Frequently Asked Questions states that the written exam covers:

• Casting mechanics
• Fly tackle
• Knots
• Teaching
• Fishing knowledge

The CI Study Guide is the source FFI points candidates at: it “includes information that will be covered in the written exam. If you have mastered the material in this guide, you should know the answers to the written exam.”

How test day works

• Candidates attend the workshop and take the written exam together. Performance exams are conducted afterwards — usually, but not always, on the same day, and you get a break before yours.
• Fail the written and you can still take the performance exam that day. If you pass the performance, the written must be retaken on another date within one year.
• Pass the written and fail the performance: you do not need to retake the written, provided you retake the performance within one year. Take longer and both must be retaken.
• The CI Exam Workshop is an element of a scheduled CI exam and must be administered by examiners — a workshop given by an FFI instructor at another event does not count.
• Spectators are not allowed during the examination.

The study map: CI Study Guide, chapter by chapter

The guide builds the written material up in order, so read it in sequence:

#	Chapter
1	Introduction
2	Casting Mechanics and Techniques — the Five Essentials of Fly Casting; varying casting arc and trajectory
3	Substance and Style
4	Learning to See the Cast — watching and analysing the loop; using targets
5	Fault Identification and the Five Essentials
6	Preparing for the Performance Exam: Casting — equipment, practice kit, plan for practice and study
7	Performance and Teaching Tips — Tasks 1–15 and Tasks 16–22
8	Teaching Principles — setting the stage for learning, knowing your students, learning styles
9	Appendices — A Horizontal Casting Drill · B Teaching · C Lesson Plan Examples · D Review Questions · E Test Day · F Resources

FFI is explicit that preparation should include a mentor: pass rates are much higher among candidates who work with one, and mentoring works at a distance.

Review questions (Appendix D)

Appendix D of the study guide is the closest thing to a written-exam syllabus. For every cast and task, work through these in your own words:

• What does this cast have to do with casting instruction? Why is it used? What are the basic requirements to learn it?
• How is this cast used when fishing?
• How would you teach this skill or cast? (analogies, progression of the lesson, say–see–do)
• What are the common faults, how would you identify them, and how would you correct them? Know Bruce Richards’ Six-Step Method.
• What are the primary Five Essentials involved in performing this task?
• What drills would you suggest when practising this skill?

The appendix then lists sample questions by topic. A selection:

Loop control — what rod tip paths produce narrow, wide and tailing loops? · name two actions that result in a tailing loop · how does the path of the rod tip relate to loop size? · how does the 180-degree principle apply to overhead casting? · if the casting arc is too wide for the bend of the rod, which loop shape results?

Line control — what is a mend? · why would you slip line, or not slip line, during a reach mend? · what fishing situation calls for a pile cast? · what is an elliptical cast and when would you use it? · what adjustments are needed when moving from the vertical to the horizontal plane?

Roll casts — describe the 180-degree principle for anchored casts · when would you use a roll cast pickup? · what happens if too much force is applied too early during a roll cast? · what are at least three reasons we roll cast?

Accuracy casts — how does fly line trajectory affect accuracy? · what changes in the pause when casting from 20 ft to 45 ft at similar line speed? · how do you correct a fly landing right or left of the target?

Distance casts — how much line can we typically shoot? · at 75 ft, roughly how much line is carried in the air? · as casting distance increases, what happens to the length of the haul? · how do you teach when the haul begins, and what happens if the haul is too early?

Teaching tasks — where should the observer stand relative to you and the sun? · what is the biggest risk in your instructional approach with a beginner? · which teaching tools would you use to show rod tip path? · when is the Pickup and Laydown used? · where should an instructor stand to identify poor tracking? · define Gammel’s Five Essentials and integrate each into the 30 ft → 50 ft adjustment task.

The full list is in Appendix D of the study guide — download it and answer every question.

Materials to study

Primary

• CI Study Guide (FFI, 25 February 2025) — 63 pages, written-exam material plus performance-task tips; Appendix D is the review-question bank.
• CI Exam — Frequently Asked Questions — what is covered, test-day sequence and the retake rules.
• CI Exam Preparation (FFI) — mentors, pre-tests and the current study guide.

Mechanics, definitions and teaching — the bulk of the written syllabus

• Fly Casting Mechanics (FFI) — the physics and the Five Essentials.
• FFI Fly Casting Definitions — the terminology the exam expects · also on this site.
• Resources for Teaching (FFI) — lesson plans and teaching material.
• The Loop Journal — instructor-level articles; the Spring 2025 issue is the most recent.

Video and drills

• FFI Learning Center: Fly Casting — the casting videos FFI’s own preparation page recommends.
• Learn to Cast & More Casting Skills (FFI videos).

Self-testing

• Doug Cook’s FFI CI Prep Collection (Brainscape flash cards) — including the General Questions and Teaching Tasks 16–22 decks.

Knots and tackle

• Fly fishing knots (Orvis Learning Center) — knots are an explicit written-exam topic.
• On this site: Your first fly fishing outfit — rod, reel, line, leader and the trade-offs behind them.

Mentor

• Find an Instructor, Mentor, or Examiner (FFI) — the single biggest predictor of passing, according to FFI.

A study order that works

1. Read the study guide once, end to end, without stopping to memorise anything.
2. Chapter 2 and the Five Essentials until you can explain each in one sentence and demonstrate it.
3. Answer every Appendix D question in writing — mechanics first, then each cast family.
4. Drill the fault lists (overhead and roll cast) with the Six-Step Method for correction.
5. Use the flash cards for recall, and the mechanics videos wherever a concept will not stick.
6. Cover the non-casting topics — tackle, leaders, knots, fishing knowledge.
7. Book the workshop and written exam once several pre-tests say you are ready.

Unofficial study notes compiled around the FFI material. The exam is set and marked by FFI — always work from the current study guide, FAQ and evaluation form.