- Identity and Format: The Core Facts at a Glance
- Registration, Fees and Eligibility Mechanics
- Scoring Rules: The 70% Floor in Every Skill Set
- All 19 Skill Sets in One Pass
- The Quantitative Block: Where Numbers Get Tested
- Intelligence, Mapping and Series Analysis Essentials
- Writing, Products and Organized Crime
- Sequencing Your Review Around the Skill Sets
- Renewal, Lapse Wording and Source Caveats
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The exam has 190 questions, 10 from each of 19 skill sets, with a 4-hour limit.
- You need at least 70% in every skill set and overall, not just a strong total.
- Fee is $175, current IACA membership is required, and retakes cost $75.
- Eligibility needs three years of full-time analytical experience plus 100 points and employment documentation.
Identity and Format: The Core Facts at a Glance
This cheat sheet covers the Certified Law Enforcement Analyst credential offered by the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA). It is a professional credential for people who do analytical work in policing and public safety, so the exam tests applied analytic judgment across a broad range of topics rather than a single narrow body of knowledge. If you are still orienting yourself, start with What Is CLEA? or the shorter explainer on what CLEA stands for.
| Item | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Administering body | International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA) |
| Delivery | Committee-administered browser exam on Moodle with an approved in-person proctor; not remote proctoring |
| Length | 190 questions |
| Structure | 10 questions from each of 19 skill sets |
| Time limit | 4 hours |
| Question types | Mixed: multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in and short-answer |
| Book policy | Closed book; scratch paper, spreadsheet/calculator and internet only as directed |
| Languages | English and Spanish, plus an international option |
Two format details deserve attention. First, the mix of question types means recognition alone will not carry you; fill-in and short-answer items require you to produce a term, a calculation result or a brief explanation. Second, the use of a spreadsheet or calculator is tied to proctor direction, so do not assume a tool is available for any given question until instructions say so. Practice the arithmetic by hand as a baseline.
Registration, Fees and Eligibility Mechanics
Money and membership
- Exam fee: $175.
- Developing-country rate: a published rate of $75.
- Retake fee: $75, with volunteer waivers possible but subject to approval.
- Membership: current IACA membership is required. There is no non-member exam tier, so membership dues are a real part of your total outlay.
For a fuller walk through budgeting, see the CLEA certification cost breakdown.
Eligibility in plain terms
You need current membership, three years of full-time qualifying analytical experience, 100 eligibility points and employment documentation. There is no single mandatory degree and no universal training-hour total, which surprises candidates who expect a one-size-fits-all checklist. The points system lets different combinations of education, training and experience add up. Documentation of your employment is the part that most often slows applications down, so request verification from supervisors well before you plan to test. The details are laid out in CLEA requirements and how to qualify, and scheduling questions are covered in CLEA exam dates and deadlines.
Scoring Rules: The 70% Floor in Every Skill Set
The scoring rule is the single most important structural fact on this page. The minimum is 70% in each skill set and 70% overall. A candidate who scores brilliantly on statistics but slips below the line in one skill set has not met the standard on that section, regardless of the total.
Because each skill set contributes only 10 questions, a single skill set is a small sample. Missing four questions in a skill set puts you under the line even if everything else is perfect. That arithmetic is why balanced preparation beats deep specialization. The official pass rate is not publicly disclosed, so avoid any site that quotes one as fact; see what the data actually shows on pass rate and the detailed treatment of the passing score.
All 19 Skill Sets in One Pass
Every skill set carries equal weight: 10 of 190 questions each. If you see 5.2632% quoted per domain, that figure is a calculated and rounded value (10 divided by 190), not a percentage printed in official materials. There is no largest domain, so no area deserves to be skipped. The full breakdown lives in the complete guide to all 19 content areas; here is the compact list.
- Crime Analysis Terms, Concepts and Processes
- Law Enforcement Models
- Criminal Behavior
- Law Enforcement Data and Crime Analysis Data Sources
- Internet Resources
- Crime Analysis Data and Data Management
- Applied Research Methods
- Descriptive Statistics
- Advanced Statistical Concepts
- Qualitative Analysis
- Spreadsheet Operations
- Temporal Analysis
- Intelligence Analysis and Intelligence Charting
- GIS and Crime Mapping
- Spatial Analysis and Forecasting
- Effective Analytical Writing
- Analytical Products
- Applied Crime Series Analysis
- Organized Crime
Foundations Cluster: Skill Sets 1 to 3
These three reward vocabulary and conceptual clarity, which makes them efficient points if you prepare deliberately.
- Know the difference between tactical, strategic and administrative analysis and what each is for.
- Be able to place policing philosophies such as problem-oriented policing, community policing, intelligence-led policing and hot spots policing, and explain how an analyst supports each.
- Understand criminal behavior concepts such as offender decision-making, routine activity, and crime pattern ideas that explain why crime clusters.
Data Cluster: Skill Sets 4 to 6
These test whether you understand where analytic data comes from and what goes wrong with it.
- Distinguish records management, computer-aided dispatch, calls for service and incident-based reporting sources, and what each can and cannot tell you.
- Recognize data quality problems: missing values, inconsistent coding, duplicate records and geocoding errors.
- Know sound internet and open-source research practice, including how to evaluate source reliability.
The Quantitative Block: Where Numbers Get Tested
Skill sets 7 through 12 (Applied Research Methods, Descriptive Statistics, Advanced Statistical Concepts, Qualitative Analysis, Spreadsheet Operations and Temporal Analysis) are where candidates without a quantitative background feel the pressure. Because the format includes fill-in and short-answer items, expect to compute or state a result, not merely pick it from a list. Our piece on how hard the exam is explains why this block draws the most worry.
Descriptive Statistics
Be fluent with the basics and quick at the arithmetic.
- Mean, median and mode, and when skewed data makes the median the better summary.
- Range, variance and standard deviation as measures of spread.
- Percent change, rates per population and why raw counts mislead when populations differ.
- Levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) and which statistics suit each.
Advanced Statistical Concepts
Focus on interpretation and correct reasoning, not on memorizing exotic formulas.
- Correlation versus causation, and what a correlation coefficient does and does not show.
- Basic ideas behind hypothesis testing, significance and sampling.
- The limits of extrapolating trends from small samples.
Research Methods, Qualitative Analysis and Spreadsheets
These round out the analytic toolkit.
- Research design basics: defining a problem, selecting measures, and recognizing validity and bias issues.
- Qualitative analysis: coding narrative material, extracting themes from reports and interviews, and knowing when qualitative evidence complements numbers.
- Spreadsheet operations: sorting, filtering, pivot-style summaries, basic formulas and clean data layout.
Temporal Analysis
Time is a core crime analysis dimension and a dependable source of questions.
- Aggregating events by hour, day of week, month and season to find patterns.
- Handling offenses where the exact time is unknown by using time spans.
- Distinguishing a trend from a seasonal cycle or random fluctuation.
Intelligence, Mapping and Series Analysis Essentials
Skill sets 13 through 15 plus Applied Crime Series Analysis form the heart of what many analysts do daily, and employers recognize this skill profile in roles listed under CLEA-aligned jobs.
Intelligence Analysis and Intelligence Charting
Expect questions about turning raw information into structured understanding.
- Link analysis and association matrices for showing relationships among people, places and events.
- Event flow and timeline charting for sequencing activity.
- The intelligence cycle and the importance of evaluating source reliability and information validity.
GIS and Crime Mapping
Know the mapping concepts well enough to choose the right display for a question.
- Point maps, choropleth maps, graduated symbols and density surfaces, and when each helps or distorts.
- Geocoding, hit rates and the effect of address quality on map accuracy.
- Map projections, scale and the ethical issue of revealing too much location detail.
Spatial Analysis and Forecasting
This builds on mapping with analytic techniques.
- Hot spot identification methods and the tradeoffs between them.
- Spatial autocorrelation: the idea that nearby places tend to resemble each other.
- Forecasting limits: what trend-based and risk-based approaches can reasonably claim.
Applied Crime Series Analysis
Series work ties together behavior, time and place.
- Criteria for linking offenses: modus operandi, target selection, victim and suspect characteristics, and physical evidence.
- Geographic profiling concepts and what they can suggest about offender anchor points.
- Distinguishing a genuine series from a coincidental cluster.
Writing, Products and Organized Crime
The final three skill sets are easy to underestimate because they feel less technical. They are not free points, and with only 10 questions each, a casual approach can put you under the 70% line.
- Effective Analytical Writing: clear structure, audience awareness, plain language, accurate use of caveats, and avoiding unsupported conclusions. Expect short-answer items where you improve or evaluate a passage.
- Analytical Products: know the purpose and audience of common products such as bulletins, briefings, pattern and trend reports, and recommendations. Match the product to the decision it supports.
- Organized Crime: understand how organized criminal enterprises operate, how analysts approach structure, financial indicators and network relationships, and how this differs from analyzing individual offenders.
Key Takeaway
Do not treat the writing, products and organized crime skill sets as buffers. Each is exactly 10 questions, and the 70% floor applies to each one individually, so a weak showing here can sink an otherwise strong attempt.
Sequencing Your Review Around the Skill Sets
Generic study advice matters less here than ordering the skill sets sensibly. A practical logic: start with the quantitative block because it needs the longest runway, interleave the conceptual skill sets as lighter sessions, and finish with synthesis topics that depend on earlier knowledge. For a fuller plan, see the CLEA study guide and the overview of training options.
Quantitative Foundations
- Descriptive Statistics and Spreadsheet Operations, with hand calculation practice.
- Advanced Statistical Concepts and Applied Research Methods for interpretation skills.
Data, Time and Place
- Data sources, data management and Temporal Analysis.
- GIS and Crime Mapping, then Spatial Analysis and Forecasting.
Concepts, Intelligence and Communication
- Terms, models, criminal behavior, intelligence charting and series analysis.
- Writing, analytical products, qualitative analysis, internet resources and organized crime.
Finish with timed practice across all 19 areas. Because the 70% floor applies to each skill set, track your score by skill set, not just overall, and spend your last days on whichever sits closest to the line. You can drill that way using the practice questions on the CLEA Exam Prep practice test site.
Renewal, Lapse Wording and Source Caveats
Five-year renewal
Certification renews on a five-year cycle. Renewal requires current membership, three qualifying activities and a $25 fee. Completing 40 training hours is one option for satisfying an activity, not the only route. Keep records of everything as you go, because documentation is the usual friction point.
The lapse wording conflict
Official materials are inconsistent about what happens if you miss the deadline. Some wording refers to a 90-day grace period, while other wording refers to a one-year reinstatement window with a $50 charge. Do not rely on either version. If you are near a deadline, contact IACA directly and get the current policy in writing.
How current are these facts?
The details here draw on the January 2024 Program Outline and May 2021 study resources, and there is no verified new 2026 version of those documents. That means some specifics could change. Check the official IACA certification page and FAQ before you pay or schedule anything. For the value question behind all of this, see whether the certification is worth it and the salary guide, and for a quick refresher on the credential itself, the overview of the certification.
Frequently Asked Questions
The exam has 190 questions, with 10 drawn from each of 19 skill sets. You have 4 hours to complete it. The format mixes multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in and short-answer items. The number of any separate unscored items is not disclosed.
You need at least 70% in each skill set and 70% overall. Committee discretion may apply to one failed section if you score at least 80% overall, but it is not automatic. Plan to clear 70% in every skill set rather than counting on that exception.
No. All 19 skill sets carry equal shares of 10 questions out of 190. The 5.2632% figure sometimes quoted is a calculated, rounded value rather than an official printed percentage, and there is no largest domain.
No. The exam is a committee-administered browser exam on Moodle that requires an approved in-person proctor. It is not remote proctored. The test is closed book, with scratch paper, spreadsheet or calculator, and internet use allowed only as directed.
The exam fee is $175, with a published $75 developing-country rate, and current IACA membership is required. A retake costs $75, and volunteer waivers are subject to approval. Renewal every five years requires membership, three qualifying activities and a $25 fee.
Use this page as a map of what to know, then confirm every fee, date and policy against the official IACA pages before you act. Pair it with timed practice by skill set, and treat the 70% floor in each of the 19 areas as the target that shapes everything else you do.