Pass the CDM — or get every dollar back. Guaranteed.

The full Fast Track Study System — every practice question, every flashcard deck, full-length mock exams, narrated audio, Miles the AI tutor, and the entire study guide, every chapter readable and highlightable. The cheat sheet — the highest-yield facts as a PDF — is in the study portal on every pass, with instant access to download it. Every pass opens all of it, backed by the SurePass Guarantee.

Score 85%+ on one full-length mock, sit the real exam, and if you don't pass we refund what you paid. On Lifetime, clear two mocks with your readiness meter at "Getting close" or above and we also pay your full $425 retake fee — one funded retake, in full. You file in your study portal with your official CBDM score report. What it does not cover, stated plainly: the $50 processing fee CBDM keeps if you do not meet an eligibility pathway, the first-year activation ($189 as an ANFP member, $212 as a non-member), annual dues, and any tuition you paid for your training program.

Four scored full-length sittings, each a brand-new 160-question paper built to CBDM's five Domains in the shares CBDM prints — 20% Nutrition, 22% Foodservice, 20% Personnel and Communications, 24% Sanitation and Safety, 14% Business Operations — and timed to the real 180 minutes. Practice questions and timed practice are unlimited and never use one. Worth knowing what you are comparing that to. CBDM's own self-assessment, sold through PSI, is one 160-question sitting at $60 — its listing says "Attempts: Single" and gives 90 days of access. Four of those would be $240, and none of them comes with a guide, narration, flashcards, a tutor or a readiness meter. Ours are drawn from the whole 1,280-question bank.

Most people on this exam should buy Lifetime, and the reason is arithmetic rather than salesmanship. It is the only tier that pays your retake fee, and on this credential a failure is the most expensive one we cover: CBDM keeps the $425 and charges it again. It is also the only tier that outlasts your own window — PSI gives you 90 days from its scheduling email to sit, and a 30-Day Pass covers a third of that. The 30-Day is the right pass if your date is close and you only need the month. The 7-Day is built for one job and should be bought for that job only: a final-week readiness check when your date is already booked. Nothing in this market is sold by the week, so if you are shopping for value rather than for next Tuesday, look at the month or the Lifetime.

CBDM sets the standard by a modified Angoff study and publishes the working figure itself: in its own words, "Historically, answering about 70% of the scored items has been required to pass the exam." Read that carefully, because the hedge is CBDM's and it matters — the standard is re-set per form, so your score report tells you the exact number of items you had to answer correctly, out of the 140 that count. The other 20 items on the paper are unscored pretest questions and are not in your total. The 85% our mocks are marked against is OURS, not CBDM's, and it sits well above CBDM's figure on purpose: it is also the score that qualifies you for the guarantee, and we would rather find out you are short on our paper than on theirs.

CBDM charges $425 and there is no member discount — ANFP prices its study materials by membership, but the exam itself is one flat number for everyone. The fee is not refundable, not transferable and cannot be cancelled, and you forfeit the whole thing if you no-show, cancel too late, reschedule twice, or turn up with the wrong or an expired ID. A retake is the full $425 again: CBDM's FAQ is blunt about it — "Yes, you have to complete and submit a new application with fees for CBDM review and approval and fully meet the current eligibility requirements each time you want to sit for the exam." That means fresh transcripts and, on three of the five pathways, another employer-signed verification of your experience. You must also wait 90 calendar days between attempts, though there is no limit on how many times you may sit it. That is what our Lifetime guarantee pays your full $425 retake fee against, and why it is the tier this page leads with.

Mostly, and here is the part that is honest rather than flattering. Every item is written to CBDM's five Domains and weighted the way CBDM weights them, with four options, one key and a reason given for every option — including why each wrong one is wrong — and each key was recomputed from the question itself before the explanation was read. They are written for the job CBDM tests: a manager in a non-commercial kitchen making a decision, not a student reciting a definition. What we will not claim: CBDM publishes no sample questions at all and states only that its paper carries "160 multiple-choice question/answer items", so the four options are a fact about OUR bank and not a claim about CBDM's format. Our mock also scores all 160 of its items, where the real paper scores 140 of 160 — which makes ours the slightly harsher sitting, and is part of why our bar sits where it does.

Worth having, and worth knowing exactly what they are and what they cost. CBDM publishes the Exam Content Outline and a free step-by-step study plan, and no sample questions. Everything else is priced by ANFP membership: the Online Review Course is $99 for members and $142 for non-members and runs for six months; the printed Study Guide is $89 / $116; the flash-card set of "over 150 questions" is $32 / $42 electronic or $37 / $49 printed; the math workbook is $22 / $29. The practice exam is separate again and comes from PSI at $60 for a single 160-question attempt. Assemble the official shelf and a non-member spends $230 to $273. They come from the body that writes the exam, which is something we cannot claim, and they are worth reading alongside us rather than instead of us. CBDM is also clear about what they are not: "they do not predict or guarantee a passing score on the exam." Prices move and ANFP's catalogue is badged new for 2025 across several items, so check them yourself before you buy.

Often for the exam, less often for the prep, and it is worth asking before you buy either. The credential is frequently required rather than optional: under 42 CFR 483.60, where a nursing facility employs no full-time qualified dietitian, the designated director of food and nutrition services must hold one of a short list of qualifications, and a certified dietary manager is the first of them. ANFP says in its own employer handout that "many facilities pay these fees to ensure regulatory compliance" — though note precisely what it names there: dues, certification fees and continuing education, not the $425 exam fee and not study materials. There is also an NFEF grant for this exam, awarded as a $425 credit. Ask your administrator about the fee, and ask whether there is a professional-development line you can use for prep. One thing we will not pretend: nothing here counts toward continuing education. Recertification is 45 CE hours every three years and we are not a CBDM-approved CE provider.

Your account stays and your work stays with it — notes, highlights and flashcard history are all there if you come back. The paid features stop. You can upgrade at any time and pick up exactly where you left off, and an upgrade always credits what you already paid.

Yes. Change the date and the Game Plan rebuilds around the new one — it works backwards from your date, so a move forward compresses it and a move back spreads it out. Nothing is lost. Worth knowing the shape of your own window while you are at it: PSI gives you 90 days from its scheduling email, and permits one reschedule.

Yes to both. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like an app. Your due flashcards and a set of practice questions download automatically, and the whole study guide downloads too, narrated audio included — so a break room with no signal is still study time. Scored mocks and the tutor wait for a connection.

Yes, separately from the pass guarantee: 24 hours on the 7-Day Pass, 48 hours on the 30-Day Pass, or 72 hours on Lifetime, measured from your purchase (or from your upgrade, if you upgraded) — no questions asked, as long as you haven't sat your exam yet. EEA and UK buyers also keep their 14-day statutory right. The SurePass Guarantee is the other promise — that one is about your exam result, not about changing your mind.

Because we honor them. Every guarantee is a real financial commitment, and on this exam it is the largest one we make, so a limited number opens for this exam each day. The allocation resets at midnight in your own time zone, and the counter shows how many of today's are still open.