CISI Derivatives (CMP Level 3) Past Papers & Mock Exams
This page covers Derivatives in the Level 3 Capital Markets Programme, not the separate Level 4 IAD unit. Here is what CISI provides and where to get current 100-question mocks.
Looking for the Level 4 IAD Derivatives paper?Are there CISI Derivatives past papers I can download?
No. CISI does not publish past papers for the Derivatives exam, and there is no archive of previously sat papers, official or otherwise. The official material is one specimen paper written to the live standard plus end-of-chapter questions and a practice paper in the Derivatives workbook, each a fixed set you can only sit cold once. The paper is 100 multiple-choice questions in two hours, computer based, 70% to pass with no negative marking. This page covers the Level 3 Capital Markets Programme unit, not the separate Level 4 IAD Derivatives unit.
- Official past papers
- None; no archive of previously sat Derivatives papers exists
- What CISI does provide
- One sample paper written to the live exam standard
- Official workbook
- End-of-chapter questions and a practice paper inside the official Derivatives workbook
- Other official tools
- Paid Revision Express, plus a free Prometric demo of the on-screen test
- Exam format
- 100 multiple-choice questions, computer based, 2 hours
- Pass mark
- 70%, no negative marking
- Prerequisite
- IntegrityMatters must be passed before any Capital Markets Programme exam in the UK
- Unit choice
- You complete the Programme with UK Financial Regulation plus one technical unit, Derivatives or Securities, not both
This page covers the Level 3 Capital Markets Programme Derivatives unit, not the separate Level 4 Investment Advice Diploma unit. Here is the answer to the search before you waste an evening on it: CISI does not publish past papers for the Derivatives exam. There is no archive of previously sat papers to download, official or otherwise. What exists is one specimen paper, the workbook's own questions, and a scatter of unofficial PDFs and flashcard decks of unknown age and accuracy.
For this paper that matters more than most, because Derivatives is the CMP unit where rehearsal counts double. Pricing, margin and strategy questions are not things you read your way into. They are things you drill.
Test yourself on CMP: Derivatives
4 questions written to the current syllabus, in the format of the real paper. Pick an answer and the explanation appears. Nothing to sign up for.
Novation to the clearing house leaves a futures trader still exposed to:
Not quite. The answer is D.
Novation substitutes the clearing house as counterparty to each side, so credit and settlement exposures pass to the house, but nothing about the price of the contract changes and the position still gains or loses on every tick. Counterparty default no longer reaches the trader, because the house has stepped into the place of the member on the other side. Delivery is guaranteed by the house under the same substitution, so a failure to deliver is the house's problem rather than the trader's. Insolvency of the opposing clearing member is absorbed by the house as well, which is why none of these three is what remains.
A gilt is priced at 102.40 and has a modified duration of 7.5. Yields rise by 40 basis points. What is the approximate new price?
Not quite. The answer is A.
Modified duration estimates the percentage price change as duration multiplied by the yield change, so 7.5 times 0.40% gives 3.0%, and 3.0% of 102.40 is 3.07, leaving 99.33. Answering 99.40 applies the 3% to par rather than to the actual price. Answering 102.09 treats 40 basis points as 0.04%, while 105.47 adds the fall instead of subtracting it.
How are the futures leg and the cash leg priced in an exchange for physical?
Not quite. The answer is A.
Both legs of an exchange for physical are priced by private bilateral negotiation, which is the flexibility the facility exists to provide, and the futures leg is then registered with the exchange for clearing. The daily settlement price values open positions rather than new negotiated business. The trade is deliberately kept off the central order book, and the clearing house registers and novates what it is given rather than valuing either leg.
Zinc stands at 2,615 a tonne in cash while the September future trades at 2,588. The basis is:
Not quite. The answer is C.
Basis is cash less futures, so 2,615 less 2,588 is plus 27. A positive basis means the cash price stands above the future, which is backwardation. Answering minus 27 reverses the subtraction and computes futures less cash. Pairing a positive basis with contango confuses the two market states: contango has the future above cash and therefore a negative basis, the opposite of the position here.
That is 4 of more than 10,800 questions in the PasskeyPrep bank. Chapter 1 of every exam is free, with the study notes and flashcards that go with it, and every answer is marked and explained the way these were.
The paper you are preparing for
| Qualification | Capital Markets Programme, technical unit |
| Questions | 100, multiple choice |
| Time | 2 hours |
| Pass mark | 70%, no negative marking |
| Format | Computer based |
The syllabus runs from futures and options fundamentals through underlying markets, pricing and valuation, OTC products, clearing and margin, delivery and settlement, trading strategies and the regulatory overlay. The full element weightings, and where the marks concentrate, are in our guide to passing the Derivatives exam.
What official material exists
CISI gives you one sample paper written to the live standard, end-of-chapter questions and a practice paper inside the official Derivatives workbook, the paid Revision Express tool, and a free Prometric demo of the on-screen test. All of it is worth using. None of it is renewable: each is a fixed set you can only sit cold once.
Remember the Programme's prerequisite too. You must pass IntegrityMatters, CISI's online integrity test, before you can sit any CMP exam in the UK, and you complete the Programme with UK Financial Regulation plus one technical unit, Derivatives or Securities, not both.
The trouble with the PDFs and flashcard decks
Unofficial Derivatives material ages badly in two specific places. The first is clearing and margin, where the rules and market infrastructure have kept moving; material written a few editions ago describes a landscape that has since shifted. The second is the regulatory element, which tracks live UK and international rules. An old paper does not just miss new content, it actively teaches superseded answers, and the exam's distractors are built precisely from plausible-but-wrong versions of the rules. Add unverified answer keys and you are revising blind.
The alternative: current, weighted mock papers
PasskeyPrep gives the Derivatives exam seven full mock papers, each 100 questions in two hours, weighted element by element like the real paper, with no question shared between papers. The bank is written from scratch against the current syllabus, the calculations come with worked explanations, and practice mode lets you drill pricing and margin questions until they are automatic before you burn a full mock on them. The weak-spot tracker then highlights your remaining gaps, element by element.
Start free. Try a set of free CISI Derivatives practice questions. The first chapter of the Derivatives bank is free in the app.
Every Derivatives revision resource, in one list
- The official CISI Derivatives workbook, current edition. The syllabus's single source of truth.
- The official sample paper, saved for a single timed sitting late in revision.
- CISI Revision Express (paid) and the free Prometric CBT demo.
- PasskeyPrep: full question bank, seven weighted 100-question mocks, worked calculation explanations, weak-spot tracking. £59 once for this paper, or £89 for all fourteen exams, for 90 days from purchase.
- Free Derivatives practice questions.
- Our Derivatives exam guide and the Capital Markets Programme overview.
PasskeyPrep is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. For the picture across every paper, see CISI past papers: what's actually available.
Sit a whole paper for free. The free 100-question Derivatives mock exam runs to the real time limit and the published element weighting, with a score, an element breakdown and an explanation for every answer. No sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Does CISI publish past papers for the Derivatives exam?
No. There is one official sample paper plus the questions in the official workbook, and that is all CISI releases. Real papers are drawn from a rotating live bank and are never published.
What is the format of the CISI Derivatives exam?
100 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours, computer based, 70% pass mark, no negative marking. It is a technical unit of the Capital Markets Programme, completed alongside UK Financial Regulation.
How hard is the CISI Derivatives exam?
It rewards rehearsal more than raw ability. The concepts are learnable, but pricing, margin and strategy questions punish anyone who has only read about them. Drilling calculations and sitting full timed mocks gives you stronger preparation evidence than re-reading the workbook alone.
Are old Derivatives PDFs and flashcard decks safe to revise from?
Be careful. Clearing, margin and the regulatory element have all moved in recent years, so material written against an old workbook edition teaches superseded answers, and unofficial keys are frequently wrong.