CISI Past Papers: Official Samples and Free Alternatives
CISI does not publish an open archive of previously sat papers. Here is exactly what CISI provides, where to find it and the current free practice you can use next.
Where can I find CISI past papers?
CISI does not publish past papers for the public to download. What exists is one official specimen paper per exam, written to the live exam standard, plus end-of-chapter questions and a final practice paper in the official workbook. Registered candidates can also reach some example papers inside the My Study portal. All of it is a fixed set you can sit once, so pair it with a renewable source of current, exam-standard questions.
- Official past papers
- None published publicly; there is no open archive of real past papers to download
- What CISI does provide
- One official specimen paper per exam, written to the live exam standard
- Official workbook
- Contains end-of-chapter questions and a final practice paper, but it is a fixed set
- My Study portal
- Registered candidates can access example papers, and for the longer narrative exams, past papers with examiners' reports
- Revision Express
- CISI's paid online revision tool, sold alongside the workbook
- CBT demo
- Free Prometric demo showing how the computer-based test behaves on the day
- Sample paper format
- For the Introduction to Securities & Investment, 50 questions in an hour, mirroring the real exam
- Unofficial PDFs
- Unchecked, often out of date, and sometimes written for a different exam entirely
No public archive of previously sat CISI papers exists for the computer-based exams. What CISI provides instead is one official sample or specimen paper for each exam, questions in the official workbook, and a small number of enrolment-only resources. That distinction matters: an official sample paper is useful, but it is not a library of past papers.
Use the official sample once under timed conditions, then move to current, syllabus-aligned practice. If you are preparing for UK Financial Regulation, you can sit PasskeyPrep's free 75-question UKFR mock now, with no sign-up. For another paper, choose its exam-specific guide below or browse the free CISI practice questions.
What official CISI practice material exists?
| Resource | What you actually get | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Previously sat papers | No public archive for the computer-based multiple-choice exams | Not publicly available |
| Official sample or specimen paper | One paper for each exam, written to the live exam standard | Free on the relevant CISI qualification page |
| Official workbook | End-of-chapter questions and a final practice paper | Included with the workbook |
| My Study portal | Example papers for registered candidates; some longer narrative qualifications also have past papers with examiners' reports | Enrolment and login required |
| Revision Express | CISI's online revision add-on | Paid |
| Prometric CBT demo | A preview of the computer-based testing interface, not an extra question bank | Free |
The sample paper and workbook questions are worth using, but each is a fixed set. Save the specimen for one full, timed sitting late in your revision; once you know its answers, repeating it measures memory more than exam readiness.
Why the PDFs you find online are a trap
Search "CISI past papers free download" and you will land on Scribd, PDFCoffee, Docsity and a scatter of forums hosting documents with names like "CISI mock consolidated". They are tempting because they are free and they are right there. Use them with real caution, for three reasons.
They go out of date, and out-of-date regulation is worse than no regulation
CISI updates its workbooks and syllabus regularly, and UK financial services rules move constantly. A paper from a few years ago may test a tax allowance, a compensation limit or a regulatory body that has since changed. Learn the old answer and you will confidently pick the wrong option on the real paper. In a subject where one word decides the question, stale material actively costs you marks.
They are unofficial and unchecked
Nobody is verifying that a random uploaded PDF is accurate, complete, or even about the right exam. Plenty of what circulates conflates the UK Introduction to Securities & Investment with the International Introduction, which is a different paper. You have no way of knowing what you are actually revising from.
Using leaked real questions is a dead end anyway
Even if a document did contain genuine recent questions, CISI draws from a large bank and rotates it, so memorising a leaked set does not transfer to your sitting. You would be learning answers, not understanding, which is the precise mistake that makes people fail.
Test yourself on Intro to S&I (UK)
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.
Crowdfunding platforms that offer equity stakes to investors in start-up companies are known as:
Not quite. The answer is A.
Equity crowdfunding gives investors shares in the underlying business. Debt-based (P2P) crowdfunding is loans. Donation and reward crowdfunding do not give any financial return at all.
The Federal Reserve raises US interest rates while UK rates are left unchanged. What is the most likely effect on the pound against the dollar?
Not quite. The answer is C.
Higher US rates make dollar assets more rewarding, so investors buy dollars and sell other currencies, and the pound weakens against the dollar. Devaluation is the runner-up in wording only: it means an official reduction in a fixed parity, whereas sterling floats and its fall is a market movement. Appreciation and revaluation both describe a currency moving the other way.
A dealer quotes GBP/EUR at 1.20-1.22. If a customer sells pounds to that dealer, what rate applies to the deal?
Not quite. The answer is B.
A dealer buys the base currency at the lower of the two prices and sells it at the higher one, and the customer is always on the wrong side of that pair, so a customer selling pounds receives 1.20. The higher rate is the runner-up and is what the customer would pay to buy pounds instead. The mid rate is a reference point used for valuation rather than for dealing, and a rate quoted at the end of the trading session belongs to another moment in the day and does not bind this deal, which is struck on the two-way price the dealer is showing when the customer trades.
Which of the following describes shares whose transfer takes effect only once the buyer's name has been entered on the issuer's register of members?
Not quite. The answer is B.
Registered title means the issuer keeps a list of owners and a transfer is complete only when the register is amended. Bearer title is the closest contrast, passing by delivery of the certificate with no register kept at all. Immobilised and dematerialised describe how the evidence of title is stored, not who is recorded as the owner.
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 better alternative: current, exam-standard practice
What you actually want from "past papers" is not the specific historical questions. It is the experience of answering lots of exam-standard questions, across the whole syllabus, weighted and timed like the real thing, with the material kept current. That is a far more useful thing, and it is what PasskeyPrep is built to give you.
Every PasskeyPrep question is written from scratch against the current CISI syllabus and current UK regulation, then reviewed for accuracy. You practise across every syllabus element rather than drilling the same handful, questions are shuffled so you are tested on understanding rather than answer position, and the full mock exams are weighted exactly like your real paper. PasskeyPrep is independent practice material rather than official CISI questions, designed to give you repeatable practice without relying on stale or leaked papers.
Try one now. No account needed.
Try an original, syllabus-aligned practice question
Which of the following best describes the role of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?
A. Setting the government's annual spending budget
B. Setting the official Bank Rate to meet the inflation target
C. Supervising the financial soundness of individual high-street banks
D. Issuing government bonds on behalf of the Treasury
Answer: B. The MPC sets Bank Rate with the aim of meeting the inflation target set by the government. The annual budget is the Treasury's job, not the Bank's. Supervising individual banks for soundness is the role of the Prudential Regulation Authority. Issuing gilts is handled by the Debt Management Office. This is a classic CISI question: all four options are real institutions or functions, and the test is whether you can match the right body to the right job.
That is the kind of precise distinction the exam tests. One question is a taster; repeated practice across the full syllabus is what reveals whether the knowledge transfers.
Want a complete free paper now? Sit the 75-question UK Financial Regulation mock in 90 minutes, with no account required and explanations after you submit. Preparing for a different paper? Pick your exam from the free practice hub.
How to get the most from the one official sample paper
You get one official specimen paper per exam, so do not waste it. Most people open it too early, treat it as a casual warm-up, and burn their only clean read of it before they have learned anything. Save it.
Read the workbook first and do a solid block of question practice, then sit the sample paper once, properly. Full length, timed, no notes, no pausing. That single sitting is the closest thing you will get to a dress rehearsal with official questions, so treat it like the real exam and you will learn far more from it than if you dip in and out.
Afterwards, mark it honestly and work through every question you got wrong or guessed. Do not just check which option was correct; work out why the right answer is right and why each of the other three is wrong. That reasoning is what transfers to your actual paper. Then keep going with a renewable source of practice, because one paper, however official, cannot cover a whole syllabus on its own.
Sample papers by exam
If you want the official specimen papers, they are on the CISI website under each qualification, and they are the one bit of free official material genuinely worth sitting. After that, you will need a real source of practice. PasskeyPrep covers fourteen exams: both Introduction to Securities & Investment papers, UK and international, the IOC technical unit Global Securities Operations, all three Capital Markets Programme papers (UK Financial Regulation, Securities and Derivatives), the five Investment Advice Diploma units PasskeyPrep supports (Investment, Risk & Taxation, Financial Planning & Advice, UK Regulation & Professional Integrity, Securities and Derivatives), and three standalone Risk & Compliance awards (Risk in Financial Services, Global Financial Compliance and Combating Financial Crime). For a deeper walkthrough of the foundation paper, read how to pass the Introduction to Securities & Investment, or step back for the complete guide to passing your CISI exams.
Past papers and mock exams, exam by exam
For the paper-specific picture, what CISI provides for your exam, the traps in the unofficial material, and the mock papers that replace them, pick your exam:
- Introduction to Securities & Investment past papers & mocks
- UK Financial Regulation past papers & mocks
- Securities past papers & mocks
- Derivatives past papers & mocks
- Global Securities Operations past papers & mocks
- Investment, Risk & Taxation past papers & mocks
- Financial Planning & Advice past papers & mocks
- Risk in Financial Services past papers & mocks
- Global Financial Compliance past papers & mocks
- UK Regulation & Professional Integrity past papers & mocks
- Combating Financial Crime past papers & mocks
Choose your next step. Use the exam-specific pages above to match the right qualification and syllabus, or compare the plans (£59 for one paper, £89 for all fourteen) for the full question banks, timed mocks and 90 days of access. PasskeyPrep is independent practice material and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by CISI.
Frequently asked questions
Are there official CISI past papers I can download?
No, not as a public set. CISI publishes one specimen paper per exam to the live standard, and registered candidates get a limited set of example papers inside the My Study portal. There is no open archive of real past papers to download.
Where can I get a CISI sample paper?
From the CISI website, under the relevant qualification page. There is typically one specimen paper per exam. Sit it once, under timed conditions, then move to a renewable source of practice questions so you are not just re-reading the same paper.
Are the CISI past paper PDFs on Scribd and similar sites safe to use?
Treat them with caution. They are unofficial, unchecked, often out of date, and sometimes for the wrong exam entirely. In a subject where regulation changes and precision matters, stale material can teach you the wrong answer. We would not build your revision on them.
What is the best substitute for CISI past papers?
Use current, syllabus-aligned questions across the whole exam, followed by full timed mocks weighted like the real paper. You can sit the free 75-question UK Financial Regulation mock or choose your exam in the free practice hub.
Is there a free full-length CISI mock exam?
Yes. PasskeyPrep has a free UK Financial Regulation practice mock with 75 questions, a 90-minute timer, an element breakdown and answer explanations. It needs no sign-up and uses original practice questions, not official or previously sat CISI questions.