You don't need a CISI tutor. You need reps.
Tutoring commonly runs £40 to £70 an hour. Most CISI candidates do not need it: they need current questions at the real pace and weighting. Here is how to tell which you are, free.
Do you need a CISI tutor?
Most candidates do not. CISI multiple-choice exams are passed on volume of current, exam-standard question practice at the real pace and weighting. Tutors commonly charge £40 to £70 an hour and a typical engagement runs five to ten hours, while a complete question bank with timed, weighted mocks costs £59 for 90 days across all fourteen multiple-choice exams. A tutor is worth the fee in three cases: calculation elements that will not click after explained practice, enforced accountability, and the narrative Level 6 and 7 exams where written answers are marked by examiners.
- Typical tutor rate
- £40 to £70 an hour, commonly five to ten hours
- The alternative
- 10,800+ practice questions and timed weighted mocks, £59 for 90 days
- When a tutor helps
- Stubborn calculation elements, accountability, narrative Level 6 and 7 exams
- Try before deciding
- Free practice questions and a free full-length mock, no sign-up
A private CISI tutor is commonly advertised at £40 to £70 an hour, and candidates who go that route usually buy five to ten sessions. That is £200 to £700 for someone to re-explain a book you already own. For a small group of candidates that is the right call, and this page says exactly who they are. For everyone else it solves the wrong problem, because the one thing a tutor cannot do is sit the paper with you.
Why people actually fail CISI exams
Multiple-choice CISI papers are rarely failed in chapter 3 of the official book. They are failed at question 74, with twenty minutes on the clock, on a stem worded nothing like the book. The real papers ask 50 to 100 questions in 60 to 120 minutes, weighted across syllabus elements, with a 70% pass mark and no negative marking. Passing is a repetitions skill: enough current, exam-standard questions, sat at the real pace and the real weighting, until the wording stops surprising you. An hour of explanation feels productive. An hour of scored, explained questions moves your mark.
That is what the sample questions on this page are for. Answer them cold and read the explanations, and you will know within five minutes whether your gap is understanding, which a tutor can help with, or repetitions, which no tutor can do for you.
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.
Under which service may a manager deal within an agreed mandate without consulting the client on each trade?
Not quite. The answer is C.
Under discretionary management the mandate authorises the manager to make and execute decisions within agreed parameters, so trades are placed without going back to the client each time. Advisory management is the runner-up because the firm still runs the portfolio and suggests the deals, but the client must agree each transaction before it is placed. Independent advice describes the breadth of products a firm considers when recommending, and execution-only dealing involves no recommendation at all.
The European Central Bank buys government bonds on a large scale under quantitative easing. What effect is this primarily intended to have?
Not quite. The answer is A.
Large-scale purchases bid up bond prices, which pushes long-term yields down and makes borrowing cheaper for firms and households, while the newly created reserves used to pay for the bonds expand the money supply. A stronger euro is the runner-up: easing tends to weaken a currency rather than strengthen it, because it lowers the return on assets denominated in it. Higher short-term rates describe tightening, the opposite operation, and the euro floats freely rather than being held steady against other currencies.
Which of the following applies to a sterling bank deposit but NOT to a holding of bitcoin?
Not quite. The answer is C.
A balance with an authorised bank is a deposit, so it falls within the compensation scheme and is repaid up to the prevailing limit if the bank fails; nothing plays that role for a cryptocurrency, which is issued by no state and backed by no authority. A private key and an entry on a public ledger belong to the coin alone, so each fails the test the other way round, and calling the deposit a digital holding separates nothing either, because a sterling balance is only a record kept electronically and the coin is a digital holding too.
In which market does an investor buy existing shares from another investor through a stock exchange?
Not quite. The answer is D.
Trading in shares that already exist, between one investor and another, is the secondary market, and it is the liquidity of that market which makes the primary market work. The primary market is the closest alternative but that is where shares are first issued and where the company raises the money. The money market deals in short-term debt and the derivatives market in contracts based on other assets.
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.
More free questions on Intro to S&I (UK)·Open chapter 1 free
When a tutor is genuinely worth it
- The calculation elements will not click. If yields, discounting or the derivatives arithmetic still collapse after repeated explained practice, an hour or two of one-to-one unblocking is money well spent.
- You need enforced accountability. A standing appointment makes some people open the book. If that is the only thing that gets you studying, it has real value.
- You are sitting a narrative exam. CISI Level 6 and 7 papers are written answers marked by examiners. Coaching on answer structure genuinely helps there, and question banks matter less.
Outside those three cases, buy repetitions, not hours.
The maths, side by side
| Private tutor | PasskeyPrep | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical spend | £200 to £700 for five to ten hours | £59 once |
| What you get | Explanations of material you already own | 10,800+ practice questions with an explanation for every answer, plus full timed papers weighted like the real exam |
| Coverage | A slice of one syllabus | All fourteen CISI multiple-choice exams for 90 days |
| Exam-day transfer | Depends on the tutor | Same format, timing and weighting as the paper |
| Guarantee | None | The 80% mock guarantee |
Start free, decide with evidence
You do not need to take a side in this argument. Answer free practice questions for your exam with no sign-up, or sit a free timed mock and see your weighted score with every answer explained. If the result shows a gap practice cannot close, book the tutor with a clear conscience: you will walk in knowing exactly which elements to spend the hours on.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a CISI tutor cost?
Private CISI tutors commonly advertise £40 to £70 an hour, and five to ten hours is a typical engagement, so £200 to £700 all in. For comparison, the whole PasskeyPrep Pass Package is £59 for 90 days and covers all fourteen multiple-choice exams.
Do I need a tutor to pass a CISI exam?
Most candidates do not. The multiple-choice papers reward volume of current, exam-standard practice at the real pace and weighting, which structured self-study covers. A tutor earns the fee when the calculation elements will not click after explained practice, when you need enforced accountability, or for the narrative Level 6 and 7 exams.
What is the best alternative to a CISI tutor?
A current, syllabus-aligned question bank with explanations for every answer, plus full timed mocks weighted like the real paper. You can start free with practice questions for every exam PasskeyPrep covers and a free full-length mock, both with no sign-up.
Is a tutor worth it for the Introduction to Securities & Investment exam?
Rarely. The Introduction paper is 50 questions in 60 minutes with a 70% pass mark, and structured question practice is normally enough. Sit the free Introduction mock first: if your score does not move after a couple of weeks of practice, then consider paying for help.
Find your weak spots before exam day.
Start free with chapter 1 of every supported exam, take the free Introduction diagnostic for a short foundation-level snapshot, then unlock everything for one payment of £59.