How to Pass the CISI Securities Exam (Capital Markets Programme)
Pass the CISI Securities exam: the nine elements and their weightings, the calculation-heavy bits, where people slip, and how to revise a 100-question paper.
The Securities exam is one of the two technical units of the CISI Capital Markets Programme, and it is a step up from the foundation paper in three ways: it is longer, it goes deeper, and it has real calculation content. Pass it by respecting all three. This guide shows you where the marks are and what trips people.
It is 100 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, with a 70% pass mark, computer based, no negative marking. You complete the Capital Markets Programme with this paper plus the regulatory unit, UK Financial Regulation. IntegrityMatters, CISI's online integrity test, is a prerequisite for sitting it.
Know the weightings before you revise
The 100 questions are spread across nine elements, and the spread is very uneven. One element is more than a quarter of the paper; another is a single question.
| # | Element | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Financial Services Industry | 3 |
| 2 | Asset Classes | 27 |
| 3 | Markets | 1 |
| 4 | Primary Markets | 14 |
| 5 | Secondary Markets | 15 |
| 6 | Corporate Actions | 7 |
| 7 | Clearing & Settlement | 8 |
| 8 | Accounting Analysis | 14 |
| 9 | Investment Management | 11 |
Asset Classes alone is 27 of 100. Add Primary Markets, Secondary Markets and Accounting Analysis and those four elements are 70 of the 100 marks. Get those solid and the rest is mopping up. Do not spend an evening on the Markets element; it is worth a single question.
What each heavy element tests
Asset Classes (27). The biggest single block. Equities and the rights attaching to shares, the full range of bonds and their features and yields, money market instruments, and the characteristics that separate them. A lot of this is recall, but some of it calculates, which brings us to the part candidates dread.
Primary and Secondary Markets (29 combined). How securities are issued, listing and the routes to market, and then how they trade: order-driven versus quote-driven, on-exchange versus over-the-counter, the role of the central counterparty. Nearly a third of the paper between them.
Accounting Analysis (14). This is where rusty maths shows up. Reading a set of accounts and computing the ratios: profitability, liquidity, gearing, investor ratios. You need to recognise the ratio the question wants and apply it without hesitation, which only comes from drilling them.
Investment Management (11). Portfolio construction, the styles and approaches, performance measurement and the principles behind it.
The calculations you must nail
A meaningful slice of this paper asks you to calculate, and these are clean marks if you have practised and dropped marks if you have not. The recurring ones:
- Bond yields, especially the flat yield and how it differs from the redemption yield. Worked through in flat yield versus redemption yield.
- Dividend yield and the investor ratios, covered in how to calculate dividend yield.
- Accounting ratios from a set of figures: gearing, current ratio, return on capital, earnings per share.
Do not just read the methods. Do enough of each that the moment you see the question type, the formula is already in your head. Under a two-hour clock with 100 questions, hesitation is what costs you.
Where people slip
The first trap is the length. One hundred questions in two hours is a stamina test as much as a knowledge test, and concentration drifts in the final stretch. Sitting full, timed mocks is the only way to build the endurance for it.
The second is skipping the calculations because they feel harder than the recall. They are not harder; they are just unpractised. Ten worked examples of each calculation type turns your weakest area into your most reliable marks.
The third is the usual one across every CISI paper: revising by reading. The Securities syllabus is broad and precise, and it only sticks when you are tested on it rather than reminded of it.
How to revise it
Read the workbook once to map the nine elements, then move to questions, weighting your time to the paper: most of it on Asset Classes, the two Markets elements and Accounting Analysis. Drill the calculations until they are automatic. Then sit full, timed, 100-question mocks weighted exactly like the real paper, and book when you are clearing 70 per cent comfortably across more than one.
Drill it for free. Try a set of free CISI Securities practice questions, or take the free diagnostic to find which elements are letting you down. For the full method across every CISI paper, see the complete guide.
Hunting for past papers? Read CISI Securities past papers: what exists and the best mock exams.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the CISI Securities exam?
One hundred multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, with a 70% pass mark. It is computer based with no negative marking, so never leave a question blank.
Is the CISI Securities exam hard?
It is a clear step up from the foundation paper, mainly because of its length and its calculation content. The concepts are manageable; the challenge is stamina across 100 questions and being quick and confident on the accounting and yield calculations. See how hard the CISI exams are.
Do I have to sit both Securities and Derivatives?
No. The Capital Markets Programme is completed with the regulatory unit plus one technical unit, so you choose Securities or Derivatives depending on your role. Passkey covers both so you are prepared either way.
What is the most heavily weighted topic?
Asset Classes, at 27 of the 100 questions. Primary Markets, Secondary Markets and Accounting Analysis are the next biggest. Those four elements carry 70 per cent of the paper.
Find your weak spots before exam day.
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