How Hard Is the CISI Exam? Pass Rates, Difficulty and Study Hours
How hard is the CISI exam really? CISI's own pass rates for fifteen papers, from 54% to 84%, the study hours it recommends, what makes candidates fail, and which module is hardest.
How hard is the CISI exam?
CISI exams are not conceptually hard, but they are deceptively broad, and that is what catches people out. The pass mark is 70% on all fifteen of the papers covered here, and the Introduction to Securities & Investment is widely regarded as one of the most accessible, at 50 questions in 60 minutes. Most people who fail revised by reading rather than testing themselves, and never sat a full paper under the clock.
- Pass mark
- 70% on every one of the fifteen papers covered
- Most accessible paper
- Introduction to Securities & Investment, a Level 3 foundation award of 50 questions in 60 minutes, broad but shallow
- Most demanding for newcomers
- Derivatives, 100 questions in 120 minutes, because the concepts are genuinely new and the terminology is dense
- Difficulty order for a typical newcomer
- Introduction, then UK Financial Regulation, then Securities, then Derivatives
- Study hours
- CISI recommends a minimum of 80 hours for the 50-question papers, 90 for UK Financial Regulation, 100 for the 100-question Level 3 papers and 140 for each Investment Advice Diploma unit
- Pass rates CISI publishes
- From 54% (International Introduction) to 84% (Level 3 Securities and Derivatives) on 2 October 2026. Investment, Risk & Taxation 61%, UK Financial Regulation 78%
- Resits
- Up to six attempts at the same exam in any 12 months, with a 96-hour wait between sittings
- Number one reason people fail
- Revising by reading the workbook. Familiarity is not recall, and the exam tests recall under pressure
- Why the Capital Markets papers are harder
- They are longer, at 75 and 100 questions rather than 50, they go deeper, and they sit behind the IntegrityMatters prerequisite
The honest answer is that CISI exams are not conceptually hard, but they are deceptively broad, and that catches people out. Almost nobody fails a CISI paper because they could not understand the material. They fail because they underestimated how much precise terminology there is, revised by reading rather than testing, and never sat a full paper under the clock before the real one. Difficulty here is about preparation, not intelligence.
This page gives you the straight version: the pass rate CISI itself publishes for each paper, how hard each one really is, the study hours CISI recommends, why people actually fail, and which CISI module is the hardest. No scaremongering, no false comfort.
CISI pass rates by exam
CISI publishes a pass rate for each of its multiple-choice exams, although almost nobody finds it. On each qualification page, clicking a unit name opens a panel headed Pass Mark / Pass Rate. These are the figures CISI showed for the fifteen papers PasskeyPrep covers, read on 2 October 2026 (12 October for Corporate Finance Regulation), with the format of each paper and the minimum study time CISI recommends.
| Exam | CISI pass rate | Marks to pass | CISI's minimum study | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Securities & Investment | 65% | 35 of 50 | 80 hours | 50 | 1 hour |
| International Introduction to Securities & Investment | 54% | 35 of 50 | 80 hours | 50 | 1 hour |
| UK Financial Regulation | 78% (52% as listed under the IOC) | 52 of 75 | 90 hours | 75 | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Securities (Level 3) | 84% | 70 of 100 | 100 hours | 100 | 2 hours |
| Derivatives (Level 3) | 84% | 70 of 100 | 100 hours | 100 | 2 hours |
| Global Securities Operations | 64% | 35 of 50 | 80 hours | 50 | 1 hour |
| Corporate Finance Regulation | 75% | 35 of 50 | 80 hours | 50 | 1 hour |
| UK Regulation & Professional Integrity | 67% | 56 of 80 | 140 hours | 80 | 2 hours |
| Investment, Risk & Taxation | 61% | 56 of 80 | 140 hours | 80 | 2 hours |
| Securities (Level 4, Investment Advice Diploma) | 64% | 56 of 80 | 140 hours | 80 | 2 hours |
| Derivatives (Level 4, Investment Advice Diploma) | 72% | 56 of 80 | 140 hours | 80 | 2 hours |
| Financial Planning & Advice | 83% | 56 of 80 | 140 hours | 80 | 2 hours |
| Risk in Financial Services | 55% | 70 of 100 | 100 hours | 100 | 2 hours |
| Global Financial Compliance | 65% | 70 of 100 | 100 hours | 100 | 2 hours |
| Combating Financial Crime | 70% | 35 of 50 | 80 hours | 50 | 1 hour |
Three things stand out. First, the spread is wide: from 54% for the International Introduction to 84% for the two Level 3 Capital Markets papers, Securities and Derivatives. Second, the two compulsory units of the Level 4 Investment Advice Diploma are among the hardest to pass on CISI's own numbers. Investment, Risk & Taxation stands at 61% and UK Regulation & Professional Integrity at 67%, so at least a third of the candidates who sit each one do not pass. Third, who sits a paper matters as much as what is in it. CISI lists UK Financial Regulation twice, once under the Capital Markets Programme at 78% and once under the Investment Operations Certificate at 52%. Same title, same format, same 70% pass mark. The difference is the group of candidates sitting it.
Read all of these with care. CISI does not say what period a figure covers, whether resits are counted alongside first attempts, or how often it is refreshed, and the numbers move: Securities read 83% when we checked on 18 August 2026 and 84% on 2 October. A pass rate also describes the people who sat the paper, not the paper. Capital Markets Programme candidates are mostly funded, timetabled and chased by an employer, which is a different position from revising alone in the evenings. And the pass rate is not the pass mark. Every paper here needs 70% whatever share of candidates achieves it.
You are welcome to quote this table. The numbers are CISI's; if you use the collected version, a link to this page as the place they were gathered is appreciated.
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.
A firm gives personal recommendations drawn only from the ranges of three chosen providers. Which service description must it use?
Not quite. The answer is B.
Advice limited to a panel of chosen providers cannot be held out as independent, so the firm must describe its service as restricted. Independent advice is the runner-up but requires a comprehensive and unbiased assessment of the relevant market, which a three-provider panel cannot deliver. Execution-only dealing involves no personal recommendation at all, and discretionary management means the firm makes and executes the decisions itself.
How are households most likely to respond to a sustained fall in the general price level?
Not quite. The answer is C.
If prices are expected to keep falling, buyers gain by waiting, so consumption is postponed and demand weakens further. Bringing purchases forward is the runner-up and is exactly the wrong way round: that is how households behave when they expect inflation, not deflation. Borrowing becomes less attractive because falling prices raise the real burden of debt, and wage demands typically soften when the cost of living is falling.
Mortgage rates rise while the rent on a mortgaged buy-to-let flat stays the same. As a result, the net return to the landlord:
Not quite. The answer is B.
The rent is fixed by the tenancy while the mortgage interest is not, so a rise in rates takes a bigger slice of the same rent and the landlord keeps less. A rise in the net return is the mirror image and would need the rent to move rather than the rate. Tax relief lightens the cost of the higher payments but never cancels it, so the return does not hold steady, and the squeeze is felt from the very next payment rather than after a year of paying more.
When profits double at a company with fixed-rate preference shares in issue, the preference dividend is:
Not quite. The answer is B.
A fixed-rate preference dividend is a set percentage of nominal value, so it does not move with profits and stays exactly the same however well the company trades. Doubling is the closest alternative and is what an ordinary dividend might do, while a dividend rising in proportion to earnings would describe a participating preference share. Payment in shares happens only where a scrip alternative is separately offered.
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
Difficulty by exam
PasskeyPrep covers fifteen exams, and they are not equally demanding. Here is how they compare.
| Exam | Questions | Time | What makes it hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Securities & Investment | 50 | 60 min | Breadth, not depth. Eleven elements of precise terminology |
| UK Financial Regulation | 75 | 90 min | Volume of rules, bodies and definitions to memorise |
| Securities | 100 | 120 min | Length, plus calculations and accounting analysis |
| Derivatives | 100 | 120 min | Dense terminology and concepts that are new to most people |
| Global Securities Operations | 50 | 60 min | Market-by-market settlement detail and corporate action mechanics |
| Investment, Risk & Taxation | 80 | 120 min | IAD breadth: tax, trusts, pensions and portfolio suitability |
| Financial Planning & Advice | 80 | 120 min | Scenario and suitability judgement across a full financial plan |
| UK Regulation & Professional Integrity | 80 | 120 min | Regulatory detail at Level 4 depth, plus ethics and Consumer Duty judgement |
| Risk in Financial Services | 100 | 120 min | Ten risk disciplines, several quantitative, across a long paper |
| Global Financial Compliance | 100 | 120 min | Breadth of regulation, financial crime and compliance detail |
| Combating Financial Crime | 50 | 60 min | Eight elements of fast-moving law, with over a quarter of the paper on applied risk management |
| Corporate Finance Regulation | 50 | 60 min | Company law and conduct rules tested section by section, 30 of the 50 marks |
The Introduction to Securities & Investment is the gentlest. It is a Level 3 foundation award, broad but shallow, and most people who prepare properly pass it first time. The three Capital Markets Programme papers are a clear step up, partly because they are simply longer (75 and 100 questions rather than 50) and partly because they go deeper into their subject. They also sit behind a prerequisite: you must pass IntegrityMatters, CISI's short online integrity test, before you can sit them.
Pass marks and study hours
The CISI Securities exam has a 70% pass mark and, on CISI's own page, an 84% pass rate. Keep the two apart. The pass mark is the threshold, 70 correct answers out of 100. The pass rate is the share of candidates who cleared it, and it tells you about them, not about you.
If you are judging your own Securities readiness, use repeated weighted, timed mock results alongside your timetable and remaining weak areas. Start with free CISI Securities practice questions, then use the Level 3 Securities study guide to revise to the nine syllabus weightings.
On study time, CISI recommends a minimum for every paper, and the table above lists them: 80 hours for the 50-question papers including the Introduction, 90 for UK Financial Regulation, 100 for the 100-question Level 3 papers and 140 for each unit of the Investment Advice Diploma. For the Introduction that is a few weeks of steady evening study. Treat all of these as starting points rather than promises. Someone already working on a trading floor will need far fewer hours for the Securities paper than a graduate who has never seen a term sheet, and the only way to know your own number is to test yourself early and see where the gaps are.
Why people actually fail
If you want to know how hard the exam is for you specifically, look at the failure modes and ask honestly which ones you are at risk of.
They revise by reading
Working through the workbook feels like progress because the words are familiar as you read them. Familiarity is not recall, and the exam tests recall under pressure. This is the number one reason capable people fail.
They underestimate the terminology
CISI papers reward precise definitions across a wide surface. General business knowledge will not carry you, and "roughly right" is often exactly the wrong answer when the distractors are well written.
They never practise under time pressure
A little over a minute per question is fine if you know your material cold and a scramble if you do not. Speed is a skill you build by rehearsing full papers, not something that appears on the day.
They revise everything evenly
Your weak topics are where the marks leak, and they are the topics people avoid because they are uncomfortable. Even revision feels fair but leaves the holes exactly where they were.
They book on a hunch
Sitting the exam because it "feels about time" is how people fail by a mark or two. A weighted, timed mock score takes the guesswork out.
Notice that not one of these is "the material was too advanced". The difficulty of a CISI exam is almost entirely in how you prepare for it.
Which CISI module is the hardest?
There are two honest answers, and they disagree. On CISI's published pass rates, the hardest of these fifteen papers to pass are the International Introduction (54%), Risk in Financial Services (55%) and Investment, Risk & Taxation (61%). The easiest to pass are Securities and Derivatives at Level 3 (84% each) and Financial Planning & Advice (83%). That surprises people, because Derivatives is the paper newcomers find hardest to learn. Both are true. Derivatives is mostly sat by Capital Markets Programme candidates whose employer funds and timetables the exam, and most of them pass. The Introduction papers are open-entry foundation exams with a broader intake, and more of those candidates do not.
So the second answer is about how the material feels when you meet it. It depends on your background, but here is an honest ranking of the four papers most candidates start with, for a typical newcomer, from most accessible to most demanding.
1. Introduction to Securities & Investment (most accessible)
Broad but shallow, only 50 questions, and designed as a foundation. The difficulty is keeping eleven elements of terminology straight, not understanding any of it.
2. UK Financial Regulation
Not intellectually hard, but heavy on memory. You are holding a large set of rules, regulatory bodies, conduct requirements and definitions in your head, and the questions probe the precise wording. People who are good at rote learning find this one fair; people who need to understand the "why" sometimes struggle to make it stick.
3. Securities
A long paper at 100 questions, with real calculation content (yields, corporate actions, some accounting analysis) layered on top of the terminology. If your maths is rusty, this is where it shows. The length alone makes stamina a factor.
4. Derivatives (most demanding for most people)
This is the one newcomers tend to find hardest, because the concepts are genuinely new. Futures and options, the long and short of open and close positions, writing and premiums, margin and clearing, and a set of trading strategies that only click once you have drilled them. If you already work with derivatives it can feel easier than Securities. If you do not, expect it to take the most work. Our guide to passing the Derivatives exam breaks down the terminology that trips people.
The headline: the Capital Markets papers ask more of you than the Introduction, and for someone without a markets background Derivatives is usually the steepest climb. The pass rates say that the climb is one most prepared candidates finish. None of these papers is beyond a prepared candidate.
How to make any CISI exam easier
The difficulty is in the preparation, so fix the preparation. Read the workbook once to build the picture, then spend the bulk of your time answering questions rather than re-reading. Let your weak topics come back at you more often than your strong ones. And sit full, timed, weighted mocks before the real thing, so you have repeated evidence to use alongside your own judgement rather than relying on a feeling.
Stop guessing how ready you are. The free Introduction diagnostic samples nine of the 11 foundation-paper elements in a few minutes. It is an Introduction-only snapshot, so use the matching free practice page for any other exam.
For the full method across every paper, read the complete guide to passing your CISI exams. If you are still deciding where to begin, see which CISI exam to take first.
Frequently asked questions
What is the CISI Securities exam pass rate?
CISI's own page showed a pass rate of 84% for the Level 3 Securities paper on 2 October 2026, up from 83% in August. The pass mark is a separate thing: 70%, which means 70 correct answers out of 100. CISI does not say what period the pass rate covers or whether resits are included.
Which CISI exam is the hardest?
For someone without a markets background, the Derivatives paper is usually the most demanding, because the concepts are new and the terminology is dense. Securities is long and has calculation content. UK Financial Regulation is memory-heavy. The Introduction to Securities & Investment is the most accessible of the four.
How many hours do I need to study for a CISI exam?
CISI recommends a minimum of 80 hours for the Introduction and the other 50-question papers, 90 for UK Financial Regulation, 100 for Securities, Derivatives, Risk in Financial Services and Global Financial Compliance, and 140 for each unit of the Investment Advice Diploma. Your real number depends on your background, which is why testing yourself early is the fastest way to find out.
Is the CISI exam harder than the CFA?
They are different in scope and intensity. CISI papers are focused, UK-centric and single-paper, whereas the CFA is a multi-level programme with famously low pass rates and far heavier study demands. CISI exams are more accessible, which is part of why they work well as an early career credential.
How many times can I retake a CISI exam?
CISI allows a maximum of six attempts at the same exam in any 12 months, and you must wait 96 hours before sitting it again. A rest period applies once you have sat it three times inside 12 months. Each attempt is booked and paid for again.
What is the pass rate for the CISI Level 4 exams?
For the five Level 4 Investment Advice Diploma units, CISI's page showed these pass rates on 2 October 2026: Investment, Risk & Taxation 61%, Securities 64%, UK Regulation & Professional Integrity 67%, Derivatives 72% and Financial Planning & Advice 83%. All five have a 70% pass mark, which is 56 marks out of 80.
Does CISI publish pass rates?
Yes. On each CISI qualification page, clicking a unit name opens a panel headed Pass Mark / Pass Rate that gives the current pass rate for that exam. Across the fifteen papers covered here the figures ranged from 54% to 84% in October 2026. CISI does not state the period they cover.
Find your weak spots before exam day.
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