How does the CAIA Association describe what its Ethical Principles are?CAIA Association, Ethics Principles page, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 1.2.1.
How many Ethical Principles does the CAIA Association set out for investment professionals?CAIA Association, Ethics Principles page, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 1.2.1.
Under which two headings does the CAIA Association group its Ethical Principles?CAIA Association, Ethics Principles page, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 1.2.1.
What does the principle "Partnership Over Superiority" say about a professional's specialist skills?CAIA Association, Ethics Principles page, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 1.2.3.
Which of these CAIA Ethical Principles is listed under "Doing Things Right"?CAIA Association, Ethics Principles page, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 1.2.3.
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Introduction to alternative investments 12
According to the SEC, what fees do investors in hedge funds typically pay?SEC, Hedge Funds (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.2.7.
How do forward contracts and exchange-traded futures contracts differ in counterparty risk, according to the CFTC glossary?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.6.1.
In a European, or global, distribution waterfall, at what level is the hurdle threshold calculated?Wikipedia, "Distribution waterfall", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.2.6.
The internal rate of return is the rate that sets which quantity equal to zero?Wikipedia, "Internal rate of return", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.3.2.
The Sharpe ratio divides the return in excess of the risk-free return by which measure?Wikipedia, "Sharpe ratio", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.7.4.
Under put-call parity, a long European call and a short European put with the same strike price and expiry are equivalent to what?Wikipedia, "Put–call parity", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.6.6.
What does a convenience yield reflect?Wikipedia, "Convenience yield", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.6.4.
What does a high-water mark do to a hedge fund performance fee?Wikipedia, "Hedge fund", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.2.7.
What does the J-curve illustrate in private equity?Wikipedia, "J curve", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.3.6.
What is carried interest?Wikipedia, "Carried interest", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.2.5.
What is the excess kurtosis of a normal distribution?Wikipedia, "Kurtosis", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.4.2.
Which information do semi-strong form tests of market efficiency study?Wikipedia, "Efficient-market hypothesis", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 2.5.1.
Real assets 10
According to the SEC, how does a REIT differ from other real estate companies?SEC, Real Estate Investment Trusts (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.6.4.
An investor lifts a near futures position and re-establishes it in a more deferred delivery month. What is this called?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.2.5.
Crude oil for delivery next month trades at $80 a barrel, and for delivery in six months at $76. Which market situation is this?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.2.6.
How is a capitalization rate generally calculated?Wikipedia, "Capitalization rate", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.6.3.
How is the debt service coverage ratio calculated?Wikipedia, "Debt service coverage ratio", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.5.3.
To keep pass-through tax treatment, how much of its income must a US master limited partnership earn from qualifying sources?Wikipedia, "Master limited partnership", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.2.3.
What is contango, as the CFTC glossary defines it?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.2.4.
What is the basis in a commodity market?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.2.4.
Which real estate investment style is low-leverage and low-risk, with predictable cash flows?Wikipedia, "Private equity real estate", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.4.2.
Which risk does the SEC name first for non-traded REITs?SEC, Real Estate Investment Trusts (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 3.6.4.
Private equity 5
According to the SEC, what is a typical investment strategy of private equity funds?SEC, Private Equity Funds (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 4.1.2.
How long does a SPAC typically provide to identify and complete a de-SPAC transaction?SEC Investor Bulletin, What You Need to Know About SPACs (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 4.1.8.
What does a liquidation preference establish in a venture investment?Wikipedia, "Liquidation preference", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 4.2.11.
What is a PIPE deal?Wikipedia, "Private investment in public equity", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 4.3.5.
What marks an acquisition as a leveraged buyout?Wikipedia, "Leveraged buyout", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 4.3.4.
Private debt 6
In a credit default swap, what does the seller agree to do?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.5.4.
Loans in a CDO default, and the cash collected cannot pay all investors. Which tranches suffer losses first?Wikipedia, "Collateralized debt obligation", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.4.3.
On filing a voluntary Chapter 11 petition, which additional identity does the debtor automatically assume?United States Courts, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Basics, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.1.8.
Where does mezzanine debt rank among the claims on a company's assets?Wikipedia, "Mezzanine capital", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.1.5.
Which catastrophe bond trigger is set off by the issuer's actual losses?Wikipedia, "Catastrophe bond", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.3.2.
Which chapter of the US Bankruptcy Code provides for liquidation, the sale of a debtor's nonexempt property and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors?United States Courts, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Basics, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 5.1.8.
Hedge funds 9
A fund joins a database, and its earlier, favorable track record is added after the fact. What is this bias called?Wikipedia, "Hedge fund", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.1.7.
According to the SEC, which practices can the more flexible strategies of hedge funds include?SEC, Hedge Funds (Investor.gov), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.1.1.
Hedge funds choose whether to report to a database. Which bias in a hedge fund index follows from this?Wikipedia, "Hedge fund", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.1.7.
In a stock merger, how does a merger arbitrageur initiate a position?Wikipedia, "Risk arbitrage", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.3.4.
What does a global macro trading strategy rely on?Wikipedia, "Global macro", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.2.2.
What does a trend following strategy do?Wikipedia, "Trend following", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.2.5.
What is a commodity trading advisor, in the CFTC glossary?CFTC Glossary, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.2.3.
What is a short sale, and what does the seller expect?SEC, Short Sales (Investor.gov glossary), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.1.2.
Which pair of positions makes up convertible arbitrage?Wikipedia, "Convertible arbitrage", read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 6.4.2.
Digital assets 3
According to the Bitcoin white paper, the system is secure so long as honest nodes together control what?Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (bitcoin.org), read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 7.2.3.
How many bitcoins will ever be created under Bitcoin's monetary policy?Bitcoin.org, Frequently Asked Questions, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 7.1.3.
On the Ethereum network, what does gas measure?Ethereum.org, Gas and fees, read 2026-10-12. Outline: CAIA Level I Curriculum Companion 2027, lesson 7.1.4.
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the topics, lessons and keywords of the 2027 Level I Curriculum Companion and to the topic weights of the 2027 CAIA Exam Handbook, both published by the CAIA Association and linked from https://caia.org/curriculum-study-tools/ (read 2026-10-12): CAIA Ethical Principles 7 to 13 percent, Introduction to Alternative Investments 21 to 27, Real Assets 16 to 22, Private Equity 8 to 14, Private Debt 10 to 16, Hedge Funds 15 to 21, Digital Assets 3 to 9. This bank of 50 holds 5, 12, 10, 5, 6, 9 and 3. The CAIA curriculum is not public, so every fact was read on 2026-10-12 in a public text that the question names: the CAIA Association's Ethics Principles page, SEC pages on Investor.gov, the CFTC Glossary, the United States Courts' Bankruptcy Basics, bitcoin.org, ethereum.org and Wikipedia. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This CAIA practice exam asks 50 Level I practice questions of our own, from ethical principles to digital assets, in the weights of the 2027 outline. Unofficial: not affiliated with or endorsed by the CAIA Association.
Read the full guide
The seven topics and their weights
The 2027 Exam Handbook weights Level I as CAIA Ethical Principles 7 to 13 percent, Introduction to Alternative Investments 21 to 27, Real Assets 16 to 22, Private Equity 8 to 14, Private Debt 10 to 16, Hedge Funds 15 to 21 and Digital Assets 3 to 9. This bank holds 5, 12, 10, 5, 6, 9 and 3 questions.
Public sources, not the curriculum
The CAIA curriculum is not public, so each fact here was read in an SEC, CFTC, United States Courts or other public text named under the answer. The real exam words some ideas as its curriculum does.
A timed run
The timed test asks all 50 in 65 minutes, the real exam's pace of 130 minutes for each 100 questions.
The handbook says candidates need not memorize specific performance data. Know the general traits of returns, such as the sign of skewness.
The real exam has no penalty for guessing, and an unanswered question counts as incorrect.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the CAIA Level I exam?
200 multiple-choice questions, in two sections of 100 with 130 minutes each and an optional 30-minute break between them. Questions have three or four answer choices.
What is the passing score for the CAIA exam?
The CAIA Association does not release it. It sets the passing score after each exam window closes and reports a pass or a fail. So if you passed the CAIA practice test here, that predicts nothing about the real result.
Is there a free CAIA Level 1 study guide?
The Association posts its Level I Curriculum Companion free: the learning objectives and keywords of every lesson. Of CAIA study materials, it endorses only that Companion and the curriculum, which registered candidates open through their CAIA account.
Where are the official CAIA sample questions?
The Association offers a Level I sample exam, linked from its Curriculum and Study Tools page. The questions on this page are our own, and none is taken from it.