CAIA Level I Exam Topics
March 2021 Exam
Professional Standards and Ethics
- Professionalism
- Integrity of Capital Markets
- Duties to Clients
- Duties to Employers
- Investment Analysis, Recommendations, and Actions
- Conflicts of Interest
Introduction to Alternative Investments
- What Is an Alternative Investment?
- The Environment of Alternative Investments
- Quantitative Foundations
- Statistical Foundations
- Foundations of Financial Economics
- Derivatives and Risk-Neutral Valuation
- Measures of Risk and Performance
- Alpha, Beta, and Hypothesis Testing
Real Assets
- Natural Resources and Land
- Commodities
- Other Real Assets
- Real Estate and Debt
- Real Estate Equity
Hedge Funds
- Structure of the Hedge Fund Industry
- Macro and Managed Futures Funds
- Event-Driven Hedge Funds
- Relative Value Hedge Funds
- Equity Hedge Funds
- Funds of Hedge Funds
Private Equity
- Private Equity Assets
- Private Equity Funds
- Private Credit and Distressed Debt
Structured Products
- Introduction to Structuring
- Credit Risk and Credit Derivatives
- CDO Structuring of Credit Risk
- Equity-Linked Structured Products
Level I Topic |
Approximate Exam Weight |
|---|---|
| Professional Standards and Ethics | 15-25% |
| Introduction to Alternative Investments | 20-28% |
| Real Assets including Commodities | 11-17% |
| Hedge Funds | 12-20% |
| Private Equity | 11-17% |
| Structured Products | 10-14% |
CAIA Level II Exam Topics
March 2021 Exam
Ethics Regulations and ESG
- Asset Manager Code
- Recommendations and Guidance
- Global Regulation
- ESG and Alternative Investments
- ESG Analysis and Application
Models
- Modeling Overview and Interest Rate Models
- Risk Credit Models
- Multi-Factor Equity Pricing Models
- Asset Allocation Processes and the Mean-Variance Model
- Other Asset Allocation Approaches
Institutional Asset Owners and Investment Policies
- Types of Asset Owners and the Investment Policy Statement
- Foundations, and The Endowment Model
- Pension Fund Portfolio Management
- Sovereign Wealth Funds
- Family Offices and the Family Office Model
Risk and Risk Management
- Cases in Tail Risk
- Benchmarking and Performance Attribution
- Liquidity and Funding Risks
- Hedging, Rebalancing, and Monitoring
- Risk Measurement, Risk Management, and Risk Systems
Accessing Alternative Investments
- Hedge Fund Replication
- Diversified Access to Hedge Funds
- Access to Real Estate and Commodities
- Access through Private Structures
- The Risk and Performance of Private and Listed Assets
Methods for Alternative Investing
- Valuation and Hedging Using Binomial Trees
- Directional Strategies and Methods
- Multivariate Empirical Methods and Performance Persistence
- Relative Value Methods
- Valuation Methods for Private Assets: The Case of Real Estate
Due Diligence & Selecting Managers
- Active Management and New Investments
- Selection of a Fund Manager
- Investment Process Due Diligence
- Operational Due Diligence
- Due Diligence of Terms and Business Activities
Volatility and Complex Strategies
- Volatility as a Factor Exposure
- Volatility, Correlation, and Dispersion Products and Strategies
- Complexity and Structured Products
- Insurance-Linked and Hybrid Securities
- Complexity and the Case of Cross-Border Real Estate Investing
Level II Topic |
Approximate Exam Weight |
|
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Choice | Constructed Response | |
| Ethics, Regulation, and ESG | 0% | 10% |
| Models | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Institutional Asset Owners and Investment Policies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Risk and Risk Management | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Accessing Alternative Investments | 8 – 12% | 0-10% |
| Methods for Alternative Investing | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Due Diligence and Selecting Strategies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Volatility and Complex Strategies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
| Current and Integrated Topics | 0% | 10% |