CISI exams
I have started my graduate programme (UK) and been informed I will be completing the CISI exams next month. I think I will be doing the regulations and securities units, which seems to be standard across a lot of banks.
How much work is realistically required for these? They state a ‘significant’ amount of study is required, but as someone who took financial modules at university is the recommended 100 hours a unit necessary?
Thanks
Bump
I passed both doing 70+ hours total maybe, 5 days of classroom lectures and 4 days of study
Any tips / study advice?
4 full days study or studying whilst working in the day?
studying on the weekend
Do you recall the average % you were getting on mocks? What's a safe passing range?
The regulations is possible to cram in a day or overnight but wouldn't recommend
Thanks for the reply, in total how long did both modules take you
100 hours a module should be more than plenty. These are "easy" exams (in that you can pass by following the motions and memorising rather than trying to understand difficult concepts).
Make sure you hit the practice exams and question banks again and again and again. It was admittedly a while ago that I did these, but I made myself flash card to memorise the topics. The hardest thing about these exams is that the content is mostly arbitrary (I remember questions like how many days to settle FX trades and memorising the FCA ethical terms) - it's much easier (for me and I think most people), when there's some intuition to academic content, but a lot of these (again, a while ago) seemed like memorising random information.
I fail regulation and pass second time. Make sure you don’t do it while on desk. A lot of ppl fail regulation
Absolutely ignore anyone that tells you to “study for just two days” or “just do the Fitch mocks” or its “easy” particularly for Regulations exam as they are full of shit. Apparently this year, CISI are trying to reduce the pass rate which is reflected in the type of questions they give (less braindead memorizing and more about understanding content) so make sure you put in the work with reading the slides and explained solutions to questions.
Where did you hear this?
The regulation one is the hardest. Very specific and arbitrary questions (so it requires to memorize pretty much every concept, lists, timelines, laws, etc). The Fitch slides and mock exams are enough, no need to watch the videos or to read the book. I passed mine on my first attempt and it took me 3 days of study (12h+ each day)
What bank are you at to only do Regs + Securities?
Have mine tomorrow afternoon, covered all the content.
Currently passing the mocks but just about, if I spend another 10 hours today should I be good?
Any advice ? Is one week for everything enough (full time) ?
Deffo. Feel like people make it out to be sm harder than it actually is.
I made a load of flash cards but ended up finding them useless so just took notes from lectures we were provided and focused on key concepts. I’d say I properly revised for 5 days and passed comfortably. Like 7 hour days and crammed a bit more in the upcoming days.
Advice wise I’d not bother learning the big lists in the exam, e.g like the Cisi principles and fca principles. Be somewhat familiar with them but don’t try learn everything off by heart.
Don’t bother trying to really understand concepts. Just learn enough to recall key points / what is needed as a lot of what is in the textbook is over the top with detail I found.
Maybe I was slightly lucky as I was barely passing my mock exams even failing some and in the real thing I managed to pass by over 10 marks. So take my advice with a pinch of salt.
Dont underestimate them, they are not hard intellectually but not a walk in the park
If you’re getting ready for the CISI exams, I suggest checking out itexamspro for updated practice questions and exam materials — perfect for efficient, focused preparation.
In case anyone stumble across this, just watch the video (i didnt) / the slides once, then rinse and repeat the 5 mocks + final questions.
- 50% of the exam questions are recognisable if you did your mocks
- 30% is same content but different wording
- 10% is common sense, really
Make sure to really understand the explanations after the mock / chapter questions, they are a better way to learn instead of the slides imo
Dropping some advice referencing what I did to pass (passed with ~80%):
72% first time passer. Can unfortunately confirm there’s a few questions that weren’t really covered in mocks. Only way to truly know all the answers is to know the content nearly word for word. However, the mocks should prepare you enough for between 65-75% and just hope you have the general knowledge to get 70.
Securities you'll be fine on with a finance background. It's 100 questions in 2 hours and most of it overlaps with uni: equities, bonds, funds, how markets work. The only bits that catch people are the operational stuff you won't have covered, so settlement, corporate actions and clearing.
UKFR is the one not to get cocky about. 75 questions in 90 minutes and it's pure UK reg memorisation: FCA, FSMA, money laundering, market abuse, the FOS and FSCS figures. None of it is conceptual so your modules won't help, it's just a pile of rules and numbers to rote-learn. That's where the "significant study" line earns its keep.
The 100 hours is CISI's cover-yourself number, you can cut it well down. Both are 70% and 100% multiple choice, so hammering practice questions beats re-reading the workbook every time. Passive reading of that thing is how people convince themselves they know material they'd flunk on the day.
Disclosure so I'm not being shady: I built a practice tool for these exact units, PasskeyPrep. Can't drop links on here but it's easy to find. Biased obviously, though it looks a hell of a lot better than the Fitch stuff or the official workbook, both of which look like they were designed in 2009, and it's questions-first rather than a wall of text. Whatever you use though, do questions early not the week before. Biggest single thing that moves the needle.
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