CME-1A Exam Content: The 10 Chapters and Question Counts

Information last verified: 31 October 2026. Exam details and the syllabus can change, so check the CME-1A exam page on the Financial Academy website and the CISI syllabus before you start studying. This is an independent study guide. It is not affiliated with the Financial Academy, CISI or any government body.

CME-1A is the international exam in the CME-1 certificate, and its syllabus is CISI's Introduction to Securities and Investment (International). It has ten chapters, the questions are multiple choice, and some are short calculations that you solve with the calculator on the exam screen.

The exam at a glance

On a computer-based exam you may get up to 10% extra trial questions. They are not marked out, do not count towards your result, and come with proportionately more time. Fees, booking and retakes are in the registration guide, and the revision schedule is in the study plan.

Which version of the syllabus should you study?

Two versions are in force, depending on the exam language:

• English exam: CISI syllabus version 19, in force from 10 September 2026.
• Arabic exam: version 18a, in force until 10 January 2027 (Arabic syllabus).

The number of questions per chapter is the same in both versions (3, 4, 9, 7, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 3), and the chapter weights on the Financial Academy page match the table below. Version 19 adds share buybacks, private credit, crypto assets and fiduciary duty. In the table below Chapter 8 is called Financial Services Regulation, as in version 19 (it was Regulation and Ethics before). If you will sit the Arabic exam, study these additions too, because they may appear once the Arabic syllabus is updated. CISI says the numbers may vary slightly from one paper to another so that each paper has a consistent level of difficulty.

The ten chapters and the questions in each

The syllabus starts each learning objective with a word that sets what is asked of you: know means recall a fact, rule or principle, understand means show you grasp an issue, and be able to calculate means use a formula. The calculate objectives are the source of the numerical questions, and we list them in each chapter.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the financial services sector (3 questions)

The roles of institutions: retail and commercial banks, savings institutions, investment banks, private banks, pension funds, insurers, fund managers, stockbrokers, custodians, platforms, third-party administrators, sovereign wealth funds and crowdfunding. Then the difference between retail and professional business and who the customers are, distribution channels (independent and restricted advice, execution only), the impact of fintech and robo-advice, and ESG investment approaches with their advantages and disadvantages. Only three questions, mostly definitions.

Chapter 2: Economic environment (4 questions)

Types of economy (state-controlled, market, mixed), the stages of the economic cycle and the government's role in economic, fiscal and monetary policy, the function of central banks (the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan), and the impact of economic data: GDP, balance of payments, budget deficit or surplus, unemployment, exchange rates, and inflation and deflation. What is asked is the direction of the effect: what happens to prices and the currency if a central bank raises interest rates.

Chapter 3: Equities/stocks (9 questions)

The largest chapter, with fifteen objectives. The main ones:

• Companies and shares: company formation and the difference between private and public companies, ordinary and preference shares, and shareholder rights (dividends, buybacks, capital gains, the right to subscribe for new shares, the right to vote).
• Calculations: dividend yield, theoretical ex-rights price and theoretical ex-bonus price.
• Risks: price, liquidity, issuer and foreign exchange risk.
• Corporate actions: the definition and the difference between mandatory, voluntary and mandatory with options, including takeovers and mergers; bonus issues, stock splits and reverse splits, rights issues and open offers, dividend payments, and buybacks.
• The market: annual general meetings, the function of a stock exchange, primary and secondary markets, listing, depositary receipts (ADR and GDR), the main global indices, and how shares are traded (on-exchange and over the counter, multilateral trading facilities, order-driven and quote-driven).
• Title and settlement: registered and bearer shares, immobilised and dematerialised holding, the role of the central counterparty, and how settlement works, including settlement cycles.

Chapter 4: Bonds (7 questions)

Bond characteristics and terminology: coupon, redemption, nominal value and yields. Government bonds and their types (US, UK, China, Germany, Japan). Types of corporate bond: domestic, foreign, eurobonds, asset-backed securities including covered bonds, zero coupon, hybrids, floating rate notes and medium-term notes. Then the advantages and disadvantages of bonds, the calculation of the flat yield, and the role of credit rating agencies and the difference between investment and non-investment grade. Seven questions, 14% of the exam, and some are numerical.

Chapter 5: Other markets and investments (5 questions)

Cash deposits (fixed-term and instant access), the advantages and disadvantages of cash, and the difference between crypto currencies and fiat currencies. The money market and its instruments: Treasury bills, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and money market funds. Property: commercial and residential, direct and indirect investment. And the foreign exchange market: currency quotes, settlement, spot and forward, short-term currency swaps, with one calculation objective: the forward exchange rate using the interest rate parity formula.

Chapter 6: Derivatives (4 questions)

The uses of derivatives, and the definition and function of a forward, a future and an option. Option terms: calls, puts, holder, writer and premium. Position terms: long, short, open, close, covered and naked. Then the characteristics of derivatives and commodity markets with their advantages and disadvantages, interest rate swaps, and credit default swaps. There are no calculations in this chapter; the task is telling similar terms apart.

Chapter 7: Investment funds (6 questions)

Collective investment with its advantages and risks, active and passive (index) management, and the types and classification of funds. Open-ended funds (US and European). Closed-ended investment companies: share classes, gearing, REITs, the meaning of discounts and premiums in their pricing, and how they trade. Exchange-traded funds: trading and replication methods (synthetic and non-synthetic). Then hedge funds (risks, cost and liquidity, strategies) and private equity (raising finance, realising capital gain), and in version 19 private credit and crypto.

Chapter 8: Financial services regulation (5 questions)

The need for regulation and authorisation of firms, the aims and activities of regulators, the CISI Code of Conduct, and the principles of professional integrity and ethical behaviour. Then financial crime: what money laundering is, its stages and the related offences, and how firms and individuals can be exploited for fraud, cybercrime and terrorist financing. Finally market abuse: insider dealing, unlawful dissemination of inside information, manipulating market transactions and misleading statements. The syllabus is international, so the questions are on general concepts and not on the text of the Saudi regulations that CME-1B covers.

Chapter 9: Other financial products (4 questions)

Retirement: the benefits pensions provide, state schemes, corporate plans (defined benefit and defined contribution) and personal schemes. Loans: the difference between bank loans, overdrafts and credit card borrowing, secured and unsecured borrowing, and the difference between the quoted interest rate and the effective annual rate, with one calculation objective: the effective annual rate from the quoted rate and the frequency of payment. Mortgages: interest rates and loan to value, the types (repayment, interest only, offset), and the prohibition on interest and the types of mortgage contract in Islamic finance. And life assurance: term assurance and whole of life.

Chapter 10: Financial advice (3 questions)

The areas of advice: budgeting, protection, borrowing, investment and saving, later life planning, estate planning, and tax planning. The advice process: the client relationship, affordability, suitability and attitude to risk, matching solutions with needs, reviewing the client's circumstances, and consumer rights. Then the legal concepts: legal persons, wills and intestacy, contract and capacity, agency, joint ownership, powers of attorney, insolvency and bankruptcy, scams, and fiduciary duty.

How to split your revision time

You need 35 correct answers, so you can miss 15 questions.

• Equities, bonds and investment funds first: 9, 7 and 6 questions, which is 22 questions (44% of the exam). Most of the calculations are in these three chapters: dividend yield, ex-rights price and flat yield.
• Chapters 5 and 8: 5 questions each. With the first three that makes 32 of 50.
• Chapters 2, 6 and 9: 4 questions each. They hold two calculations (the forward exchange rate and the effective annual rate) that you master with practice.
• Chapters 1 and 10: 3 questions each, with descriptive content that repeated reading covers.

Do not drop a whole chapter: if you missed every question in Chapters 1 and 10 (6 questions), you would have only 9 mistakes left for the rest of the exam.

CISI states that the pass rate for the IISI exam that corresponds to CME-1A is 54% in English and 43% in Arabic, and recommends at least 80 hours of study (CISI page, no reporting period given).

Start here

Try the free practice test: 10 free questions with no sign-up, then see your score against the pass mark and which chapters are weakest. After that, practise in the question bank, starting with your weakest chapter. To go back to the exam page: CME-1A exam.