Are these actual CAIA exam questions?

No. They are original teaching samples. No official or recalled live exam questions are reproduced.

Is my sample percentage a readiness score?

No. The sample does not cover the full syllabus, exam length or calibrated difficulty. Use it to identify learning needs.

CAIA Level I practice questions with explanations

10 free questions

0 / 10

Private equity cash flows
Question 1. A new private equity fund calls capital for investments and fees before completing any exits. Which return pattern is most consistent with the early stage of the J-curve?
Answer to question 1A. Strong positive returns from immediate distributionsB. Negative net returns before later investment realizationsC. A constant return equal to the management feeD. No cash outflows until the first exit
Explanation after you answer
Real estate valuation
Question 2. A property has annual net operating income of $480,000. Using a 6% capitalization rate and direct capitalization, what is its indicated value?
Answer to question 2A. $2.88 millionB. $6.0 millionC. $8.0 millionD. $12.5 million
Explanation after you answer
Hedge fund exposure
Question 3. A fund has long positions equal to 130% of NAV and short positions equal to 40% of NAV. What are its gross and net exposures?
Answer to question 3A. Gross 90%; net 170%B. Gross 130%; net 40%C. Gross 170%; net 90%D. Gross 170%; net 130%
Explanation after you answer
Private debt
Question 4. A floating-rate loan resets its coupon as a reference rate rises. The borrower has weak cash-flow coverage. Which risk may increase even though the lender has less fixed-rate duration exposure?
Answer to question 4A. Borrower default risk as interest expense risesB. The certainty of early repaymentC. The lender's ownership percentageD. The loan's contractual maturity
Explanation after you answer
Fund performance
Question 5. An investor has contributed $10 million to a fund, received $4 million in distributions, and holds a residual interest valued at $9 million. What is total value to paid-in capital (TVPI)?
Answer to question 5A. 0.40xB. 0.90xC. 1.00xD. 1.30x
Explanation after you answer
Commodity futures
Question 6. A futures curve is upward sloping. If the curve stays unchanged as a long futures strategy rolls from a cheaper near contract into a more expensive distant contract, what is the usual direction of its roll-yield contribution?
Answer to question 6A. PositiveB. NegativeC. Exactly zeroD. Equal to the spot return
Explanation after you answer
Appraisal-based returns
Question 7. A real estate index uses infrequent appraisals that adjust gradually to new information. How can its reported volatility compare with the volatility of underlying economic values?
Answer to question 7A. It must be higherB. It must equal daily equity volatilityC. It can be understated by smoothingD. It cannot be calculated
Explanation after you answer
Fund of funds
Question 8. An investor accesses several hedge funds through a fund of funds. Which cost should be considered in addition to each underlying fund's fees?
Answer to question 8A. An additional fee at the fund-of-funds levelB. A guaranteed performance rebateC. Only exchange commissionsD. No further cost because the funds are diversified
Explanation after you answer
Digital asset custody
Question 9. A fund stores the only copy of the private keys controlling its digital assets on one employee's laptop. Which improvement most directly addresses the resulting custody risk?
Answer to question 9A. Value the assets less frequentlyB. Increase the expected return assumptionC. Trade only on weekendsD. Use controlled key management, backups, and independent authorization
Explanation after you answer
Conflicts of interest
Question 10. An alternatives analyst is paid personally by a manager for referring clients but does not tell those clients. Which issue should be addressed before a recommendation?
Answer to question 10A. The manager's trading frequency onlyB. The undisclosed financial conflictC. The absence of guaranteed returnsD. The fund's asset class label
Explanation after you answer

Keep learning

Keep practicing with a free account

Practice 100 questions in total, with daily limits. Your account stays free forever, with no credit card required.

Continue practicing for free

Questions from the MiloPrep question bank. Independently authored practice, not official exam items. This short set is for learning and does not predict an exam score.

What the ten questions cover

The questions above sample private-fund cash flows, real-estate valuation, hedge-fund exposure, credit, fund performance, commodity futures, appraisal returns, fund structures, digital-asset custody and professional conduct. They are original teaching questions, not released CAIA exam items or a complete mock.

Attempt each question before opening its explanation. Record the reason for your choice and whether you were certain, uncertain or guessing. A correct guess still identifies something to review. The sample is too small to reproduce official weights or estimate a passing probability.

What the ten questions cover
Question family	What to inspect in your reasoning
Valuation and performance	Correct inputs, denominator, units and interpretation
Exposure and strategy	Economic mechanism rather than the asset label
Structure and liquidity	Investor rights, costs and timing
Professional conduct	The deciding duty and case fact

Swipe to read all columns.

Turn one miss into a completed repair

Suppose you answered a total-value question using only distributions. Before attempting another set, name the requested measure and contrast it with the one you used. Then solve a new problem without the original answer choices. This checks whether the explanation changed your method.

Try it before reading the answer

A new fund has $4m paid in, $1m distributed and $5m residual NAV. Calculate DPI and TVPI and explain which answers a cash-returned question.

Show worked answer

DPI = 1 / 4 = 0.25x; TVPI = (1 + 5) / 4 = 1.50x. DPI answers the distributed-value question. TVPI includes the estimated residual holding, so it is not cash already returned.

Use the result to choose the next drill

Group misses by cause rather than only by topic. The same unit error can affect property valuation and performance calculations. A question-reading error can affect any asset class. Choose a repair that addresses the repeated cause, then revisit it with changed facts.

Keep the first-attempt score separate from scores on repeats. Repetition is useful for retrieval, but improved performance on a familiar set does not prove transfer to unfamiliar questions. Once you can explain the sample, move to broader current-curriculum coverage and timed mixed work.

Use the result to choose the next drill
If you missed because…	Do next	Check later
The concept was unknown	Read and reconstruct the method	Explain it without notes
The calculation went wrong	Label inputs and units	Solve changed values
You answered a different request	Contrast the two asks	Select the method in mixed wording

Swipe to read all columns.

Use the separate PDF for offline attempts

The email offer delivers a separate 20-MCQ Level I PDF with answers and explanations. Use it when you want to print questions, work away from a screen or annotate your reasoning. The public tool and PDF are sample resources; do not assume that their counts add up to a unique, calibrated mock or full syllabus coverage.

Keep answers covered until you attempt the problem, then write one repair beside each miss. Account signup is a separate way to access the online study service. Requesting a PDF does not create a study account, and the email form explains the newsletter subscription attached to the request.

CAIA Level I practice questions with explanations

10 free questions

Question 1. A new private equity fund calls capital for investments and fees before completing any exits. Which return pattern is most consistent with the early stage of the J-curve?

Question 2. A property has annual net operating income of $480,000. Using a 6% capitalization rate and direct capitalization, what is its indicated value?

Question 3. A fund has long positions equal to 130% of NAV and short positions equal to 40% of NAV. What are its gross and net exposures?

Question 4. A floating-rate loan resets its coupon as a reference rate rises. The borrower has weak cash-flow coverage. Which risk may increase even though the lender has less fixed-rate duration exposure?

Question 5. An investor has contributed $10 million to a fund, received $4 million in distributions, and holds a residual interest valued at $9 million. What is total value to paid-in capital (TVPI)?

Question 6. A futures curve is upward sloping. If the curve stays unchanged as a long futures strategy rolls from a cheaper near contract into a more expensive distant contract, what is the usual direction of its roll-yield contribution?

Question 7. A real estate index uses infrequent appraisals that adjust gradually to new information. How can its reported volatility compare with the volatility of underlying economic values?

Question 8. An investor accesses several hedge funds through a fund of funds. Which cost should be considered in addition to each underlying fund's fees?

Question 9. A fund stores the only copy of the private keys controlling its digital assets on one employee's laptop. Which improvement most directly addresses the resulting custody risk?

Question 10. An alternatives analyst is paid personally by a manager for referring clients but does not tell those clients. Which issue should be addressed before a recommendation?