How many questions are on the CAIA Level I exam?

CAIA Level I consists of 200 multiple-choice questions administered in a 4-hour computer-based exam at Prometric testing centers.

What is the CAIA Level I pass rate?

The CAIA Association does not publish exact pass rates, but historical estimates suggest approximately 60 to 70% per level (CAIA Association).

How many hours should I study for CAIA Level I?

The CAIA Association recommends approximately 200 hours of study. Most candidates study over 2 to 4 months, dedicating 12 to 15 hours per week.

Is a calculator allowed on the CAIA Level I exam?

Yes. The CAIA Association permits two approved financial calculators: the Texas Instruments BA II Plus (including the BA II Plus Professional) and the Hewlett Packard 12C (including the HP 12C Platinum and the 25th Anniversary, 30th Anniversary, and Prestige editions). You must bring your own, since no calculator is provided at the test center, and using an unapproved model can void your results. The BA II Plus is the most common choice.

CAIA Level I Study Guide (2026)

CAIA® Level I Study Guide (2026)

CAIA Level I is a 4-hour, 200-question multiple-choice exam testing foundational knowledge of alternative investments: hedge funds, private equity, real assets, structured products, and digital assets (CAIA Association®). The estimated pass rate runs about 60 to 70% (CAIA Association).

Alternatives keep taking a bigger slice of institutional portfolios. Pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds now park 20 to 40% or more in alternatives. The CAIA designation is the recognized credential for the professionals who run that money.

What the Exam Covers

CAIA Level I spans these topic areas (CAIA Association):

Professional Standards and Ethics

Ethical conduct, fiduciary duty, and professional standards built for alternative investments. Similar in spirit to CFA ethics, but framed around alternatives: conflicts of interest in fund management, fee disclosure, allocation practices.

Introduction to Alternative Investments

The lay of the land: why alternatives exist, the role they play in portfolios, their shared traits (illiquidity, complexity, lighter regulation), and how institutional investors see them.

Real Assets

Real estate (public and private REITs, direct ownership), infrastructure, natural resources, farmland, and timberland. The focus is valuation approaches, risk factors, and return drivers for each category.

Key Concept

Real assets questions often test whether you grasp the difference between public and private market exposure to the same underlying asset. A public REIT and a private real estate fund share the same underlying asset but have very different liquidity, correlation, and return profiles.

Private Securities

Private equity (buyouts, growth equity), venture capital, private debt (direct lending, mezzanine). The key concepts: fund structures (LP/GP), fee arrangements (2 and 20), the J-curve, IRR vs. TVPI, vintage year effects, and the private equity lifecycle.

Hedge Funds

Long/short equity, market neutral, global macro, event-driven, relative value, managed futures. Expect questions on how each strategy works, the risk exposures it carries, its fee structure, and how it behaves in different market environments.

Common Trap

Candidates often memorize hedge fund strategy names without grasping the positions underneath them. The exam checks whether you can identify what a strategy is actually doing (long, short, hedged) and what risks it carries, not just its label.

Structured Products

Securitization, asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), mortgage-backed securities. The focus is tranche structures, credit enhancement, and the risk profile of each seniority level.

Digital Assets

Blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, tokenization, decentralized finance. This is a newer topic area, and the exam tests foundational understanding rather than deep technical knowledge.

Portfolio Integration

How alternatives slot into multi-asset portfolios: diversification benefits, liquidity considerations, risk budgeting, and allocation frameworks. This is the section that ties everything together.

Study Timeline (12 Weeks)

The CAIA Association recommends roughly 200 hours of study (CAIA Association). Here is a 12-week plan at 15 to 18 hours per week.

Weeks 1 to 3: Foundation Topics

Cover ethics, the introduction to alternatives, and real assets. These are the most approachable topics, and they set up the conceptual framework for everything that follows. Work 15 to 20 practice questions a day.

Weeks 4 to 6: Core Alternative Asset Classes

Private securities and hedge funds carry the heaviest weight. Give them extra time. Learn fund structures, fee calculations, and performance metrics cold. Work 20 to 30 practice questions a day.

Weeks 7 to 9: Structured Products, Digital Assets, and Integration

Structured products demand careful attention to tranche mechanics. Digital assets is lighter. Portfolio integration pulls all the asset classes together. Work 20 to 30 practice questions a day and start mixing topics.

Weeks 10 to 12: Practice Exam Phase

Sit full-length practice exams (200 questions, 4 hours) every 3 to 4 days. Use the days in between to review wrong answers and shore up weak spots.

Key Concept

The CAIA Level I exam does not allow calculators. Every calculation has to be doable by hand. Drill quick mental math for IRR approximations, fee calculations, and return computations.

Practice Strategy

Plan to finish 800 to 1,200 practice questions before exam day. Start with topic-specific practice, then move to mixed sets in the final month.

FreeFellow offers free CAIA Level I practice questions with adaptive difficulty, detailed solutions, and performance analytics by topic.

Key benchmarks:

After 400 questions: you should be scoring 55 to 60% on mixed practice
After 800 questions: target 65 to 70% on practice exams
Exam ready: scoring 70%+ consistently on full-length mocks

Common Mistakes

Treating it like a CFA exam. The CAIA tests different skills: less calculation, more conceptual understanding of alternative asset characteristics, structures, and risks. Adjust your study approach to match.

Skipping ethics. Ethics is tested at Level I and can tip a borderline candidate over the line. It is also the most straightforward section once you prepare for it.

Not enough practice questions. Reading the CAIA curriculum without working questions is the same trap candidates fall into on every exam. Active recall beats passive reading.