Past Level III essay exams are a wonderful source of practice. However you need to be careful as some questions/parts from past papers are not relevant for 2015.
The table below helps you identify what is still relevant (for 2015) and what is not…
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Arif Irfanullah
Note: There is no gurantee that the information presented here is 100% accurate. Feel free to share any comments or suggestions you might have.
| Year | Question | Relevant | Comment |
| | | | |
| 2008 | 1 | Yes | Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability |
| 2008 | 2 | Yes | Behavioral biases |
| 2008 | 3 | Yes | Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors |
| 2008 | 4 | Yes | Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, Asset allocation, ALM approach |
| 2008 | 5 | Yes | Sector rotation trades, interest rate convexity, spread duration |
| 2008 | 6 | No | Cash and carry arbitrage |
| 2008 | 7 | Yes | Types of risk, stress testing methods |
| 2008 | 8 | Yes | Trading tactics, VWAP |
| 2008 | 9 | Yes | CPPI, constant mix, buy and hold strategies |
| 2008 | 10 | Yes | Performance attribution analysis |
| 2008 | 11 | Yes | |
| 2009 | 1 | Yes | Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability |
| 2009 | 2 | Yes | Life cycle investing |
| 2009 | 3 | Yes | Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors, spending rule |
| 2009 | 4 | No | Not relevant |
| 2009 | 5 | Yes | Grinold-Kroner, Taylor Rule |
| 2009 | 6 | Yes | Strategic asset allocation, whether investments are suitable |
| 2009 | 7 | Yes | Active and passive equity investments, portfolio construction methods, investment styles |
| 2009 | 8 | Yes | Commodities, swaps |
| 2009 | 9 | Yes | Options, counterparty risk, credit risk in a swap |
| 2009 | 10 | Yes | Corridor widths, rebalancing strategies |
| 2009 | 11 | Yes | Benchmark selection, performance measures (Sharpe, M2, Treynor, etc) |
| 2010 | 1 | Yes | Individual investor portfolios, TDA and taxable accounts |
| 2010 | 2 | Yes | Insurance company IPS, behavioral biases |
| 2010 | 3 | Yes | Pension funds |
| 2010 | 4 | Yes | Economics. Capital market expectations. |
| 2010 | 5 | Yes | Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, currency return and risk |
| 2010 | 6 | Yes | Immunization portfolio, dollar safety margin |
| 2010 | 7 | Yes | Option strategies (butterfly, straddle etc.) Target beta using futures |
| 2010 | 8 | Yes | VWAP, Implementation shortfall, corridor widths |
| 2010 | 9 | Yes | Evaluating portfolio performance |
| 2011 | 1 | Yes | Behavioral biases, estate planning |
| 2011 | 2 | Yes | Individual investor portfolios |
| 2011 | 3 | Yes | Institutional investor portfolios |
| 2011 | 4 | Yes | Cobb douglas, H Model, Fed Model, Yardeni Model |
| 2011 | 5 | Yes | ALM, Black Litterman, Resampled frontier, Monte Carlo |
| 2011 | 6 | Yes | Dollar duration, rebalancing, trade types, |
| 2011 | 7 | No | |
| 2011 | 8 | Yes | Historical and Analytical VAR, Hedge currency risk using futures |
| 2011 | 9 | Yes | Performance attribution, sector allocation returns |
| 2012 | 1 | Yes | Individual PM (IPS and Human Capital) |
| 2012 | 2 | Yes | Individual PM (Taxes) |
| 2012 | 3 | Yes | Execution/Monitoring/Rebalancing |
| 2012 | 4 | Yes | Behavioral |
| 2012 | 5 | Yes | Economics |
| 2012 | 6 | Yes | Institutional Portfolio Management |
| 2012 | 7 | Partial | Part E is not relevant. |
| 2012 | 8 | Yes | Derivatives |
| 2012 | 9 | Yes | Derivatives |
| 2013 | 1 | Yes | Individual PM |
| 2013 | 2 | Yes | Individual PM (Estate Planning) |
| 2013 | 3 | Yes | PM - Behavioral |
| 2013 | 4 | Yes | Equity |
| 2013 | 5 | Yes | Economics. Solution makes a referece to the BRICS reading which has been removed; however, the concept is still valid. |
| 2013 | 6 | Yes | Institutional PM |
| 2013 | 7 | Partial | Part C and D are not relevant. |
| 2013 | 8 | Yes | Fixed Income. |
| 2013 | 9 | Yes | Fixed Income. |
| 2013 | 10 | Yes | Risk Management |
| 2013 | 11 | Yes | Performance Evaluation |
| 2014 | | | Entire exam is relevant |