NISM Series XIX-A Previous Year Papers
No official past paper exists for Series XIX-A. The published format and 13-unit curriculum give you what one would have.
NISM does not publish previous year papers for Series XIX-A, the Alternative Investment Funds (Category I and II) Distributors Certification Examination. Each paper is drawn from a question bank, and NISM's re-evaluation policy says no question or answer is disclosed. A file titled as a 2024 or 2025 XIX-A paper is not an official document.
XIX-A is a voluntary exam and the paper is small: 100 marks in 2 hours. What NISM does publish, the structure, the 13-unit curriculum and the free workbook, is enough to build practice from. This page shows how.
About the files sold as real XIX-A papers
Anything shared as a leaked or memory-based Series XIX-A paper is a recollection at best, with no answer key you can trust. NISM's re-evaluation policy says questions and answers are never disclosed. Do not pay for one.
What the Series XIX-A paper looks like
Every row is from NISM's exam page and FAQ.
| Item | Series XIX-A |
|---|---|
| Independent multiple-choice questions | 80 questions of 1 mark each, 80 marks |
| Case-based questions | 5 cases (NISM also calls them caselets), each with 4 questions of 1 mark, 20 marks |
| Total | 100 marks, 100 questions |
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Pass mark | 60 out of 100 (60%) |
| Wrong answer | 10% of the question's marks deducted, so 0.10 marks on every question, MCQ or case |
| Where | NISM test centre, slot of your choice, no fixed exam date |
| Status | Voluntary; NISM lists it under non-mandatory certifications |
| Syllabus | 13 units on NISM's curriculum page |
The question each part of the syllabus produces
NISM publishes no unit weightage, so ignore any site that prints one. What you can predict is the shape of the question.
- check_circleUnits 1 and 2 (overview of alternative investments, AIFs in India): definition and classification MCQs. Which avenue counts as an alternative investment, which category an AIF with a stated strategy falls in.
- check_circleUnit 3 (concepts in the AIF industry): the vocabulary unit. Sponsor commitment, capital commitment versus capital invested, drawdown, preferred return, waterfall, first and final close, PPM. Expect a one-line description and four near-neighbour terms as options.
- check_circleUnits 4 and 5 (regulatory framework, structuring): precise-condition questions from the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 and FEMA, plus which legal form (trust, LLP, company) carries which feature.
- check_circleUnit 6 (risk and return): the arithmetic unit. A return metric worked from given numbers, the J curve, which investor risk a description matches.
- check_circleUnits 7 to 10 (investment process and governance, fund due diligence, legal documentation, monitoring, reporting and exit): sequence and document questions. Which step comes next in a deal, which document carries a given term, what happens at winding up.
- check_circleUnits 11 and 12 (valuation, taxation): method and consequence questions. Which valuation approach fits a given investee, how income is taxed at the fund versus the investor, where GAAR, GST and stamp duty enter.
- check_circleUnit 13 (good practices): the distributor's own conduct. The distributor agreement, client confidentiality, conflicts of interest and unfair trade practices.
Free account, this exam preselected.
How NISM Series XIX-A tests this material
The 80 independent MCQs test one fact each: a term, a regulatory condition, a formula result. The 5 cases each describe a fund, a deal or an investor situation and ask 4 linked questions on it. Misread the set-up and all four answers are at risk.
The first trap is treating the cases as harder than they are. Every case question is worth 1 mark and costs 0.10 when wrong, the same as an independent MCQ. Skipping a case out of caution gives away 4 marks for nothing.
The second trap is category confusion. Rules and tax treatment differ between Category I and II AIFs and Category III AIFs. For every rule in units 2, 4, 11 and 12, note which category it applies to.
The third trap is the pass line. 60 out of 100 with 0.10 off per wrong answer means a candidate who attempts everything and gets 64 right scores 60.4 and passes; 63 right scores 59.3 and fails.
How to practise without past papers
You can build the format, the question style and a score yourself.
- 1
Turn the curriculum into a question list
Write one question for every lettered sub-topic under every unit on NISM's curriculum page. Unit 3 alone gives you 14.
- 2
Use the workbook's own questions first
NISM's FAQ for XIX-A points candidates to the chapter-end sample questions and the worked-out examples in the workbook as the official practice material. Do every one first.
- 3
Build your own caselets
Take one fund from the workbook's examples, change two numbers, and write four linked questions on it: commitment, drawdown, preferred return, waterfall.
- 4
Write near-neighbour options for every figure
For each number, period or threshold in units 4, 11 and 12, note the figure next to it in the same regulation. Those pairs are the options the paper uses.
- 5
Sit timed sets scored at the real penalty
A practice set is useful only if it is 80 MCQs plus 5 cases in 2 hours, scored 1 mark right and 0.10 off wrong.
Checking a third-party question set
Compare any set's stated format with the table above. 150 marks, 3 hours, a 0.25 penalty or no case section means it was written for another exam or copied from a wrong listing.
FAQs
Where can I download NISM Series XIX-A previous year question papers?expand_more
Nowhere official. NISM does not release past papers or answer keys for any certification, including XIX-A. Files offered online under that name are recollections or third-party sets, not NISM documents.
Does NISM repeat questions in the AIF distributors exam?expand_more
Each paper is drawn from a question bank. Topics repeat because the 13-unit curriculum is fixed; wording and case numbers do not.
What type of questions come in NISM XIX-A?expand_more
80 independent multiple-choice questions of 1 mark each and 5 case-based questions, each with 4 questions of 1 mark. A case gives a fund, deal or investor situation and asks linked questions on it.
Is NISM XIX-A the toughest NISM exam?expand_more
NISM publishes no pass rates, so there is no official ranking. By format it is a mid-sized paper: 100 marks, 2 hours and a 0.10 penalty per wrong answer, lighter than the 150-mark AIF managers exam, Series XIX-C. The content is new to most candidates, which is where the difficulty lies.
Which exam is for AIF fund managers, XIX-A or XIX-C?expand_more
Series XIX-C is the AIF managers exam. XIX-A is for distributors and placement agents of Category I and II AIFs, and XIX-B covers Category III distributors. XIX-A is voluntary.
Next steps
Create a free accountFree study material and a free diagnostic test.