NISM Series XIX-C Previous Year Papers
No official past paper exists for Series XIX-C. The published format and 17-chapter curriculum give you what one would have.
NISM does not publish previous year papers for Series XIX-C, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Certification Examination. The exam runs on demand through the year at test centres, and each candidate's paper is drawn from a question bank. NISM's re-evaluation policy says no question or answer is disclosed. So a file titled as the 2024 or 2025 XIX-C paper is not an official document.
What NISM does publish is enough to work from. The exam page states the structure, including the case-based section most NISM exams lack. The curriculum page lists 17 chapters with their sub-topics, and the workbook is free.
About the PDFs sold as real XIX-C papers
Files shared as leaked or memory-based Series XIX-C papers are recollections at best. They carry no answer key you can trust, and may not reproduce the case-based questions, which are 40% of the marks. Do not pay for one.
What the Series XIX-C paper looks like
Every row is from NISM's exam page.
| Item | Series XIX-C |
|---|---|
| Multiple-choice questions | 90 questions of 1 mark each, 90 marks |
| Case-based questions | 6 cases, each with 5 sub-questions of 2 marks, 60 marks |
| Total | 150 marks, 120 questions |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Pass mark | 90 out of 150 (60%) |
| Wrong answer | 25% of the question's marks deducted: 0.25 on a 1-mark MCQ, 0.5 on a 2-mark case question |
| Where | NISM test centre, slot of your choice, no fixed exam date |
| Syllabus | 17 chapters on NISM's curriculum page |
The question each part of the syllabus produces
NISM publishes no chapter weightage. What you can predict is the shape of the question each chapter produces.
- check_circleChapters I to V, the theory block (investments landscape, types of investments, informational efficiency, modern portfolio theory, capital market theory): definition and small-calculation MCQs, such as the expected return of a two-asset portfolio or which market anomaly a description matches.
- check_circleChapters VI to VIII (AIFs in India and suitability, the AIF ecosystem, AIF structuring): classification questions. Which category an AIF with a given strategy belongs to, which service provider does what, which legal form (trust, LLP, company) carries which feature.
- check_circleChapters IX and X (fee structure and fund performance, indices and benchmarking): the arithmetic chapters. Hurdle rate, high-water mark and carried interest worked on given numbers, a risk-adjusted return measure from a short data set, which benchmark fits a fund. These are the natural raw material for a case.
- check_circleChapters XI to XIII (investment strategies and governance, fund due diligence, legal documentation): role and document questions. What a key man clause does, and which term lives in the private placement memorandum, the investment management agreement or the subscription agreement.
- check_circleChapters XIV to XVI (valuation, fund monitoring and exit, taxation): method and consequence questions. Which valuation approach fits a given investee, which exit or winding-up step comes next, how income is taxed at the fund versus the investor for each category.
- check_circleChapter XVII, regulatory framework: the precise-condition chapter. A rule from the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 on registration, sponsor or manager commitment, tenure, investment conditions or reporting, plus FEMA routes, PMLA, the insider trading and fraudulent trade practices regulations, and FATCA and CRS.
Free account, this exam preselected.
How NISM Series XIX-C tests this material
Two paper types sit inside one sitting. The 90 MCQs test one fact each: a definition, a regulatory condition, a formula result. The 6 cases each describe a fund, a deal or an investor situation and then ask 5 linked sub-questions on it. Miss the set-up and you can lose all five.
The first trap is the weight of a case error. Each case sub-question is worth 2 marks and costs 0.5 when wrong, double the MCQ penalty. Read the case twice before touching the sub-questions.
The second trap is category confusion. Rules, taxes and strategies differ between Category I and II AIFs and Category III AIFs, and the options are written to exploit that. For every rule in chapters VI, XI, XIV, XVI and XVII, note which category it applies to.
The third trap is time. 120 questions in 3 hours is 90 seconds each, and a case needs reading time on top. Leave the cases, where marks per question are highest, enough of the clock.
How to practise without past papers
- 1
Turn the curriculum into a question list
Write one question for every sub-topic under every chapter on NISM's curriculum page. That list covers everything the paper can ask.
- 2
Use the workbook's own questions first
NISM's FAQ points candidates to the chapter-end sample questions and worked-out examples in the workbook as the official practice.
- 3
Build your own cases
Take one fund from the workbook's examples, change two numbers, and write five linked questions on it: fee, hurdle, carry, a return measure, a regulatory condition. If you cannot write the fifth question, that is the chapter to re-read.
- 4
Write near-neighbour options for every figure
For each number, period or threshold in chapters IX, XVI and XVII, note the figure next to it in the same regulation or for the other category. 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 90 MCQs plus 6 cases in 3 hours, scored 1 and 2 marks right and 0.25 and 0.5 off wrong.
Checking a third-party question set
Compare any set's stated format with the table above. No case-based section, a different question count or a flat 0.25 penalty on every question means it was written for another exam or an older pattern.
FAQs
Where can I download NISM Series XIX-C previous year question papers?expand_more
Nowhere official. NISM does not release past papers or answer keys for any certification, including XIX-C, and its re-evaluation policy says questions and answers are never disclosed.
Does NISM repeat questions in the AIF Managers exam?expand_more
Each paper is drawn from a question bank, so two candidates on the same day can see different questions. Topics repeat because the 17-chapter curriculum is fixed; wording and case numbers do not.
What type of questions come in NISM XIX-C?expand_more
90 multiple-choice questions of 1 mark each and 6 case-based questions, each with 5 sub-questions of 2 marks. A case gives a fund or investor situation and asks linked questions on fees, performance, valuation, tax or a regulatory condition.
Is NISM XIX-C the toughest NISM exam?expand_more
NISM publishes no pass rates, so there is no official ranking. By format it is one of the heavier papers: 150 marks, 3 hours, a case-based section and a 0.5-mark penalty on each wrong case answer.
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