How to Prepare for NISM Series XIX-D
Chapter order, time needed, and where marks are actually lost on the Category I and II AIF Managers paper.
Series XIX-D is part regulation exam and part finance exam. It asks how a Category I or II AIF is set up, governed and regulated, and it also asks you to compute fees, carry, returns, values and tax, both in single questions and in four 5-question case studies worth 40 marks. Preparation has to cover both.
The pass mark is 60 out of 100. A wrong answer costs 25% of the question's marks: 0.25 on a multiple choice question, 0.5 on a case question. NISM has not published a pass rate for Series XIX-D, so no one can tell you reliably how hard it is in numbers. What you can use is the weightage table, which tells you exactly where the marks are.
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Study order by weight
Chapters grouped by marks, from the workbook's chapter-wise weightage table.
Highest, and computational
Chapters
6 Fee Structure (10), 7 Fund Performance and Benchmarking (10), 11 Valuation (10)
Marks
30
Highest, and regulatory or process
Chapters
5 Structuring (10), 9 Investment Strategies (10), 10 Investment Process and Governance (10), 12 Monitoring, Reporting and Exit (10), 14 Regulatory Framework (10)
Marks
50
Medium
Chapters
8 Legal Documentation (6), 4 AIF Ecosystem (5), 13 Taxation (5)
Marks
16
Light
Chapters
1 and 2 Investments (2 jointly), 3 AIFs in India (2)
Marks
4
| Priority | Chapters | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Highest, and computational | 6 Fee Structure (10), 7 Fund Performance and Benchmarking (10), 11 Valuation (10) | 30 |
| Highest, and regulatory or process | 5 Structuring (10), 9 Investment Strategies (10), 10 Investment Process and Governance (10), 12 Monitoring, Reporting and Exit (10), 14 Regulatory Framework (10) | 50 |
| Medium | 8 Legal Documentation (6), 4 AIF Ecosystem (5), 13 Taxation (5) | 16 |
| Light | 1 and 2 Investments (2 jointly), 3 AIFs in India (2) | 4 |
A study plan that follows the marks
The workbook's order builds from basics to regulation, so read it in order, but give time in proportion to marks and practise the numbers as you go:
- 1
Chapters 1 to 4: the vocabulary
These carry 9 marks between them, but chapter 4 introduces the terms every later chapter uses: commitment, drawdown, first and final close, hurdle, waterfall, PPM. Read 1 to 3 quickly and chapter 4 carefully.
- 2
Chapters 5 and 6: structure and fees
20 marks. Learn the trust, LLP and company forms and the common structures. Then work every fee example in chapter 6 yourself in a spreadsheet: management fee, hurdle, high-water mark, catch-up, and both waterfalls.
- 3
Chapters 7 and 8: performance and documents
16 marks. Set up IRR and XIRR in Excel or LibreOffice and compute TVPI, DPI, RVPI and MOIC from the same cash flows until you can do it without notes. Chapter 8 on the PPM and agreements is reading, not computation.
- 4
Chapters 9 to 12: managing the investments
40 marks. Strategies, the investment process and governance, valuation, and monitoring and exit. Chapter 11 needs DCF and multiple-based valuation practice; chapters 9, 10 and 12 need careful reading of process and SEBI's governance and reporting rules.
- 5
Chapters 13 and 14: tax and regulation
15 marks, and two of the workbook's three sample case studies are tax cases. Chapter 14 is long; make a condensed list of the SEBI (AIF) Regulations conditions instead of re-reading it.
- 6
Cases and full papers
Work the three sample case studies, timed. Then sit full papers with the case section included, scoring 0.25 and 0.5 off for wrong answers, so you learn how long the cases take you.
Free account, this exam preselected.
An example six-week schedule
Week 1: chapters 1 to 5. Week 2: chapters 6 and 7, with all the computations. Week 3: chapters 8 to 10. Week 4: chapters 11 and 12. Week 5: chapters 13 and 14. Week 6: the sample case studies, revision of the formula sheet, and at least two full timed papers with time between them to fix the weak areas the first one shows. Compress it if you already work on fund economics at an AIF; stretch it if you can only study a little each day.
Where marks are lost
- check_circleReading the fee and performance chapters without doing the computations, then running out of time on the cases
- check_circlePractising on a calculator only, and meeting Excel or LibreOffice for the first time at the test centre
- check_circleMixing up similar terms: hurdle and catch-up, DPI and TVPI, first close and final close, Category I and Category II conditions
- check_circleApplying a European waterfall when the case describes an American one, or the other way round
- check_circleGuessing on case questions: a wrong 2-mark answer costs 0.5
- check_circleStudying from notes made for an older workbook, in a field where the SEBI rules change often
How to know you are ready
Take a full paper under real conditions: 60 multiple choice questions and 4 cases of 5 questions, 120 minutes, with a spreadsheet open and negative marking applied. If you can score 60 with a margin and finish the cases with time to check them, book your slot. If you are close but not there, use the weightage table: a weak 10-mark chapter is a better target than the 2 marks shared by chapters 1 and 2.
On exam day, read the whole case before answering its first question. The 5 questions in a case often build on the same figures, so a wrong number early on can carry through to later answers.
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