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CSI AIS Study Guide

CSI Advanced Investment Strategies study guide with topic weights, chapter and section lessons, portfolio formulas, Cheat Sheet, FAQs, and practice links.

Use this page as the main CSI Advanced Investment Strategies course guide. AIS is for advanced wealth-management and portfolio judgment: client constraints, analysis, alternatives, taxation, portfolio solutions, and investment-protection logic matter more than isolated product memorization.

Start with the weighted topics and section lessons below, then use the Cheat Sheet for formulas and final recall. Use matching web practice when you want timed mixed review, current progress tracking on Web, and a cleaner handoff from reading into exam-mode repetition.

AIS topic weights

High-yield starting points

Exam snapshot

ItemValue
ProviderCSI
Official course nameAdvanced Investment Strategies (AIS)
Current official exam structureProctored multiple-choice exam, 75 questions, 2 hours, 60% passing grade, 3 attempts
Highest-weight areasUnderstanding the Client and the Portfolio Management Process at 19%, then Fundamental and Technical Analysis at 15%
Practice statusfull exam-specific web practice is live
Current route noteas of April 13, 2026, CSI says that effective January 1, 2026 AIS is no longer acceptable for CIRO approval with an Investment Dealer, though CSI also notes there may be circumstances where AIS is accepted for the CIM designation

Where AIS fits

If the candidate mainly needs…Better first instinct
advanced wealth-management and portfolio judgment for advisers or plannersAIS
institutional or discretionary portfolio management with stronger operating-model depthPMT
portfolio-management foundations before the advanced layerIMT Exam 1 and IMT Exam 2
broader wealth-management foundations before advanced strategyWME Exam 1 and WME Exam 2

What stronger AIS answers usually do

  • identify the dominant client constraint before choosing the product or solution
  • connect analysis to portfolio implications instead of reciting ratios or indicators in isolation
  • treat alternatives as suitability and liquidity decisions, not as return shortcuts
  • keep taxation, protection, and impediments inside the same client-outcome frame

Practice this exam

Use this free guide for review, then Start AIS Practice on Finance Prep for timed questions, topic drills, and detailed explanations.

In this section

Revised on Friday, May 29, 2026