Frequently asked questions for CSI Advanced Investment Strategies (AIS): exam structure, route fit, topic weighting, and exact-practice use.
Confirm current CSI and CIRO proficiency rules directly with the official sources before enrolling or relying on older route notes.
Quick links:
According to CSI’s current AIS Exam Credits page, AIS is a proctored multiple-choice exam with 75 questions, a 2-hour time limit, a 60% passing grade, and up to 3 attempts.
CSI’s current weighting table for AIS is:
That weighting makes client framing, analysis, portfolio solutions, and alternatives the core of the exam.
AIS is the advanced wealth-management and portfolio-judgment lane. It is better for candidates who already have basic product and allocation context and now need stronger client-fit, analysis, alternative-investment, and portfolio-solution judgment.
AIS is more wealth-management and advanced client-solution oriented. PMT is more discretionary portfolio-management, operations, mandates, and institutional process oriented. If your real need is portfolio-management firm structure and discretionary controls, compare with PMT.
No. As of April 13, 2026, CSI’s current AIS course page says that effective January 1, 2026 AIS is no longer acceptable for the purposes of CIRO approval with an Investment Dealer. CSI also notes there may be circumstances where AIS is accepted for the CIM designation, so confirm your exact route directly with the current official sources.
Most candidates improve fastest by prioritizing client constraints and allocation logic, analysis intuition, fund and solution selection discipline, and alternatives plus international frictions such as liquidity, currency, and tax effects.
Yes. AIS now has an exact web practice page on MasteryExamPrep. Use this guide for route fit and review, then move into exact web practice when you are ready to train speed on the 75-question structure.
A common mistake is treating AIS like a broad product-survey exam. Stronger answers usually turn on the dominant client constraint, the right analysis lens, and the best portfolio implication rather than on isolated product facts.
Yes. Use this site as your study map and review layer, but use CSI’s official course, curriculum, and exam-credits pages as the source of truth for structure, weighting, and current route notes.
Use Official Resources. That page points to the current CSI course, curriculum, exam-credits pages, and CIM requirements page, which are the right places to confirm scope and current route status.