A practical CSI IMT Exam 2 study plan with 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day tracks aligned to the official case weighting, current IMT route note, and matching web practice.
Use this plan with the Exam Guide, the Cheat Sheet, the FAQ, the Resources, and IMT Exam 2 practice on Finance Prep.
IMT Exam 2 is case-based, so your plan should include cases from week 1.
Use this loop:
Read -> build a one-page case playbook -> drill case sets -> review misses -> repeat.
missed controlling constraint, missed better next step, and missed formula or interpretation.CSI lists 80 – 100 hours of study for IMT overall. Use that as a reality check, then choose a schedule that lets you revisit the chapter map while drilling case execution from the start.
| Weekly study time | Timeline | Total hours (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 18–25 hrs/week | 30 days | 72–100 |
| 10–14 hrs/week | 60 days | 80–112 |
| 6–9 hrs/week | 90 days | 72–108 |
| Study stage | What you are stabilizing |
|---|---|
| IPS, risk profile, and allocation first | the facts that drive most case eliminations |
| securities and fixed income second | the largest technical blocks that often sit inside the cases |
| managed products, international, and wealth impediments third | the modifiers that make two plausible answers separate |
| monitoring and performance last | the final next-step and review layer after the portfolio frame is already clear |
| Week | Chapters / topics | Case-first focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ch. 1–4 (IPS, risk profile, allocation, implementation choices) | Do 2–3 mini-cases/week: extract constraints → choose best next action. |
| 2 | Ch. 5–8 (Equities + analysis + technical) | Practice “what matters in the vignette?” and ratio/valuation interpretation. |
| 3 | Ch. 9–11 (Fixed income) | Make duration intuition automatic; do curve + strategy cases. |
| 4 | Ch. 12–18 (Products + intl/tax + risk + impediments + monitoring) | Mixed case sets daily; focus on fee drag, liquidity, after-tax, and monitoring triggers. |
| Weeks | Chapters / topics | Case-first focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ch. 1 (Process + IPS) | Build your “first actions” checklist; do 2 vignettes. |
| 2 | Ch. 2 (Behavioural + risk profile) | Bias diagnosis → best response; do 2 vignettes. |
| 3 | Ch. 3–4 (Allocation + implementation) | Rebalancing math + active/passive trade-offs; do 2 vignettes. |
| 4 | Ch. 5–8 (Equities) | Top-down + company analysis; do 3 vignettes. |
| 5 | Ch. 9–11 (Fixed income) | Duration/convexity + ladder/barbell/bullet; do 3 vignettes. |
| 6 | Ch. 12–13 (Managed + alternatives) | Fees/liquidity/structure; do 3 vignettes. |
| 7 | Ch. 14–17 (Intl + tax + risk + impediments) | Currency/tax + risk tools + compounding; do 3 vignettes. |
| 8 | Ch. 18 + mixed review | Benchmarks + return measures; full mixed case sets. |
| Weeks | Chapters / topics | Case-first focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Ch. 1–2 | Build IPS + bias notes; 1–2 vignettes/week. |
| 3–4 | Ch. 3–4 | Allocation + implementation; 2 vignettes/week. |
| 5–7 | Ch. 5–8 | Equities; 2–3 vignettes/week. |
| 8–9 | Ch. 9–11 | Fixed income; 2–3 vignettes/week. |
| 10 | Ch. 12–13 | Products + alternatives; 2 vignettes/week. |
| 11 | Ch. 14–17 | Intl/tax + risk + impediments; 2 vignettes/week. |
| 12 | Ch. 18 + final review | Mixed case sets + miss log cleanup. |
Use the section lessons when you want chapter-level reading before timed case practice. The current IMT Exam 2 guide includes 7 topic landing pages and 18 section lessons.
| Order | Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Portfolio Management Process | Investment Policy and Understanding Risk Profile |
| 2 | Understanding a Client’s Risk Profile | Investment Policy and Understanding Risk Profile |
| 3 | Asset Allocation and Investment Strategies | Asset Allocation and Investment Management |
| 4 | Investment Management Today | Asset Allocation and Investment Management |
| 5 | Equity Securities | Equity Securities |
| 6 | Analysis of Equity Securities I: Economic and Industry Analysis | Equity Securities |
| 7 | Analysis of Equity Securities II: Company Analysis and Valuation | Equity Securities |
| 8 | Technical Analysis | Equity Securities |
| 9 | Debt Securities | Debt Securities |
| 10 | Analysis of Debt Securities I: Valuation, Term Structure and Pricing | Debt Securities |
| 11 | Analysis of Debt Securities II: Price Volatility and Investment Strategies | Debt Securities |
| 12 | Analyzing Conventionally Managed Products | Managed Products |
| 13 | Analyzing Non-Conventional Asset Classes and Their Structures | Managed Products |
| 14 | International Investing | International Investing, Investment Risk and Impediments to Wealth Accumulation |
| 15 | International Taxation | International Investing, Investment Risk and Impediments to Wealth Accumulation |
| 16 | Managing Your Client’s Investment Risk | International Investing, Investment Risk and Impediments to Wealth Accumulation |
| 17 | Impediments to Wealth Accumulation | International Investing, Investment Risk and Impediments to Wealth Accumulation |
| 18 | Portfolio Monitoring and Performance Evaluation | Portfolio Monitoring and Performance Evaluation |
| Topic | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Debt Securities | 18% | the heaviest block and a frequent case differentiator |
| Investment Policy and Understanding Risk Profile | 16% | many cases hinge on the controlling constraint or objective |
| International Investing, Investment Risk and Impediments to Wealth Accumulation | 16% | the main cross-topic modifier block |
| Asset Allocation and Investment Management plus Managed Products | 14% each | the portfolio-construction and implementation layer |
controlling fact or constraint -> stronger next step -> better answer -> why the distractor fails.Use IMT Exam 2 practice on Finance Prep in phases:
| Stage | What to do |
|---|---|
| after IPS and allocation review | short timed case sets for objective-and-constraint extraction |
| after securities and managed-product review | mixed cases for product, yield, and allocation trade-offs |
| final two weeks | full timed case sets with miss-log cleanup and pacing work |
CIM designation, so confirm your current route directly with CSI if registration or designation status matters.Sources: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/imt/curriculum and https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/imt/exam-credits