A practical Portfolio Management Techniques study plan with 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day tracks aligned to official topic weightings, route-fit notes, and exact web practice.
Use this plan with the Guide Home, the Cheat Sheet, the FAQ, the Official Resources, and exact PMT practice on MasteryExamPrep.
PMT improves fastest when you train two skills in parallel:
mandate missed, workflow missed, and wrong portfolio technique.CSI estimates 70 – 95 hours of study for PMT.
| Hours per week | Timeline |
|---|---|
| 18–24 hrs/wk | ~30 days (intensive) |
| 9–12 hrs/wk | ~60 days (balanced) |
| 6–8 hrs/wk | ~90 days (part-time) |
Source: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/pmt/exam-credits
| Study stage | What you are stabilizing |
|---|---|
| regulation, ethics, and process first | the permission and governance layer that controls later portfolio decisions |
| operations second | the workflow lens that explains where errors, controls, and reporting failures live |
| equity and fixed income third | the heaviest technical blocks and the ones most tied to mandates and benchmark risk |
| derivatives, mandates, alternatives, and reporting last | the final integration layer once the operating and technical base is stable |
| Week | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regulation, ethics, and institutional process | Build the governance and benchmark checklist; drill permission and duty decisions. |
| 2 | Portfolio management organization and operations | Map the trade lifecycle and front, middle, and back office responsibilities. |
| 3 | Equity and fixed income management | Build the formula pack and practice style, duration, curve, and risk-budget questions. |
| 4 | Derivatives, mandates, alternatives, reporting, and review | Close the institutional workflow loop and finish with mixed timed sets. |
| Week | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regulation and ethics | Build a permission, duty, conflict, documentation checklist. |
| 2 | Institutional portfolio management process | Benchmark use, investor types, and decision authorization. |
| 3 | Organization and operations | Trade workflow, controls, and operational risk. |
| 4 | Managing equity portfolios | Styles, implementation tools, derivative overlays, and ETF use. |
| 5 | Managing fixed income portfolios | Duration, curve strategies, credit, high yield, and fixed-income ETFs. |
| 6 | Derivatives in mutual funds plus mandates | Permitted use, restrictions, and new-product design logic. |
| 7 | Alternatives | Due diligence, unique risks, and alternative-investment role. |
| 8 | Reporting and attribution plus review | Finish with performance reporting, attribution, and full mixed sets. |
| Weeks | Focus | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Regulation, ethics, and institutional process | Build the role map, benchmark notes, and governance logic. |
| 3–4 | Organization and operations | Front, middle, and back office workflow plus operational-risk review. |
| 5–6 | Equity portfolios | Style, implementation, and portfolio-risk thinking. |
| 7–8 | Fixed income portfolios | Duration, curve, credit, and bond-ETF logic. |
| 9 | Derivatives in mutual funds | Permitted use, advantages, and risks. |
| 10 | Mandates | New product development, investment guidelines, and restrictions. |
| 11 | Alternatives | Due diligence, operational demands, and risk framing. |
| 12 | Reporting and attribution plus mixed review | Finish with full timed sets and miss-log cleanup. |
| Domain | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Fixed Income Portfolios | 19% | the heaviest technical block |
| Portfolio Management Organization and Operations | 16% | the main workflow and control layer |
| Managing Equity Portfolios | 16% | the other major technical block |
| Alternative Investment Management | 11% | meaningful weight and a common due-diligence trap area |
| Regulation and Ethics | 10% | the permission and conflict layer for the whole exam |
| Creating New Portfolio Management Mandates | 10% | mandate design and restriction logic appear repeatedly |
mandate or benchmark -> correct technique or workflow step -> better answer -> why the distractor fails.Use exact PMT practice on MasteryExamPrep in phases:
| Stage | What to do |
|---|---|
| after regulation, process, and operations | short timed sets for governance and workflow recognition |
| after equity and fixed income review | mixed sets for technique plus mandate questions |
| final two weeks | full timed sets with miss-log cleanup and pacing work |
Sources: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/pmt/curriculum and https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/pmt/exam-credits