Arif Irfanullah
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- Jun 18, 2026
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Past Level III essay exams are a wonderful source of practice. However you need to be careful as some questions/parts from past papers are not relevant for 2015.
The table below helps you identify what is still relevant (for 2015) and what is not….
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Arif Irfanullah
Note: There is no gurantee that the information presented here is 100% accurate. Feel free to share any comments or suggestions you might have.
Year Question Relevant Comment 2008 1 Yes Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability 2008 2 Yes Behavioral biases 2008 3 Yes Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors 2008 4 Yes Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, Asset allocation, ALM approach 2008 5 Yes Sector rotation trades, interest rate convexity, spread duration 2008 6 No Cash and carry arbitrage 2008 7 Yes Types of risk, stress testing methods 2008 8 Yes Trading tactics, VWAP 2008 9 Yes CPPI, constant mix, buy and hold strategies 2008 10 Yes Performance attribution analysis 2008 11 Yes 2009 1 Yes Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability 2009 2 Yes Life cycle investing 2009 3 Yes Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors, spending rule 2009 4 No Not relevant 2009 5 Yes Grinold-Kroner, Taylor Rule 2009 6 Yes Strategic asset allocation, whether investments are suitable 2009 7 Yes Active and passive equity investments, portfolio construction methods, investment styles 2009 8 Yes Commodities, swaps 2009 9 Yes Options, counterparty risk, credit risk in a swap 2009 10 Yes Corridor widths, rebalancing strategies 2009 11 Yes Benchmark selection, performance measures (Sharpe, M2, Treynor, etc) 2010 1 Yes Individual investor portfolios, TDA and taxable accounts 2010 2 Yes Insurance company IPS, behavioral biases 2010 3 Yes Pension funds 2010 4 Yes Economics. Capital market expectations. 2010 5 Yes Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, currency return and risk 2010 6 Yes Immunization portfolio, dollar safety margin 2010 7 Yes Option strategies (butterfly, straddle etc.) Target beta using futures 2010 8 Yes VWAP, Implementation shortfall, corridor widths 2010 9 Yes Evaluating portfolio performance 2011 1 Yes Behavioral biases, estate planning 2011 2 Yes Individual investor portfolios 2011 3 Yes Institutional investor portfolios 2011 4 Yes Cobb douglas, H Model, Fed Model, Yardeni Model 2011 5 Yes ALM, Black Litterman, Resampled frontier, Monte Carlo 2011 6 Yes Dollar duration, rebalancing, trade types, 2011 7 No 2011 8 Yes Historical and Analytical VAR, Hedge currency risk using futures 2011 9 Yes Performance attribution, sector allocation returns 2012 1 Yes Individual PM (IPS and Human Capital) 2012 2 Yes Individual PM (Taxes) 2012 3 Yes Execution/Monitoring/Rebalancing 2012 4 Yes Behavioral 2012 5 Yes Economics 2012 6 Yes Institutional Portfolio Management 2012 7 Partial Part E is not relevant. 2012 8 Yes Derivatives 2012 9 Yes Derivatives 2013 1 Yes Individual PM 2013 2 Yes Individual PM (Estate Planning) 2013 3 Yes PM - Behavioral 2013 4 Yes Equity 2013 5 Yes Economics. Solution makes a referece to the BRICS reading which has been removed; however, the concept is still valid. 2013 6 Yes Institutional PM 2013 7 Partial Part C and D are not relevant. 2013 8 Yes Fixed Income. 2013 9 Yes Fixed Income. 2013 10 Yes Risk Management 2013 11 Yes Performance Evaluation 2014 Entire exam is relevant
The table below helps you identify what is still relevant (for 2015) and what is not….
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Arif Irfanullah
Note: There is no gurantee that the information presented here is 100% accurate. Feel free to share any comments or suggestions you might have.
Year Question Relevant Comment 2008 1 Yes Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability 2008 2 Yes Behavioral biases 2008 3 Yes Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors 2008 4 Yes Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, Asset allocation, ALM approach 2008 5 Yes Sector rotation trades, interest rate convexity, spread duration 2008 6 No Cash and carry arbitrage 2008 7 Yes Types of risk, stress testing methods 2008 8 Yes Trading tactics, VWAP 2008 9 Yes CPPI, constant mix, buy and hold strategies 2008 10 Yes Performance attribution analysis 2008 11 Yes 2009 1 Yes Individual IPS, constraints, risk ability 2009 2 Yes Life cycle investing 2009 3 Yes Pension fund IPS, constraints, risk factors, spending rule 2009 4 No Not relevant 2009 5 Yes Grinold-Kroner, Taylor Rule 2009 6 Yes Strategic asset allocation, whether investments are suitable 2009 7 Yes Active and passive equity investments, portfolio construction methods, investment styles 2009 8 Yes Commodities, swaps 2009 9 Yes Options, counterparty risk, credit risk in a swap 2009 10 Yes Corridor widths, rebalancing strategies 2009 11 Yes Benchmark selection, performance measures (Sharpe, M2, Treynor, etc) 2010 1 Yes Individual investor portfolios, TDA and taxable accounts 2010 2 Yes Insurance company IPS, behavioral biases 2010 3 Yes Pension funds 2010 4 Yes Economics. Capital market expectations. 2010 5 Yes Corner portfolios, Sharpe ratio, currency return and risk 2010 6 Yes Immunization portfolio, dollar safety margin 2010 7 Yes Option strategies (butterfly, straddle etc.) Target beta using futures 2010 8 Yes VWAP, Implementation shortfall, corridor widths 2010 9 Yes Evaluating portfolio performance 2011 1 Yes Behavioral biases, estate planning 2011 2 Yes Individual investor portfolios 2011 3 Yes Institutional investor portfolios 2011 4 Yes Cobb douglas, H Model, Fed Model, Yardeni Model 2011 5 Yes ALM, Black Litterman, Resampled frontier, Monte Carlo 2011 6 Yes Dollar duration, rebalancing, trade types, 2011 7 No 2011 8 Yes Historical and Analytical VAR, Hedge currency risk using futures 2011 9 Yes Performance attribution, sector allocation returns 2012 1 Yes Individual PM (IPS and Human Capital) 2012 2 Yes Individual PM (Taxes) 2012 3 Yes Execution/Monitoring/Rebalancing 2012 4 Yes Behavioral 2012 5 Yes Economics 2012 6 Yes Institutional Portfolio Management 2012 7 Partial Part E is not relevant. 2012 8 Yes Derivatives 2012 9 Yes Derivatives 2013 1 Yes Individual PM 2013 2 Yes Individual PM (Estate Planning) 2013 3 Yes PM - Behavioral 2013 4 Yes Equity 2013 5 Yes Economics. Solution makes a referece to the BRICS reading which has been removed; however, the concept is still valid. 2013 6 Yes Institutional PM 2013 7 Partial Part C and D are not relevant. 2013 8 Yes Fixed Income. 2013 9 Yes Fixed Income. 2013 10 Yes Risk Management 2013 11 Yes Performance Evaluation 2014 Entire exam is relevant