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Sample Questions Level I
Sample Questions Level I
SM
CAIA Level I Sample Questions
Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst®
These questions are designed to be representative of the format and nature of actual CAIA Level
I examination questions in March 2010. The sample questions are not a facsimile of the actual
questions. The sample questions do not cover all of the study materials that comprise the CAIA
Level I curriculum, nor have they been verified to be equally difficult as the actual questions.
Accordingly, these sample questions should not be used to assess a candidate’s level of
preparedness for the exam.
Question Breakdown
******************************************************************
Questions 1 through 15 Professional Standards and Ethics
Questions 16 through 25 Introduction to Alpha and Beta Drivers
Questions 26 through 38 Real Estate
Questions 39 through 61 Hedge Funds
Questions 62 through 74 Commodities and Managed Futures
Questions 75 through 87 Private Equity
Questions 88 through 100 Credit Derivatives
******************************************************************
No part of this publication may be reproduced, electronically or mechanically, without prior written consent of
the CAIA Association.
March 2010
SM
CAIA Level I Sample Questions
1. Which of the following describes what an employee behind a firewall should first do
if he or she needs to share confidential information about an issue with someone on
the other side of the wall?
2. Why do the Code and Standards recommend that investment personnel not participate
in equity initial public offerings (IPOs)?
3. According to the Code and Standards, what is the first step that a member should
follow if he or she has grounds to believe that imminent or ongoing employer
activities are illegal or unethical?
A. Members may accept gifts from clients if they are disclosed and if the employer
finds that the gifts will not affect independence and objectivity.
B. Members may accept gifts so long as their market value is less than $100.
C. Members cannot accept gifts under any circumstances, in order to avoid even the
appearance of a conflict.
D. Members cannot accept gifts under any circumstances, because research has
shown that any gift, large or small, impairs ethical judgment.
6. According to the Code and Standards, which of the following actions is proper with
regard to investing in oversubscribed issues?
7. Carl St. Germaine believes that reports published by his firm and used as part of
presentation materials contain sections that are in violation of the Code and
Standards. He has brought the conduct to the attention of the firm’s legal counsel,
whose opinion is that the reports can be presented because they are not in violation of
any law. He has brought the activity to the attention of the firm’s compliance officer,
whose recommendation is to trust the opinion of legal counsel. He has taken his
concerns to his supervisor, who also concludes that there is nothing to be concerned
about, given the counsel’s advice. According to the Code and Standards, what should
Carl do?
A. There is no violation because the President's house would not have been used had
Marco not taken the offer.
B. There is no violation because the Code and Standards do not preclude customary
entertainment.
C. Marco violated the Code and Standards by entering into a soft-dollar arrangement.
D. Marco violated the Code and Standards by the acceptance of a gift that could
compromise his independence and objectivity.
9. Joanna Wasic is a research analyst for a fund of hedge funds. She learns that a
portion of the firm’s research, prepared by another department, includes survivorship
bias such that some of the firm’s performance is exaggerated. Joanna presents the
report to prospective clients in order to solicit new business, but steers clear of any
reference to the exaggerated performance.
Which of the following describes Joanna’s behavior with respect to the Code and
Standards?
A. Joanna violated the Code and Standards because the report misrepresents
performance.
B. Joanna violated the Code and Standards, because the report was prepared by
multiple sources, and she failed to explicitly acknowledge those sources.
C. Joanna did not violate the Code and Standards because she did not include the
biased data in her presentation.
D. Joanna did not violate the Code and Standards because she has never included
such a bias in her own research.
A. Nadia is required to apply the Code and Standards in all aspects of her business
and is not allowed to hold short positions in her client’s accounts, but can hold
short positions in her personal account as long as they are disclosed.
B. Nadia is required to apply the Code and Standards in all aspects of her business,
and is allowed to hold short positions in both her client’s accounts and in her
personal account.
C. Nadia is required to apply the less strict laws and regulations of her home country,
and is not allowed to hold short positions in either her client’s accounts or in her
personal account.
D. Nadia is required to apply the Code and Standards in all aspects of her business,
and is not allowed to hold short positions in either her clients or in her personal
account.
11. Sharma Vora, a research analyst for the pharmaceutical industry, has recommended
that the firm take an equity interest in CISDA, a small biotechnology firm. After
writing and publishing his initial report, Sharma purchases CISDA stock for his own
portfolio. He has been asked to write a second report on CISDA. What action should
Sharma take in order to be compliant with the Code and Standards?
13. Taylor Alexander of Taylor and Taylor Investment Advisors holds a professional
designation that requires members to adhere to the Code and Standards. As part of
her presentation she notes that performance represents a weighted composite of all of
the firm's portfolios, and that returns are shown prior to fees and taxes. She is careful
to note that some of the performance history includes terminated accounts while some
of the performance history does not. She also states that the performance presentation
is in compliance with Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS).
Which of the following best describes the performance presentation with respect to
the Code and Standards?
A. Since Ms. Yang was an independent contractor, not an employee, she is not
subject to the “Duties to Employers” section of the Standards of Practice.
B. Ms. Yang is subject to all of the provisions of the “Duties to Employers” but like
an employee is free to use the client contact information after leaving the firm.
C. Ms. Yang violated the standards by not erasing all client contact information from
her home computer when the relationship was terminated.
16. Which of the following categories would NOT be considered a super asset class?
A. Capital assets
B. Intangible assets
C. Assets that are used as inputs to creating economic value
D. Assets that are a store of value
17. Which of the following actions is MOST accurately associated with tactical asset
allocation?
19. Which of the following types of beta is most associated with active returns rather than
with systematic risk premiums?
A. Classic beta
B. Bespoke beta
C. Alternative beta
D. Bulk beta
20. Janmar Fund selects investments to match an index that it has created. The index
concentrates its positions on investments that are viewed as being substantially
underpriced relative to others based on Fama-French’s three-factor model for
describing equity market risk premiums. The Janmar Fund’s strategy is best
described by which pair of related concepts?
23. What is considered to be the most important task in distinguishing alpha from beta in
the performance of an investment manager?
24. There are several common reasons why alpha is argued to be a “zero sum game”.
Which of the following is NOT one of those reasons?
25. Which of the following is MOST accurate with regard to the information coefficient
(IC) in the Fundamental Law of Active Management?
A. The IC is the correlation between portfolio returns and market returns across
active bets
B. The IC is the correlation between portfolio returns and market returns through
time
C. The IC is the correlation between forecasted returns and actual returns across
active bets
D. The IC is the correlation between forecasted returns and actual returns through
time
A. The REIT would pay taxes on the income and the pension fund would pay taxes
on the dividend
B. The REIT would not pay taxes on the income but the pension fund would pay
taxes on the dividend
C. The REIT would pay taxes on the income but the pension fund would not pay
taxes on the dividend
D. The REIT would not pay taxes on the income and the pension fund would not pay
taxes on the dividend
27. What are the typical implications to an REIT investor of REITs being listed?
A. The investor enjoys higher liquidity but assumes an increase in systematic risk
B. The investor enjoys higher liquidity as well as a decrease in systematic risk
C. The investor suffers lower liquidity and assumes an increase in systematic risk
D. The investor suffers lower liquidity but enjoys a decrease in systematic risk
29. What is NOT one of the major ways that a REIT can be structured?
A. As an indexed REIT
B. As a finite life REIT
C. As a single property REIT
D. As a dedicated REIT
31. How would a histogram of US REIT returns over the last twenty years be described?
32. Past correlation of US REIT returns (over the last 20+ years) tends to indicate which
of the following aspects of REITs as a diversifier?
A. REITs diversified a bond portfolio very well and diversified a large stock
portfolio better than a small stock portfolio
B. REITs diversified a bond portfolio very poorly and diversified a large stock
portfolio better than a small stock portfolio
C. REITs diversified a bond portfolio very well and diversified a small stock
portfolio better than a large stock portfolio
D. REITs diversified a bond portfolio very poorly and diversified a small stock
portfolio better than a large stock portfolio
A. Lagging of returns
B. Decreased average returns
C. Decreased volatility of returns
D. Decreased correlations (with stocks and bonds)
36. Which of the following styles was NOT developed by the National Council of Real
Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) for analyzing direct real estate investing?
A. Core
B. Satellite
C. Value-added
D. Opportunistic
37. What style of real estate investing is characterized by being the most liquid, the most
developed, the least leveraged, and the most recognizable?
A. Core
B. Satellite
C. Value-added
D. Opportunistic
39. Which of the following statements about the global macro strategy is NOT true?
40. Which of the following four hedge fund strategies would be most likely to include the
other three strategies?
A. Merger arbitrage
B. Fixed income arbitrage
C. Relative value arbitrage
D. Convertible arbitrage
41. A hedge fund of funds reports a monthly hurdle rate vis-à-vis large cap stocks of
0.0047. What does this mean?
A. The fund of funds must earn at least 47 basis points per month to be a valuable
addition for risk budgeting purposes.
B. The fund of funds’ average return over the most recent month is 47 basis points.
C. The fund of funds’ ratio of average return to standard deviation of return is 47
basis points per month.
D. On a monthly basis, the fund of funds is expected to earn 47 basis points more
than the risk free rate of return.
43. What is known as a decline in the net asset value of a hedge fund?
A. Capacity
B. Leverage
C. Drawdown
D. Lock-up
44. The Sharpe ratio for Company A is 0.34, while the Sharpe ratio for Company B is
0.39. What can be said about Company B?
A. As measured by the Sharpe ratio, Company B’s risk adjusted return is superior
B. As measured by the Sharpe ratio, Company B’s mean return is higher
C. As measured by the Sharpe ratio, Company B’s standard deviation of returns is
higher
D. As measured by the Sharpe ratio, Company B’s excess return is higher
45. Which statistical term describes a distribution where the tails are thinner than that
expected by a normal distribution?
A. Excess kurtosis
B. Leptokurtosis
C. Platykurtosis
D. Mesokurtosis
A. Liquidation bias
B. Survivorship bias
C. Selection bias
D. Event bias
47. Returns of a hedge fund over four consecutive years are 4.5%, 10.8%, 19.1%, and
11.2%. Which of the following comes closest to the hedge fund’s geometric mean?
A. 10.2%
B. 10.4%
C. 11.3%
D. 11.7%
48. What is the approximate size of the hedge fund industry in the US in 2007 and 2008?
A. Between 8,000 to 10,000 funds with $180 billion of assets under management
B. Between 8,000 to 10,000 funds with $1.8 trillion of assets under management
C. Between 80,000 to 100,000 funds with $180 billion of assets under management
D. Between 80,000 to 100,000 funds with $1.8 trillion of assets under management
A. 1.125
B. 1.250
C. 1.375
D. 1.875
50. Anson places the “Activist Investors” strategy within which hedge fund category?
A. Market directional
B. Corporate restructuring
C. Convergence trading
D. Opportunistic
52. For what primary reason would an investor examine the serial correlation of hedge
fund returns?
A. Hedge fund returns tend to have relatively low correlations with equities
B. Hedge fund returns are highly correlated with bond returns
C. Hedge fund returns tend to have lower risk than most types of stocks
D. Hedge funds tend to displace bonds in an efficient frontier analysis
54. Schanzy Funds has these three managerial positions: chief investment officer, chief
financial officer and chief risk officer. As a small fund, Schanzy Funds is considering
asking an especially gifted employee, Brian Ozymandias, to hold more than one
position. What is your recommendation with respect to the combination of duties?
55. The return distribution of credit risky investments would be expected to have what
characteristics?
56. Assuming that the returns of a particular position are normally distributed, and that
the one week Value at Risk (VaR) is $100, what would the four week VaR be?
A. $ 100
B. $ 200
C. $ 400
D. $1,600
58. Which of the following option positions of and by itself best describes the payoff
characteristics of a hedge fund manager entitled to incentive fees based on the profits
of the fund?
A. Long a call
B. Short a call
C. Long a put
D. Short a put
59. Kelly Fund has experienced a large increase in current and anticipated volatility in its
net asset value. How should Suzanne, the founder of the Fund, view this increased
volatility?
A. As placing her wealth at decreased risk while increasing the value of her incentive
fees
B. As placing her wealth at decreased risk and decreasing the value of her incentive
fees
C. As placing her wealth at increased risk while increasing the value of her incentive
fees
D. As placing her wealth at increased risk and decreasing the value of her incentive
fees
60. Which of the following collapses was most clearly marked by years of fraudulent
concealment of investment losses?
A. Hedge fund index returns were tightly clustered and had higher volatility than
stock indices
B. Hedge fund index returns were widely dispersed and had higher volatility than
stock indices
C. Hedge fund index returns were tightly clustered and had lower volatility than
stock indices
D. Hedge fund index returns were widely dispersed and had lower volatility than
stock indices
62. Which of the following comes closest to the fair price on a 6-month futures contract
on the S&P 500 index given the following information: an index at 1500, the risk free
rate at 5%, and the dividend yield at 1%?
A. $1,530
B. $1,545
C. $1,560
D. $1,590
63. Which term describes the following relationship between the expected spot price and
the price of the commodity futures contract?
E(ST) > FT
A. Roll yield
B. Contango
C. Parity
D. Backwardation
.
64. Who is the primary regulator of the managed futures industry?
A. Initial margin
B. Linked margin
C. Variation margin
D. Maintenance margin
A. The price of commodity futures will adjust such that investors earn the risk free
rate of interest.
B. The future exchange rate between two currencies will be dependent upon the
differences in their interest rates.
C. Interest rates will adjust to changes in inflationary expectations between
countries.
D. Futures prices and spot prices are connected by the difference between the short
term and long term interest rate.
68. Contango futures markets are said to have an upward sloping price curve. What can
explain the shape of the price curve?
A. Trend following
B. Negative skew
C. Long and short positions
D. Less dispersion
70. How does adding a commodity index to a portfolio of stocks and bonds change the
efficient frontier?
71. What is the typical fee arrangement paid to Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs)?
72. What does the evidence from an empirical analysis of indices show with respect to
adding managed futures to a portfolio of stocks and bonds?
A. 5.12%
B. 10.24%
C. 15.36%
D. 20.48%
74. What has empirical analysis of efficiency frontiers (including US stocks and bonds)
with an allocation of 10% to commodity futures and of correlations between assets
indicated in hostile markets?
A. That commodity futures provided downside protection and the non-US stocks
decreased risk exposures
B. That commodity futures provided downside protection but the non-US stocks
increased risk exposures
C. That commodity futures provided no downside protection but the non-US stocks
decreased risk exposures
D. That commodity futures provided no downside protection and the non-US stocks
increased risk exposures
75. Which of the following does NOT describe an area of specialization in the venture
capital industry?
A. Specialization by industry
B. Specialization by geography
C. Specialization by currency
D. Specialization by stage of financing
A. A crossover
B. Merchant banking
C. A leveraged buyout (an LBO)
D. Private investment in a public entity (a PIPE)
78. A private equity transaction where an investor or group of investors bargain directly
with a public company to acquire an equity position is known as what?
80. Under the rules of priority with respect to security holders, whose claims (from the
choices below) are first to be satisfied?
A. Subordinated debt
B. Equity
C. Bank debt
82. Which of the following describes the J Curve effect in the life cycle of the venture
capital firm?
83. How can typical fees for venture capital funds be described?
84. What characteristic allows the mezzanine investor to purchase the senior debt once it
has been repaid to a certain level?
A. Priority of payment
B. The takeout provision
C. Acceleration
D. Subordination
85. Which statement most accurately describes the committed capital to leveraged
buyouts in the U.S. from 1990-2008?
A. Leveraged buyouts are most risky and distressed debt is least risky
B. Venture capital is most risky and mezzanine debt is least risky
C. Leveraged buyouts are most risky and mezzanine debt is least risky
D. Venture capital is most risky and distressed debt is least risky
87. “Direct secondaries” in the private equity market can most accurately be described by
which of the following statements?
A. Secondary market sales of private equity shares rather than partnership interests
B. Secondary market sales without the services of a broker or intermediary
C. Sales of secondary public offerings without investment bankers
88. How does downgrade risk differ from credit spread risk?
A. Downgrade risk originates from interest rate shifts while credit spread risk
originates from shifts in default possibility.
B. Downgrade risk moves in one direction only (down) while credit spread risk can
move in either direction (up or down).
C. Downgrade risk originates from a review by an independent agency while credit
spread risk originates from a reaction in the financial markets.
D. Downgrade risk is most influenced by world events while credit risk is most
influenced by company-specific events.
89. Which of the following terms is NOT associated with managing credit risk?
A. Underwriting standards
B. Diversification
C. Asset sales
D. Immunization
90. According to the empirical evidence reported by Anson over the time period 1993-
2008, how do the returns of credit-risky investments correlate with the returns on the
S&P 500 index?
A. The correlations are all positive and all greater than 0.50.
B. The correlations are all negative and all less than -0.50.
C. The correlations are all positive and in the range of 0.25 to 0.75.
D. The correlations are both positive and negative but near zero.
A. Call options
B. Revolvers
C. First loss loans
D. Collateralized debt obligations
93. Which of the following statements accurately describes the relationship between
collateralized bond obligations (CBOs), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and
collateralized loan obligations (CLOs)?
96. Which of the following is NOT one of the three periods of the life cycle of a
collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)?
A. Formulation period
B. Revolving period
C. Amortization period
D. Ramp up period
97. A CDO trust holds $500 million in bonds with an 9% coupon. The CDO has three
tranches: A $400 million A tranche with a coupon of 9%, a $50 million B tranche
with a coupon of 10% and a $50 million equity tranche with a coupon of 12%.
Ignoring bond defaults, changes in market values or any fees, which of the following
values is closest to the annual cash flow that the equity tranche holders can expect to
receive?
A. $6,000,000
B. $4,500,000
C. $4,000,000
D. $0
SPH: Standards of Practice Handbook. 9th edition. Charlottesville, Virginia: CFA Institute,
2005. CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct