Professional Standards and Ethics
- UpperMark stands alone in the CAIA exam preparation market. We are the only company that has years of experience in successfully preparing candidates with the highest quality study materials for the CAIA Level I and Level II exams.
- UpperMark is the leading global provider of study materials for the CAIA exams. Since the first CAIA exam, we have been committed to the success of CAIA candidates. Our team of dedicated educators.
- Box 1326, Brookline, MA 02446 866-542 5315 617-314-6568.
UpperMark™ Study Handbooks are the foundation of our Suite study packages. Adhering closely to the CAIA assigned readings, they provide comprehensive coverage of the CAIA material. Our Study Handbooks come with our FormulaSheet - a handy product containing CAIA Level II key equations.
- Professionalism
- Integrity of Capital Markets
- Duties to Clients
- Duties to Employers
- Investment Analysis, Recommendations, and Actions
- Conflicts of Interest
Introduction to Alternative Investments
- What Is an Alternative Investment?
- The Environment of Alternative Investments
- Quantitative Foundations
- Statistical Foundations
- Foundations of Financial Economics
- Derivatives and Risk-Neutral Valuation
- Measures of Risk and Performance
- Alpha, Beta, and Hypothesis Testing
Real Assets
- Natural Resources and Land
- Commodities
- Other Real Assets
- Real Estate and Debt
- Real Estate Equity
Hedge Funds
- Structure of the Hedge Fund Industry
- Macro and Managed Futures Funds
- Event-Driven Hedge Funds
- Relative Value Hedge Funds
- Equity Hedge Funds
- Funds of Hedge Funds
Private Equity
Uppermark Caia Level 2 Dfd
- Private Equity Assets
- Private Equity Funds
- Private Credit and Distressed Debt
Structured Products
- Introduction to Structuring
- Credit Risk and Credit Derivatives
- CDO Structuring of Credit Risk
- Equity-Linked Structured Products
Level I Topic | Approximate Exam Weight |
---|---|
Professional Standards and Ethics | 15-25% |
Introduction to Alternative Investments | 20-28% |
Real Assets including Commodities | 11-17% |
Hedge Funds | 12-20% |
Private Equity | 11-17% |
Structured Products | 10-14% |
Ethics Regulations and ESG
- Asset Manager Code
- Recommendations and Guidance
- Global Regulation
- ESG and Alternative Investments
- ESG Analysis and Application
Models
- Modeling Overview and Interest Rate Models
- Risk Credit Models
- Multi-Factor Equity Pricing Models
- Asset Allocation Processes and the Mean-Variance Model
- Other Asset Allocation Approaches
Institutional Asset Owners and Investment Policies
- Types of Asset Owners and the Investment Policy Statement
- Foundations, and The Endowment Model
- Pension Fund Portfolio Management
- Sovereign Wealth Funds
- Family Offices and the Family Office Model
Risk and Risk Management
- Cases in Tail Risk
- Benchmarking and Performance Attribution
- Liquidity and Funding Risks
- Hedging, Rebalancing, and Monitoring
- Risk Measurement, Risk Management, and Risk Systems
Methods for Alternative Investing
- Valuation and Hedging Using Binomial Trees
- Directional Strategies and Methods
- Multivariate Empirical Methods and Performance Persistence
- Relative Value Methods
- Valuation Methods for Private Assets: The Case of Real Estate
Accessing Alternative Investments
- Hedge Fund Replication
- Diversified Access to Hedge Funds
- Access to Real Estate and Commodities
- Access Through Private Structures
- The Risk and Performance of Private and Listed Assets
Due Diligence & Selecting Managers
- Active Management and New Investments
- Selection of a Fund Manager
- Investment Process Due Diligence
- Operational Due Diligence
- Due Diligence of Terms and Business Activities
Volatility and Complex Strategies
- Volatility as a Factor Exposure
- Volatility, Correlation, and Dispersion Products and Strategies
- Complexity and Structured Products
- Insurance-Linked and Hybrid Securities
- Complexity and the Case of Cross-Border Real Estate Investing
Level II Topic | Approximate Exam Weight | |
---|---|---|
Multiple Choice | Constructed Response | |
Ethics, Regulation, and ESG | 0% | 10% |
Models | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Institutional Asset Owners and Investment Policies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Risk and Risk Management | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Methods for Alternative Investing | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Due Diligence and Selecting Strategies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Volatility and Complex Strategies | 8-12% | 0-10% |
Current and Integrated Topics | 0% | 10% |
After a relaxing break, it’s time to get cracking again.
Very little studying done over the holiday (and fell behind with studying in December), so need to make up for this with double the studyload.
Plan now is to continue with the previous plan, but now studying on a 22-hour per week basis (2 hours per workday, 12 hours every weekend). There’s now no more room for an extensive revision period so the going’s going to be very tough in the next 8 weeks. I want to fit in an hour of CFA revision for the overlapping topics (AI & Ethics) but I may have to do this only at the weekends.
Uppermark Caia Level 2 Syllabus
Spreadsheet updated here.