NISM Series XXI-A is a 100-question, 120-minute multiple-choice exam. The pass mark is 60 out of 100 (60%) and each wrong answer costs 10% of the question's marks. It is the certification SEBI requires for anyone who distributes Portfolio Management Services (PMS). For the full route from exam to APMI registration, read how to become a PMS distributor.
| Full name | NISM-Series-XXI-A: Portfolio Management Services (PMS) Distributors Certification Examination |
|---|---|
| Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions, 1 mark each |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 120 minutes (2 hours) |
| Pass mark | 60 marks (60%) |
| Negative marking | 10% of the marks assigned to a question; unanswered questions score 0 |
| Exam fee | Rs 1,500 (inclusive of GST, as listed by NISM); payment-gateway charges extra |
| Certificate validity | 3 years |
| Who it is for | Associated persons engaged by a portfolio manager as distributors of PMS (SEBI notification SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2021/48, 7 September 2021) |
NISM issues the passing certificate only to candidates who have updated their PAN in their registration details, so complete that before you book.
Every question carries 1 mark, so a wrong answer costs 0.1 mark and a skipped question costs nothing. If you answer 80 questions correctly, 15 wrongly and skip 5, your score is 80 minus 1.5, which is 78.5. Because the penalty is small, it usually pays to attempt any question you can narrow down: even a blind guess among four options has a positive expected value (0.25 minus 0.75 x 0.1, which is +0.175 marks). The negative marking guide covers this across all series.
The syllabus has 12 chapters. The first six cover markets and products; the last six cover PMS itself, and they carry 63 of the 100 marks.
| Part | Marks | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| Markets and products | 37 | 1 to 6 |
| Portfolio Management Services | 63 | 7 to 12 |
Chapter 9 (Portfolio Management Process, 15 marks) and Chapter 8 (Operational Aspects of Portfolio Managers, 13 marks) together carry 28 marks, more than a quarter of the paper. Chapters 3, 7, 10 and 12 carry 10 marks each. Expect calculations in Chapters 3, 4 and 10 (valuation ratios, bond value and duration, returns, Sharpe and Treynor ratios) and fee arithmetic in Chapter 8 (high water mark, hurdle rate, exit loads). The XXI-A numericals page has 40 free solved calculation questions and a formula sheet.
Sources: NISM's XXI-A exam page (nism.ac.in) and the XXI-A test objectives. Fees and rules can change; confirm on nism.ac.in before registering.
Related: how to become a PMS distributor, XXI-A chapter-wise practice, exam fees and negative marking.
100 multiple-choice questions of 1 mark each, for a total of 100 marks, in 120 minutes.
60 marks out of 100, which is 60%.
Yes. 10% of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for a wrong answer, so 0.1 mark per question. Unanswered questions score zero.
3 years. You can renew by passing the exam again or by attending NISM's Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programme for PMS distributors.
Yes. BullWiser has one free full-length XXI-A mock with 100 MCQs, a 120-minute timer and 10% negative marking. The paid pack adds more mocks.