NISM Series V-D is the longest NISM paper — 150 questions in 3 hours across three modules — and the plan for it is a week per module and a week of full papers. The official weightages say six chapters carry 68 of the 90 marks you need; they come first inside each week.
If you hold V-A, Week 1 is revision. If you hold VIII, Week 2 is. Nobody has a head start on Week 3.
Week 1 — Module 1: Mutual Fund Distributors (68 marks)
Days 1–2: Investor Services (10) and Scheme Selection (10). KYC, cut-off times, SIP/SWP/STP with the load arithmetic, statements, nomination; then matching a scheme to goals, horizon and risk, the diversified-to-sector risk hierarchy, and when a SIF is suitable.
Days 3–4: Legal and Regulatory Framework (7) and Scheme Related Information (7). SEBI regulations, AMFI, investor rights — and the SIF-specific rules: the Rs 10 lakh threshold, Regulation 51, the risk-band, the Investment Strategy Information Document with scenario analysis. SIF explained.
Days 5–7: the eight smaller chapters (34 marks between them). Investment landscape, concept and role, legal structure, distribution, NAV/TER/pricing (do the NAV arithmetic by hand), taxation, risk and return, scheme performance. Single-fact chapters; the practice sets cover them fast.
Week 2 — Module 2: Equity Derivatives (52 marks)
Days 8–10: Forwards and Futures (15). The heaviest chapter in the paper. Forward against futures, cost of carry and futures pricing, contract specifications, margins and mark-to-market, payoffs, and the hedge ratio — portfolio value × beta ÷ contract value.
Days 11–12: Options (13). Calls and puts, moneyness, intrinsic and time value, the five premium drivers, the Greeks (delta above all), buyer and writer payoffs and breakevens.
Day 13: Basics of Derivatives (10) and the Index (5). Definitions, participants, the purpose of derivative markets; free-float capitalisation, impact cost, index construction.
Day 14: Strategies (9). Hedging, protective puts, covered calls, spreads, straddles, delta-neutral positions.
Week 3 — Module 3: Interest Rate Derivatives (30 marks)
Days 15–16: Interest Rates and the Fixed Income Market (6). Why rates move, the instruments, price against yield, and duration — the sensitivity that sizes every hedge in this module.
Days 17–19: Exchange Traded Interest Rate Futures (10). The cash-settled contract on the 10-year GOI bond (plus the 6- and 13-year), last-Thursday expiry, daily and final settlement prices, why the old physically settled contract with its cheapest-to-deliver mechanism failed. Chapter guide.
Days 20–21: Interest Rate Options (6), Strategies (6), Interest Rate Derivatives (2). Put and call payoffs on a bond, sell futures to hedge rising rates, duration hedging, the synthetic T-bill.
Week 4 — full papers
Days 22–30: 150-question timed mocks, in one sitting, three hours, no breaks. The paper tests stamina as much as knowledge. After each, read the module breakdown on the result page and give the weakest module the next day.
Exam-day rules
- Answer all 150. Negative marking is 10%; a guess is worth +0.175 even blind.
- 72 seconds a question on average. Facts in twenty seconds; calculations in two minutes. Do not let a hedge-ratio question eat five.
- Know your module. Module 1 is 68 marks — a mutual fund candidate who nails it needs only 22 from the other two.
Quick recap
- Week 1: Module 1, Investor Services and Scheme Selection first.
- Week 2: Module 2, Forwards and Futures then Options.
- Week 3: Module 3, interest rate futures at the centre.
- Week 4: timed 150-question papers.
- Pass mark: 90 of 150.