The single most useful thing you can do before the NISM Series V-A exam is sit a full-length timed paper. Not because the questions will repeat, but because two hours of sustained concentration across 100 operational questions is a skill in itself — and it is the thing candidates most often discover they lack, on the day, in the exam hall.
What a real-feel V-A mock should look like
A mock test is only useful if it reproduces the actual constraints:
| Feature | The real exam | What a good mock must do |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 100, 1 mark each | 100, no partial sets |
| Duration | 120 minutes | A running clock you cannot pause |
| Pass mark | 50% | Score against 50, not 60 |
| Negative marking | None | No penalty, so guessing is correct strategy |
| Feedback | After submission | Nothing revealed mid-paper |
That last row matters more than it looks. A "mock test" that shows you the answer after each question is a practice drill, not a mock. It tells you nothing about how you perform when you cannot check yourself.
Free NISM V-A practice on ScoreSetu
ScoreSetu's V-A bank has 650 questions across all 12 syllabus units, each with a detailed explanation and a memory hook. Free preview questions are available in every topic with no signup required:
- Investor Services — the largest chapter, 105 questions
- NAV, TER and pricing — 88 questions
- Concept and role of a mutual fund — 85 questions
- Investment landscape and scheme related information — 60 each
- Legal and regulatory framework — 55 questions
Or go straight to the full practice list and the timed mock exams.
How to use mock tests properly
Most candidates use mocks wrongly — they take paper after paper and treat the score as the output. The score is not the output. The wrong answers are.
1. Take the first mock early, not late. Before you feel ready. A cold score tells you which chapters need work while you still have time to do something about it.
2. Review every single wrong answer. For each one, decide which it was: a fact you did not know, a fact you knew but misread, or a calculation slip. The fix is different in each case, and only the first is solved by more studying.
3. Re-test the weak chapter, not the whole syllabus. If NAV and pricing came out at 40%, drill NAV and pricing. Taking another full paper mostly re-tests what you already know.
4. Save two full papers for the final week. Sit them at the same time of day as your real slot, in one go, with no phone.
The V-A-specific things mocks teach you
Guess everything. With no negative marking, an unanswered question is a wasted one. Mocks are where you build the habit of flagging and moving rather than freezing.
Pace at roughly 70 seconds a question. 100 questions in 120 minutes leaves a little over a minute each, with about 20 minutes spare for review. Candidates who spend four minutes on a TER calculation early on run out of time later.
Read the operational questions twice. V-A is full of questions that hinge on one word — "cannot", "within 30 days", "other than". These are not hard, but they are easy to get wrong at speed.
What score should you be hitting?
The pass mark is 50%. Aim to be scoring 65% or better on timed mocks before you book the exam. That margin absorbs a bad day, an unfamiliar question set, and the two or three careless errors everyone makes under time pressure.
If you are sitting at 50–55% in practice, you are not ready — you are one bad paper away from paying the ₹1,500 fee twice.
Start now: free V-A practice questions, no signup. Then take a full-length timed mock and find out where you actually stand.