Ten topic areas, two exam formats, and weightings that decide where your study hours actually belong. Here is what the 2026 Level II curriculum covers, how much each topic is worth, and what changed from prior years.
CAIA revises the curriculum every year to reflect current market practice, and 2026 brought one of the more notable updates in recent cycles — a reworked ethics framework and expanded digital assets coverage among them. Before building a study plan, it helps to know exactly what you are studying and how much each area is worth. For how those hours should be sequenced, see the Level II prep hub.
The 2026 Level II curriculum is organized into these areas:
This is a step up from Level I's foundational survey of alternative investments. Level II assumes you already know what the asset classes are and instead tests judgment: how an institutional allocator would evaluate a manager, size a position, or respond to a risk scenario. If you are still deciding whether you are ready for that shift, see CAIA Level I vs Level II.
Level II is scored across two separate question formats — multiple choice and constructed response — and each topic carries a different weight in each. This is the detail most study plans get wrong: a topic that is heavily weighted on the MCQ side may carry a completely different weight on the CR side, or not appear on one side at all.
Multiple Choice Topic Weights
MCQ makes up 70% of the total exam. Every MCQ question carries equal weight — CAIA achieves topic weighting by including more questions from heavier topics, not by scoring individual questions differently.
Notice that Ethics and Emerging Topics show 0% on the MCQ side. That is not because they are untested — they carry real weight on the constructed response side instead, which is precisely the kind of detail a topic list alone will not tell you. For a full walkthrough of how the two formats are structured, see CAIA Level II Exam Format.
A few changes are worth flagging if you studied an older syllabus or are comparing notes with someone who sat an earlier exam window:
Ethics overhaul
CAIA introduced a revised ethics framework for the 2026 cycle, described by the association as one of the more significant changes in recent years. Candidates relying on older ethics materials should treat this section as effectively new.
Expanded digital assets coverage
Advanced digital asset content — including cryptocurrency trading, investing, and the risks specific to crypto markets — is now part of the core curriculum rather than a peripheral mention.
Rebalancing in illiquid portfolios
New readings focus on when and how to rebalance portfolios that include illiquid and alternative holdings, reflecting more practical, execution-level content than prior editions.
Refreshed Emerging Topics readings
The Emerging Topics section rotates in new academic and practitioner papers each cycle. The 2026 readings include studies on private market fund performance and pension plans' use of direct investments.
A practical way to apply this: treat the 8–12% MCQ topics as roughly equal priority for that portion of your studying, but don't let a 0%-MCQ-weighted topic like Ethics fall to the bottom of your list — it still has to carry its own weight on constructed response, where partial credit and rubric precision matter more than recognition. The CR guide covers how that portion is actually graded.
Once you have a sense of the topic weights, practice volume should follow the same proportions — spend time on MCQ sets in the 8–12% topics accordingly, rather than spreading practice evenly across all ten areas regardless of weight. For the MCQ side specifically, see Level II practice questions.
Practice weighted to how the exam actually scores
2,000+ MCQ questions across all ten topic areas, plus AI-graded constructed response against the official rubric.
Get Full Access — $249 →Do I need to buy a separate curriculum guide?
The 2026 digital curriculum is included with your CAIA registration fee, so you already have access to the full readings. Prep providers build supplementary study notes and practice materials around that same curriculum.
Is the curriculum the same for March and September exam windows?
Yes — both 2026 exam windows are based on the same 2026 curriculum, so there is no separate syllabus per sitting within a given year.
Does Ethics really carry no weight if it's 0% on MCQ?
It carries real weight, just on the constructed response side rather than multiple choice. Treating it as low-priority because of the 0% MCQ figure is a common and costly misreading of the weightings.
How often do the topic weightings themselves change?
Weightings can shift slightly year to year based on CAIA's own review process. Always confirm current weightings against the official curriculum for the exam window you are sitting, rather than relying on a prior year's numbers.
Ready to see where you stand?
Practice tests and constructed response grading built around the actual 2026 topic weightings.
Get Full Access — $249 →Back to the CAIA Level II prep hub. For how to turn these weightings into an actual study schedule, see How to Pass CAIA Level II: A Study Plan That Works.