Series XV
Research Analyst
50 questionsPass mark 60%Negative marking 25% / wrong answer
NISM Series XV: Research Analyst
The research analyst paper: how a company and a security are analysed, the economic and industry context that analysis sits in, valuation, and the regulations that govern publishing research in India.
Questions1001 mark each
Duration120 min2 hours
Pass mark60%60 of 100 marks
Negative marking25%0.25 marks off per wrong answer
NISM Series XV Research Analyst
Exam rules read on NISM's site on 3 October 2026. Exam pattern revised on 20 January 2026. Check the current rules on NISM's site (opens in a new tab)
The NISM-Series-XV: Research Analyst Certification Examination is 100 questions worth 100 marks in 120 minutes, and 60% is the pass mark. A wrong answer costs 0.25 marks and a blank costs nothing, so the two are not the same choice. The certificate is valid 3 years from the date of the examination. Every figure here was read from NISM's own published pages on 3 October 2026.
What the Series XV certification is for
The research analyst paper: how a company and a security are analysed, the economic and industry context that analysis sits in, valuation, and the regulations that govern publishing research in India.
Who takes it
People producing or publishing research reports — research analysts and their principals.
Why it is on this site
The certification that governs publishing analysis in India, alongside SEBI's Research Analyst regulations. It is the paper that draws the line between an observation and a recommendation — the same line this site is built on.
Exam format at a glance
Questions1001 mark each
Total marks100100 × 1
Duration120 min2 hours
Pass mark60%60 of 100 marks
Negative marking25%0.25 marks off per wrong answer
Certificate validity3 yearsfrom the date of the examination
Under the pattern revised on 20 January 2026: 80 standalone multiple-choice questions plus 5 case-study sets of 4 questions each, 100 marks in 120 minutes. 60% to pass, 25% negative marking.
The examination fee is deliberately not printed here. NISM publishes it per certification and revises it from time to time, and a fee is the one figure on a page like this that somebody acts on with money — read the current one on nism.ac.in.
How the marking works — and what the quiz here does with it
Each question carries 1 mark, so the paper is scored out of 100 and 60 marks are needed to pass. A wrong answer deducts 25% of the marks assigned to the question — 0.25 marks here. A question left unanswered scores nothing and deducts nothing, so a wrong answer and a blank are not equivalent, and deciding between them is part of what the paper tests.
The practice quiz here uses these same figures. Timed practice applies this pass mark and this deduction. Its clock runs at this paper's pace (120 minutes for 100 questions), scaled to the size of your set.
How to study for Series XV, in order
This is an evidence paper wearing a valuation paper's clothes. Nearly every ratio on it is arithmetic a candidate can already do. What is examined is whether you know what the ratio does and does not establish — and a ratio is informative only once its numerator, its denominator and the period it covers are all understood.
This sequence is LearnNifty's. NISM publishes the curriculum and test objectives for this exam, but no study order. Use this sequence alongside the official material.
- Read the business before you read a ratioBe able to say how a company earns its revenue, what drives its costs, where its capital is tied up and what could interrupt its cash generation. Every later stage is an attempt to put a number on one of those, and a number attached to a business you cannot describe is not analysis.
- Separate the questions a set of accounts answersRevenue growth, profit growth and operating cash flow are three different questions and can point in different directions at once: a company can record accounting profit while its cash sits in receivables or inventory. Practise saying what a gap like that raises as a question to investigate, rather than treating it as either an accusation or a non-event. That habit is what a case is built to test.
- Only then value itA multiple means nothing alone. Practise stating, every time, what would have to be true for it to be cheap — comparable accounting periods, a view on business quality, an expectation about earnings, the financial risks carried, and a benchmark you can justify. A candidate who can list those can answer a valuation question about a company they have never heard of.
- Then the responsibilities that attach to publishing itThe conduct and disclosure requirements around research are examinable, and they are not an appendix to the analysis. The line they draw is the one worth memorising: a report has to make clear where the data stops and where the analyst's assumption begins — and a certificate is not evidence that either half turned out to be right.
The case sets change how you practise, not only what you read
The pattern this examination runs is stated in full in the format section above, and the part that matters for preparation is its shape rather than its arithmetic: some of the paper hangs several questions off a single passage. That inverts the cost of a misreading. On a standalone question a misread costs that question. On a case, everything in the set rests on your having read the same passage correctly.
It also means a question bank assembled before the revision can feel complete while rehearsing only part of the paper. Ours is written against the published syllabus rather than against the case format, so use the questions here for the standalone half and practise the case half on the official material.
The drill is dull and it works: read the passage once for the business and once for the numbers, and write down what period each figure covers, before you look at the questions at all.
The kinds of thing a passage gets used to ask for, so you can practise each one deliberately. These are our labels for the reasoning, not NISM's breakdown of a case, and they do not correspond one-to-one to the questions attached to one — that count is in the exam format above.
| What is being asked for | The form it takes |
|---|---|
| Extract a stated fact | What period do these figures cover, and which of them are given rather than derived? |
| Calculate under the stated assumptions | Work the figure the passage supports, and no further than the assumptions it states. |
| Interpret a limitation | Does the multiple you have just computed establish that the share is cheap? Say why not. |
| Identify the evidence that is missing | What would you need to see to explain the gap between the profit and the cash? |
What this paper's marking should change about how you answer
A wrong answer costs 0.25 marks. A blank costs nothing. Separate two cases: “I have narrowed it to two” and “I am picking at random”. The first is worth answering. The second risks the deduction. Mark which case each answer was before you check it, or you will remember every lucky guess as knowledge.
Reviewing what you got wrong is a separate skill from answering, and it is the one that decides whether the next paper is better than this one. The practice set for this paper explains every wrong option rather than only marking it, and its result screen sorts your mistakes by the kind of mistake they were.
Syllabus units, and what each is worth
16 practice topics, in the order our questions are written. Each row links to the topic's full questions and answers. Each answer explains why the other options are wrong. No unit weightage was found in the official exam material, so this table has no marks column.
Test yourself on this syllabus
It is marked with the pass mark and negative marking shown above.
150 Series XV practice questions
Answer one at a time and see the reason straight away. Or sit a timed set marked like this paper: 0.25 marks off for a wrong answer, 60% to pass.
Start practising →NISM Series XV mock tests
Three fixed papers of 50 questions each, timed at this exam's pace, with its pass mark and negative marking. When you submit, you see your score and why each answer is right.
Take a mock test →Every series' practice set
The other certifications we hold questions for, each scored on its own published pass mark and marking rule — which are not the same as this paper's.
Browse every series →Which NISM exam applies to you
Which series fits your work, with the lessons and tools for each one.
Open the certification hub →The other certifications on this site
- Series VIII — Equity Derivatives
- Series V-A — Mutual Fund Distributors
- Series VII — Securities Operations and Risk Management
- Series I — Currency Derivatives
- Series X-A — Investment Adviser (Level 1)
- Series IV — Interest Rate Derivatives
- Series VI — Depository Operations
- Series XVI — Commodity Derivatives
- Series XXI-A — Portfolio Management Services (PMS) Distributors
Sources & review date. The question count, total marks, duration, pass mark, negative marking and certificate validity above come from NISM's own pages for the NISM-Series-XV: Research Analyst Certification Examination, last read on 3 October 2026. Marks per question, marks needed to pass and marks lost per wrong answer are worked out from those figures. We found no published marks for each unit of this exam, so none are shown here. Other weightage tables are estimates. The unit headings follow the order of these practice questions. Compare them with NISM's published unit list.
NISM Series XV: common questions
How many questions are in the NISM Series XV exam?
The NISM-Series-XV: Research Analyst Certification Examination has 100 questions worth 100 marks in total, to be completed in 120 minutes (2 hours).
What is the passing score for NISM Series XV?
60%, which on a 100-mark paper means 60 marks, calculated after negative marking has been applied to wrong answers. Checked against NISM's own published page for this examination on 3 October 2026.
Is there negative marking in NISM Series XV?
Yes — 25% of the marks assigned to a question. Each question here carries 1 mark, so a wrong answer costs 0.25 marks. A question left unanswered neither earns nor deducts anything, so a wrong answer and a blank are not the same thing.
How long is the NISM Series XV certificate valid?
3 years from the date of the examination. NISM also runs a Continuing Professional Education programme for its certifications. Confirm the current revalidation route on nism.ac.in before your certificate expires.
Are the practice questions on this page from the NISM Series XV exam?
No. LearnNifty wrote all 150 of them from NISM's public syllabus for this certification. NISM does not publish its question bank. The questions help you practise the syllabus. They cannot predict the paper.
What does the NISM Series XV syllabus cover?
Our practice questions for this certification are sorted into 16 topics: Introduction to Research Analyst Profession, Introduction to Securities Market, Terminology in Equity and Debt Markets, Fundamentals of Research, Economic Analysis, Industry Analysis, Company Analysis – Business and Governance, Company Analysis – Financial Analysis, Corporate Actions, Valuation Principles, Fundamental analysis of commodities, Fundamentals of Risk and Return, Qualities of a Good Research Report, Legal and Regulatory Environment, Technical Analysis, Case Study - Valuation. That is the structure the practice set follows. NISM publishes its own curriculum and test objectives for the examination on nism.ac.in, and the workbook current for your sitting is the only examinable material.
Where does LearnNifty get these NISM Series XV exam figures from?
The question count, time, pass mark, negative marking and certificate validity come from NISM's own exam pages, last read on 3 October 2026. The quiz here marks with the same figures. NISM changes them from time to time, so confirm them on nism.ac.in before you register.
Sit a Series XV paper marked on the figures above
Series XV questions written against the published syllabus and scored under this paper’s own rules — 60% to pass, 0.25 marks off for a wrong answer. Practice mode explains every option as you go. Timed practice hides answers until you submit.
Open the Series XV practice questions