CFA® Level I Exam Fixed Income Practice Questions

Fixed Income is 11–14% of the CFA® Level I exam and heavy on calculation. Practice original questions on pricing, yields, the term structure, duration and convexity, credit and securitization, each with the working shown.

Take the full timed Level I mock exam

180 three-choice questions in two timed sessions of 135 minutes, weighted like the real exam, with a score by topic and the full working for every answer. 23 of the 180 questions are fixed income.

Or try the free fixed income drill
  • 72 original fixed income questions with worked answers
  • 11–14% of the exam under the 2027 curriculum, session 2
  • 23 of the 180 questions in our full mock
Free sample · Question 1 of 3Fixed Income

A mortgage pool has a conditional prepayment rate (CPR) of 6% per year. The equivalent single monthly mortality rate (SMM), consistent with monthly compounding of prepayments, is closest to:

What our fixed income questions cover

  • Bond features, covenants, cash flow structures and embedded options
  • Bond prices from yields, accrued interest, flat and full prices, matrix pricing
  • Yield spreads (G-spread, I-spread, Z-spread, option-adjusted spread), floating-rate and money market yields
  • Spot, par and forward rates and bootstrapping
  • Macaulay, modified, effective and money duration, PVBP and convexity
  • Credit risk, expected loss, credit ratings and credit analysis
  • Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, prepayment risk and tranching
Line drawing of a bond certificate with detachable coupons, an hourglass and a stack of coins

This list is our own summary of the topic, written for practice. The official topic outline and learning outcomes are published by CFA Institute for registered candidates.

Drill fixed income, then sit the full mock

Take the full timed Level I mock exam

180 three-choice questions in two timed sessions of 135 minutes, weighted like the real exam, with a score by topic and the full working for every answer. 23 of the 180 questions are fixed income.

Or try the free fixed income drill

Ideas the questions test most

  1. Price and yield move in opposite directions. A bond priced below par has a coupon rate below its yield to maturity.
  2. Modified duration estimates the percentage price change for a 1% change in yield: %ΔP ≈ −ModDur × Δy + ½ × Convexity × (Δy)².
  3. Macaulay duration equals the investment horizon at which reinvestment risk and price risk offset each other.
  4. Expected loss equals the probability of default times the loss given default.
  5. Prepayments shorten mortgage-backed securities when rates fall (contraction risk) and slow when rates rise (extension risk).

Start the free fixed income drill · Full Level I mock exam · Mixed drill

Common questions

How much fixed income is on the CFA Level I exam?

Fixed Income is 11–14% of the Level I exam under both the 2026 and the 2027 curriculum, tested in session 2.

Which fixed income calculations come up most?

Bond prices and yields, accrued interest, spot and forward rates, Macaulay and modified duration, the price change estimate with convexity, money market yields and expected loss.

Take the full timed Level I mock exam

180 three-choice questions in two timed sessions of 135 minutes, weighted like the real exam, with a score by topic and the full working for every answer. 23 of the 180 questions are fixed income.

Or try the free fixed income drill

More Level I topics

Topic weights and exam format: CFA Institute: Level I exam (format and topic weights), checked November 2026.

Game Assessment Prep is an independent practice site. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or a prep provider of CFA Institute, and CFA Institute does not endorse, promote or warrant the accuracy of these questions. Every question is original; none is taken from CFA Institute materials.

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