CSC (AACN) study plan

Map the Canadian regulatory architecture: state what the CSA, the provincial securities commissions, CIRO as the national self-regulatory organization, and the Bank of Canada each govern, and where their authority overlaps.

Distinguish registration categories under securities law - investment dealer, exempt-market dealer, portfolio manager, and dealing representative - and list the activities each may and may not perform.

Sequence a trade from order entry through execution, clearing at the CDS, and settlement, naming the counterparties and the standard settlement cycle at each step.

Compare the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange, and alternative trading systems on listing standards, issuer profile, liquidity, and visibility.

Explain the transmission channel from monetary policy, fiscal policy, interest rates, and the business cycle into equity and bond market performance, with one concrete example per channel.

Close Domain 1 by describing how the S&P/TSX Composite and other benchmarks are constructed and what a given index move implies about sector leadership.

Classify equity securities by common versus preferred, voting versus non-voting, and explain shareholder rights, dividend mechanics, and dilution from rights offerings and bought deals.

Outline bond features - coupon, term, call, put, retractable, extendible, convertible - and identify for each whether the feature favours the issuer or the investor.

Contrast primary market issuance (prospectus, marketed versus bought deal) with secondary market trading, and state who bears the pricing risk in each.

Differentiate the tax treatment of interest, eligible Canadian dividends, and capital gains in a taxable account, including the gross-up and dividend tax credit mechanism.

Compute a bond's price from a given yield and the yield from a given price, then explain the inverse price-yield relationship across differing coupons, terms, and yield levels.

Interpret current yield, yield to maturity, and yield to call, and distinguish nominal from real return after inflation.

Define option terminology and compute payoff and profit at expiry for long and short calls and puts, including the break-even and maximum loss points.

Explain futures, forwards, and swaps on obligation versus right, margin and marking to market, and hedging versus speculative use.

Rank straight, retractable, floating-rate, and rate-reset preferred shares by risk and describe how the rate-reset mechanism reprices the dividend.

Compare mutual funds, ETFs, segregated funds, closed-end funds, and hedge funds on legal structure, pricing (NAV versus market price), fee load, and liquidity.

Explain the management expense ratio, trailing commissions, front-end and back-end loads, and how fee-based pricing changes the total cost to a client over a ten-year horizon.

Describe principal-protected notes and structured products: the guarantee mechanism, participation rate, cap, and the credit exposure behind the guarantee.

Match six written client scenarios to suitable products and justify each recommendation with two product features and one stated risk.

Open Domain 3 by restating the asset-based, relative, and discounted cash flow valuation approaches and the conditions under which each is appropriate.

Compute and interpret liquidity, leverage, profitability, and efficiency ratios from a supplied balance sheet and income statement, and flag where the ratios contradict each other.

Value a common share using constant-growth and multi-stage dividend discount models and state the assumptions that cause each model to break down.

Apply relative valuation using P/E, P/B, P/S, and EV/EBITDA, and identify the situation in which each multiple gives a misleading answer.

Analyse fixed-income price sensitivity by computing duration and estimating convexity effects, then explain reinvestment risk versus interest-rate risk across horizons.

Explain how GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, and central bank stance feed into sector rotation and earnings forecasts.

Interpret technical analysis tools - trend lines, support and resistance, moving averages, volume, and RSI - and state the main academic criticisms of the discipline.

Compute holding-period return, expected return, standard deviation, covariance, and correlation for a two-asset portfolio, then quantify the diversification benefit.

Explain systematic versus unsystematic risk, beta, the security market line, and what CAPM implies for a client's required return.

Illustrate the efficient frontier and the effect of correlation on portfolio risk, and list the assumptions CAPM relies on that fail in practice.

Draft the risk-and-return section of a client investment policy statement using a scored risk-tolerance questionnaire and a stated time horizon.

Build a complete investment policy statement for three distinct client profiles, covering return objective, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity, tax position, legal and regulatory constraints, and unique circumstances.

Recommend an asset allocation and a rebalancing rule for each profile, defending the trade-offs against at least one plausible alternative.

Compare RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF, and FHSA on contribution limits, deductibility, withdrawal rules, and best-fit client situation.

Compute after-tax outcomes for interest income, eligible dividends, and capital gains held inside versus outside a registered plan.

Apply the standards of conduct in the CSC ethics material to four conflicted scenarios: know-your-client failure, suitability breach, undisclosed conflict of interest, and unauthorized personal trading.

Sit three full-length timed practice exams under test conditions and log every incorrect answer by domain and by error type: knowledge gap, misread question, or calculation slip.

Re-teach the two weakest topics from Domains 1 and 2 using condensed notes, then re-test each topic with 20 fresh questions at 85% or better.

Reproduce from a blank page every formula needed for Domains 3 and 4 - bond pricing, duration, dividend discount model, key ratios, portfolio risk, and after-tax return.

Consolidate all flagged items into a single one-page facts-to-remember sheet and confirm it covers at least 25 distinct points with no duplicates.