Download ICSI Previous Papers and CS Executive Question Papers with Answers PDF

Practising these papers before and during your studies shows you what ICSI asks, how the questions are framed and how much you can write in three hours. This article gives the download links, explains how the Executive papers are set and how to use them in your preparation.

CS Executive Question Papers By ICSI

ICSI now publishes previous Executive papers on its Guideline Answers page: each PDF reproduces the full question paper of every paper in the group, question by question, with ICSI's answer after each one. They are free and need no login.

When you download them:

• Read through four or five papers first to get a feel for the questions
• Note what type of questions are asked and which topics come up again
• Check the marks printed against each sub-question
• Plan how you would answer each paper within 3 hours
• Practise one paper at a time, under exam conditions

CS Executive question papers with answers (Syllabus 2022)

Source: ICSI's Guideline Answers page, checked on 9 October 2026. The links open ICSI's own PDFs; check that page for sessions added later. December 2023 was the first Executive exam under Syllabus 2022 (ICSI Student Services FAQs, 18 September 2026).

Finding a paper: CAFM, CMSL, Tax Laws and the others

Each group PDF has all of that group's papers, one after the other, with a contents page at the start. In the June 2026 sets the papers begin on these pages:

Paper names and codes: ICSI Student Services FAQs (18 September 2026); page numbers: contents pages of the June 2026 guideline answers. Other sessions follow the same order, but the page numbers differ.

For Tax Laws & Practice, the June 2026 paper's Part I was set on the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2026-27 and Part II on GST and the Customs Act, 1962. ICSI's Executive Programme page now lists a separate Tax Laws and Practice book "for June 2027 exam onwards", so check tax answers from older sets against the study material for your own session.

Older papers (Syllabus 2017 and earlier)

The links this article used to list for 2020 and 2021 (on icsi.edu/media/webmodules) no longer work. The same Guideline Answers page keeps the older sets, arranged by module rather than group because they belong to earlier, module-based syllabuses: Syllabus 2017 and, for sets up to December 2021 labelled plain "Executive" on the ICSI page, the syllabus before it:

Source: ICSI's Guideline Answers page, checked on 9 October 2026. Sets back to June 2015 are on that page.

The last Executive exam under Syllabus 2017 was held in December 2024, and since June 2025 Executive exams are held under Syllabus 2022 only (ICSI Student Services FAQs, 18 September 2026). The old papers do not match the current ones: the December 2024 Module 2 set, for example, has Corporate & Management Accounting and Financial and Strategic Management as "OMR Based Exam" papers with multiple-choice questions. In our view they are still useful for law topics that carry over, such as company law or general laws, but start with the Syllabus 2022 sets. Our CS Executive syllabus guide shows what each current paper covers.

Preparing for another level? CS Professional guideline answers are on the same ICSI page and are listed in our CS Professional question paper guide. CSEET has its own sample papers, covered in our CSEET exam pattern guide.

CS Executive Exam Pattern and Guidelines

CS Executive (Syllabus 2022) has seven papers in two groups: four in Group 1 and three in Group 2. Each paper carries 100 marks and is written in 3 hours. ICSI's December 2026 time table runs every paper from 2:00 PM to 5:15 PM, with the first 15 minutes for reading the question paper.

Sources: ICSI December 2026 time table; June 2026 guideline answers; Company Secretaries Regulations, 1982, Regulation 36.

A few rules from Regulation 36 are worth knowing when you set targets for your practice papers:

• Passing a group: at least 40% in each paper and 50% in the aggregate of all papers of that group, in one sitting.
• Paper exemption: if you fail a group but score 60% or more in a paper, with at least 25% in each of the group's other papers, you are exempted from that paper in later exams.
• Distinction: at least 60% in each paper and 70% or more in the aggregate of all groups, at one sitting and without any exemption.

Questions test the law as amended up to 31 May of the same year for the December session and up to 30 November of the previous year for the June session, as stated in ICSI's guideline answers. Syllabus 2022 students must also pass ICSI's online Pre-Exam Test before enrolling for the main exams (ICSI Student Services FAQs, 18 September 2026). Exam dates, the exam form windows and fees are in our CS Executive exam date and pattern guide.

Preparation Tips for Acing your Exams

These are our suggestions for planning your studies and getting the most out of past papers:

• Know how you work best. Decide whether you are more productive early in the morning or late at night, with a strict timetable or a looser one, and plan around it.
• Start early. Give yourself enough time to cover all seven papers and revise them; steady progress beats a last-minute rush.
• Learn from ICSI's own material first. The study material for every paper is free on ICSI's Executive Programme page, and the Supplements page has December 2026 supplements for every paper except Paper 4, with two for Tax Laws (direct tax, and GST and customs). Too many extra books and notes rarely help; quality matters more than quantity.
• Check which law applies. ICSI says its guideline answers are based on the law at the time they were prepared and "should be treated as indicative rather than exhaustive". Before you learn an answer from an older set, check the provision against the current study material and supplements.
• Start with the latest sets. The June 2026 and December 2025 papers are the closest to what you will face; work back through the 2024 and 2025 sets next.
• Write full answers against the clock. Attempt a whole paper in 3 hours before you open the answers, then mark your own work against the marks printed for each sub-question.
• Practise the numerical papers on paper. Corporate Accounting and Financial Management and Tax Laws & Practice include calculations; the June 2026 Tax paper asked that working notes form part of the answer and that any assumptions be stated clearly.
• Look after yourself. Take breaks, stay active, eat well and keep time for friends or a hobby. A tired, anxious mind takes in less.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to write answers in the CS executive exam?

Many questions are case studies split into sub-questions worth a few marks each, so answer the question asked: state the relevant provision, apply it to the facts and give a clear conclusion. In our experience, short paragraphs with headings, and section numbers where you know them, make answers easier to mark. ICSI's guideline answers are a good model: they usually cite the relevant section first and then apply it to the facts.

Is there an MCQ in the CS Executive exam?

No multiple-choice questions appeared in the June 2026 CS Executive papers under Syllabus 2022; all answers were written. The old Syllabus 2017 had OMR-based papers with multiple-choice questions, which is why older guides mention them.