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Simplified notes
Short, colourful pages that say the thing once, plainly. No padding, no restating the same sentence three ways to fill a chapter. If a paragraph is not teaching you something, it gets cut.
Issue 01 Study hub Canadian finance licensing
Exam prep that finally makes sense.
Most licensing material is dense, grey and written like a legal filing. You read four pages, close the book, and realise you could not explain a single idea back to anyone. BayStreet Prep exists because that is a bad way to learn — and a worse way to pass.
Everything here is broken into bite-sized lessons. Colourful simplified notes, visual breakdowns of the ideas that trip people up, formula shortcuts you can actually recall under pressure, and practice questions that tell you where you are weak before the exam does.
It is built for people entering banking, wealth management, insurance and capital markets — anyone who wants a modern, intuitive way to study instead of a textbook to survive.
Issue 01 Coverage Drag to browse
The exams we cover
Six certifications, one way of explaining things. Grab the strip and pull it sideways — or use the arrows if you are on a keyboard.
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CSC
Canadian Securities Course
The gateway credential for most retail banking and investment roles. Heavy on market structure, regulation and the products you will be selling on day one.
Notes · Visuals · Practice
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CIFC
Canadian Investment Funds Course
Mutual fund licensing. Fund types, fee structures, know-your-client and suitability — the parts that come up in real conversations with clients.
Notes · Visuals · Practice
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LLQP
Life Licence Qualification Program
Life and health insurance. Long, terminology-dense, and unforgiving on definitions. We break the contract language into plain sentences.
Notes · Visuals · Practice
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CPH
Conduct and Practices Handbook
Ethics, compliance and the rules of the trading floor. Reads like policy; we teach it like scenarios, because that is how it is tested.
Notes · Visuals · Practice
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PFSA
Personal Financial Services Advice
Advice, planning and client relationships. The soft-skill exam people underestimate until they are writing it.
Notes · Visuals · Practice
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Other banking & investment certifications
Additional banking, wealth and capital markets certifications are being added over time. Tell us which one you are writing and it moves up the list.
In progress
Issue 01 Notes Latest
Start with one of these
Six notes are up. Each one is a single idea, explained the way you would explain it to a colleague — plain version first, then the visual, the shortcut and the trap.
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Why bond prices move the opposite way to interest rates
The relationship that trips up more first-time candidates than any other. One idea, one diagram, one shortcut.
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The three accounts you must know cold
RRSP, TFSA and non-registered — what each one is for, and the one sentence that separates them in an exam question.
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Know your client, in plain language
KYC is not paperwork. It is the evidence trail that proves a recommendation was suitable — and it is examined that way.
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Term vs permanent: the comparison that actually decides it
Two products, one decision. The exam tests whether you can match the product to the need rather than recite definitions.
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Conflicts of interest: spot them before they become a complaint
The handbook is written like policy. It is examined like scenarios — so learn the pattern, not the paragraph.
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The discovery conversation, step by step
The soft-skill exam people underestimate. It is marked on process, so learn the process.
Issue 01 Method Four formats
Four ways every topic gets explained
A concept is not learned because you read it once. It is learned because you met it four different ways. Each lesson runs the same topic through all four.
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Visual breakdowns
Diagrams for the ideas that resist prose — yield curves, settlement flows, insurance contract structures, the difference between two products that sound identical in the textbook.
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Formula shortcuts
The formulas you actually need, with the memory hook that makes them stick and the common trap that makes people get them wrong under time pressure.
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Practice questions
Questions in the style the exam asks them, each with an explanation of why the right answer is right and why the tempting one is wrong. That second part is where the learning happens.
Issue 01 Sample lesson Format preview
What a lesson looks like
A short illustration of the format. The real lessons go deeper — this is the shape of them.
Sample · Bond pricing
Why bond prices move the opposite way to interest rates
The plain version
You are holding a bond that pays a fixed coupon. Rates go up. New bonds now pay more than yours. Nobody wants yours at full price, so the price drops until your coupon plus the discount adds up to the same return as the new bonds.
The visual
Rates ↑
new bonds pay more
Price ↓
yours is worth less
Opposite directions, always. That is the whole relationship.
The shortcut
price moves against yield
Longer maturity and lower coupon both mean a bigger swing. If a question mentions a 30-year zero-coupon bond, expect the largest price move in the answer set.
The practice question
Rates rise by 1%. Which bond falls the most in price?
- A · 2-year, 6% coupon
- B · 10-year, 6% coupon
- C · 30-year, 2% coupon
- D · 30-year, 8% coupon
Answer: C. Longest maturity and lowest coupon — both amplifiers stack. D has the same maturity but a fatter coupon cushioning it.
Issue 01 Audience Who this is for
Built for people starting out
If you are entering the industry
You have a licensing exam between you and the job. You may be working full time while you study, or finishing a degree, or switching careers entirely. You need material that respects your evenings.
If the textbook is not working
You have read the chapter twice and it still slides off. That is usually a writing problem, not a you problem. Different framing, a diagram and one worked example often do what four pages could not.
If you are writing soon
You know the material roughly and need to find the gaps fast. Practice questions with real explanations are the quickest way to locate what you have been avoiding.
Issue 01 Questions Before you start
Common questions
Which exams does BayStreet Prep cover?
CSC, CIFC, LLQP, CPH and PFSA, plus other Canadian banking and investment certifications as they are added. If you are writing something not listed yet, say so — it helps decide what gets built next.
Is this a replacement for the official course material?
No. The official material is what you are examined against, and you should have it. This is the layer that makes it understandable — the plain-language version, the diagram, the shortcut, and the practice that shows you where you stand.
How long is each lesson?
Deliberately short. The point is to understand one core idea and move on, rather than sit through a chapter. You can work through a topic on a commute and come back to the practice questions later.
I am switching careers — is this too advanced for me?
It is written for people entering the industry, not for people already in it. No assumed background beyond basic numeracy. Where a term is unavoidable, it gets defined the first time it appears.
Do I need an account?
You can look around without one. [Account and access details — to be confirmed.]
How much does it cost?
[Pricing — to be confirmed.]
Issue 01 Get started Say hello
Tell us which exam you are writing
Send a note with the certification you are preparing for and where you are getting stuck. We will point you at the right lessons — and it tells us what to build next.