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Before Sit for the CFA Exam eBook
Get advice from CFA Charterholders for a successful exam day.Becoming a CFA Charterholder
February 18, 2025
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The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst®) charter is primarily a postgraduate professional designation that certifies the competence and ethics of financial analysts. According to CFA Institute, which offers the charter, it is the most respected and recognized investment management designation in the world. The process of earning the CFA charter will give you deep knowledge in the areas of investment analysis, asset management, and ethics.
CFA Institute has a global network of over 167,000 investment professionals and numerous societies around the world. The CFA charter is recognized by regulators, universities, and certification programs in at least 30 countries and territories. You’ll gain unmatched career resources and relationships by holding the charter and joining a CFA Society, as well as access to jobs around the world that require a CFA charter or candidacy.
Learn about what you need to know before enrolling into the CFA Program.
Achieve the required work and/or educational experience. Before registering for the CFA level I exam, you need to have completed a bachelor’s degree, have two years remaining in your undergraduate studies, or have 4,000 hours years of combined work experience and/or undergraduate education.
Practical Skill Modules (PSMs) need to be completed in CFAI's Learning Ecosystem before your exam results are released. PSMs cover a variety of CFA curriculum topics like financial modeling and AI. These PSMs must be finished before exam results are released, failure to do so will result in your exam result being voided, and you won't be provided you a pass or fail result. This means that in order to advance to the next exam level, you'll need to retest at the same exam level.
Pass all three levels of the CFA exam. Although passing even just Level I of the CFA exam is an impressive addition to your resume, you need to pass all three to become a CFA charterholder.
Submit reference letters. Submit two to three professional reference letters (two if one is an active member of the local CFA society to which you’re applying, three if not). Have a valid international passport and live in a participating country.
Complete your application to become a CFA charterholder. The CFA charterholder application requires that you have qualifying work experience in addition to your professional references.
The CFA exam is made up of three levels, each designed to test your knowledge of different investment tools and skills. You should expect to spend approximately 300 hours studying for each level. Candidates typically take between 4 and 5 years to pass all three levels of the CFA exam.
The CFA exam is a series of three exams: Levels I, II, and III. Learn more about the exam in this video.
The Learning Outcome Statements (LOS) and core concepts on the CFA exams are built from the Candidate Body of Knowledge™, which is developed by the CFA Institute. While the curriculum is updated every exam cycle, all three levels of the CFA exam focus on the same 10 topic areas. Exam weights vary by level and can change slightly from year-to-year.
The following topic areas are covered in the CFA Program:
Asset Allocation
Portfolio Construction
Performance Measurement
Derivatives and Risk Management
Pathways (Portfolio Management, Private Markets, or Private Wealth)
84% of CFA® charterholders agree that the CFA curriculum is valuable in their career after having earned the CFA charter*
The CFA curriculum is comprehensive and challenging even for experienced financial professionals. For candidates just getting introduced to the skills required of financial professionals, financial modeling courses can help enhance excel skills and prepare individuals for a shift into a finance or investment-related career.
Many of the top financial firms employ CFA charterholders because they are seen as having attained the “gold standard” of the industry. Holding the CFA charter demonstrates mastery of a broad range of practical portfolio management and advanced investment analysis skills.
Finance professionals who are active CFA charterholders can be rewarded with significant earning benefits such as:
Performance-based bonuses
Access to high-net-worth clients
Consulting and advisory roles
Opportunities in alternative investments
Entrepreneurial pursuits
42% of surveyed CFA® charterholders stated they received a salary increase after having earned the CFA charter**
CFA charterholders guide businesses and individuals who are making investment decisions. Assessing the performance of stocks, bonds, and other types of investments, they work in banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and other businesses. Some of the most common roles for CFA charterholders include:
Portfolio managers are in charge of a fund or group of funds, working with analysts, researchers, and clients to stay current on the markets.
Research analysts review data and market movements to make future predictions.
Risk managers help their company anticipate changes and avoid potential financial pitfalls.
Financial advisors typically help clients with investments, tax laws, and insurance product selection decisions.
The CFA Level I exam is a computer-based, multiple-choice test that will take you approximately 4.5 hours to complete (broken into two 2.25-hour sections with an optional break in between). The CFA Level I exam is offered four times a year so find a CFA exam date that works for you.
The pass rates for the Level I exam are the lowest of the three levels and you must meet certain qualifications in order to take the CFA Level I exam.
Level I of the CFA exam tests knowledge and comprehension. The focus is on investment tools and ethical and professional standards. The Level I curriculum mainly focuses on recalling formulas and definitions from memory, and most of the material is a straightforward introduction to the concepts covered.
The Level I CFA exam covers 19 study sessions, 57 readings, and 10 topics.
There are 180 total questions in the CFA Level I exam, all of which are free-standing. There is no penalty for incorrect answers, so try to answer as many questions as you can. Each of the Level I exam questions is unrelated to the others and is usually a prompt, such as, “The period of time within which a hedge fund must fulfill a redemption request is called…” This is not the case for Level II and Level III.
15-20% | |
6-9% | |
6-9% | |
6-9% | |
11-14% | |
11-14% | |
11-14% | |
5-8% | |
7-10% | |
8-12% |
The CFA Level II exam is a computer-based, 4.5-hour exam similar to Level I in administration method and timing, but the questions on the CFA Level II exam are vignette-based, not free-standing. The CFA Level II exam is offered three times per year.
The pass rate for the Level II exam historically hovers between 45% and 46% depending on the timeframe. That means that even though fewer candidates sat for the Level II exam than Level I and less than half of them passed. It is generally believed by CFA charterholders that Level II is the hardest level.
Level II of the CFA exam tests application and analysis with a focus on asset valuation. Unlike Level I, Level II focuses on how you apply standards to situations that analysts face.
The CFA Level II exam has 88 multiple-choice questions that cover 48 readings and has 14 study sessions. The Level II exam has questions organized as “item sets,” each based on a shared situation, called a vignette, with four to six multiple-choice questions that go deep into a single topic.
Be prepared to demonstrate that you can apply tools and relationships to the analysis of financial data and the valuation of assets. Memorizing concepts should not be your focus; instead, you need to show you understand how to use them.
Each vignette uses a combination of text, tables, financial statements, and more to describe a business scenario. Learn how to scan through a vignette quickly and pick out the pieces of data needed to answer a particular question.
The 10 topics for the CFA Level II exam are the same as Level I, but at Level II, CFA Institute provides a different range of topic weights.
For example, Portfolio Management in Level II can have a weight anywhere from 10–15% (each 5% weighting represents one item set on the exam).
Ethical and Professional Standards, Financial Statement Analysis, Equity Investments, Fixed Income, and Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning are the key topics for passing Level II with topic weights of 10–15%.
You can register for Level II of the CFA exam once you pass Level I.
The CFA Level III exam is a computer-based, 4.5-hour exam, but the format is significantly different from Levels I and II. The CFA Level III exam requires you to demonstrate the same skills as Level II, but you also have to show that you can make judgment calls and that you can write about them. The exam is also more subjective than Level II.
The constructed-response section of the Level III CFA exam is Level III’s biggest difference from Level II and Level I. You must answer open-ended questions on a blank piece of paper without any answers to choose from.
The CFA Level III exam only covers six topics and includes Specialized Pathways which must be chosen by each candidate to represent their "specialty".
The first session of the CFA Level III exam is comprised of 8 to 11 vignettes followed by several questions that require a written response." ... "The second session of the CFA Level III exam is comprised of 44 multiple-choice items, each worth 3 points. Each item set on the CFA exam consists of a vignette followed by either 4 or 6 multiple-choice questions. In total there are 52 - 55 questions on the CFA III exam.
The Level III CFA exam integrates more topics in a question than Level II. For example, a question may combine the concepts from Ethical and Professional Standards with Asset Allocation.
The topic weights for the Level III CFA exam are as follows:
Asset Allocation: 15–20%
Portfolio Construction: 15–20%
Performance Measurement: 5–10%
Derivatives and Risk Management: 10–15%
Ethical and Professional Standards: 10–15%
Pathways (Portfolio Management, Private Markets, or Private Wealth): 30–35%
The pass rate for Level III is the highest of the three levels. It is usually over 50%.
The CFA exams are notorious for their difficulty. Rather than just answering how difficult is the CFA? We’ve asked some of our former students, who are now CFA charterholders, to provide their opinions on the question.
“It is one of the most difficult exams in the world.” – Hu Jia, CFA
“Having already passed the CMA, CFM, and CPA programs, I was overwhelmed with the amount of study and preparation that was required for the CFA Program.” – John Mario Furtado
It’s definitely tough. Our students have said it’s harder than any other designation program they’ve ever done. But, that makes getting through the program even more rewarding.
“Finishing the charter was one of the best feelings of accomplishment I’ve ever had in my career.” – Tim Davis, CFA
Achieving the CFA charter is no small feat, but all of the former students we talked to said it’s worth the hours of commitment. It is a true test of perseverance and discipline. The sky’s the limit if you can commit to preparing for it!
Everyone who takes a CFA exam is provided with a “pass” or “did not pass” exam result and a summary of performance in each topic area. Level I and II results are released within 5-8 weeks of the exam date and Level III within 8 weeks.
To pass, a candidate needs to meet the minimum passing score (MPS), which is never given and varies year to year, which can make it difficult to interpret the results of your CFA exam. Candidates will receive an indicator of the score range for each topic area instead (<50%, 51–70%, >70%), along with their final result. Level III candidates are provided with only two topic area summaries: one reflecting the essay portion and one reflecting the item set portion.
Individuals who do not pass the exam are also given more information about their performance relative to all other candidates who did not pass. All candidates who did not pass are divided into 10 equal score bands, which shows how well an individual score compares with the overall scores of others who did not pass.
Preparing a thorough CFA study plan is the best way to ensure effective CFA Exam preparation that will help you pass the exam.
Get proven strategies for organizing your study plan and making the most of your 300 hours.
As you get ready for your next CFA exam, consider making a Kaplan Schweser CFA exam prep package—complete with classes, practice exams, and mock exams—the centerpiece of your mission to earn a passing grade.
Before Sit for the CFA Exam eBook
Get advice from CFA Charterholders for a successful exam day.
CFA Program Fundamentals eBook
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*These are the findings of a quantitative survey conducted by Kaplan between May 2 and May 27, 2024. For this survey, a sample of 728 CFA® Level I, II, and III candidates was interviewed online, of which 307 are CFA charterholders.
**Earnings increases are dependent on numerous factors other than, or in addition to, earning the CFA® charter, including specific employment conditions and individual experience. Kaplan Schweser does not guarantee any earnings increase resulting directly from such designation. These are the findings of a quantitative survey conducted by Kaplan between May 2 and May 27, 2024. For this survey, a sample of 728 CFA Level I, II, and III candidates was interviewed online, of which 305 are CFA charterholders and were employed at the time of the survey.