CFA Level 1 at a Glance
Quick answer: CFA Level 1 is the first of three exams in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program, run by CFA Institute. It is a computer-based test of 180 multiple-choice questions, split into two 135-minute sessions on one day. It runs four times a year — February, May, August and November — and costs USD 1,140 (early registration) or USD 1,490 (standard) with no separate enrolment fee.
The exam covers ten topics, from ethics to portfolio management, with published weight ranges for each. Alongside the exam you complete one short online Practical Skills Module — mandatory, or your result is voided. Results arrive within five to seven weeks. In the newest published window, May 2026, 39% of Level 1 candidates worldwide passed.
Candidates report spending over 300 hours preparing. This guide walks the format, syllabus, fees, dates, results and preparation — every fact from CFA Institute's own pages, accessed 8 July 2026.
What Is the CFA Level 1 Exam?
Think of the CFA Program as a three-storey building; Level 1 is the ground floor that everything else stands on. It tests whether you know the tools of investing — how to read financial statements, price a bond, judge a portfolio — before Levels 2 and 3 test whether you can apply and combine them. Our overview of the full CFA Program maps all three floors.
The exam is computer-based and runs at proctored test centres, scheduled through CFA Institute's testing vendor, Prometric — Indian candidates book seats in major cities the same way as candidates everywhere. It is offered only in English, at every centre worldwide.
Who can sit it? One of three routes: a completed bachelor's degree in any discipline; being an undergraduate whose exam window falls 23 months or fewer before graduation month; or 4,000 hours of professional work experience built over at least three sequential years. Every candidate also needs a valid international travel passport. The full rules, with worked examples, are in our CFA eligibility guide.
What Is the Exam Format on the Day?
You answer 180 multiple-choice questions in one day: two sessions of 90 questions, 135 minutes each, with an optional break between them (the official schedule allots about 30 minutes for it, inside a 31-minute break section). Add the 19-minute check-in tutorial and a short survey, and you are at the centre for roughly 5.5 hours for about 4.5 hours of actual exam content.
Every question is a stem plus three answer choices (A, B or C) — no "all of the above", no multi-select. CFA Institute's pacing advice: "On average, you should allow approximately 90 seconds for each multiple-choice question."
Marking is refreshingly simple. In CFA Institute's words: "All questions are equally weighted and there is no penalty for an incorrect answer." So never leave a blank — a guess costs nothing and a blank earns nothing. One more quirk: your exam "may have included unscored items" — trial questions gathering statistics. They are not identified and do not affect your score, so treat every question as real.
What Does Level 1 Test? (2026 Topic Weights)
Ten topics, each with an official weight range. The exam splits them across the two sessions, so your morning and afternoon feel different — the morning leans on ethics, accounting and maths; the afternoon on investments themselves.
| Session | Topic | 2026 exam weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethical and Professional Standards | 15–20% |
| 1 | Quantitative Methods | 6–9% |
| 1 | Economics | 6–9% |
| 1 | Financial Statement Analysis | 11–14% |
| 1 | Corporate Issuers | 6–9% |
| 2 | Equity Investments | 11–14% |
| 2 | Fixed Income | 11–14% |
| 2 | Derivatives | 5–8% |
| 2 | Alternative Investments | 7–10% |
| 2 | Portfolio Management | 8–12% |
Plain takeaway: Ethics is the single heaviest topic, and the four "big" areas — Ethics, Financial Statement Analysis, Equity, Fixed Income — together decide roughly half your exam.
Two practical notes. Accounting questions default to IFRS — international accounting rules — "unless otherwise noted"; if a question means US GAAP, it says so explicitly. And weights are ranges, not promises: your paper might sit anywhere inside them, so skipping a "small" topic like Derivatives still risks 5–8% of the exam.
Studying for 2027? The curriculum changes from the February 2027 window — CFA Institute says the updates "represent about 25 percent of the CFA Level I exam", centred on Quantitative Methods and Equity, plus a new module on financial data science, AI and large language models. Full breakdown in our 2027 curriculum changes guide. Sitting in 2026 means the current syllabus, unchanged.
What Is the Practical Skills Module (PSM)?
Since 2024-era reforms, each level pairs the exam with one Practical Skills Module — a self-paced online course teaching a hands-on skill. At Level 1 you choose between Financial Modeling and Python Programming Fundamentals. CFA Institute budgets each at 10–20 hours, and you can start any time after registering.
Do not treat it as optional homework. The rule: "The PSM must be completed by the results release date in order to get your exam result. If you do not complete a PSM by the time results are released, your exam result will be voided." Imagine scoring a pass and never finding out — that is the actual penalty. The good news: it is a completion requirement, not a second scored exam, and the same module cannot be reused at the next level.
Which to pick? If you are heading for equity research, investment banking or corporate finance, the Financial Modeling PSM overlaps directly with the job skills we teach. See our primer on what financial modeling is. Pick Python if you already model comfortably or want the data-analysis edge.
When Is Level 1 Held, and How Do You Book?
Level 1 runs in all four windows each year — February, May, August and November. Each window has an early registration deadline (the cheaper one), a standard deadline, then a scheduling deadline. Registration windows open at 9:00 AM ET and deadlines close at 11:59 PM ET. Exact dates change every cycle, so we keep them live on our CFA exam dates hub instead of printing them here.
Seats are "available on a first-come, first-served basis" at test centres — register early and book your Prometric slot immediately for the best centre and date. Rescheduling inside your window costs USD 250. And plan windows realistically: you may attempt "a maximum of twice each calendar year, but not in consecutive windows or windows within six months of each other", with a lifetime cap of six attempts per level under CFA Institute's exam eligibility policy.
One 2027 warning: from the February 2027 exam cycles, CFA Institute is eliminating the paid deferral option. Register for a 2027 window and skip it, and you "will forfeit your registration fees and must re-register." Pick a window you can honour. The step-by-step booking flow — account, documents, payment, Prometric — is in our CFA registration guide.
How Much Does Level 1 Cost?
Two numbers matter. Register by the early deadline and the exam costs USD 1,140; miss it and the standard fee is USD 1,490. Same exam, same seat — the USD 350 gap is purely a reward for planning ahead. There is no enrolment fee: CFA Institute eliminated the one-time USD 350 enrolment charge from 29 April 2025, so your first exam now costs the same as any other.
The registration fee includes the full digital curriculum and CFA Institute's own study ecosystem. Across all three levels, CFA Institute puts total exam fees at "USD 3520 – 4,600, depending on whether you register during the early or standard registration window." For the complete rupee-terms breakdown — including taxes, retakes, books and coaching — see our CFA fees guide.
How Do Results and the Passing Score Work?
Level 1 results arrive "within 5-7 weeks of taking the exam" — you get an email when they are ready. Your report shows pass or fail, a scale score you can compare against the minimum passing score (MPS), and a topic-by-topic performance map. On the reporting scale, Level 1 runs from 1000 to 1900 and the published scale MPS is 1600.
Three things the MPS is not. It is not a fixed percentage — no official "70% to pass" exists. It is not a curve — "Your 'Pass' status was decided based on these established standards, not the comparison of your score with other candidates' scores." And it is not per-topic — "There is no minimum passing score by topic area", so a strong Ethics day can rescue a weak Derivatives day.
How hard is it in practice? The newest published window, May 2026, passed 39% of 31,566 candidates; February 2026 passed 45%. First-time candidates did far better than postponers in both (45% vs 25% in May). The full picture — trends, averages, what the MPS process looks like — is in our CFA pass rates explainer, and QuintEdge's own audited Level 1 cohort is published in the pass-rate research brief.
How Should You Prepare for Level 1?
CFA Institute reports successful candidates spending over 300 hours on average per level. Spread over six months, that is roughly 12 hours a week; over four months, closer to 18. The number is less important than the structure — most failed attempts we see die in unstructured month three, not exam week.
The preparation stack that works, in order:
- A calendar you believe. Our Level 1 study plan gives week-by-week 3, 6 and 9-month grids with mock gates.
- The right calculator, early. Only two models are allowed — the Texas Instruments BA II Plus (including Professional) and the HP 12C (including Platinum editions). Buy one in month one and do every practice question on it; it is inspected at the centre.
- Question volume. Start with our free Level 1 practice quiz, then escalate to full mocks in exam software conditions. Materials ranked in the study-materials guide.
- Paperwork before prep. Valid passport, name matched to your CFA account — an expired passport means "you will not be permitted to take the exam and will forfeit your registration fee."
Structure is also the honest pitch for coaching: of QuintEdge students sitting CFA Level 1 for the first time between February 2024 and May 2026, 88% passed on the first attempt (151 of 171, all published by name — methodology). If you want that scaffolding, here is the CFA coaching programme.
CFA Level 1 FAQs
180 multiple-choice questions, split into two 135-minute sessions of 90 questions each, taken on one day with an optional break between sessions. CFA Institute's pacing guidance is roughly 90 seconds per question.
No. CFA Institute states that all questions are equally weighted and there is no penalty for an incorrect answer — so you should answer every single question, even when guessing.
There is no fixed passing percentage. You must reach the minimum passing score (MPS), published only as a scale anchor: 1600 on Level 1's 1000–1900 reporting scale. There are no per-topic minimums, and results are never curved against other candidates.
USD 1,140 if you register by the early deadline, USD 1,490 at the standard deadline — with no separate enrolment fee since 29 April 2025. Rescheduling your appointment within a window costs USD 250. Local taxes are extra; our CFA fees guide covers the full rupee breakdown.
Four windows a year: February, May, August and November. You may attempt at most twice per calendar year, never in windows less than six months apart, with a lifetime cap of six attempts per level. Live window dates and deadlines are on our CFA exam dates hub.
Yes. You must complete one PSM — Financial Modeling or Python Programming Fundamentals, 10–20 hours online — by the results release date, or your exam result is voided. It is a completion requirement, not a second scored exam.
Only two models: the Texas Instruments BA II Plus (including the Professional edition) and the Hewlett Packard 12C (including Platinum and anniversary editions). Calculators are inspected at the test centre, and centres do not lend them.
39% in the May 2026 window (31,566 candidates worldwide), after 45% in February 2026. First-time candidates passed at 45% in May 2026 versus 25% for candidates who had deferred — a gap that holds across recent windows.
