Sample Questions
Actual past exams are rarely a good resource for exam preparation. Current candidates should remember that:
- The curriculum has changed
- Exam style and formatting convention improvements have been made
- Accounting rules and the financial environment have changed
To allow candidates to survey the rigor and question formats of each
exam, we have several sets of sample questions.
- Level I sample questions (PDF)
- Level II sample item set questions (PDF)
- Level III sample item set questions (PDF)
- Level III essay exams
For more relevant candidate preparation, learn more about our online sample and mock exams.
Format Change For 2009 CFA Exams
CFA Institute is committed to maintaining and improving the standards and consistency of the CFA exams. Research and our own experience indicate that the fourth answer option on multiple choice and item set exams is unnecessary to assess a candidate’s knowledge and skills. Three answer choices are sufficient and effective in discriminating between those candidates that possess the knowledge and skills and those that do not. As a result, we are changing the format of the multiple-choice and item set questions on CFA exams from four answer options to three.
This change will be effective on the 2009 CFA exams. Read the FAQs.