Members' Guide to 2021 Refresher Readings

Our aim is to equip investment management professionals with the highest level of knowledge and skills they need to achieve their career goals. To deliver on this promise, we are keeping our learners at the center of everything we do.

We know the 2021 Refresher Readings are one of the most valuable learning products we offer. This year, members are receiving these readings before CFA^® Program candidates because the pandemic-related deferral of CFA exams has led us to extend and test candidates on the 2020 curriculum. To enhance learners’ experience, we are also adding online modules on two topics—“Machine Learning” and "Organizing, Visualizing, and Describing Data." We invite our members to explore these interactive learning experiences.

Extensive work through practice analysis and curriculum development has resulted in literally everything in the curriculum being updated or revised within the past three years. We have updated data, added new cases, streamlined readings to provide better learning experiences, and improved end-of-reading questions.

All these efforts better align the CFA Program curriculum with what CFA charterholders do daily on the job. The CFA Program curriculum today may be the most up to date it has been since we customized the readings in the mid-2000s.

Last year, we updated the Level I CFA Program curriculum. For the 2021 curriculum, we accomplished the following:

• Updated and refreshed almost every reading at Level II.
• Completely revamped Level III by replacing some of the classic text of the past. Almost every reading is now less than five years old. We completed the planned revisions to the Private Wealth Management segments to reflect the most current practice.
• Modernized the quant methods throughout the curriculum to reflect the move to big data. A new reading at Level I introduces candidates to this topic early in the program and helps them understand the role of big data in investing.
• Built out the machine learning content to help candidates with portfolio management and added a set of real working cases to the “Machine Learning” reading. An advanced simulation and back-testing helps readers truly understand the process, strengths, and weaknesses of machine learning.

Given the rate of change in the industry, Refresher Readings are a vital Professional Learning opportunity that keep you up to date.