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CFA® Exam Results and Pass Rates

Results for CFA exams taken on the following dates are now available:

  • December 2020
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021 (Level I and Level II)

Access Your Result

You will receive a result of "pass" or "fail" along with information on your topic level performance. (Candidates who pass Level III will not receive detailed results.) Candidates can use the CFA Institute exam performance guide to help them interpret their results report. CFA Institute will notify you when your official exam results are available. After candidates receive their CFA exam results, they may register for the next exam. We encourage candidates who do not pass to use the exam result information to guide their studies and to re-take the exam at a later date. Candidates can take as much time as they need before registering for the next exam.

CFA Exam Pass Rates

Below are the CFA Program Level I–III exam pass rates for each of the most recent exams administered. Please see the CFA exam historical pass rates (PDF) for the pass and did not pass percentages each year since 1963.

CFA Level I Exam Pass Rate

  • May 2021 CFA Level I exam pass rate: 25%

CFA Level II Exam Pass Rate

  • May 2021 CFA Level II exam pass rate: 40%

CFA Level III Exam Pass Rate

  • December 2020 Level III exam pass rate: 56%

CFA Exam Results Date

The results for the CFA Level I and II exams are available within 60 days of the exam date and within 90 days for the CFA Level III exam.*

Individual candidate results are released only to the candidate and are never released to a third party; however, lists of passing candidates are provided to societies for membership purposes.

Detailed exam scores and responses to exam questions are measurement information and part of a candidate's test record, both of which are owned solely by CFA Institute. This information is not given to candidates.

Exam Results

Exam results are expected to be available approximately 8-10 weeks after the close of an exam window for Level I/Level II, and approximately 10 weeks for Level III. After all testing is completed and the exam window closes, CFA Institute begins conducting a thorough analysis of exam questions/candidate performance to identify the minimum passing score (MPS) that represents basic competence in the subject matter. For Level III grading, hundreds of CFA charterholders will participate in an essay grading event. The Board of Governors will then convene to approve the MPS. Rigorous quality control processes and data quality review steps are completed to ensure results are presented accurately to all tested candidates. Candidates will receive periodic messages to keep them updated on the progress of exam results, and additional information will be published to this page as it becomes available.

CFA Exam Minimum Passing Score

After each exam administration, the CFA Institute Board of Governors sets the minimum passing score (MPS) for each level. The purpose for this approach is to ensure fairness to candidates across administrations as the difficulty of each test is taken into account when setting the MPS. CFA Institute does not release the MPS or individual candidate scores.

*Exam results are available online for approximately one year after the test date. After this date, candidates may request an official letter to confirm a "pass" or "did not pass" exam result, but their topic area performance summary will no longer be available.