CFA® Program Level I exam

Key information about the CFA Program Level I exam, including structure, topic outlines, and exam tips.

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Tests knowledge of key terms, concepts, and formulas that are the foundation of the investment industry.

180 multiple choice questions

On average, you should allow approximately 90 seconds for each multiple-choice question.

Two 135-minute sessions

Each session consists of 90 multiple-choice questions. Session times are approximate.

CFA Program Level I exam guide

Watch the video for a beginner's guide to the CFA Program Level I exam, including what it involves, pre-requirements and how long it takes to prepare.

How long does it take to study for the Level I exam?

The CFA Program enables candidates to customize their preparation to match individual needs and circumstances. Successful candidates report studying on average over 300 hours for each level of the CFA Exam.

Level I curriculum topics and weights

The CFA Program curriculum is organized into topics, and each topic contains learning modules. There are learning outcome statements at the beginning of each learning module. Below you'll find current outlines.

Topic weights

Session	Topic	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%

2025 Level I Topic Outlines combined

2026 Level I Topic Outlines combined

Core curriculum topics

Alternative Investments

This topic defines and explores alternative investments, including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, and infrastructure. You’ll learn about the characteristics they have in common and the use of alternative investments for diversification and higher returns.

Corporate Issuers

In this topic, you’ll be introduced to corporate governance as well as investing and financing decisions. Gain an overview of corporate governance along with a framework for understanding and analyzing corporate governance and stakeholder management. This topic also highlights the growing impact of environmental and social considerations in investing. We cover how companies make use of leverage and manage their working capital to meet short-term operational needs.

Derivatives

In this part of the curriculum, you’ll build the conceptual framework for understanding the basic derivatives and derivative markets. You’ll then be introduced to essential features and valuation concepts for forward commitments such as forwards, futures, swaps, and contingent claims. Finally, you’ll look at arbitrage, a critical concept that links derivative pricing to the price of the underlying asset.

Economics

Learn about the analysis of fundamental concepts of supply and demand for individual consumers and firms. This topic also covers the various market structures that firms operate in as well as macroeconomic concepts and principles, including aggregate output and income measurement, aggregate demand and supply analysis, and analysis of economic growth factors. This section of the curriculum concludes with coverage of the business cycle and its effect on economic activity.

Equity Investments

Here, you’ll explore the characteristics of equity investments, security markets, and indexes and explain how to analyze industries, companies, and equity securities. You’ll also learn about the use of basic equity valuation models and global equities, which are important for meeting longer-term growth and diversification objectives.

Ethical and Professional Standards

The focus of this topic is ethics, related challenges to ethical behavior, and the role ethics and professionalism play in the investment industry. We’ll provide you with a framework to support ethical decision-making and examine CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®).

Financial Statement Analysis

Receive a thorough explanation of financial reporting procedures and the standards that govern financial reporting disclosures, with an emphasis on basic financial statements and how alternative accounting methods affect those statements and the analysis of them. You’ll also examine primary financial statements and be provided with a general framework for conducting financial statement analysis.

Fixed Income

In this topic, you’ll learn how to describe fixed income securities and their markets, yield measures, risk factors, and valuation measurements and drivers. We’ll also cover calculating yields, values of fixed income securities, the securitization of assets, the fundamentals of bond returns and risks, and basic principles of credit analysis.

Quantitative Methods

In this topic, you’ll explore quantitative concepts and techniques used in financial analysis and investment decision-making. We present descriptive statistics for conveying important data attributes, such as central tendency, location, and dispersion, and introduce characteristics of return distributions. This part of the curriculum also considers probability theory and its application in quantifying risk for investment decision-making.

Portfolio Management

In this topic, we explain the fundamentals of portfolio and risk management, including return and risk measurement and portfolio planning and construction. We examine the needs of individual and institutional investors along with the range of available investment solutions. The capital asset pricing model is used to identify optimal risk in portfolios.

Curriculum errata

Find the latest updates and corrections to the curriculum. You can also submit suspected errors for review to ensure the most accurate and up-to-date content.

See curriculum errata

Level I exam format

The CFA Level I exam consists of multiple-choice questions. Familiarizing yourself with the format will help you approach the exam efficiently, manage your time effectively, and avoid common pitfalls to maximize your performance.

Exam structure

The Level I exam consists of 180 multiple choice questions, split between two 135-minute sessions (session times are approximate).

Exam duration

There are two 135-minute sessions (session times are approximate), with an optional break between sessions.

Question format

Each multiple-choice item on the CFA Level I exam consists of a stem (a question, a statement, and/or table) as well as three answer choices (A, B, or C).

Two basic formats are used:

Sentence completion with three unique choices
Questions with three unique choices.

Example 1: Sentence completion

A basic assumption of technical analysis is that:

A. security prices move in patterns that persist for long periods,
B. a stock’s market price will approach its intrinsic value over time,
C. financial statements provide information crucial to valuing a stock.

Example 2: Question

Which of the following is most likely included in the calculation of gross domestic product?

A. Retailers’ mark-up of wholesale prices
B. Value added by government employees
C. Individual investors’ accrued capital gains

Question structure

The Level I CFA exam does not use ‘except’, ‘true’, or ‘false’ in items and avoids the use of ‘not’ whenever possible. When appropriate, question stems will include one of the following qualifiers: ‘most likely’, ‘least likely’, ‘best described’, ‘most appropriate’, ‘most accurate’, ‘least appropriate’, or ‘least accurate’. Each question stem supports only one item on the exam.

Answer choices

The Level I CFA exam does not use any of the following answer options: ‘all of the above’, ‘none of the above’, ‘A and B only’, ‘B and C only’, ‘A and C only’, ‘cannot determine’, ‘cannot calculate’, or ‘not enough information to determine’. Choices consisting of words or sentences are typically ordered from shortest to longest; choices that are quantitative are ordered from the smallest number to largest number. The choices agree grammatically with the question stem; language common to all choices is placed in the question stem.

All questions are equally weighted and there is no penalty for an incorrect answer.

Level I exam tips

Here are some practical tips to help you perform your best on the CFA Level I exam.

Financial Statement Analysis: Questions on this topic are based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), unless otherwise noted. If a question references U.S. GAAP, this will be explicitly stated.
No penalty for guessing: There is no penalty for incorrect answers, so be sure to answer every question.
Know your calculator: Make sure you know how to use the calculator features needed to solve the formulas and examples shown in the curriculum. Familiarity with your calculator will save valuable time during the exam.
Dress for comfort: There’s no official dress code, but dressing in layers will allow you to adjust to the room temperature and remain comfortable during the exam.
Exam hardware and software: Make sure you’re aware of how hardware and software at test centers might affect your experience.
Proctor assistance: During the normal course of the exam, candidates may find they need assistance from proctors. Proctors will come to workstations as quickly as possible to assist. If able, we encourage candidates to continue working on their exam until a proctor has assisted. Our exam writers have designed the exam to account for minor disruptions or pauses in order for candidates to still have adequate time to respond to all questions.
Sample questions: Explore CFA exam Level I sample questions.

Practical Skills Modules (PSM) requirement

In addition to completing the exam, you must complete one PSM at each level in order to receive your exam result. The same module cannot be completed at multiple levels. For example, if you complete the Python Programming Fundamentals module at Level I, you must complete a different module (Python, Data Science & AI or Analyst Skills) to meet the PSM requirement at Level II. Learn more about PSM's and see the PSM Policy for more details.

How practice analysis keeps the CFA exam relevant

The CFA Program curriculum and exams are shaped by our practice analysis process, which gathers insights from top industry professionals to ensure that the content reflects current investment practices. This process directly influences the Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), which outlines the essential competencies for success in the investment profession.

Take a look at the CFA exam overview.

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