Reading everything once and calling it studied
A single read produces recognition, not recall. Close the book and do the module's questions before moving on.
First-attempt guide
The eight decisions that separate first-time passes from the 56% who sit again: when to register, how to spend ~300 hours, what to write down, and what to do in the last six weeks.
Study elsewhere, revise from your own repository. That is the whole method.
Based on CFA Master registered accounts and sign-in countries, September 2026.
Quick answer
Give yourself five to six months and about 300 study hours, study Quantitative Methods and Financial Statement Analysis first and then the four heaviest topics, capture each module in your own cheat sheet as you finish it, answer practice questions the same day, and reserve the final six weeks for two or three full timed mocks with the formula sheet and Ethics as your last review. Most candidates who fail Level 1 run out of hours or skip full mocks; very few fail on ability.
What candidates who pass report. Six months at 12 hours a week, or three at 25.
Recent average across the last four windows. Most failures are hours, not aptitude.
Two 135-minute sessions, three options each, no negative marking, no formula sheet.
In order. Each step links to the free tool that makes it concrete.
Successful Level I candidates report around 300 study hours. Six months out that is 12 hours a week; three months out it is 25. Choose the window whose weekly load you can actually sustain alongside work, then register before the early deadline so the cheaper fee locks you in.
Exam dates & deadlinesBlock the study hours week by week and reserve the last four to six weeks for mock exams and revision, not new material. A plan that has no room for a bad week fails at the first bad week, so build in one catch-up block a month.
3- and 6-month study plansEthics, Financial Statement Analysis, Equity and Fixed Income are more than half the exam. Start with Quantitative Methods and FSA because later subjects depend on them, spend real time on the four heavy subjects, and cover Derivatives and Alternatives once each.
Topic weights & questions per subjectRead each module in the CFA Institute curriculum or your prep provider's notes. Immediately afterwards, capture the definitions, formulas and mnemonics you want to keep in an editable cheat sheet. By exam week you revise from one repository you wrote, not from three thousand pages.
Editable cheat sheetsAnswering questions immediately converts recognition into recall and shows you what you only think you understood. Aim for 1,500 to 3,000 questions across all your sources by exam day, and log every miss by module rather than by score.
Module question bankSet the BA II Plus to one payment per year and nine decimals, clear the time-value worksheet before every problem, and drill the TVM, cash-flow and bond keystrokes until they cost no thought. Calculator mistakes are wrong answers you already knew.
BA II Plus settings & keystrokesTwo 135-minute sessions of 90 questions is a stamina test as much as a knowledge test. Take at least one CFA Institute mock and one or two others under exam conditions, review every wrong answer, and go back to the modules the mock exposes, not the ones you enjoy.
180-question mock examRewrite every formula from a blank page, reread the Standards of Professional Conduct because Ethics decides borderline results, and stop learning new material three days out. On the day: about 90 seconds a question, flag and move on, and never leave a question blank because there is no penalty for guessing.
Formula sheetEnter the weeks you have left, the modules you have finished, and the full mocks you have sat. The verdict follows the six-month pace with the last six weeks reserved for mocks.
Add one catch-up block a week and move the lower-weight subjects later; protect the final six weeks for mocks.
About 17 hours a week covers the remaining material at the ~300-hour pace.
Track your modules in the dashboardSix patterns that show up in almost every near miss, each with the fix.
Reading everything once and calling it studied
A single read produces recognition, not recall. Close the book and do the module's questions before moving on.
Leaving Ethics to the last fortnight
Ethics is 15–20% of the exam and CFA Institute uses it as the tiebreaker for borderline scores. Cover it mid-plan and revisit it in the final week.
Skipping full-length mocks
Twenty questions at a time never reveals a pacing problem. Sit at least two complete, timed 180-question mocks.
Treating the pass rate as a difficulty rating
Pass rates in the low-to-mid 40s mostly reflect under-prepared candidates. The exam rewards coverage and practice, not brilliance.
Studying in curriculum order and running out of time before Fixed Income
Order by dependency and weight: Quant and FSA first, then the heavy investment subjects, then the light ones.
Trusting a calculator that is still on its factory settings
Factory P/Y is 12 on the BA II Plus. Set it to 1, clear the TVM worksheet before every problem, and check the BGN indicator.
Learn each module from your curriculum or provider, capture it in editable cheat sheets and the formula sheet, and revise from your own words in the final weeks.
Level 1 is broad rather than deep: ten topics, roughly 3,000 curriculum pages, and 180 multiple-choice questions with three options each. Around four in ten candidates pass. The difficulty is volume and discipline, not any single concept — candidates who put in the hours and sit full mocks pass at far higher rates than the headline figure.
CFA Institute's candidate survey puts the average at about 300 hours for those who pass. Six months at 12 hours a week is the common schedule; three months at 25 hours a week works for candidates with a finance background. Career changers should plan for more.
Yes, at roughly 25 hours a week and with a finance or accounting background. Front-load Quantitative Methods, FSA and Corporate Issuers in month one, the investment subjects in month two, and keep the last three weeks for Ethics, mocks and formula recall. If you cannot sustain 25 hours a week, the next window is the safer choice.
Quantitative Methods and Financial Statement Analysis first, because Equity, Fixed Income, Corporate Issuers and Portfolio Management all reuse their maths and ratios. Then the heavy investment subjects, then Derivatives and Alternatives, and Ethics last so it is freshest on exam day.
Stop learning new material. Rewrite every formula from a blank page each day, reread the Standards of Professional Conduct, review the error log from your mocks, check your calculator settings, and sleep. On the day, keep to about 90 seconds a question, flag and move on, and answer everything — there is no penalty for guessing.
No, and it is not designed to be. CFA Master is a revision companion: you learn each module from the CFA Institute curriculum or a prep provider, then capture what matters in editable cheat sheets, the formula sheet and flashcards, and revise from that repository before the exam. The plan on this page assumes a primary source alongside it.