When looking to boost my financial expertise and qualifications, I went through what was a fairly common dilemma a few years ago: CFA or FRM? My question was then: why not both CFA and FRM, together? In a competitive world of finance, with companies desiring prospective employees to have a broad range of skillset and knowledge, …
The Ethical and Professional Standards section is challenging for most CFA candidates given the more subjective nature of the topic and questions (vs. the rest of the curriculum), and the sheer amount of readings to go through. Regardless whether you’re new to CFA exams or a seasoned CFA Level 3 candidate, CFA Ethics section plays …
The CFA Level 3 essay questions (constructed response) tends to be many candidates’ Achilles heel, even when they accurately self-grade the essay practice questions during practice. However, there is a quick way to substantially improve your constructed response section’s performance. Knowing the best strategies on how to answer essay questions is almost as important as …
The CFA Level 3 essay questions, also known as the constructed response section, is often a significant challenge to Level 3 candidates. Our research has also estimated that more than 93% of Level 3 candidates performed worse in the essay paper compared to the item-set paper, so improving your essay performance can really help your chances …
If you have an inkling of which finance career you’re interested in pursuing, it is definitely worth studying for a specialized, globally recognized finance certification to help you secure that desired career path. CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and CFP (Certified Financial Planner) certifications definitely fit the criteria: highly specialized in their respective field yet still …
To access our free mock exams for other levels, check out our Free Guides section. CFA Level 3 candidates: since doing practice questions is one of the best ways to study, here is our updated, free CFA Level 3 mock exam for more practice, thanks to our partner Salt Solutions. It includes specific questions for the …
This article compares 2026 CFA curriculum vs 2025. For the latest curriculum, see 2027 CFA curriculum comparison. There has been minimal CFA curriculum changes 2026 across all three levels, marking a period of welcome stability after several years of major revisions. Level 1 has zero changes (93 Learning Modules unchanged), Level 2 has one minor …
I know the feeling – you’ve just beat the beast that was Level 2 – that was the hardest one, isn’t it? Well… yes and no. While on paper Level 2 is harder due to the sheer amount of material, Level 3 is a challenge for other reasons. CFA Level 3 tends to be underestimated and also the most …
Finance certifications such as CFA and FRM are a cost effective way (compared to an MBA) to give your finance career a boost. We do receive a lot of questions from our readers trying to understand the core differences between them in deciding whether to pursue CFA or FRM. Hence, for those still on the …
If you ask a CFA charterholder which CFA exam level they found the toughest, they are likely to answer either Level 2 or Level 3. CFA Level 3 is especially challenging because the exam format also deviates from the multiple-choice format. The constructed response format, or ‘essay’ section, can be very difficult to master for the CFA candidate used …