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 …
In the recent years CFA Institute has revised many long-standing aspects of the CFA exam – the shift to computer-based testing, multiple testing sessions in a year, and changes to results reporting. Their latest initiative is the CFA Institute Practice Pack – a package of mocks and practice questions made available to CFA Level 1 …
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 …
We are nearly there candidates – it’s CFA practice exam season! You might be worried that your scores aren’t high enough. Candidates should be targeting a consistent practice exam score of at least 65% (the higher the better of course). But the score for your first practice exam can be quite low and demoralizing – …
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 IFT. This is a 2 hour 12 minutes, …
Note: this cheat sheet is updated for the latest 2024 and 2025’s curriculum. Fixed Income is a central topic in finance, and it increases in importance (topic weight wise) as you advance to CFA Level 3. With so many key concepts to cover, we decided to create our Cheat Sheet series of articles, which focuses …
CFA exams are famed for being difficult to pass. Failing CFA exams is unfortunately pretty common, but certainly not discussed enough. When I failed CFA Level 2 many years ago (just below the Minimum Passing Score), I remember the overwhelming devastation and anger after spending 350+ hours studying for it. If any of you have …
Hi, I’m Alexander Law, a CFA Charterholder. Back in 2017, I managed to pass the CFA Level 1 exam with just five days of study. My scores were over 70% in all subjects except Alternative Investments and Financial Statement Analysis (those were in the 51-70% range). Luck definitely had some role to play in this, but …
CFA Level 2 is usually regarded as the toughest CFA level there is, and I probably agree with that. The time I spent on preparing for CFA Level 2 is substantial, but the manner of which I went about it is unusual – I did not use any study notes. Instead, my approach consisted of …
Congrats on passing Level 1, and welcome to CFA Level 2! Unfortunately, the CFA Level 2 exam is a different beast, with a reputation to be the most challenging exam with the most material to cover. Many candidates failed at this hurdle given the step up in difficulty that is unknown upfront. That’s why we are here: …