Note: This article is for the current 2023 curriculum. For next year’s info, check out our article on 2024 CFA curriculum changes.
The new 2023 CFA curriculum is now out for all 3 levels, with 2023 exams already open for registration.
With CFA Program’s annual syllabus update, we have checked and compared all the 2023 CFA curriculum changes for each level, so you don’t have to! ☕
So here’s a quick summary of the latest CFA curriculum changes 2023 for all Levels that you should know.
Some fun facts on the recent 2023 CFA curriculum updates:
Read on to find out more!
Topic weights are key to CFA study plans, as it guides candidates on the importance of each topic for the exams. Needless to say, higher weighted topics deserve more study time, focus and practice.
Knowing the curriculum changes in advance are useful in certain circumstances, for example:
Here are the quick summaries of the topic weights and curriculum changes that you need to know for your exam.
For each level, there is also a free 1 pager summary PDF you can download at the end of each section.
There are no changes to 2023’s CFA level 1 topic weights compared to 2022’s.
Back in 2021, CFA Institute changed CFA Level 1’s topic weights to be a range rather than an absolute % as per previous years.
CFA Level 1 Topic Weights | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quant Methods | 10% | 10% | 8-12% | 8-12% | 8-12% |
Economics | 10% | 10% | 8-12% | 8-12% | 8-12% |
FRA | 15% | 15% | 13-17% | 13-17% | 13-17% |
Corp. Issuers | 10% | 10% | 8-12% | 8-12% | 8-12% |
Equity | 11% | 11% | 10-12% | 10-12% | 10-12% |
Fixed Income | 11% | 11% | 10-12% | 10-12% | 10-12% |
Derivatives | 6% | 6% | 5-8% | 5-8% | 5-8% |
Alt. Investments | 6% | 6% | 5-8% | 5-8% | 5-8% |
Portfolio Mgmt. | 6% | 6% | 5-8% | 5-8% | 5-8% |
Ethics | 15% | 15% | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% |
Looking back to 2019, there were big changes whereby Financial Reporting & Analysis and Quantitative Methods’ weightings were reduced significantly, to provide a more balanced topic range.
These changes may have been done to discourage candidates from completely ignoring topics such as Derivatives and Alternative Investments for CFA Level 1 preparations.
In short, there has been some small, concentrated changes throughout the CFA Level 1 curriculum, but nothing major overall. Some notable changes:
There are 73 Learning Modules in 2023’s Level 1 Curriculum (vs. 60 readings in 2022) – as mentioned earlier, this is not comparable given the transition to LMs:
Overall, the 2022’s CFA Level 1 curriculum changes are not too significant, with 4-5 topics updated to to reflect current market practice and study patterns.
Corporate Issuers, Economics, Alternative Investments, Derivatives and to a smaller extent Portfolio Management have notable changes from 2022’s curriculum. Other topics remain largely the same as last year’s.
More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download.
Just like CFA Level 1, there are no changes to 2023’s CFA level 2 topic weights compared to 2022’s.
This is as expected given historical trends of reducing the variability in topic weight across the 10 topics, with a maximum range difference of 5% per topic.
These changes may have been done to discourage candidates from purely just focusing on the (previously) big 5 topics of Level 2 (FRA, Corporate Finance, Equity Investments, Fixed Income and Derivatives).
Based on 2023’s topic weighting, it is even possible for the 10 topics to be tested evenly at 10% weighting each for CFA Level 2.
CFA Level 2 Topic Weights | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quant Methods | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Economics | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
FRA | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Corp Issuers | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Equity | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Fixed Income | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Derivatives | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Alt. Investments | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Portfolio Mgmt. | 5-15% | 5-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Ethics | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
In short, Level 2’s curriculum experienced a relatively small update this year. Some notable changes are:
There are 49 Learning Modules (LMs) in 2023’s CFA Level 2 Curriculum (vs. 47 in 2022):
Overall, 2022 CFA Level 2’s curriculum experienced a smaller update, with only Quantitative Methods, Corporate Issuers and Alternative Investments experiencing major changes in some LMs.
More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download.
Just like CFA Level 1 and 2, there are no changes to 2023’s CFA level 3 topic weights compared to 2022’s.
This is as expected given historical trends of reducing the variability in topic weight across the 10 topics, with a maximum range difference of 5% per topic.
CFA Level 3 Topic Weights | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quant Methods | – | – | – | – | – |
Economics | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
FRA | – | – | – | – | – |
Corp Fin / Issuers | – | – | – | – | – |
Equity | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Fixed Income | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% |
Derivatives | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Alt. Investments | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
Portfolio Mgmt. | 35-40% | 35-40% | 35-40% | 35-40% | 35-40% |
Ethics | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
Due to the transition and changes of CFA Level 3 exam windows, CFA Institute have decided to freeze changes in CFA Level 3 syllabus this year. That means, CFA Level 3’s curriculum is the same as 2022’s.
Just in case you’re considering using older 2020/2021 CFA Level 3 books for studying, we have kept the comparison of 2023’s CFA Level 3 curriculum vs 2020/2021 as reference below.
In short, there is a much smaller revamp on the Level 3 curriculum this time around. Some notable changes:
There are 35 readings in 2023’s Level 3 Curriculum (vs. 38 in 2020/2021):
Overall, 2023’s CFA Level 3 curriculum has notable content changes in Fixed Income, Portfolio Management and Ethics (GIPS reading only).
Other topics remain largely the same as 2020/2021’s curriculum.
More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download.
It seems that 2022’s CFA books are highly transferable to 2023 (excluding a few chapters with major revisions), especially Level 3 since the syllabus didn’t change. I hope you’ve found the above useful in your next CFA exam study preparations!
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View Comments
When will the changes for CFA L3 be announced ? I would like to sit for the Feb 2024 L3 exam and I have the 2023 books is there a major changes in it ?
Thanks.
Hi Ahmed!
Can you please share the books/volumes with me? I want to prepare somewhat first and then register for the exam. Rescheduling is costly. Work makes my schedule busy hence the uncertainty. Would really appreciate it!
I'm also interested in knowing this as I will be sitting too for the Feb 24 L3 exam, thanks 300H team
Hi Patricia and Ahmed, this is typically announced around August to September time in the past. Stay tuned, we will definitely update for 2024 curriculum changes once we hear news on this.
Thank you 🙏🏻
I am mainly using the learning ecosystem for the content and practice questions (Blue Box and End of Chapter) and I know they will soon release a mock exam closer to the date, but I was wondering what happened to their online topic tests? I can't find it in the learning ecosystem or cfa website. Did they remove it?