Note: This article is for the new 2026 curriculum. For last year’s info, check out our article on 2025 CFA curriculum changes.
The new 2026 CFA curriculum is now available for all 3 levels, with some dates now open for registration.
With CFA Program’s relatively recent evolution, we are quite glad that the changes have settled down quite a bit this year for some stability.
As usual, we have compared and checked all the CFA curriculum changes 2026 vs. 2025 for each level, neatly presented in a simple one pager summary just for you! ☕
Let’s check this out 🙂
Why are CFA curriculum changes and topic weights important?
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.
With the recent major changes in CFA curriculum, knowing the nuanced changes in advance are useful in certain circumstances, for example:
- Candidates who have yet to register for the 2026 exam, yet want to get a head start on reading existing 2025 study materials. They need to make sure that what they are studying now will be part of the updated curriculum;
- Candidates who are interested in getting second hand, previous year versions of third party study materials for the next exam; or
- Candidates who (unfortunately) failed a current year exam, and are planning to retake in 6-12 months time. Existing third party study materials may be re-used if the curriculum changes are minor between these 2 years.
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.
CFA Level 1 topic weights
CFA Level 1’s topic weights tends to be a range rather than an absolute %.
There are no changes to 2026’s CFA level 1 topic weights compared to 2025’s.
| CFA Level 1 Topic Weights | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethics | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% | 15-20% |
| Quant Methods | 8-12% | 6-9% | 6-9% | 6-9% |
| Economics | 8-12% | 6-9% | 6-9% | 6-9% |
| Financial Statement Analysis | 13-17% | 11-14% | 11-14% | 11-14% |
| Corp. Issuers | 8-12% | 6-9% | 6-9% | 6-9% |
| Equity | 10-12% | 11-14% | 11-14% | 11-14% |
| Fixed Income | 10-12% | 11-14% | 11-14% | 11-14% |
| Derivatives | 5-8% | 5-8% | 5-8% | 5-8% |
| Alt. Investments | 5-8% | 7-10% | 7-10% | 7-10% |
| Portfolio Mgmt. | 5-8% | 8-12% | 8-12% | 8-12% |
Since 2025’s CFA Level 1 topic weights changes, there has been more practical focus on Equity, Fixed Income, Alternative Investments and Portfolio Management, at the expense perhaps more theoretical topics such as Quantitative Methods, Economics, Financial Statement Analysis and Corporate Issuers.
These changes are done to sharpen the focus of the curriculum to ensure that candidates can apply their skills on-the-job earlier whilst preparing for CFA Level 1.
CFA Level 1 curriculum changes 2026
Good news! There are NO changes between CFA Level 1’s 2025 and 2026’s curriculum.
There are 93 Learning Modules in 2026’s Level 1 Curriculum, no change from 2025.
More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download.​
CFA Level 2 topic weights
Similar to CFA Level 1, there are no changes to 2026’s CFA level 2 topic weights compared to 2025’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 (FSA, Corporate Finance, Equity Investments, Fixed Income and Derivatives).
Based on 2026’s topic weighting, it is possible for the 10 topics to be tested evenly at 10% weighting each for CFA Level 2.
This is where the discussion on optimal Level 2 study order gets interesting!
| CFA Level 2 Topic Weights | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethics | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Quant Methods | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Economics | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Financial Statement Analysis | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Corp Issuers | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Equity | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Fixed Income | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Derivatives | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Alt. Investments | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Portfolio Mgmt. | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
CFA Level 2 curriculum changes 2026
Similarly, Level 2’s curriculum experienced a teeny tiny update this year, mainly:
- Quantitative Method’s “Machine Learning” Learning Module (LM) has one Learning Outcome Statement (LOS) removed, which is related to neural networks, deep learning nets, and reinforcement learning.
There are 45 LMs in 2026’s CFA Level 2 Curriculum, same as 2025.
Overall, 2025 CFA Level 2’s curriculum experienced a minor update, with the deletion of 1 LOS in Quantitative Methods.
More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download.​
CFA Level 3 topic weights
To recap, there has been a large change in structure for CFA Level 3 exams from 2025 with the introduction of a “core” curriculum and an elective part, a.k.a. Specialized Pathways:
- The core Level 3 curriculum is studied by all candidates and takes up 65-70% of the exam weight. It consists of a more focused range of topics such as Asset Allocation, Portfolio Construction, Performance Measurement, Derivatives and Risk Management, and Ethics.
- Candidates can then choose one of three Specialized Pathways (30-35% exam weight): Porfolio Management, Private Wealth or Private Markets.
There has been no changes in CFA Level 3 topic weights since 2025.
| CFA Level 3 Topic Weights | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Topics (65-70% total exam weight) | |||
| Asset Allocation | – | 15-20% | 15-20% |
| Quant Methods | – | – | |
| Economics | 5-10% | – | |
| Financial Statement Analysis | – | – | |
| Corp Issuers | – | – | |
| Equity | 10-15% | – | |
| Fixed Income | 15-20% | – | |
| Derivatives | 5-10% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Alt. Investments | 5-10% | – | |
| Portfolio Management / Construction | 35-40% | 15-20% | 15-20% |
| Performance Measurement | – | 5-10% | 5-10% |
| Ethics | 10-15% | 10-15% | 10-15% |
| Specialized Pathways (30-35% exam weight, choose 1) | |||
| Pathway A: Portfolio Management | – | 30-35% | 30–35% |
| Pathway B: Private Markets | – | 30-35% | 30–35% |
| Pathway C: Private Wealth | – | 30-35% | 30–35% |
CFA Level 3 curriculum changes 2026
More good news: there are no changes to CFA Level 3 curriculum this year, thank goodness!
​More details of the changes are shown in the table below, as well as a 1 pager summary PDF you can download, if preferred.
For CFA Level 1, 2 and 3, it seems that 2025’s CFA books can be reused for 2026. I hope you’ve found the above useful in your next CFA exam study preparations!
Meanwhile, here are a few related articles of interest:
