Kinnu CFA Review: How AI Can Drive the Future of CFA Prep

Can AI level up CFA preparation beyond generic Large Language Model (LLM) prompting?

Today I’m reviewing Kinnu CFA, a London-based, AI-driven learning app for the CFA exams.

Kinnu reached out to us to have a look through their product, and we were keen to see their take on how AI should support CFA prep. They have sponsored this article, but the opinions in this article are our own honest observations.

So we’ve got an established learning app developer, integrated AI learning, extending their tech into the CFA curriculum for candidates. Is the result any good? Let’s find out.

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What is Kinnu CFA?

Kinnu is a London-based educational technology startup that raised $9m USD from some of the best investors in the world, the ones behind Anthropic, Slack, Coinbase, and Monzo. Their team combined has built products for over 100m people including Citymapper.

They’ve helped 1.2m users learn and retain general knowledge through bite-sized, gamified lessons across diverse topics like psychology, history, and artificial intelligence.

Now Kinnu has launched a CFA prep product suite, covering study notes, multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and flashcards. It’s available online and offline on the Kinnu CFA website and their Kinnu CFA app.

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Kinnu CFA at a glance

Here’s a quick summary of the key components of Kinnu’s CFA offering:

Price	7-day free trial, then a monthly subscription Full pricing details here
CFA Levels covered	Level 1 only for now
Content	– 3,000+ multiple choice questions (MCQs) – 380+ study notes – 2,000+ flashcards
AI tutor	Lara AI, a “bespoke CFA-specific AI model”
Platforms	iOS, Android, web, offline-enabled
Predictive features	– Prep Score: candidate readiness metric

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Kinnu’s hybrid AI-human approach to generating CFA material

Something that sets Kinnu’s product apart from other prep providers (for now?) is that their content is driven by their own “bespoke CFA-specific AI model”, Lara AI.

Christopher Kahler, co-founder and CEO of Kinnu, explains that their content creation relies on a structured, hybrid system.

“We start by commissioning study notes and formula sheets from top-quintile CFA passers. We then combine those with our internally drafted learning outcome statements and use an advanced, purpose-built AI pipeline to generate draft content (MCQs, study notes, and flashcards).”

He emphasises that while the machine starts the work, human expertise finishes it:

“All output is then reviewed by top-quintile passers for accuracy, difficulty calibration, and alignment with the CFA Institute curriculum. The AI accelerates production, the humans ensure quality and difficulty calibration.”

While it is reassuring that all content undergoes human review, many candidates – myself included – might instinctively feel more comfortable if those reviewers were seasoned, full-fledged CFA instructors.

Christopher addresses this concern directly by pointing out that this does not necessarily create effective prep materials.

“The real question is: why are CFA pass rates still hovering around 40% when candidates are spending 300+ hours studying?

We think the answer isn’t a lack of credentialed instructors; it’s that traditional prep hasn’t kept pace with what we know about how people actually learn. Our content quality rests on a rigorous pipeline rather than on any single individual’s credentials.

Content is AI-drafted against very specific learning outcome statements, then reviewed by top-quintile passers for accuracy and difficulty calibration. Prep Score then gives us granular, live data on how every single MCQ performs across the candidate base. If a question is misleading or poorly calibrated, we see it in the data and fix it.

That continuous feedback loop is something most traditional providers don’t have. We’d rather be judged on the quality of our output and the results our candidates achieve than on the CVs of our content team.”

Ultimately, the validity of this approach rests on one thing: whether the resulting content is reliable and high-quality. And this is where it gets interesting!

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Kinnu CFA’s key features – what you get

Kinnu CFA’s product has 5 main features:

1. The MCQ bank, containing 3,000+ questions
2. Accompanying study notes for all topics
3. Spaced-repetition and customisable flashcard system
4. Stats and performance tracking, including their own proprietary Prep Score
5. Underpinned by Lara AI, which is also available throughout as a personal tutor

Lara AI – the study assistant

Lara AI is Kinnu’s CFA-specific model, trained on financial principles, formulae, frameworks and CFA notes.

I know the advancement of AI in various industries has been controversial. But I do think CFA preparation is an example where AI can have a great, positive effect. Lara is like having your own personal tutor follow you throughout your study, providing instant answers to any question you have, clarifying confusing points, diving deeper into the material, and therefore further solidifying your understanding of the concepts.

But is Lara any different from other LLMs that we use for CFA study, such as Perplexity, Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, Deepseek or even Investopedia Answers?

It would seem so!

Lara is a bespoke, CFA-specific AI. When you’re studying on Kinnu, it is aware of exactly which study notes, MCQ, or flashcard you’re looking at. This is called ‘context-aware’ AI, which provides more relevant answers quickly without having to explain what you’re doing.

That means no prompting, no copy-pasting, just asking a question and getting an answer, like you had a CFA tutor on-call. It may not seem like this is a massive advantage over traditional LLMs when you’re describing it here, but it makes a huge difference when you’re actually studying.

It’s been a while since I studied for my own CFA exam, but this would have been an absolute game-changer for me. All that time used to research, discuss and review to clarify concepts that just didn’t make sense for me, would have been saved with a bit of back-and-forth with Lara.

Although I’ve been testing Lara thoroughly, I’ve not explored Lara’s capabilities as in-depth as if I went through the full preparation for the CFA exam. But if this works as well as my testing indicates, it would really be a strong advantage over traditional prep products.

Every prep provider should be scrambling to implement this for their own products right now, because, in my opinion, the CFA prep experience benefits immensely by having an AI tutor at hand.

MCQ Bank (3,000+ questions)

The Kinnu CFA app has over 3,000 questions, one of the most when compared to leading providers. Kinnu are also confident in the quality of their questions, which uses the hybrid approach of AI drafting, expert review, and continuous feedback improvement.

Quizzes come in many modes:

• 10, 20, 30 or unlimited MCQ quizzes
• Single-topics or combine all topics
• Practice mode, where you review each question as you go along, or exam mode, a time-limited mode where you review all questions at the end

All questions are also calibrated for exam difficulty, so you’ll know the questions you’re answering are similar in difficulty and wording to the questions you’ll encounter in the exam.

Lara AI is embedded and available at question level. This means you can get instant clarification and deep dives without leaving the question. You can start a Q&A with Lara at any time to ensure that you fully understand the concepts behind each question. This, by far, was one of the most useful features in my experience.

Kinnu’s free trial includes full access to the entire MCQ bank so you can try it out yourself. There are also two mocks available to take for free during your 7-day free trial as well.

Overall the MCQ experience was slick and solid. But what about their study notes?

Study notes (380+)

Kinnu’s study notes covers the full CFA Program’s syllabus, and includes all concepts, formulae, walkthroughs, examples.

Lara AI again is embedded and can provide context, summarise, explain, and work through examples as you go through the material. Lara is aware of what you’re reading so again there’s no pre-prompting needed.

I did find the study notes on the text-heavy side, and I asked Kinnu if this intentional. Christopher responded:

We do have graphs and charts in the content, though we’re continuing to add more.

One of the most common complaints we hear from CFA candidates is the sheer volume of material they need to get through.

Our study notes are deliberately high-density and focused on core material with no unnecessary padding. We include visuals where they genuinely aid understanding, but we won’t add them as filler.

Text is king when it comes to memory and learning.

Smart flashcards (2,000+)

Kinnu CFA also has over 2,000 flashcards in their system for quick revision. Each card will test you on a concept which you then click to reveal the answer.

After that, you have the option to add the flashcard to your own custom stack, and mark it as either Hard, Medium or Easy. You can also create your own flashcards by directly adding them from Kinnu CFA’s study notes.

The flashcard system makes it quite easy to add and review cards. Self-made paper flashcards do stick better since you created them yourself, but the speed and convenience of Kinnu’s system does have advantages.

Kinnu Flashcards use a learning technique called spaced repetition.

The system adjusts review intervals based on difficulty and familiarity – harder or newer Flashcards surfaces more frequently, while well-known Flashcards are spaced out over longer intervals.

This exploits the spacing effect, where distributing practice over time produces stronger retention than massed study.

Kinnu tweaks this algorithm to be optimised for exam day performance instead of for long term memory formation, so that you’ll ‘peak’ at exam day. Memory Strength is Kinnu’s metric reflecting how likely you are to remember that Flashcard on exam day, when it counts.

Stats and performance tracking

Like most CFA prep, Kinnu also includes a Stats section, which has a full report of the number of questions attempted, accuracy percentage, and total time spent on each module and reading.

Less-practiced or weaker areas are highlighted, allowing you to focus on your deficient areas and bring them up to snuff.

Kinnu is also launching a new feature called Prep Score. Prep Score is a readiness metric that according to Kinnu, “goes beyond percentage correct”. It uses a statistical rating system to measure each candidate’s ability against the difficulty of the questions they’re answering, relative to their cohort. So instead of ‘you got 68% right in Quant,’ candidates see a genuine signal of how prepared they actually are.”

This means that instead of just a “percentage correct” score, you get a score that factors in three aspects:

1. Your percentage performance in your practice questions
2. The difficulty of the questions that you’ve done
3. The performance of candidates that are also sitting for the same exam

As Prep Score matures, its power in predicting whether a candidate will pass the exam increases.

Kinnu is confident in the accuracy of Prep Score to predict whether you’ll pass your exam. In fact, they guarantee that if Kinnu predicts you’ll pass, but you don’t, you’ll get free access to Kinnu for your retake – a ‘pass guarantee’.

On top of that, Kinnu is also experimenting with an ‘Exam Fee Guarantee’:

Kinnu is offering some subscribers an ‘exam fee guarantee’ with their Prep Score: for 100 paying subscribers through 300Hours for the August exam, if Prep Score predicts you’ll pass and you don’t, Kinnu will cover your next CFA sitting fee.

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The Kinnu CFA mobile app

Mobile apps can be a bit hit-and-miss in the CFA space, but Kinnu’s extensive experience with their main microlearning app shows here. The Kinnu CFA app works flawlessly, has gorgeous UI, lightweight, and is simple to use.

You can download it from both Google Play and App Store. Kinnu’s app for CFA candidates is separate from its main app, so be sure to look for “Kinnu CFA” rather than just “Kinnu”.

The app works well and is effective, designed for quick revision, review and studying while on the move or away from your desk.

It has full feature parity with the desktop experience, including MCQs, flashcards, notes, stats, and access to Lara AI.

Starting a practice session is quick and easy. You can start a quick practice session of just 10 MCQs all the way to ‘unlimited’. The interface is buttery-smooth with no loading or buffering. The app can also be used offline, except for Lara AI – just like on the web interface.

As you’d expect, it has superb ratings on both Google Play and App Store, so if you’re looking for solid mobile support for your CFA prep, Kinnu would be a strong choice.

Remember that you have to search for “Kinnu CFA” rather than the ‘main’ Kinnu app – you can also find them directly here:

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Pricing

You can start with Kinnu CFA free for the first 7 days. It’s just a sign-in with no credit card info required. I got going in pretty much immediately with no issues – a pretty smooth experience.

At the end of 7 days, you get prompted to subscribe to continue. Pricing is reasonable, especially if you get your practice and AI tutoring in early during your preparation. Understanding the concepts right from the start really helps the effectiveness of the rest of your prep.

It’s a bit challenging to compare Kinnu’s pricing to other providers, as I think it’s not exactly a like-for-like comparison. Kinnu’s product works best as a complement and review tool. It can represent amazing value, especially if you use it intensely and effectively.

It’s really best to test it for yourself and see if it’s worth the subscription. Remember that you can get free access to Kinnu’s full product, no credit card required.

Kinnu is also offering a discount code for 300Hours subscribers:

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Who is Kinnu CFA best for?

Kinnu’s CFA product is best used as a complement to CFA Institute materials or another provider rather than a standalone replacement.

If you’re looking for additional practice questions, review material, and looking to really close the gaps in your understanding, the MCQs, notes and Lara AI are great for that.

It would be less suited for candidates looking for a stand-alone, fully comprehensive solution, including full-feature study notes and full-length mock exams.

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Our verdict

For us, the best thing about Kinnu CFA is Lara AI. The ability to have a personal tutor on call to clarify any question, however small, makes a huge difference to how quickly you can fully master the CFA curriculum.

We also like that with Prep Score, Kinnu are pushing the envelope for predictive tech in CFA prep. Being able to accurately tell whether you’re on-track to pass is hugely valuable, and Kinnu’s efforts in incorporating AI into Prep Score represents the next step in this regard.

Kinnu’s additional outstanding points include:

• Mobile app quality: works well and buttery-smooth
• Offline access: web or app offline access available (except for Lara AI), great for commutes
• Content quality: Strong study notes, MCQs and flashcard content
• Use of spaced repetition: recurrence of flashcards is not random, but rather based on spaced repetition concepts and your entered feedback

The costliest outcome of the CFA exam is if you fail, so it’s well worth having a CFA-tuned AI throughout your CFA prep process. If you’re looking bring out the most value out of Kinnu’s pricing structure, subscribe early and use Lara and the MCQs as much as you can.

The earlier in your studies you start benefitting from Lara’s tutoring, the extra practice and the feedback Prep Score gives you, the more the benefits compound into a strong exam performance.

Kinnu are also offering quite a few goodies, so here are all of them, summarised:

• 7-day full-access free trial, no credit card required
• Two free mock exams (accessible during your 7-day free trial)
• Discount code x9w9q3 for 50% off your first month
• If Prep Score predicts you’ll pass and you don’t, Kinnu will be free for your retake. Additionally, 100 subscribers chosen at random will have an additional ‘exam fee’ guarantee – if Prep Score predicts you pass and you don’t, Kinnu will also cover your next exam fee!

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Kinnu CFA FAQs

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We hope you enjoyed the comprehensive review and are excited as we are with a personal CFA-specific AI tutor in your hands. Check out the Kinnu CFA app on Android or iOS and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!