The US medical exam prep juggernaut is bringing its unique practice-led, active learning platform to the CFA exams.
UWorld was founded in 2001 and has become a world leader in high-stakes exam prep in medical, nursing, pharmacy, legal, accounting, and college entrance exams. In just a few years, UWorld’s quality and disruptive educational approach made them the dominant force in the medical exam prep segment, with a reported mind-boggling 95%+ market share.
With this momentum, the CFA exam was their latest venture starting in early 2020, using the same philosophy and processes that have worked with millions of their previous customers.
Their Active Learning approach, combined with academic excellence and digital innovation, brings CFA candidates a new (and improved) option from most of the current traditional methods available. Here is a short video demonstrating their CFA Level 1 platform:
Our research surveys show that about 75% of candidates used third-party providers as their main studying method. Here are some of our recommended providers:
UWorld’s Finance’s CFA Packages and Offers
UWorld’s approach to their offers:
At UWorld, content is their primary focus as the quality of study materials is the difference between passing and failing. UWorld’s content and online platforms have helped millions prepare for and pass their high-stakes exams to become CFA charterholders, CPAs, doctors, nurses, lawyers, and more. UWorld’s CFA program aims to show you where to start and how to train to finish strong with a passing score.
What study packages are available for the CFA Program?
Recognizing that taking the CFA exam can be expensive, they focus on complementing (not replacing) the included CFA Institute materials. Their study plans leverage the CFA Institute materials and the UWorld platform with competitive pricing. Their packages include everything – QBanks, Mocks, Flashcards, ReadyDecks, and more. Their pricing is simply based on the time period you need to use it. Need more time? No problem – they offer renewal pricing in smaller time periods with discounted pricing.
We keep tabs on the latest offers by CFA providers such as the ones below:
UWorld’s platform works across a variety of devices, including laptop, mobile and tablet. For an in-depth review of their mobile app (and other CFA apps), see our guide to CFA study apps.
2,000+ instructive questions
Comprehensive explanations
Performance and improvement tracking
In their Qbank, UWorld provides clear, thorough answers complemented with professional illustrations. “Things to remember” gives you a learning takeaway from each question. Calculator keystrokes show you how to compute the answer on both the HP12C and TI BA II. With all of this together, you are learning as you go (active learning), understanding the ‘why,’ and saving time from having to look up the answers.
UWorld’s approach claims to focus on “learning, not just memorizing”. Their flashcards incorporate spaced repetition – the theory behind this is to enhance your prep by repeating complex concepts in definitive intervals for optimized memory retention. This superior retention and recall on test day will then give you the competitive edge to pass the first time.
ReadyDecks are UWorld’s flashcards product – pre-filled and ready-to-use flashcards covering the most critical formulas, concepts, and examples across all the chapters.
UWorld’s Mock Exams’ format closely replicate the actual CFA L1 exam experience. This is helpful to prepare and boost your confidence on test day. Each of their mocks consists of two 2-hour, 15-minute sessions, each with 90 multiple-choice questions spanning multiple subjects and not included in the standard QBank. Results help you identify your development areas and compare your relative ranking to other users.
UWorld’s ‘CFA Mode’ changes their test interface to mimic the interface you’ll see on the actual test day environment. Switch to CFA mode, and your screen simulates the new Prometric interface. Being familiar with the exam format, structure and interface is obviously a good thing to have – on exam day, you won’t be wasting time getting used to the interface, and can fully focus on answering questions.
CFA Institute questions are definitely the ones to complete, but often more practice is needed. There are lots of study providers that offer practice questions, but quality varies so it’s important to choose a provider with a stellar reputation for good practice questions.
300Hours has thousands of ratings on all top CFA exam providers, which includes ratings specifically by practice questions, so you can compare and decide which provider to choose: