CFA Program

7/28/2019 CFA Program

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CFA Program Exam CalendarHow Long Does It Take?

Plan on about six months of preparation for each exam.

Learn more

The calendars below provide approximate timelines for upcoming exams.

Candidates may register for only one exam at a time, and must wait to receive their exam results before registering for the next exam. Candidates who fail an exam are encouraged to re-take theexam

Note: As of December 2012 , CFA Program exams will be held on Saturday only. This change

ensures that all candidates receive a similar exam day experience and strengthens the security of the CFA Program.

View the exam fee schedule

June 2013 Exam Schedule (Levels I, II, and III)

Late July 2012 June 2013 exam registration opens19 September 2012 First fee schedule deadline for the June 2013 examOctober 2012 June 2013 sample exams available

1 February 2013 Exam scholarship application deadline13 February 2013 Second fee schedule deadline for June 2013 examMarch 2013 June 2013 mock exams become available13 March 2013 Final deadline to register for June 2013 exam

18 March 2013 Final deadline for religious and disability testing accommodationrequests to be received by CFA Institute

12 April 2013 Test center change request deadline (login required)April 2013 Exam admission tickets available online1 June 2013 Exam dayJune July 2013 Exams gradedJuly 2013 Level I and II exam results availableAugust 2013 Level III exam results available

December 2013 Exam Schedule (Level I only)
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Mid-January 2013 December exam registration opensUpon exam registration December 2013 sample exams available upon registration13 March 2013 First fee schedule deadline to register for the December exam21 August 2013 Second fee schedule deadline to register for the December exam

18 September 2013 Final fee schedule deadline to register for the December exam23 September 2013

Final deadline fo r disability and religious alternate dateaccommodation requests to be received by CFA Institute

October 2013 December 2013 mock exams becomes available22 October 2013 Test center change request deadline (login required)November 2013 Exam admission tickets become available7 December 2013 Exam dayDecember 2013 January2014

Exams graded

January 2014 Exam results become available

CFA Exam Fee ScheduleThe CFA Program enrollment fee, exam registration fee, and curriculum cost vary, depending onwhen you complete your registration and which curriculum format you select.

For each CFA exam there are three enrollment/registration deadlines. Fees vary depending on the deadline by which enrollment and/or exam registration is

completed (including receipt of payment). First-time CFA Program applicants pay an initial one-time enrollment fee (plus an exam

registration fee and possible fees associated with a curriculum selection ). Returning candidates pay only the exam registration fee (plus possible fees associated

with a curriculum selection ). All fees are in U.S. dollars. View payment options . Enrollment and registration fees are nontransferable and nonrefundable.* View the CFA

exam Level I withdrawal policy .

Candidates are not able to register for an exam after the final deadline .

December 2013 Exam (Level I only)

We offer three options for purchasing the CFA Program curriculum: eBook only, print only, or both. We are unable to offer refunds or exchanges so we urge you to make your selectioncarefully. Select from the dropdown menu below to view pricing details.
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ItemFirst deadline

13 March11:59 p.m. ET

Second deadline21 August

11:59 p.m. ET

Final deadline18 September11:59 p.m. ET

Program Enrollment

(new Level I only)$440 $440 $530

Exam Registration $680 $780 $1,055Curriculum eBook version save $40 save $40 save $40Total Passed deadline $1,180 $1,545

>> Register for the December 2013 exam


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but instead provides CFA Institute with the discretion to determine which deferral requests itapproves and denies. Candidates awarded a deferral are responsible for all applicable newcurriculum charges. Deferral requests must be received by CFA Institute prior to the scheduledexam or within 10 U.S. business days after the exam date.

If you need to apply for a visa to travel to a distant test center, please make arrangements well inadvance. It is your responsibility to secure any necessary travel documents.

June Level I candidates who re-register in the same calendar year (Level I exams are held in Juneand December) will not be charged again for the curriculum.

Exam DetailsMore Information

Exam sample questions Testing policies

Exam grading and results Typical exam day schedule

The CFA Program includes a series of three exams that are offered in test centers around theworld. These three exams Level I, Level II, and Level III must be passed sequentially asone of the requirements for earning a CFA charter.

Exams are offered in English only , in order to ensure global consistency, both in administeringthe exam questions and in grading candidate responses.

Level I exams are offered in December and June (typically on the first Saturday) . Level II andIII exams are offered in June only (typically on the first Saturday). Registration usually opensabout 11 months before each exam ; register early to take advantage of the fee schedule and tohave enough time to study and prepare for the exam.

Exam Topics

In general, for the Level I exam you will be asked basic knowledge and comprehension questionsfocusing on asset valuation, and some questions will require that you perform analysis. Level IIfurther emphasizes analysis along with application, while Level III focuses on synthesizing basicknowledge with evaluation tools and analytical methods for effective portfolio management.

Review the exam topic area weights

Exam Formats
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Multiple Choice Questions (Level I only) Item Set Questions (Level II and Level III) Essay Questions (Level III only)

Frequency of Exams

Exam development is a resource-intensive process. The Level II and III exams require a 13-month development cycle from design to administration. The resources we have allocated todeveloping the exams, both staff and volunteers, are fully utilized.

Throughout this process, we rely on extensive subject matter expert and generalist reviews toensure high quality, accuracy, consistency, and fairness. We are concerned that degradation inquality may result from a shorter cycle. Quality may also suffer if we increase the staff/volunteer teams necessary to manage a second parallel development cycle. Because of the simpler structureand content of the Level I exam questions, our capacity is greater than at Levels II and III.

Candidates may register for only one exam at a time, and must wait to receive their exam results before registering for the next exam. Candidates who fail an exam are encouraged to re-take theexam.

CFA Exam Topic Area Weights

Topic Area Level I Level II Level IIIEthical and Professional Standards (total) 15 10 10

Investment Tools (total) 50 30-60 0Corporate Finance 8 5-15 0Economics* 10 5-10 0Financial Reporting and Analysis 20 15-25 0Quantitative Methods 12 5-10 0Asset Classes (total) 30 35-75 35-45Alternative Investments 3 5-15 5-15Derivatives 5 5-15 5-15Equity Investments 10 20-30 5-15

Fixed Income 12 5-15 10-20Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning (total) 5 5-15 45-55Total 100 100 100

*Economics is part of Portfolio Management at Level III.
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Note: These weights are intended to guide the curriculum and exam development processes.Actual exam weights may vary slightly from year to year. Please note that some topics arecombined for testing purposes.

Exam Formats

Multiple Choice Questions (Level I only) The Level I exams include 240 total multiple choice questions, 120 on the morning session of theexam and 120 on the afternoon session. Each multiple choice question is free-standing (notdependent on other questions) and has three possible answers: A, B, and C. All questions areequally weighted and there is no penalty for guessing.

While you are taking the Level I multiple choice exam, remember:

Carefully manage your time . Dont spend too much time on any one question or topicarea. On average, you should allocate 1.5 minutes to each multiple choice question,including time to record your answer on the answer sheet.

Read the questions carefully . A careless skimming of the question may lead you to acompletely different, and incorrect, answer.

Read each item carefully and eliminate obviously incorrect answers . If you have toguess and you can eliminate one of the responses, your odds of answering the questioncorrectly are much higher. There is no penalty for guessing.

Mark your answers on the answer sheet as you complete each question . Somecandidates mark their answers in the exam book and wait until the end of the exam tocomplete the answer sheet. This is not an advisable strategy .

Expect to encounter questions that you will not be able to answer correctly . There isa great deal of material to master and exam questions are challenging. Standard settersand the Board of Governors (at all three levels) take account of exam difficulty in settingMinimum Passing Scores. For a full description of how the MPS is established, see TheCFA Program: Our Fifth Decade (PDF).

Examination writers use a standard set of formatting conventions on the multiplechoice questions . Many sample exams produced by third parties do not follow theseconventions, so review the CFA Institute format presented below.

Familiarize yourself with the instructions for filling out your answer sheet (PDF).Instructions are also available at the time of the exam.

Formatting Conventions Used for Level I Exams

Item Construction

Each item on the Level I multiple choice exam consists of a stem (question, statement, and/or table) and three choices, A, B, and C.
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Two basic formats are used :

1. Stems using sentence completion with three unique choices2. Stems phrased as questions with three unique choices

Example 1 (Stem using sentence completion)

An analyst suspects that a particular companys U.S. GAAP financial stat ements may requireadjustment because the company uses take-or-pay contracts. The most likely effect of theappropriate adjustments would be to increase that companys

A. return on assets.B. debt-to-equity ratio.C. interest coverage ratio.

Example 2 (Stem phrased as question)

An analyst suspects that a particular companys U.S. GAAP financial statements may requireadjustment because the company uses take-or-pay contracts. Which of the following is most likely to increase as a result of the appropri ate adjustments being made to that companysfinancial statements?

A. Return on assets.B. Debt-to-equity ratio.C. Interest coverage ratio.

Item Stems

The Level I CFA exam does not use except , true , or false in item stems and avoids the use of not in item stems whenever possible. When appropriate, stems will include one of the followingqualifiers: most likely, least likely, best described, most appropriate, most accurate, leastappropriate, or least accurate. Each stem supports only one item on the exam.

Choices

The Level I CFA exam does not use any of the following choices: all of the above, none of theabove, A and B only, B and C only, cannot determine, cannot calculate, or not enoughinformation to determine.

Choices consisting of words or sentences are typically ordered from shortest to longest; choicesthat are quantitative are ordered from the smallest number to largest number. The choices agreegrammatically with the stem; language common to all choices is placed in the stem.

Item Set Questions (Level II and Level III)
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The Level II CFA exam consists of 20 item sets 10 on the morning session of the exam and10 on the afternoon session. The Level III exam uses the essay format in the morning, and theitem set format, with 10 item sets, in the afternoon.

Item sets are sometimes called mini -cases. Each item set on the CFA exam consists of a

vignette (or case statement) and six multiple choice items (questions).

The length of a vignette ranges from about 1 page to 2.5 pages. The longer vignettes are thosethat include several tables of information, such as for a financial statement analysis, statistics, or fixed-income item set. The average length of the vignettes on the exam is about 1.5 pages.

The six items in each item set can only be answered based on the information in the vignette.Hence, the items are not free-standing (as in Level I), but are drawn from the vignette. You willneed to read the vignette before answering the items, and you will need to refer back to thevignette for information. The six items can be answered independently of each other, but they dorequire information in the vignette.

On the Level II exam, you will have a total of 120 items (20 vignettes with 6 items each)compared to 240 multiple choice items on the Level I exam. The exam formats (including theessays at Level III) adapt to the changing topic focus and learning focus at each level. The topicfocus on Level I is on investment tools, the topic focus on Level II is on asset valuation, and thetopic focus on Level III is on portfolio management. The learning focus also changes, fromknowledge and comprehension (Level I), to application and analysis (Level II), to synthesis andevaluation (Level III).

The Level II and III exams are graded for 360 points, corresponding to the number of minutes onthe exam. The 120 Level II items are equally weighted, 3 points each, with no penalty for

guessing. At Level III, the morning essay exam is 180 points and the afternoon item set exam is180 points.

While you are taking the Level II or Level III item set exam, remember:

Read the formatting conventions for writing multiple choice questions at Level I .These same best practices are fo llowed for item sets questions at Levels II and III.

Expect to go slower on the Level II exam than on Level I . You are answering 50 percent fewer questions, but spending twice as much time thinking about each one(including time for reading and analyzing the vignettes).

You may mark up your exam book. Circle or underline important information in thevignette and write down your equations or logic. However, only your final answersrecorded on the answer sheets are graded.

Mark your answers on the answer sheet as you complete each question . Somecandidates mark their answers in the exam book and wait until the end of the exam tocomplete the answer sheet. This is not an advisable strategy .

If you do not know the answer to a question:o You might be able to eliminate one or more choices based on what you know

about the topic. There is no penalty for guessing.


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o Use reasoning and logic. The concepts that you know on one topic often apply toanother topic.

Expect to encounter questions that you will not be able to answer correctly . There isa great deal of material to master and exam questions are challenging. Standard settersand the Board of Governors (at all three levels) take account of exam difficulty in setting

Minimum Passing Scores. For a full description of how the MPS is established, see TheCFA Program: Our Fifth Decade (PDF).

Essay Questions (Level III only)

About the Level III Essay Questions

The Level III essay exam is given in the morning session and has a maximum score of 180 points. The essay exam typically has 10 15 questions, and questions may have multiple parts.The point value for each question is provided in the exam.

On the essay section of the Level III exam, you'll see two types of questions:

One requires that you write your answers on the lined page(s) following the question. For these questions, label each part of your answer clearly (A, B, C, or i, ii, iii, etc.)

The other type asks you to provide your answers in a template following the question.Instructions in bold print immediately following the question direct you to the pagenumber of each template.

Some questions contain a mix of these two question and answer types. Each essay question mayhave as few as one part or as many as 7-8 parts , so be sure to read and understand how to

answer the entire question.

Essay Exam Book Features

Your exam book will contain three features to help ensure you answer all parts of each questionin the appropriate place:

Page one of the exam book lists all of the questions on the exam, and the topic andminutes assigned for each question

The heading on the page where each question begins states the number of parts in thatquestion and the total number of minutes/points. For example: Question 2 has two parts(A, B) for a total of 18 minutes

Immediately after each subpart that requires a template answer, you will find a statementwith the page number of the template. For example: Answer Question 2 -B in theTemplate provided on page 12
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Make sure you familiarize yourself with the essay exam question formats so that you don'toverlook any part of a question. Use the templates to provide your answers in an efficientmanner.

The following are some general tips for Level III candidates on the essay exam:

The published guideline answers on past essay exams are more complete and betterwritten than actual exam answers that receive full credit.

The published guideline answers may not reflect all alternative approaches to thequestion that received full or partial credit.

Answers are graded only on content. They are not graded for language and style. Use short phrases and bullet points to save time, but be sure your meaning is clear. Handwriting is rarely so poor that the answer cannot be graded. Points are awarded for direct answers to a question. No points are awarded for general knowledge that is not responsive to the question. Do not spend too much time writing an answer . This is particularly tempting when you

know the topic well. Formulate a direct response to the command words, and use theamount of time allotted. You should expect to encounter questions that you will not be able to answer correctly.

There is a great deal of material to master and exam questions are challenging. Standardsetters and the Board of Governors (at all three levels) take account of exam difficulty insetting Minimum Passing Scores.

The following are common reasons that graders give for poor candidate performance on theessay portion of the Level III:

Not responsive to command word list (list, define, etc.)

Answered a question they wish they had been asked instead of the question that wasasked. No work shown on a calculation question and the answer is incorrect. Hedged on questions that asked for a recommendation and justification (e.g.,

recommended A, but justified B). Neglected to answer part of the question (especially if a several part question). Note that

you can still answer part E, even if you do not know the answer to part D. Content area experts spent too much time on their area of expertise, leaving too little time

for weak areas. Providing more items or responses than requested. If a question asks for three factors,

only the first three that you list will be graded.

Exam Day ExperienceImportant Information

For each timed session, testing personnel will tell you when to start and stop work.


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You must attend both sessions or you will not receive exam results.

Exam Timing Each exam day consists of two timed sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Instructions begin prior to the start of each timed session. If you do not sit for the morning session, you will not be permitted to sit for the afternoon

session.

Typical Exam Day Schedule (exact times may vary slightly)

ActivityMorningSession

AfternoonSession

Candidates begin check-in process. 8:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m.

Candidates must be seated in testing room.Doors close and announcements begin. Once doors close, candidates will not be allowed to enter the testing room

until the timed portion of the exams has started.

8:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m.

Session begins . Passports and calculators are checked again. 9:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

Candidates must remain seated for the duration of the session. 11:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m.

Session ends. Note: At the conclusion of each session, candidates must remain seated untilall exam materials are collected and reconciled. This may take up to 10-20

additional minutes. 12:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m.

Testing Rooms Without Clocks

In testing rooms that do not have clocks the timekeeper will mark time remaining on achalkboard or flip chart in the following increments :

Every 30 minutes:

Less than 2.5 hours remain Less than 2 hours remain Less than 1.5 hours remain Less than 60 minutes remain

Then every 15 minutes:


12/12

Less than 45 minutes remain Less than 30 minutes remain (verbal announcement) Less than 15 minutes remain (verbal announcement)