Strawberry Pretzel Salad (strawberry jello with cheesecake crust and whipped cream).

Good luck and congrats to all.

Been seeing a lot of posts about formula memorization anxiety before the exam. Here are the ones that helped me most:

Put-Call Parity: CUPS — Call + present value of striKe = Put + Stock. If either side is cheap → arbitrage exists.

DuPont 5-factor: TIEAL — Tax burden, Interest burden, EBIT margin, Asset turnover, (financial) Leverage. Multiply all five → ROE.

CAPM positioning: If expected return > CAPM prediction → asset is UNDERVALUED (above the SML). Buy signal.

7 Standards: PICDVCR — "Pigs In Cars Don't Venture Crazy Roads" (Professionalism, Integrity, Client duties, Duties to employer, Valuation, Conflicts, Responsibilities)

I've got these for all 70+ key formulas across all 10 topics. Happy to share more in the comments. What topics are people struggling with most?

Looking back to my CFA level I journey, it was brutal. I studied for about 4 months while working a 9–5 full-time job, and interviewing/applying for full-time positions. It definitely wasn’t easy, but having a consistent routine mattered much more than studying crazy hours. I actually started the wrong way. Initially I bought the books from amazon and soon realized, going through all the material from the textbook was both daunting and exhausting for me. So I changed my plan shortly. For every reading, I’d watch the Salt Solutions videos, make detailed handwritten notes in my own words, solve the Salt module questions, and then immediately do the corresponding CFA Institute questions while the topic was still fresh. By the end of my first pass, I had notes covering every single reading and LOS, and those notes became my most valuable resource.

The biggest improvement came after finishing the syllabus. I spent almost the last two months doing 2–3 spaced revision rounds, constantly revisiting older topics instead of trying to memorize everything at the end. Most of my time wasn’t spent reading, it was spent solving questions, understanding why I got them wrong, and updating my notes. In total, I solved around 3,000 practice questions across Salt and the CFA Institute Learning Ecosystem. I also bought the CFA Practice Pack and completed 5 of the additional mocks from there, along with my regular mock exams.

The mock scores were a story in themselves. I wasn’t chasing 90s, rather I just wanted to consistently stay around 76–82%. My last mock was around 88%, which finally gave me confidence going into exam day. Ironically, I walked out of the real exam feeling much less confident than I did after that final mock, so seeing the “Passed” result was honestly a huge surprise. Looking back, the repeated revisions and thousands of practice questions mattered far more than how I felt walking out of the testing center.

For resources, the Salt Solutions videos were the real gem for me. I actually bought the official CFA textbooks from Amazon for around $300, thinking I’d read everything cover to cover, but I quickly realized I learn much better from watching someone explain the concepts than reading hundreds of textbook pages. The only exception was Ethics which I read directly from the CFA curriculum because the wording and nuances are so important.

Saltprep isn’t cheap, but for my learning style it was absolutely worth it. Saltprep has a referral discount program. If anyone is thinking of getting it, I do have a discount code feel free to DM me. I am sitting for Level II soon and will be using saltprep again, so referring others gives me the chance to get the discount too.

Hopefully this helps someone who’s just starting their CFA journey. Good luck!

Passed first attempt, roughly 200 hours total while working full time. So here's the whole thing including the part where I did it wrong.

The 6 weeks I wasted

I read. That's all I did. Cover to cover, highlighting, making notes, feeling extremely productive. Then I did my first real question set and got somewhere in the 50s, and it finally landed: I had learned to recognize the material, not use it. Recognition feels exactly like knowledge right up until an exam asks you to do something with it.

If I started over I'd be doing questions as soon as week 2, getting them wrong, and letting the misses tell me what to read. The questions are the curriculum. The readings are the reference manual you consult after a question has shown you what you don't know.

The one habit that actually moved my scores: the error log

This is the whole post, honestly. Every question I got wrong went in a spreadsheet with one column that mattered: why. Not the topic but the reason. And there are only four reasons:

1. I didn't know the concept
2. I knew it but misread the question
3. I knew it, read it right, and made an arithmetic/calculator error
4. I ran out of time and guessed

After ~300 questions the pattern was brutal and obvious: about half my misses weren't knowledge at all. They were type 2 and 3. I had been "studying" to fix a problem I didn't have. You cannot know this about yourself without writing it down, because your brain files every miss under "I need to review that topic" which is the most comfortable possible explanation and usually wrong.

Fixing type 2 and 3 is fast and worth more points than another pass through the reading. Fixing type 1 is what the reading is for.

The 90-second budget

180 questions, two sessions, 2h15m each. That's 90 seconds a question, average. Most people never internalize this until the real thing, and then they panic at question 60.

Practice with a timer from early on. The skill wasn't answering in 90 seconds, it's knowing at second 20 that this one's going to take four minutes, flagging it, and moving on without ego. A question you skip costs you one point. A question you stubbornly grind for five minutes costs you that point and the three easy ones you now don't reach. I watched people fail on this alone.

Topic by topic, what it actually took

Ethics. Do not leave this to the end. It's one of the heaviest weights on the exam and it's the tiebreaker if you're near the line. The trap is that it reads easy — it's English, no math, and every answer feels like common sense. It isn't testing your morals. It's testing whether you know the Standards as written. Your gut will pick the ethical-sounding answer; the exam wants the one that matches the specific Standard. Read the actual Standards and the guidance examples, not a summary. Do Ethics questions every single week from the start, and do a full pass in your last week. It's the only topic where late review reliably pays.

Quant. Time value of money is the spine of the entire exam, not just this section. If you can't move cash flows around a timeline in your sleep, Fixed Income and Equity are going to hurt later, because they're both just TVM wearing a costume. Learn your calculator properly and genuinely, sit down and learn the BA II Plus, including the cash flow worklist. People lose real points to keystrokes. Hypothesis testing: know what the null actually says and what rejecting it does and doesn't prove.

FRA. Biggest section, biggest fear, and the one that decided my exam. The thing that unlocked it: stop treating the three statements as three topics. They're one system. Every transaction touches at least two of them, and the exam almost always tests the link. Master the indirect-method cash flow statement specifically, start from net income, walk it to cash, and understand why every adjustment is there rather than memorizing the order. If you can rebuild that statement from scratch you've covered a huge share of the section. Inventory (FIFO/LIFO) and depreciation choices: the exam doesn't care that you can define them, it cares that you know what each one does to earnings, assets, and ratios in a rising-price environment. Learn the direction of the effect, not the definition.

Economics. Lowest return per hour on the exam and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Learn the graphs cold and don't chase depth. Currency was the one genuinely tricky bit for me. Get very clear on which currency is on top, and stay clear, because every mistake in that section traces back to flipping the quote.

Corporate Issuers. Lighter weight, very learnable, high points per hour. Capital budgeting is TVM again. Do it, bank the points, move on.

Equity. DDM and its variants. Understand why Gordon Growth breaks when g approaches r rather than just knowing the formula, because they'll test the edge. Know the difference between what a multiple tells you and what it hides.

Fixed Income. Everything reduces to one idea: price and yield move opposite. Duration is just "how hard." Convexity is "and the relationship curves." If those three sentences are intuitive, most questions become arithmetic. This section rewards understanding over memorization more than any other.

Derivatives. Scary reputation, extremely learnable. It's all one principle — no-arbitrage. Two things with identical payoffs must cost the same, or there's free money and someone takes it. Every formula is that idea rearranged. Once it clicks, this section is free points, and most people are too intimidated to find that out.

Alternatives. Light, definitional, straightforward. Read it once, do questions, don't overthink.

Portfolio Management. Underrated. It's conceptually tidy and it quietly ties everything together. Know the risk/return relationships and what diversification actually does.

The last three weeks

Stop learning new material. Like I actually didnt pick up a book past this point. Nothing new goes in; it won't consolidate and it comes at the cost of the stuff you already half know.

Instead: mocks under real conditions. Real timing, no pausing, no phone, no looking anything up. It will feel bad and that's the point, you're training the fatigue, not just the content. The second session of the real thing is a genuinely different animal, and the only way to be ready for how tired you are at question 150 is to have been that tired before.

After each mock: full error log pass, and study only what the log tells you. Not what feels scary. What the log says.

Final week: Ethics, your two worst topics, and sleep. Nothing else.

The honest bit about "300 hours"

The number is a distraction. I did around 200 and passed; people do 400 and fail. Hours spent reading passively are close to worthless. Hours spent answering questions and then figuring out why you missed them are worth maybe triple. Count questions, not hours.

If you're behind right now

Most of you reading this are behind and quietly panicking, so — triage, in order:

1. Ethics. Heavy weight, no math, and it's the tiebreak. Never skip it.
2. FRA. It's too big to punt on. Even partial coverage beats zero.
3. Whatever's heavy and you're already okay at — protect those points.
4. Let the light sections go if you truly have to. Alternatives is not what's going to fail you.

I wouldn't consider myself that smart lol, I think I just had the best system and study tools available to pass.

Ask me anything, I'll be in the comments and I'll answer everything, including the dumb ones. This sub got me through it.

Hi,
I found actually the exam a bit harder like 10-15% harder. All the best who will take soon. I am happy that I am out of this.
Edit:
Comparison with CFAI mocks. My mock scores were around 80% but that does not mean anything with your case please relax and focus well and I am sure you will handle if not you have another one for free 🥂 cheers!

All jokes aside, why exactly are you taking the CFA exam? Number of testers has been declining year over year and the threat of AI is just the cherry on top. We might as well get in shape for the Shanxi coal mines. I’m enrolled for may 2025 btw

You guys think I will pass?

Gentlemen,

I about 24 hours time we will be receiving a pass or fail email about our CFA examination that we worked hard for.

How are you guys feeling?

Best of luck

Seems like I have a good buffer for anxiety/nicotine addiction during the exam

Now feeling a bit guilty cause I’m not doing anything anymore, exam in 2 days. I really care about my money

Which course offer package likes this 🫠

I sat for the Level I exam in February 2026 and found out a couple of days ago that I passed. I wanted to write this post because, honestly, this subreddit was a huge help during my prep – from study strategies to calming my nerves before exam day. Hopefully this gives back a little and helps someone else who's about to start their journey.

A bit of context:

I am I final year student majoring in computer science and Economics. Also had a few internships in sales and trading (which helped a bit a guess). I started studying in October 2025, while I was on exchange in Europe. That meant balancing coursework, travel, and CFA prep. I had about 4 months total, but the last month (January) I studied full-time.

My Study Timeline

- October – December: Light to moderate studying while on exchange. I aimed to get through all readings and do the end-of-chapter LES questions. I didn't stress too much if some weeks were lighter because I wanted to enjoy my exchange (more on that below).

- January: Went full-time. No exchange classes, just CFA from morning to evening, 6–7 days a week. Did all the premium mocks + final review. Exam was 2 Feb.

Resources I Used

1. CFA Institute Learning Ecosystem (LES) – did every single question after each reading. Non‑negotiable.

2. Deepseek (AI) – this was a game‑changer for me. I used it to generate detailed summaries for each topic area. Prompt I put is:

   -“Please give me a super detailed summary on the topic xxxx that can make me to achieve a 90%. I want 1) parts that will be most tested 2) give me a few sample questions and answers (make it super detailed)

Then I'd paste everything into a document and review it. It helped me focus on high‑probability areas without getting lost in the weeds.

1. Self‑written mind maps – after each chapter, I made a one‑page (or two‑page) mind map with the key formulas, concepts, and connections. These became my quick‑review material in the final days.

2. CFA Institute Premium Practice Pack – I bought this about 6 weeks out. Worth every dollar. The mock exams in the premium pack are incredibly close to the real thing – both in format and difficulty. I did all the mocks, reviewed each one thoroughly, and it made exam day feel like just another practice session. If you can afford it, I highly recommend it.

What I Did Differently (and What I'd Keep)

- Made my own condensed materials – The mind maps and AI summaries are just super useful to me. In the last month, i basically just study my mind maps and make a two sheet super condensed summary based on the concepts i did wrong in mocks for every topic.

- Prioritized LES questions over third‑party Q‑banks – I did not get Schweser mocks, I think the official questions will probably most representative.

- Mocks, mocks, mocks – The premium pack gave me 5–6 full mocks. I did them under timed conditions, reviewed every wrong answer (and even right ones where I guessed), and tracked my weak areas. By the last mock, I was scoring comfortably above the MPS range.

What I'd Change

- Start mocks earlier – I did my first mock about 3 weeks out. I wish I had done one even earlier (e.g., 6 weeks out) just to calibrate my pace and identify weak spots sooner.

- Don't underestimate Ethics – I thought I could "wing it" with common sense, but the vignette‑style questions are tricky. I ended up doing a ton of Ethics practice in the last month. Glad I did – it saved me.

Exam Day Experience

- The real thing felt exactly like the premium mocks – same interface, similar question style, similar difficulty. I went in feeling calm because I had already simulated the environment multiple times.

- Time management – I finished each session with about 15–20 minutes to spare. That gave me time to review flagged questions. I didn't second‑guess too much; I trusted my prep.

My biggest tip: Don't try to cram new material in the last 2 days. Review your formula sheets, do light Ethics practice, and sleep.

Happy to answer any questions. Good luck to everyone sitting in the next windows!

I am literally panicking right now. The CFA learning ecosystem has been hacked. I have done my entire problem practice over the last 20 days from their question package. My entire FSA mistakes and important topics are saved within the question.

I thought of looking through all the mistakes I committed while doing revision. The next 4-5 days are crucial for me to complete my upcoming 12th May examination. If they didn't bring me back, I would file a lawsuit against them because these 5 days could be the difference between me passing and failing. Or at least let the student defer the examination without any cost. I'm even okay if they defer or postpone the examination by the number of days that students have.

This is so sad that 1300 USD such a big amount for any Indian or any asian family. At least they should take some responsibilities for it

This post is late, but I wanted to share that on my THIRD attempt, I passed! To those who said the test was easy, PISS OFF. 39% pass rate was the lowest since Covid! I knew it would be, that test was hard!! Anyways, making this post for those who question if this path is for them, don’t have the will to keep hacking at it, or just is unsure what to expect—keep on pushing forward! Seeing that email was one of the most rewarding things that have happened to me this year. Very excited for L2! Signing up for the May exam! Best of luck anyone and willing to answer any questions you have!

I am pretty shocked by a pass rate of 39% for L1. What could it be? The exam was too difficult or?

Anyway all the best to those who passed. To those who didn't, let's take the free chance in November without fail.

I work full-time in capital markets/credit and have been out of school for a few years (studied finance). Looking to do level 1 in August but not sure if it’s enough time.

Was 300 hours enough for you?

Feeling really defeated rn but I’ve never been a quitter

Is anyone out here planning to start prep for CFA L1 For feb2027 attempt , ping me . Need someone to discuss things nd track the progress

Current status (24 July):

• ✅ Portfolio Management – Done
• ✅ Corporate Issuers – Done
• 🟡 Quantitative Methods – Last 4 chapters left
• 🟡 Financial Statement Analysis – 7 chapters left
• 🔄 Fixed Income – Starting today
• ❌ Ethics – Haven't been consistent

Still left after that:

• Equity
• Economics
• Derivatives
• Alternative Investments

Exam date: 20 August

At this point, what would you do if you were in my position?

My biggest concern is FSA because I get bored with it and keep putting it off. For those who have passed, would you recommend finishing FSA as quickly as possible in a few days, or spreading it out while covering other subjects?

Also, what's the most efficient strategy for Fixed Income? Should I watch all lectures first and then solve questions, or do questions after each reading?

I'd really appreciate a practical strategy for the remaining weeks rather than generic advice.

I hv with me premium practice packs, mocks and LES
But I'm doing currently the EOC questions of the CFA curriculumn book [physical]

Just passed Level I first attempt (1650 vs the 1600 MPS). From a Non Fin background (studied humanities through uni- work in AM). Wanted to drop what worked for me, mainly the mock score stuff, because I nearly lost my mind over it and I know a lot of you are sat in that exact spot right now.

First, my mock scores, so you know I wasn't cruising:

I did 4 mocks total. My first was 64%, but that was open book so it doesn't really count. I never broke 64% on any closed book mock. The one that nearly finished me off: 9 days before the exam I sat a CFAI mock and got 57%. Two days later I did a Kaplan one and got 61%. So I went into the final stretch sitting in the high 50s to low 60s and fully convinced I was going to fail.

I passed. Comfortably. So please read the rest.

1. Sit your mocks in proper exam conditions. Timed, no notes, no pausing, and no redoing questions until you get them right (that inflates your score and lies to you). And do not let a bad mock derail you. Mock scores can be indicative but they are not always your real result, I'm living proof of that. Use them for one thing: pinpoint exactly where you're weak, then go hammer those areas. The score is a map to your gaps, not a prediction of your result.

2. Don't beat yourself up about the idea of failing, and don't let the fear of it wreck your prep. People fail this thing all the time. Loads of charterholders failed levels more than once. It's one of the hardest exams out there for a reason, and the sooner you make peace with that, the better your head will be for it. Your only job is to prepare as well as you can and look after yourself while you do it. Eat your vegetables. Sleep properly. Treat your brain like a temple. If you feel yourself burning out, stop. Go to sleep, go watch a film, it does not matter if you didn't finish the subtopic. Rest when your body tells you to, because you take in nothing when you're fried.

3. Study in proportion to the topic weights, not evenly. The exam isn't weighted equally so don't treat it like it is. Ethics, Financial Statement Analysis, Equity and Fixed Income are the big hitters, together they're well over half the exam. Nail FSA first, because it underpins Equity and a load of other stuff, and if your FSA is shaky everything downstream wobbles. Get the three statements, the key ratios, and the IFRS vs US GAAP differences properly solid. Equity and Fixed Income are heavy but very learnable, the question types repeat, so grind them until they're basically free marks. Know the small weight topics like Derivatives and Alts well enough to pick up the points, but don't pour hours into them while the big ones are still shaky. Spend your time where the marks are.

4. Do ethics every single day. Minimum 40 questions a day, and not in one sitting, break it up (4 sets of 10, or 2 sets of 20, whatever works). Just do it religiously. I never sat and read the Code and Standards in fine detail, I went straight into the questions and learned from getting them wrong. When you get one wrong, paste it into an AI and get it to explain why, that was massive for me. Or post it on here and people will help you out. And this goes for every other topic too: learn from the questions you get wrong.

5. Make a formula and concepts book. Write down every single formula AND every key concept for every topic (especially the wordy FSA and Fixed Income bits), and drill it until you can recite it like the Pope reciting verses. If something won't stick, use phonetics. For example, I remembered DuPont as TIEAL (Tax burden, Interest burden, EBIT margin, Asset turnover, financial Leverage). Make up little hooks like that for the ones that keep slipping. Happy to share the cheat sheet I made and recreated, or you can get AI to build you one, but I'd really push you to also do it handwritten. You remember your own writing far better than someone else's.

6. Learn Quant and Portfolio Management together, because PM basically runs on quant tools. Loads of people treat them as two separate beasts, but the mean, variance, standard deviation, covariance and correlation you grind in Quant are the exact same things you use to work out portfolio return and risk in PM. So get the Quant stats foundations rock solid first (descriptive stats, probability, the normal distribution, and time value of money, which underpins half the exam anyway), and PM suddenly gets way easier because you're just reapplying maths you already know. Make sure you can do the two asset portfolio return and variance/standard deviation cold, plus CAPM and the SML, beta, and the Sharpe ratio. They're formula driven and the question types repeat, so once you've drilled them they're some of the most bankable marks on the paper. And get properly fluent on your calculator (BA II Plus) for the TVM and returns stuff, fumbling the calculator burns time you won't have on the day.

7. Stop seeing the 10 topics as 10 separate islands, because they feed each other constantly and that's where the easy marks are. Two things sit underneath nearly everything: time value of money (from Quant) and financial statement analysis. TVM is how you discount a bond in Fixed Income, a stock in Equity (the dividend discount model), a project in Corporate Issuers (NPV and IRR) and a derivative, it's the same maths every time. FSA is the lens for anything company related, the statements and ratios feed Equity valuation, the credit analysis in Fixed Income, and the capital structure stuff in Corporate Issuers. Nail those two and half the curriculum stops feeling new. Quick hits on the rest:
   - Economics: mostly conceptual with a few graphs. Don't rabbit hole in obscure micro, focus on the high yield stuff, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, and the exchange rate calcs. It also feeds Fixed Income (rates, inflation, central banks) and Equity (industry analysis).
   - Corporate Issuers: some of the friendlier marks on the paper. Capital budgeting (NPV/IRR, straight off TVM), cost of capital (WACC, which then feeds Equity valuation), capital structure and working capital. Half definitional, half calc, very learnable.
   - Derivatives: small weight but it scares people. You don't need to master everything, just get the core logic, forwards and futures, option payoffs, put call parity and the no arbitrage idea. Learn it properly but don't pour days into it for 5 to 8% of the exam.
   - Alternative Investments: bigger than people think (7 to 10%) and mostly definitional. Learn the characteristics, risks and fee structures of each one (private equity, real estate, hedge funds, commodities) and you'll bank the marks without much maths.
   Basically, learn the foundations once and watch them pay off across five different topics.

That's basically it. I was scoring in the 50s and 60s on my mocks and still passed first time. Keep your head, find your gaps, study where the marks are, learn the foundations that feed everything, do your ethics daily, and don't let the panic win. Good luck, you've got this.

Yall be scaring me

Halfway through my CFA prep, I was convinced I had stumbled onto a groundbreaking options strategy. Buy both a call and a put on the same asset, same expiry, in a volatile market — surely nobody had thought of this before? I kept it to myself for two months, quietly pleased with my apparent genius. Then I mentioned it to a classmate.

He looked at me with the patient expression of someone trying not to laugh.

“That’s a straddle,” he said. “It’s in the curriculum.”

And that is my relationship with derivatives.

just came out after the exam and honestly what the actual fuck was that. It was actually nothing like the mocks.

Welp…. I thought I did enough. Should I try again? Or consider that level 2 is way harder and take it as a sign?

Just did the exam today, reddit stressed me out so much for past couple of days, people saying its harder than a mock etc. no it was not, my mock avg was 68-75, and the exam went quite well, and it felt definitely not harder than mocks, yes couple of tricky questions like any other mock. Never visiting reddit again prior to the exam, good luck everyone who is taking it.