Free CFA resources, in one place
A full topic to try free, our researched passing-score data, the exam at a glance, and the method behind every note. Everything you need to judge the CFA — and us — before you spend a cent.
- Free to start
- No card required
- Cited to the CFA curriculum
- 01A full CFA topic, free
- 02Pass-score & MPS data
- 03How the material is built
- 04How the platform works
- 05Insights & field notes
- 06Straight answers
Start free — and see exactly how we work
Six ways in, every one of them a real page rather than an email gate. Begin with a full topic, check our passing-score research, or read how the material is built.
A full CFA topic, free
Read real source-cited notes and work exam-style questions on one complete topic — no card, no teaser blur. Judge the material on your own work before you pay.
Start a free topicPass-score & MPS data
Our researched minimum-passing-score bands for every CFA level, triangulated from candidate reports and shown with the sources we read them from.
See the dataHow the material is built
The sourcing rules, the citation discipline, and how the AI tutor is kept on a leash — the method behind every note and every question.
Read the methodHow the platform works
Notes, an adaptive question bank, full mock exams, and a planner that recalculates nightly — how the pieces fit into a real study week.
See how it worksInsights & field notes
Short, specific writing for the candidate sitting the next window — exam strategy, the Level II jump, and the careers the charter opens.
Read insightsStraight answers
No pass guarantees, no affiliation games — the honest answers to what candidates actually ask before they commit to a provider.
Read the FAQThe CFA exam at a glance
Three sequential levels, each asking more of you than the last. Here is the honest shape of it — format, odds, and cost — drawn from cited sources, not a brochure.
Level I
The full toolkit across ten topics — ethics, quantitative methods, financial statement analysis, equity, fixed income. Multiple-choice, foundations-first.
Level II
Valuation and analysis through vignette item sets that mirror how analysts actually work — linking concepts under a single case.
Level III
Portfolio management and synthesis through constructed-response essays and item sets — now with a chosen pathway: Portfolio Management, Private Wealth, or Private Markets.
- Awarding body
- CFA Institute
- Levels
- 3 — Level I, II, III
- Question format
- L1: 180 MCQ · L2: 88 item-set · L3: essay + item-set
- Sittings / year
- L1: 4 · L2: 3 · L3: 2 (computer-based)
- Level III pathways
- Portfolio Management · Private Wealth · Private Markets
- 2026 fees / level
- USD 1,140 early · 1,490 standard (L3: 1,240 / 1,590)
- Total study time
- ~1,000–1,200 hours across all levels
- Scoring
- Minimum Passing Score set via the Angoff method, then equated
Source: CFA Institute, 2026.
Pass rates — 10-year average
CFA Institute exam results, 10-year average 2016–2025 (via UWorld / CFA Institute).
Cost to charter
$3,570–$9,000
All three levels — fees and prep materials — against $60,000–$100,000 for a top-tier MBA.
Fees: CFA Institute / Kaplan Schweser / 300Hours, 2026. Comp: CFA Institute 2024 Compensation Study (US avg total comp, all functions); BLS, 2024.
Try a full topic at your level
One complete topic of source-cited notes and exam-style questions — free, no card, no blur. Pick the level you are sitting next.
CFA Level I
See exactly how the notes read, how the questions explain themselves, and how the platform paces you — on a complete Level I topic, before you pay anything.
CFA Level II
See how the notes make the cross-topic links explicit and how the item-set questions explain themselves — on a complete Level II topic, before you pay.
CFA Level III
See how the notes frame outcomes as recommendations and how the questions drill justification — on a complete Level III topic, before you pay.
Insights & industry
Field notes from across the finance-credential path — CFA, FRM, CAIA, the careers around them and the skills the desk actually hires for. Short, specific, written for the candidate sitting the next window.
The ethics adjustment, decoded
CFA Institute weights Ethics for candidates near the passing line. Here is what that means for how you spend the final month.
Practical Skills Modules are no longer optional
Plan the PSMs like a topic area, not a loose end — completion is now a condition of sitting.
What recruiters read on a half-finished charter
A “Level II candidate” line says more than most candidates think — and not always what they intend.
The Part I → Part II gap nobody warns you about
Part I rewards the toolkit. Part II asks whether you can apply it to a desk’s worth of ambiguity.
Read a real note before you decide
Start with one full CFA topic free — the notes, the questions, the pacing — then choose a plan only if it earns its place.