Course of Study
To earn the CFA charter, you must successfully pass through the CFA Program, a graduate-level self-study program that combines a broad curriculum with professional conduct requirements, culminating in a series of three sequential exams. Level I exams are held in June and December. Levels II and III are only held in June.
As a CFA Program candidate, your course of study is determined by the Candidate Body of Knowledge™ (CBOK). The CBOK is grounded in practice. This means that panels and surveys of current investment professionals have determined the knowledge, skills, and abilities you’ll need to succeed in the workplace. This practice analysis involves thousands of charterholders across the world and helps determine the CBOK, which is the framework for the curriculum and exams.
Successful candidates report spending an average of about 300 hours preparing for each exam (learn more about scheduling your time). This recommendation, however, may substantially underestimate the hours needed for appropriate exam preparation depending on individual circumstances and academic background.
To get more insight into the level of rigor that’s required on the CFA Program exams, read the following:
Mastery of the CBOK is the major purpose of the CFA Program. This mastery is achieved by using
Read more about the curriculum development (PDF).
Find out what study resources are available in our Candidate Preparation Toolkit.