An independent, unofficial guide to the CFA Level I exam — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by CFA Institute.
QMECONFSACIEQ FIDERAIPMETH
| Topic | Weight | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| QM — Quantitative Methods | 6–9% | Time value of money, probability, statistics, hypothesis testing, regression. |
| ECON — Economics | 6–9% | Micro/macro fundamentals, exchange rates, business cycles, inflation. |
| FSA — Financial Statement Analysis | 11–14% | The three statements, ratios, deferred taxes, leases, earnings quality. |
| CI — Corporate Issuers | 6–9% | Capital budgeting, cost of capital, capital structure, governance. |
| EQ — Equity Investments | 11–14% | Market efficiency, valuation multiples, DDM, index construction. |
| FI — Fixed Income | 11–14% | Bond pricing, duration, convexity, credit spreads, yield curves. |
| DER — Derivatives | 5–8% | Forwards, futures, options, swaps, put-call parity, hedging. |
| AI — Alternative Investments | 7–10% | Hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, fees. |
| PM — Portfolio Management | 8–12% | Diversification, CAPM, efficient frontier, IPS, rebalancing. |
| ETH — Ethical & Professional Standards | 15–20% | The Code and Standards — the single highest-weighted topic. |
The real Level I exam is 180 multiple-choice questions (3 options each) split across two 2h12m sessions, drawn from all 10 topics in a mixed order. This portal instead offers a focused, timed testlet per topic — pick one topic and work through every original question currently live for it (50 per topic), against a rough pacing clock (~1.5 min/question, matching real exam pacing). Treat this as topic-by-topic drilling, not a full-length two-session replica.
CFA Institute does not publish numeric scores or the Minimum Passing Score (MPS) in advance — Level I is graded strictly pass/fail against an MPS set each cycle by a standard-setting panel, and that MPS is not a fixed percentage. The accuracy percentage shown after a mock testlet here is compared against an illustrative 65% self-check line only, not any official or predictive pass mark.