Before you sit for one the toughest exams in the financial field, the first question in your mind will be “how long should I study for the CFA Level 1 exam”?
Your study habits for CFA Level 1 won’t just impact your Level 1 score. They’ll set the tone for your Level 2 and Level 3 exams as well.
One of the best strategies to prepare for the CFA Level 1 exam is to give yourself plenty of time to study. On average, successful candidates report that studying 300 hours or more for each level of the CFA exam.
If you want to earn your CFA charter as efficiently as possible, you’ll need to take it seriously from the jump. Stringing together cram sessions and study hacks won’t get you there.
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How Long Do You Need to Study for the CFA Level 1?
Passing the CFA exam is no walk in the park and requires a serious commitment to following a structured study plan.
According to the CFA Institute, the average annual pass rate for the CFA Level 1 exam over the last 10 years has been 44%, dropping to just 38% for the May 2022 exam.
If pass rates are an indicator, then it’s obvious that only dedicated candidates will sail through Level 1. Now that you know what to expect, you should be prepared to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments and sacrifices.
How Much Studying is Required for CFA Level 1?
Before discussing how long to study for the CFA Level 1, let’ s go over the details of the exam.
There are about 60 readings, 10 topics, and 19 study sessions of the CFA Level 1 exam. As each subject carries a different weight, manage your study time by allotting it based on the weight.
An example will best illustrate this point.
The weight given to Quantitative Methods on the Level 1 is 8% – 12%. Accordingly, a rational approach would be to spend 8-12% of your total study time on this topic. Assuming a minimum of 300 total study hours, this equates to 24-36 hours focused on Quantitative Methods. Similarly, Financial Reporting and Analysis carries a weight of 13% – 17%, so you’ should expect to dedicate slightly more time to this topic over the course of your studies.
How Long Does it Take to Study for the CFA Level 1?
Your biggest investment for studying for the CFA Level 1 exam is your time, so you need to spend it judiciously.
The CFA Institute reports that successful candidates spend an average of 323 hours preparing for the Level 1 exam. At a minimum, your prep time should be at least 300 hours.
This benchmark is simply a rule of thumb, so adjust it accordingly for your experience level. If you have a light background and knowledge of the subject matter, you may need more prep time to fully absorb the material. Students with more extensive knowledge and experience with CFA Level 1 subjects may get away with slightly less study time.
How to Study for the CFA Level 1
There’s a huge amount of material you need to cover, so it’ll ultimately come down to how much free time you have.
Many CFA candidates are already busy working full-time jobs, so carving 15-20 hours per week to study may be a herculean feat. Assuming you have ~15 hours per week, it’ll take 20-22 weeks to reach 300-330 hours of prep time, or 4-5 months.
In that case, you should plan to complete your CFA review course within 4 months of studying plan to comeAllott four months for readings and keep the last month for practicing and revision. Even if you read two hours per day on weekdays and eight on weekends, it will take about four months (17 weeks) to go through all the readings. When you consider how long should I study for the CFA Level 1, weekends and non-working days will come to your rescue as these are the best times to study extensively for the CFA Level 1 exam.
It is unlikely that you will have time for practice questions or end-of-chapter questions during the week. Therefore, spend an additional two to three hours on them during the weekend. Remember, the more you practice the higher your chances of cracking the CFA Level 1 exam the first time around.
Best Way to Study for Part One of the CFA in a Month
Here’s the scenario: There’s one month to go before the exam. You should already be past the studying stage and brushing up with quizzes and mock exams, but you’re woefully behind. You’re only option now is to go gangbusters., it is time to pull up your socks and get down to the challenging task ahead. The point now is should you spread out your studying for the CFA Level 1 or study specific stuff.
While working out the study plan for the month, it must be taken for granted that you have already read and reviewed all summaries and chapters so that the last month can be devoted exclusively to practice questions and final revision.
Here is the study plan for the CFA Level 1 over the last month before the exams.
- Practice mock exams: Include in the schedule one half-mock exam per week for a total of four exams and 480 questions (120 questions per exam). For the most optimized results, answer all the questions without the answers. It will make a huge impact on sharpening the concepts of the subjects and how you approach the questions. Monitor the time so that you can simulate the real exam scenario.
- Focus on Ethics: The weight given to the subject of Ethics is between 15% to 20%. That is how important it is and hence, should be your focus during the last month of prep for your CFA exams. Pay particular attention to this area during mock exams. Learn how to comply with the Standards of Professional Conduct and what would be termed a violation.
- Emphasize Financial Reporting and Analysis and Quantitative Methods: These two chapters are interrelated with several other topics and hence mastering them will help you in comprehensively preparing for and understanding the curriculum of the CFA Level 1 exam.
- Decide on a rest day: Being over-anxious can lead to stress and burnout. Take a day off in the week for rest and rejuvenation and come back fully rested and charged. You will perform better since your mind will be receptive to taking the load once again.
- Keep the last two days of the month blank: While working out the schedule, keep the last two days of the month blank. This is for last-minute prep if you find that you have not understood a concept just before the exams.
Follow these tips to know the best way to study for Part One of the CFA in a month.
How to Study for the CFA Level 1 in 300 Hours
Why would you need 300 hours at least to study for the CFA Level 1 exam? The two main reasons are that the CFA curriculum is very large and requires extensive studying and the second is that you must practice a lot of mock exams – at least 5 – and that is no easy task.
Here are a few tips on how to study for the CFA Level 1 in 300 hours.
- Explore the curriculum: This is necessary to know which subjects to dedicate more time to according to their weight. Understand the study sessions, their headings and introductions, readings, and the Learning Outcome Statements. This might be tedious but will greatly help to strategize your study plan within 300 hours.
- Estimate the time that you can spend daily on studies: Check the daily prep time hours that you can afford by considering your college or working hours, commuting, and your lifestyle on weekends and extra holidays. However, you have to make a lot of sacrifices to ensure that you can squeeze out 300 hours or more from your waking hours. As for your studies, you must be seriously disciplined if you hope to crack the CFA exam Level 1 easily.
- Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses: When your target is 300 hours you should have a plan in place. The curriculum is vast and it is not possible to cram in every detail of every subject in the target time. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and focus on topics that are new to you. Practice hard on mock exams to know which topics need more study and which can be left out to fit everything within your 300 hours goal.
Keep these things in mind when you think about how to study for the CFA Level 1 in 300 hours.
Should You Start Studying for CFA Level 2 Before Level 1 Results
After you are through with the CFA Level 1 exam and now awaiting results, before you think of Level 2, let yourself go for a week or two. The exam must have taken a toll on you and you owe it to yourself to let your hair down for some time before having a go at Level 2. But should you start studying for the next step at all before the results are out?
Yes, it is better that you be an optimist and start your preparations for Level 2 in advance. Level 2 is considered to be the toughest stage of the CFA exams and so it will be beneficial to have a head start before Level 1 results are out and preparations begin in right earnest.
However, the strategy to follow in this case is that you must focus on topics that overlap both the Level 1 and 2 exams. If you pass the CFA Level 1, you have already walked some distance in Level 2 prep. If you fail, your studies will help in Level 1 revision. For instance, topics like FRA, Corporate Finance, and Ethics have similar sub-topics in both levels 1 and 2 so you can focus on these areas till the Level 1 results are declared.
Summing up
This sums up your question how long should I study for the CFA Level 1? While the benchmark is about 323 hours, in no way less than a minimum of 300 hours, avoid anxiety by balancing your study time, work life, and social life. While you might have to make a lot of sacrifices to crack this toughest exam in the finance sector, being relaxed all through will avoid early burnout. Have a monthly study plan and do not deviate from it.
Most importantly, the key to the amount of studying for CFA Level 1 is to always move ahead. Do not start from Chapter 1 every time you sit down to study and do not put off things for later as the burden piles up. That later never comes.
