What Is the CFA? Chartered Financial Analyst Exams and Requirements

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The CFA, short for Chartered Financial Analyst, is a professional credential in investment management and financial analysis, awarded by the CFA Institute. It is a charter, not a degree and not a government license. To earn it, a candidate passes three exams in sequence (Level I, Level II and Level III), logs qualifying work experience in the investment field, and joins the CFA Institute, renewing a commitment to its ethics code each year. The program sits at graduate level.

What a CFA charterholder does

The CFA shows that the holder has been examined on analyzing securities, valuing companies and managing portfolios, and has agreed to a code of professional conduct. The curriculum covers accounting, economics, ethics, quantitative methods, security analysis and portfolio management, which is why the designation is concentrated in investment work rather than general corporate accounting.

Common roles for charterholders include equity and credit research analyst, portfolio manager, investment strategist, risk manager, consultant and chief investment officer, at firms such as asset managers, pension funds, insurers, banks and wealth managers. The skills are applied ones. A Level II candidate, for example, has to take a company’s financial statements, adjust them, build cash flow forecasts from the cash flow statement and produce a valuation using business valuation methods.

The charter does not license anyone to sell securities or give regulated advice. Those permissions come from regulators and their exams, which vary by country.

Where the CFA came from

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts was formed in 1962, and the first CFA charters were awarded in 1963, the year the exam series began. After a 1990 merger with the Financial Analysts Federation, the organization renamed itself the CFA Institute in 2004.

Today the CFA Institute is a global nonprofit with more than 200,000 members, including charterholders and portfolio managers, across 164 countries and 160 local member societies. Its stated mission is to raise educational, ethical and professional standards in the investment industry.

Requirements to enroll in the CFA Program

Before registering for the first exam, a candidate has to meet one of the educational or experience routes CFA Institute accepts:

• Bachelor’s degree: a completed undergraduate degree (or equivalent).
• Final-year student: someone in the last year of a bachelor’s program may enroll, but the degree must be completed before they register for Level III.
• Professional experience: qualifying work experience, or a combination of work and education, can substitute for the degree.

Several other conditions apply regardless of route. The candidate needs a valid international passport, must take the exams in English, must meet the professional conduct admission criteria, and must live in a participating country.

Each level has a prerequisite. Level II requires a pass on Level I, and Level III requires a pass on Level II. No level can be skipped, and the order cannot change.

From candidate to charterholder

Passing Level III does not make someone a CFA charterholder on its own. The full sequence looks like this:

1. Meet the enrollment requirements and pay the one-time program enrollment fee.
2. Register and sit for Level I, then pass it.
3. Pass Level II.
4. Pass Level III, with the bachelor’s degree completed by the time of registration if the candidate entered as a final-year student.
5. Accumulate 4,000 hours of relevant work experience over a minimum of three years. Experience can be earned before, during or after the exams.
6. Provide professional reference letters.
7. Apply for membership in the CFA Institute and a local society, then pay annual dues.
8. Sign the annual professional conduct statement, confirming adherence to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.

The last two steps continue for as long as the person holds the charter. Lapsed dues or a missed attestation affect the right to use the designation, and violating the code can lead to disciplinary action up to lifetime revocation of the charter.

The three CFA exams

The CFA curriculum is organized into 10 topic areas: ethical and professional standards, quantitative methods, economics, financial statement analysis, corporate finance, equity investments, fixed income, derivatives, alternative investments and portfolio management. Each level uses those topics differently.

Level I

Level I tests knowledge and comprehension of tools across all 10 topic areas. It consists of 180 multiple-choice questions taken over four and a half hours. Breadth is the main challenge: the candidate has to become fluent in a large amount of material, from time value of money to bond pricing to accounting conventions.

Level II

Level II focuses on asset valuation and on applying investment tools to realistic situations. The exam has 22 item sets, each a short case (a vignette) followed by multiple-choice questions, 88 in total. Financial reporting questions are generally based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The difficulty lies in pulling the right figures out of a dense case and then doing several steps of analysis.

Level III

Level III centers on portfolio management and wealth planning. Candidates combine concepts from the whole curriculum to build investment policies, allocate assets and manage risk for individual and institutional clients. The exam has 11 item sets and 11 constructed-response (essay) questions, with four hours and 24 minutes allowed. Constructed-response items usually have several parts tied to a case and are scored by human graders rather than by machine.

How the exams are scored

Results are reported as pass or fail. CFA Institute does not publish the minimum passing score in advance, and there is no fixed public mark that guarantees a pass. Candidates receive their result along with a breakdown of their performance by topic area.

Exam schedule and test centers

The exams are computer-based and taken at more than 400 test centers worldwide, with sites being added in Asia as demand there grows. The exam windows are:

• Level I: four windows a year (February, May, August, November)
• Level II: three windows (May, August, November)
• Level III: two windows (February, August)

Exam windows and fees are set by CFA Institute and do change, so confirm the current calendar before planning a study timeline. There is no cap on the number of attempts at a level, but each failed attempt means registering and paying again. Because Level III is offered only twice a year, failing it pushes completion back further than failing Level I would.

Candidate numbers peaked in 2019 and fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they had not returned to that peak by the time of CFA Institute’s most recent results.

CFA pass rates

From 1963 through May 2025, more than 3.9 million candidates sat the exams, with an overall pass rate of 45% across all levels. For the 10 years from 2016 through 2025, the average was 43%. By level, the 10-year averages were:

• Level I: 41%
• Level II: 46%
• Level III: 51%

Pass rates rise with each level partly because the pool changes: every Level III candidate has already passed two exams, so a higher Level III pass rate does not mean the exam is easier.

How long it takes to earn the CFA

CFA Institute recommends a minimum of 300 hours of study per exam, or at least 900 hours across the three levels with no retakes. Successful candidates have taken an average of more than four years to earn the charter. That figure reflects retakes, the gaps between exam windows, the time needed to build up 4,000 hours of work experience, and the fact that most candidates study while working full time.

How much the CFA costs

Each exam registration cost $1,290 at the standard rate or $990 with early registration, plus a one-time $350 enrollment fee charged when registering for Level I. For a candidate who passes each level on the first attempt:

These totals assume no retakes and cover exam fees only. Each failed attempt adds another registration fee. Third-party prep courses and practice materials are optional extra costs. After the charter is earned, annual membership dues continue.

Is the CFA worth it?

Pay and recognition

Industry surveys report that charterholders earn more than people who have not completed the program. One test-prep provider’s salary analysis found that charterholders earned, on average, 57% more than Level I candidates after controlling for years of work experience. That is an average across a surveyed group, not a promised raise, and pay depends heavily on role, firm and location.

The charter’s main value is recognition. Investment employers and clients worldwide know what it requires, so it signals tested competence in valuation and portfolio management, plus an ongoing ethics commitment.

The trade-offs

The costs are real:

• Time: at least 900 hours of study, usually alongside a job and at the expense of evenings and weekends.
• Uncertainty: with pass rates below 50% at every level, some candidates spend years and still do not finish, and many stop after failing a level once.
• Fit: the CFA does not quickly fix a stalled career. It will not close a gap in communication or relationship skills, and for roles outside investment analysis a broader credential may fit better.

CFA vs. an MBA

An MBA is a degree that covers management, strategy, marketing and finance, typically with full-time or part-time coursework, networking and a much higher tuition bill. The CFA is a self-study credential focused narrowly on investments. People aiming for research or portfolio management roles often choose the CFA. Those aiming for general management, consulting or corporate leadership more often choose an MBA. Some professionals hold both.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

The CFA suits people aiming for research, portfolio management and other investment roles, where employers worldwide recognize it as proof of tested valuation and portfolio skills. Earning it takes at least 900 study hours and often more than four years, usually while working full time. Candidates who want general management or consulting careers may find an MBA a better fit, and the charter will not fix gaps in communication skills.