CFA Program Overview

Entering the Program

Find out about the program

• Overview

• Benefits

• Course of study

Is this the program for you? If you’re an investment professional planning to advance your career, this could be the right step.

• Review the program entrance requirements, including educational background and professional conduct

• Find out why current charterholders went through the program

• Learn about the jobs that benefit from the experience that comes with a CFA charter

You’ve decided to enter the CFA Program. Now what?

• Review the fee schedule: The one-time program enrollment fee and exam registration fee increase as the exam date approaches

• Learn more about scheduling: Find out how long it will take and when you should sign up

• Enroll in the program and register for exams

• Prepare for your exam: Successful candidates report spending an average of about 300 hours preparing for each exam (we have plenty of tools to help you prepare)

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:

• Study session outlines and learning outcome statements (LOS)

• Sample questions

• CBOK topic outline

• Exam topic area weights

Mastery of the CBOK is the major purpose of the CFA Program. This mastery is achieved by using  

• The curriculum

• Learning outcome statements (LOS)

• Online sample and mock exams

Read more about the curriculum development (PDF).

Find out what study resources are available in our Candidate Preparation Toolkit.