CFA® Level 1 Study Guide

Free Study Plans

Elevate your CFA Level 1 preparation to a state of effortless excellence with our exclusive study plans, yours to enjoy for six months, two months, or one month – free of charge! Nothing better than a customized study plan tailored to your unique style. So take your pick of the plan that suits you best and experience the sheer joy of seamless learning without burning a hole in your pocket.

CFA Candidates planning for their Level 1 exam

CFA Level 1 Study Schedule and Preparation Plan

Designed to help you pass Level 1 of your exam on the first attempt, our platform is tailored to provide expertly-crafted content that mirrors the exam-level difficulty. Created by subject matter experts, our platform offers challenging questions to enhance your knowledge and help you prepare for the actual test. We've outlined various study plans based on when you start studying. But, we do align with the CFA Institute's recommendation of 300 hours per level and starting 6 months prior to the exam. However, if life intervenes and you begin closer to the exam, we provide guidance on where to concentrate your efforts.

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CFA Level 1 Study and Preparation Tips

Now that you know what to study, we'll focus on how to study it. In the context of the CFA Level 1 exam, having a grasp of the material is only one part of the equation. The other half involves mastering the most effective methods for preparing for the exam format.

To this end, we offer the following recommendations for optimizing your CFA Level 1 study strategy:

Your Level 1 CFA exam prep should begin about six-to-nine months before your exam day and be finished at max one month before your exam date, given that you are already well-practiced with mock exams and question banks. Starting your preparation early and staying at it consistently until the last lap is a MUST.
While it’s important to begin early, it’s also essential to avoid burnout. One of the best ways to ensure you don’t have burnout is by preparing in intervals and breaking your curriculum down into smaller bits that are easier for you to study and prepare.
A mistake many candidates make is that they think they can skip certain materials and topics. If past exams are evidence, one should be ready to expect anything on the Level 1 exam. Finishing all the topics in the CFA curriculum keeps you prepared not just for the Level 1 exam but will also build the foundation for the next level.
It’s one thing to understand what a term or formula means, but it’s entirely another to know why it exists and when to use it. Retaining everything before your exam day is very cumbersome for any topic heavy on formulas. Understanding the concept behind the formula helps you understand its implications.
For any exam, practice yields great results. With the CFA exam, practicing a lot of mock exams well before the exam day helps you retain a lot of information and increases your confidence for the actual exam day.
The amount of practice needed to pass Level 1 demands a third-party CFA prep provider. Even though CFAI provides practice materials and sample questions that one can leverage during the exam prep, it might not be enough to understand the concepts fully. UWorld’s all-digital approach uses data from former charterholders in providing updated question banks, interactive study tools, mock exams, and more.

UWorld's CFA Level 1 Study Tools

Here's How We Help You

When you choose UWorld for your CFA Level 1 study guide and planner, you leverage the knowledge of CFA charterholders with decades of experience in CFA-specific teaching, content creation, and financial training. Some of our professionals even have exam-development experience with the CFA Institute. We can help you understand what to expect from the CFA Level 1 exam and what you need to do to achieve success.

All UWorld products are built on the core concepts of Active Learning, thus making it easy to retain concepts.

We understand that each candidate is unique. Our CFA exam prep tools are designed to work for all learning styles.

Our smart flashcards "hack your brain" by repeating complicated topics at strategically timed intervals using spaced repetition.

Our CFA mocks feature new questions outside our Question Banks, and mirror the format of your exam.

All of our problems reflect the latest CFAI LOS to ensure you review what candidates are expected to know.

Our SimpleSheets contain the basic formulas for all disciplines where formula-based questions are expected.

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