When Will I Get My NOV 2024 CFA® Exam Results?

CFA exam / Results

CFA Exam Results Released

The most probable NOV 2024 CFA exam results release date is 7 Jan* 2025, at least for level 1 candidates. Level 2 candidates may need to wait until 9 Jan. Make sure to do your PSM before then!

CFA Institute intends to release level 1 & level 2 CFA exam results 5-7 weeks after the close of the exam window. Level 3 candidates get their grading scores 6-8 weeks post-exam. AUG 2022 level 1 & level 2 CFA exam results were the first CBT results to be made available roughly 5 weeks post-exam. As far as level 3 candidates are concerned, CFA Institute is trying to speed up the release of results but level 3 is always more time-consuming due to essay questions.

As soon as you receive your CFA exam results, you can register for your next exam (next level or retake). However, the choice is yours. You can take as much time as you need before you actually register for your next exam.

Lvl 3 study plans coming soon!

For some time, the usual pattern for releasing CBT results was: CFA exam date + 6-7 weeks for level 1 / 7-8 weeks for level 2 / 8-9 weeks for level 3. CFA exam results have usually been released either on Tuesday or on Thursday.

See the table below for our most optimistic educated guess about the NOV 2024 CFA exam result release date and some past dates and pass rates.

CFA Exam Results Dates & Pass Rates

* This is our educated & most optimistic guess (but the results may arrive later...).

Before CFA exams moved to CBT, the average pass rate was around 43% for level 1, 46% for level 2, and over 50% for level 3. Now, the average CFA exam pass rates are 41%, 45%, and 52%, respectively. It's mainly due to the astonishingly low 2021 pass rates. However, the 2022 & 2023 pass rates were higher and the most recent 2024 pass rates are practically as high as they used to be in the past.

In this post, you can also
learn about:

How You Know If You Passed CFA Exam

You’ll get your PASSED or DID NOT PASS score in your e-mail.

On the results day, you’ll get your CFA exam result e-mailed and the message from CFA Institute will say if you PASSED or DID NOT PASS and what was the pass rate. More detailed and visualized results are available after logging into your CFA Institute account, where you can find out more about your overall exam performance and topic performance.

Your detailed CFA exam results feature the thick solid gray line. That’s your score!

If you passed your CFA exam, the thick gray line is above the thin gray MPS line. The thick gray line below the thin gray line means you did not succeed this time.

The results are usually sent after 9 AM ET and there are tons of messages to be sent that day, so it's good to be patient. Of course, you may try logging into your CFA Institute account to find out about your results, but this may require lots of luck on that day. As soon as you access your detailed exam scores, however, don’t forget to download them to your computer. The results are available for download only for around a year, so best to save them right away.

CFA Exam Passing Score:
What is the MPS?

To pass your CFA exam, you have to meet the minimum passing score (MPS) set individually for each ended exam. The MPS may vary across years but it probably never exceeds 70%. However, neither the MPS nor individual candidate scores are ever released.

So, you will never know precisely how many points you scored or what percentage level you reached. All you can say is that:

• if you PASSED you met the MPS or you were close enough for the ethics adjustment to pull you through,
• if you FAILED you were below the MPS or the ethics adjustment worked to your disadvantage.

Why Does It Take So Long to Grade CFA Exams?

It takes a while to set the MPS, so it takes a while to deliver your CFA exam results. Before they sit down to set the MPS, various things happen that affect the long grading process.

For starters, it takes up to a few days before all the exam data are delivered to CFA Institute from all around the world. Then, the process of reviewing the exam experience begins, including the review of candidates' complaints about confusing questions. When all the exams are graded, they double-check that no errors occurred in the process. Plus, the level 3 essay questions are hand-graded, which extends the grading process even further. Also, those exams that fall right on the verge of passing are re-assessed to make sure no one's harmed. Only then is the MPS set.

The exact MPS value is set by the CFA Institute Board of Governors. The set MPS value falls within the valid range established using the modified Angoff method, which provides an empirical basis for the MPS settlement. Applying the method, a large and diverse group of CFA charterholders assesses both the exam difficulty and actual candidate performance before the MPS is finally determined.

How's CFA Exam Graded? Results Presentation

CFA exam results are presented visually. CFA Institute gives you a detailed CFA exam results report accessible after you log into your account.

The 2 key things to look at when you view your detailed CFA exam scores include:

The thin solid gray line is the MPS set for your exam. The thick solid gray line is YOU.

When it comes to your CFA exam score:

• thick gray ABOVE thin gray = you PASSED
• thick gray BELOW thin gray = you FAILED

In Jan 2018, CFA Institute introduced this new – more visual – way of informing CFA exam takers about their scores. Since then, the presentation of results altered a bit, e.g., the thick gray line illustrating your total exam score has replaced a thick blue line. Also, some minor changes were introduced to the way topic performance is now presented, e.g., topic weights have been included in the report.

No doubt, more visual means more attractive. However, even with the most recent changes, the CFA exam results report still lacks the transparency and concreteness candidates long for.

In line with what we’ve already said, no concrete value is attributed to either the thick gray (YOU) or the thin gray (MPS) line. Moreover, if your score is close enough to MPS, your thick gray line may even overlap with the thin MPS line, which – unfortunately – will not always mean you passed :/.

What Is 90th-Percentile Score in CFA?

For the sake of visual presentation, your CFA exam report also features:

• a thick purple dashed line telling you that only 10% of all candidates scored higher than that – that's the 90th percentile score line, and
• a thick black dashed line telling you that only 10% of all candidates scored lower than that – that's the 10th percentile score line.

Both these lines will be placed – respectively – above and below the thin solid gray MPS line. They are to show you how you did in the exam compared to others. (We hope you can always find your thick gray line in the close vicinity of the purple 90th percentile line and way above the MPS line!)

Blue Confidence Interval Shows True Ability!

Last but not least, because different favorable & unfavorable factors may influence your exam score – you will find your thick gray line inside a light blue box (confidence interval). This is to show your true ability, which might be higher than the line (but on the exam day you had to face some unfavorable circumstances) or lower than the line (but in the exam you worked under favorable circumstances). The fact that CFA Institute is trying to allow for additional factors is actually good!

Detailed Topic Performance Report

For your topic performance presentation, similar rules are applied. You’ll get an estimation of:

• your topic score in the exam (thick gray line – no exact value given again), and
• your true topic ability (blue confidence interval – allowing for different favorable & unfavorable factors).

These estimations are all set against two lines, an MPS-like 70%-value thin gray line, which is considered to indicate 'topic mastery', and a 50%-value thin gray line placed a bit lower for reference. Your topic performance is presented using separate thick gray lines paired with blue confidence intervals. If your topic scores are above the 70% line, you may be confident that you have mastered the topic. Also, note that the confidence intervals for topics vary in their width depending on the number of exam questions for a given topic.

Level 3 candidates will also find a similarly presented ‘essays vs item sets’ comparison showing their performance in the exam.

So Much Info and You Still Feel Like You Know Nothing?

You’re right. CFA Institute is very secretive about our exam results and hardly any hard facts can be given to narrow the information gap. Let us, however, wrestle a bit and try to draw some conclusions from what we know.

CFA EXAM GRADING CASES

First, we need to set some common ground.

Let’s take the level 1 CFA exam, for example. There are 2 exam sessions, each including 90 exam questions. That makes it 180 questions for the whole level 1 exam. If we assume every question is worth 1 point, we end up with the maximum total score of 180 points. For an incorrect answer, no points are deducted.

Keeping in mind the common ground assumptions and facts about CFA exam results we gave above, we are able to analyze some grading-related issues and dispel some popular myths:

Question 1: Do I need 70% to pass my CFA exam?

Question 2: Do I have to pass all the topics, to pass my CFA exam?

Question 3: Can I do badly in Ethics? There’s an Ethics adjustment!

Question 4: Does topic performance objectively indicate which topics definitely need improvement and which are fine?

Question 1: Do I need 70% to pass my CFA exam?

Question 2: Do I have to pass all the topics, to pass my CFA exam?

Question 3: Can I do badly in Ethics? There’s an Ethics adjustment!

Question 4: Does topic performance objectively indicate which topics definitely need improvement and which are fine?

Q-1: Do I need 70% to pass my CFA exam?

You don’t need to score 70% in your CFA exam to pass it! What you need to do though is to meet the MPS set for your exam.

Generally, the MPS for CFA exams is most likely to be slightly below 70%. To prove this observation, let’s examine the following situation:

Assume the MPS of 75%. You are notified about your level 1 CFA exam result. In the topic performance information, you see you scored above 70% for every topic. Still, your exam score message says you FAILED. You feel confused: “How come I failed? All my topic scores are above the 70% threshold which according to CFA Institute is a reasonable signal of topic mastery”.

That is why the MPS can't exceed 70%. Otherwise, you could always end up confused about your exam results like in our example.

Why?

To make the situation described above more clear-cut, let’s analyze it bit by bit.

From your topic performance information, you know you scored above 70% for each topic. So, your total score must have been above 70%. But since you know you failed, it must have been lower than the MPS (below 75% for our example). Perhaps you achieved 72% for each topic. You didn’t reach the MPS and that’s why you failed.

Even if our example is just a simplification, it shows well that for the MPS values above 70% there’s practically always a gap for those who may fail their exam despite having all their topic scores in the mastery range. Quite an undesirable situation for the candidates whose exam performance is on the verge of mastery, don’t you think?

CONCLUSION:

If the MPS is above 70%, the grading system fails to be transparent. Thus, it’s most likely that the MPS usually fluctuates between 65% and 70%, and sometimes it may equal 70%. Surprisingly, for 2021 level 1 CFA exams, the MPS probably exceeded 70%, which led to exceptionally low level 1 CFA exam pass rates :/

Q-2: Do I have to pass all the topics, to pass my CFA exam?

Wait, but what does it actually mean to pass a topic? To score over 70%? Or to be above the MPS with your topic score?

What you need to do to pass your CFA exam is to meet or exceed the MPS. But it holds for your total exam score, not for separate topics. That’s the major principle!

Of course, if you score over 70% for every topic, it should ensure your passing the exam (see Question No. 1 above).

However, consider the following example:

You receive your level 1 CFA exam results. You did poorly in 2 topics and moderately fine in 5 (this time, we assumed the MPS of 69%):

LEVEL 1 TOPIC	Score (%)	Score (pts)	No. of Questions
Quantitative Methods	88%	14	16
Economics	69%	11	16
Corporate Issuers	67%	8	12
Financial Statement Analysis	68%	17	25
Equity Investments	65%	13	20
Fixed Income	40%	8	20
Derivatives	36%	4	11
Alternative Investments	69%	9	13
Portfolio Management	86%	12	14
Ethical and Professional Standards	91%	30	33
Your Total Score (SUM)	70%	126	180
MPS*	69%	124.2	-

* This is our assumption.
CFA Institute never gives you exact scores or releases the MPS.

Does it mean the e-mail message says you DID NOT PASS?

No! The example illustrates how various scores for different topics still give you a PASS because you managed to meet the MPS of 69% set for your exam.

CONCLUSION:

Your total exam score is what counts! As a rule, to pass your CFA exam you must meet or exceed the minimum passing score set for your exam. The math is merciless, however. If you do badly in any of the topics, you have to excel at some other. In other words, every topic scored below the MPS has to be offset by another topic scored way above the MPS. This way, your total score can meet the MPS criterion and you pass.

Q-3: Can I do badly in Ethics? There’s an Ethics adjustment!

We’ve just said that the major principle behind passing the exam is meeting or exceeding the MPS.

So, even if you do badly on the Ethics questions but do great overall, you’ll pass your exam. Take a look at our example:

LEVEL 1 TOPIC	Score (%)	Score (pts)	No. of Questions
Quantitative Methods	94%	15	16
Economics	88%	14	16
Corporate Issuers	67%	8	12
Financial Statement Analysis	88%	22	25
Equity Investments	90%	18	20
Fixed Income	75%	15	20
Derivatives	73%	8	11
Alternative Investments	77%	10	13
Portfolio Management	86%	12	14
Ethical and Professional Standards	33%	11	33
Your Total Score (SUM)	74%	133	180
MPS*	67%	120.6	-

* This is our assumption.
CFA Institute never gives you exact scores or releases the MPS.

For the level 1 CFA exam, the number of questions per topic may vary from exam to exam. That's because CFA exam topic weights are given in ranges.

We assume there'll be as many as 33 Ethics questions in your exam. You must have gotten only 11 questions right because you scored only 33% in Ethics. But wait a minute. Other scores are great! It’s impossible you failed your exam. Your total score exceeds 70% by far, so it also exceeds the MPS of 67% that we assumed for your exam.

Be careful, though.

You may not manage to exceed the MPS much enough. If your final score borders the MPS, poor performance in Ethics will definitely contribute to your failure in the exam. That’s because of the Ethics adjustment explained in our post: Why Your Ethics Score Matters.

CONCLUSION:

You do not have to excel at Ethics to pass your exam. However, here are 3 reasons for which it is surely worth paying attention to Ethics:

1. The significance of ethical conduct in the workplace is unquestionable. The better you know the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct, the more sensitive you’ll be to possible violations and better equipped to handle various situations.
2. You will be tested on Ethics at every level of your CFA exam and every time Ethics will be counted among the most important topics.
3. Ethics adjustment is applied to borderline cases. A good grade for the Ethics questions may pull you through if your total exam score borders the MPS. But if your Ethics performance is weak and you're a borderline case, it may cause you to fail the exam.

Q-4: Does topic performance objectively indicate which topics definitely need improvement and which are fine?

It’s not all that easy.

The information about your performance in different topics is meant to identify your strengths and weaknesses. However, there’s no objective truth about it. To prove the point, we analyze two opposing situations:

SITUATION No. 1:

You scored poorly for Derivatives. Before the exam, you felt quite strong on the topic. What to trust? The numbers or your intuition?

We assumed in the tables above that your level 1 exam included only around 11 questions for Derivatives. So, the exam sample for Derivatives was quite small relative to other topics. Notice that if you answered correctly just one more question, your Derivatives score would be higher by over 9 percentage points. That would shift you up quite a bit!

So, are Derivatives definitely your weak point or was it just bad luck?

Before we can answer this question, we need to consider another example:

SITUATION No. 2:

You scored poorly for Financial Statement Analysis (FSA). Weakness or misfortune?

This time the exam sample is bigger. The topic is quite extensive and your test was expected to contain as many as 25 FSA questions. Every correct answer improved your topic score by 4 percentage points.

CONCLUSION:

For some topics, there are too few questions on the exam to definitely categorize them as your weakness or strength. In such cases, it may be hard to decide whether you know the topic poorly or if it was just bad luck (or good luck for that matter because although you scored over 70%, you feel you still don’t know much about the topic). For topics with a bigger number of questions, exam results are more representative. It is more likely that they really indicate whether you need to improve the topic or if you managed to master it already. Note that it's also reflected in the width of the confidence interval presented in your topic performance report when you get your results. The topics with wider confidence intervals are the topics with fewer questions in the exam.

So, you have to be rational when drawing conclusions. To resolve doubtful situations in which your exam performance contrasts your intuition about a topic, an additional parameter may come in handy. Your CFA mock exam scores can serve as good indicators. If you usually scored rather low for Derivatives, and now your Derivatives score is also poor, you definitely need to improve this topic area. If, however, you scored high in all the mock exams you took, the low exam result for Derivatives may be just an accident. Still, it can’t harm you if you study even harder before your next exam.

What to Do if You FAIL Your CFA Exam?
And if You PASS?

After you receive your CFA exam results and let the news sink in, you’ll be surely asking yourself this one little question: OK, what now?

Here’s a list of 6 things you should do if you FAIL your CFA exam (but also if you PASS it):

1. Look at your thick gray line showing your overall performance in the exam.
2. Compare your CFA exam topic results.
3. Analyze the exam prep you had before your exam.
4. Write down all your conclusions.
5. Start your next preparation at least 5-4 months before your next exam.
6. Have your personalized CFA exam study plan and make sure you follow it.

Read on for the details. These depend on your personal exam experience.

I Failed My CFA Exam By a Hair's Breadth

1. Look at your thick gray line showing your overall performance in the exam:

So, you are close enough to the MPS line to get a bit angry that you didn’t make it? Bummer… Keep your spirits up, though. It means you did quite a good job overall. OK. There are things you’ll need to improve. But the chances are high that your next CFA exam will be a success.

Below we help you identify your weak points, tell you what to focus on to improve, and suggest the best way of studying for you.

2. Compare your CFA exam topic results:

Take your time and scrutinize your topic performance. How many thick gray topic lines were over or close to the 70%-line and how many – way below? Focus on the latter because they indicate which topics you definitely need to improve. However, while studying don’t get tempted to neglect the topics you did well at this time. What you need to do is regularly review the contents of these topics and study the bits you feel insecure about. Your next exam may test you on different areas of the topics than it did this time.

NOTE: The visual presentation of your topic performance is meant to help you draw some useful conclusions and aid you in preparing for your next CFA exam. Even if it’s far from ideal, it has some valuable information for you if you can give it the right meaning.

3. Analyze the exam prep you had before your exam:

Topics analysis is one thing. But then there’s also an issue of your attitude. There’s always something we can do better. Think about what it is for you when it comes to the way you study. Perhaps you lost too much time not following your study plan but postponing your study hours? Or you had no study plan at all?!?! Maybe you practiced too little leaving tests till after you read all the topics? That’s a mistake. You should do exam-type questions systematically during your whole exam prep. Practice and theory should intertwine. Then, there’s also an issue of review. Few candidates do it on a regular basis (perhaps that’s why the pass rates are so low…). In your case, spaced revision throughout the whole exam prep (not just a week or two before the exam) is especially important! Why? Because while you focus on the topics you need to improve, you also need to review the topics you did well at to make sure you lose no points here next time.

4. Write down all your conclusions:

Better plan? More practice? Spaced review? As soon as you know what to change about your exam preparation, write it down and pin the list in a visible place. It’s the best way to hold yourself accountable. As time passes, all your resolutions will start to fade. But then it’s all there – written down point by point. A sheer look at the list reminds you of what you want to do better this time.

5. Start your next preparation at least 5-4 months before your next exam:

It’s up to you to decide how many months of preparation you need. But we’d like to encourage you to make it at least 5-4 months. This is an average study period for CFA exam candidates. The shorter your exam prep is, the more intensive it needs to get. Otherwise, you risk ending up with a result like the one you got lately.

6. Have your personalized study plan and make sure you follow it:

You certainly need a good study plan. And we’re not saying it because we have this CFA exam study planner 4.0 for you. We’re saying it because there’s no other way you can successfully control your whole 300-hour exam prep. You need to take so much into consideration, now also your personal topics experience, practice needs, spaced review, or whatever it is you want to improve. When using our study planner, you can choose your topic sequence and the difficulty for all topics according to your topic performance in the previous exam. You can also control your progress week by week by summarizing your weekly study achievements. If you opt in for our paid program, you’ll get major motivational boosts (e.g. your Chance-to-Pass-Score^TM) hand in hand with top study hints in the form of inbox messages to help you develop your study routine. Also, your review sessions will be properly scheduled in your study plan and some extra tools will be available for you to practice more.

I Failed My CFA Exam
By a Lot...

1. Look at your thick gray line showing your overall performance in the exam:

So, you are close enough to the thick dashed black 10th percentile line to get scared you’ll never make it? Not the way you imagined it?

Here’s what you need to do >> You need to rethink your approach completely! Ask yourself why you WANT to become a CFA charterholder (and how much you WANT it?). Then >> Follow our guide: take this revolutionary road and experience revolutionary effects .

2. Compare your CFA exam topic results:

Not too many satisfactory scores, huh…? Generally, you’ll need to work hard on every topic before your next exam. Unless there’s a topic you did reasonably well at. Perhaps you often use this topic’s concepts at work? Or you simply studied this topic more thoroughly? If the latter is the case, try to build on this experience and think about what exactly made this one topic score different than others.

3. Analyze the exam prep you had before your exam:

Even though you feel devastated by your CFA exam score, you need to know one thing. Not all of your exam prep was a fiasco. There were some bad things and some good things about it. Now it’s time to face the truth and call it all by name. What did you do right? What did you do wrong? This is probably the biggest step for you. Unless you can draw some meaningful conclusions, you won’t be able to carry on successfully.

4. Write down all your conclusions:

This is the only way to take your next exam prep seriously. Divide a sheet into two. Make the TO DO list and the NEVER TO DO list side by side. If you don’t make it, your next exam prep won’t be any different. Again: out of control, poorly executed, and letting your goal get out of perspective.

5. Start your next preparation at least 5-4 months before your next exam:

5-4 months is an average study period for candidates. However, the shorter your exam prep is, the more intensive it needs to get. Bearing in mind how much work there’s in front of you, you should aim at a sufficiently long exam prep for you. 5 or 4 months may not be enough but we make even 8-month study plans available to our users.

6. Have your personalized CFA exam study plan and make sure you follow it:

Your next CFA exam prep needs to be revolutionary. That’s why you need a study plan that makes you work! Use this CFA exam study planner 4.0 to stay in control of your preparation. Personalize your study schedule so that it fits you. If it fits you well, it’ll be easier to follow. While customizing: (1) choose your start date and exam date; (2) change your topic sequence to your liking; (3) specify which topics are easy, moderate, or difficult to you; (4) plan your holiday weeks (especially if you’re opting for more than 5 months of preparation – some rest will do you good!); (5) sign in for motivational messages if you feel you lack motivation and a proper review system if you don’t know how to study efficiently. You’re on the right track. Just keep on going .

I Passed My CFA Exam!
New Is Before Me...

1. Look at your thick gray line showing your overall performance in the exam:

Congrats on passing your CFA exam! The next level is waiting for you . A new exam means a new challenge and new rules. You’ll do best if you start your new preparation with the analysis of your recent achievement. Because the closer you are to the MPS line, the more you may want to improve your studying process.

Below we show how you can do better. And there are at least two reasons why you should aim at doing better. Firstly, each next CFA exam level is harder than the previous one. Secondly, it’s not just a cliché – it’s a fact supported by fairly low and fixed pass rates. Every year, only around 50% of the successful-in-previous-level candidates pass their NEXT CFA EXAM. (The third reason we can think of is your natural desire to grow, which we strongly advocate .)

2. Compare your CFA exam topic results:

Start your analysis by looking at your topic performance. First, look at your Ethics score. Remember you will be tested on the same Code and Standards at each level of your CFA exam. Your latest Ethics result can tell you a lot. If it’s highly satisfactory, it says you should keep on studying Ethics the way you did (also, to a certain extent, it may be a good benchmark for studying other topics). If your Ethics score is unsatisfactory, you know you need to be more serious about this topic now. Also, pay attention to the topics you scored the lowest. Are they your Achilles heel or was it just an accident? That’s important because topics often share some common concepts across exam levels. Identify all the topic areas common for your previous and next exam. Then, think about how well you know it and how much you’ll need to improve.

3. Analyze the exam prep you had before your exam:

You never err by asking yourself what you did right and what you did wrong. Your exam prep is no exception. This way you develop your skills and competencies and you grow both as a student and as a human. Perhaps you’d like to be more organized and regular about your study hours? Or maybe you struggled with the motivation to study? Finally, you surely neglected spaced revision. Obviously, it was a mistake because it’s the best way to keep your learning curve up, not falling.

4. Write down all your conclusions:

Better organization? Maintained motivation? Study content revision? All this may be on your growth list. Your next CFA exam prep needs to be more advanced than the previous one because your next exam is going to be more advanced than the one you just passed. And we hope you’re not going to take it easy now just because you were successful once. Your next exam success is not coming cheap – you need to earn it!

5. Start your next preparation at least 5-4 months before your next exam:

If your previous exam prep was longer than that, feel free to stick to your way. All we’re saying is that the majority of CFA exam candidates do 5-4 months of prep. You need to choose what’s best for you and – since you already had quite a successful exam prep – you surely know it best. No matter the prep length – just make sure you approach your prep responsibly and productively!

6. Have your personalized CFA exam study plan and make sure you follow it:

A good study plan is a must for every successful exam preparation. We hope you agree. Here you can create your CFA exam study plan and personalize it according to your needs. It puts you in control of your whole exam prep. Week by week you see your progress as you study readings (aka. learning modules). With our paid plan, you also get to know how long to study each reading. These estimations can be particularly helpful since you have no experience in preparing for the next exam level. To keep your motivation strong (and to add some fun to studying), you’ll also get your Chance-to-Pass-Score^TM estimated and illustrated. It grows when you’re doing fine, i.e. when you mark your readings green for done, summarize your study achievements week by week, or do your spaced revision sessions scheduled throughout your whole preparation. Good luck with your upcoming prep!

Read Also:

• HOW to SUCCEED in EXAM?
• CFA Exam: No Motivation to Study?
• CFA Exam Dates & Schedule