6-Month Level 1 CFA® Exam Study Plan: Safe and Sufficient
Bart Mankowski
2 months 3 weeks 11 hours
CFA EXAM STUDY PLANNER available for ALL LEVELS
Is 6 Months Enough to Prepare for Level 1 CFA Exam?
CFA candidates often ask if 6 months are enough to prepare for the level 1 CFA exam. YES, it’s enough. Especially if you apply the 'Safety-First Rule for CFA Exam Prep'. This studying strategy factors in more than 300 study hours and assumes a regular review of study content.
Here it goes:
SAFETY-FIRST RULE for CFA EXAM PREP
"Plan your preparation safely to MINIMIZE the risk of FAILING to achieve your GOAL. 300 study hours – it’s just a benchmark, not a guarantee of success. Aim for more than that, say 400 hours. Then, devote ca. 100 hours to regular revision. Even if it means you’ll need to forgo some of your free time. You give up this luxury to MAXIMIZE the chances of PASSING your EXAM! (which is hard and costly...)"
300 Study Hours: a Benchmark, not a Guarantee
Level 1 candidates usually begin their preparation 4 or 5 months before their CFA exam. The average number of hours they spend studying amounts to roughly 300. But what if 300 study hours is simply not enough? What if it’s a prerequisite that cannot guarantee your success? Objectively speaking, it is hard to arrange more than 300 hours within a period of 4 or 5 months, especially if you have a regular job, family, and daily duties to take care of.
Importantly, those who passed their CFA exam usually report more than 300 study hours per exam level. Plus, they surely factor in some extra review hours. An average level 1 candidate usually spends around 300 hours studying before the exam and does not review regularly. No surprise that low level 1 pass rates of ca. 20% to 40% are still a fact.
You want to do better than that!
The solution is simple:
plan to do better than an average CFA candidate arrange ca. 400 study (and review!) hours to successfully prepare for your CFA exam start your prep NOW, i.e. even 6 months before your level 1 exam.
This precautionary approach is what it takes to apply the 'Safety-First Rule for CFA Exam Prep'. So, join now and capitalize on the time you invest in your preparation:
MAY 2025 AVAILABLE NOW!
Regular Review: Who Does It?
That’s the problem! Hardly anybody reviews study content regularly – on a weekly, or even daily, basis.
I don't know why.
Is it ill-defined self-confidence? The unawareness of how to best learn for such a huge exam? Or simply laziness? No matter the reason – regular review is what makes a difference!
Control Your Forgetting Curve
A forgetting curve is always present, whether you study for 6, 4, or 3 months before your exam. But if you start your preparation now, you will be able to plan some spaced review sessions. You should definitely use this possibility and make revision a part of your regular studying cycle to prevent the bad effects of the so-called forgetting curve:
As you can see – without reviewing – after one day, we remember only around 35% of what we read yesterday. To learn things and store them in our memories, we need to repeat them now and again. Spaced repetition gradually flattens your forgetting curve.
This simple rule is the reason why I tell my students to review parts of the study content systematically, at least once a week. That’s also why – when creating our CFA Exam Study Planner – I insisted on adding review sessions alongside study sessions. Because I strongly believe that frequent revision is the key to success and the topics review or the pre-exam revision, while important, are simply insufficient. The option of Proper Review-ON SystemTM is available in the paid version of the planner. In the free version, Topic Review and Final Review are scheduled, as you'll see below.
How Long to Prepare for Level 1 CFA Exam?
6 months are definitely sufficient to prepare for your level 1 CFA exam. With 6 months, you can easily plan for roughly 400 hours of studying during your exam prep. You'll find lots of time for regular review sessions + you'll be secured against any unexpected events like busy periods at work, an ill child, or whatever else can make you give up your planned study hours.
I think it’s reasonable to say that even 60-70% of those who opt for 400-hour prep are likely to pass their exam. Bearing in mind that the average pass rate for level 1 is now low, I guess it’s worth a try. Therefore, if you can start your preparation now, go on and follow this safe study schedule:
MAY 2025 AVAILABLE NOW!
Be careful, though!
Even if you decide to adopt the plan, 2 major threats can seriously impede your preparation. The steep forgetting curve is one of them. The other is about inefficiently used study time.
Be Serious about Studying all Way Through
Be wary of ideas that would come to your head to tell you that since you started your preparation earlier than others, you have already gained an advantage that will surely pay off in the end. The thing is – it should, but it may as well not. To make this advantage work to your benefit, you have to study as diligently and efficiently as you can from the very beginning to the very end.
If you are too lenient with yourself instead of being competent and productive, your advantage will melt away. Even worse, your inefficiency may surprise you and leave you empty-handed.
So, you better fix your mind on your ultimate goal – which is to pass your CFA exam – and keep this goal in front of your eyes while studying!
MAY 2025 6-Month CFA Exam Study Plan Detailed
This is a sample 6-month level 1 study schedule. What you need to do is to customize it to your needs and expectations. One of the basic things you should decide is how difficult all the level 1 topics are to you. This will tell you exactly how many study hours from the range of 300 to 400 you actually need to prepare well. Also – to get your number of hours – you should decide if you want to follow the Proper Review-ON SystemTM and revise on a weekly, or even daily, basis. You know where I stand on this issue.
START on 11 NOV 2024
1st Study Block: QM + PM + Topic Review
2nd Study Block: FSA + CI + Topic Review
3rd Study Block: FI + EI + Topic Review
4th Study Block: DER + AI + Topic Review
5th Study Block: ECO + ETH + Topic Review
FINAL REVIEW (7 Apr – 13 May 2025)
END on 14-20 MAY 2025
The MAY 2025 level 1 exam window lasts from 14 to 20 May 2025. So, you can have from 5 to 6 weeks of – what we call – Final Review. Basically, that's when you should do as many mock exams as possible!
Using our Study Planner, you can choose your topic sequence. In our sample level 1 study plan, all 10 topics are divided into 5 Study Blocks. Every block always ends with a topics revision. Ethics may be done either at the beginning or at the end but don't forget about the ethics adjustment.
After you study & revise all the topics, there’s the Final Review. With all mocks and other practice tests, it’s usually the most intensive of all the study time. But this Final Review will be just a cherry on top if you review regularly not only after each quality-time Study Block but also as you move from one CFA exam reading (aka. module) to the other.
Below’s a timetable for this 6-month level 1 study plan. Upon creating your own study schedule, the dates will get adjusted and you'll be able to choose your START DATE and EXAM DATE (within your exam window).
6-Month Level 1 CFA Exam Study Plan Timetabled
| 6-Month Level 1 CFA Exam Study Plan | |
|---|---|
| Level 1 Topics | Topic & Review Deadlines |
| Quantitative Methods | 27 Nov 2024 |
| Portfolio Management | 13 Dec 2024 |
| QM+PM Review | 15 Dec 2024 |
| Financial Statement Analysis | 2 Jan 2025 |
| Corporate Issuers | 10 Jan 2025 |
| FSA+CI Review | 14 Jan 2025 |
| QM+PM Review | 14 Jan 2025 |
| Fixed Income | 3 Feb 2025 |
| Equity Investments | 16 Feb 2025 |
| FI+EI Review | 22 Feb 2025 |
| QM+PM+FSA+CI Review | 22 Feb 2025 |
| Derivatives | 28 Feb 2025 |
| Alternative Investments | 4 March 2025 |
| DER+AI Review | 10 March 2025 |
| QM+PM+FSA+CI+FI+EI Review | 10 March 2025 |
| Economics | 22 March 2025 |
| Ethics | 4 Apr 2025 |
| ECO+ETH Review | 6 Apr 2025 |
| Final Review | 13 May 2025 |
If you set up your personalized study plan,
the deadlines will get adjusted.
MAY 2025 AVAILABLE NOW!
About Soleadea:
Our CFA Exam Study Planner is available to candidates of all levels at groundbreaking Pay-What-You-Can prices. You decide how much you want to pay for our services. After you activate your account, you get unlimited access to our Study Planner 4.0 with study lessons inside, various level 1 study materials & tools, regular review sessions, and a holistic growth approach to your preparation. Join
Here’s a sample level 1 CFA exam study schedule as displayed in our Study Planner:
PLAN VIEW of CFA EXAM STUDY PLANNER:
FIND your Study Plan in the PLAN tab View all the weeks of your CFA exam prep, see how much you’ve done and how much is still ahead of you, as well as customize your schedule using your Study Plan personalization options and the DRAG & DROP for both topics and study weeks.
STUDY VIEW of CFA EXAM STUDY PLANNER:
CFA Exam Study Planner: STUDY View You will be asked to focus on your current week of studying. You will know what to study (left-hand menu) and how much to study (benchmark study times). Here, you'll also find your study lessons, including videos, tests, PDFs, etc. At the end of the week, your hard work will be evaluated (hit the SUM UP button).
PROGRESS VIEW of CFA EXAM STUDY PLANNER:
CFA Exam Study Planner: PROGRESS View You will be able to see your progress by topics and weeks. Each week your Chance to Pass score will go up or down.
REVIEW VIEW of CFA EXAM STUDY PLANNER:
CFA Exam Study Planner: REVIEW View To learn, you must review. Use the special view of your Study Planner to review your study lessons, rewatch videos, revise formulas, etc.
About the Author:
Bart Mankowski has been helping candidates from around the world to pass their CFA exams for over 10 years now. He’s the initiator of Soleadea and its CEO. His ideal job is to find solutions to problems and potentials for innovation. That is why Soleadea and its unique CFA Exam Study Planner are being improved all the time ;).
Read Also:
- Level 1 CFA Exam Study Materials
- When to Start Prep for CFA Exam?
- How to Create Study Plan in 8 Steps
- CFA Exam: Registration to Results
- 3 Reasons Why You May Fail Your Exam
UPDATED: Oct 7, 2024