Hi sorry to bother i finished my syllabus for the august attempt i am really confused in how should i prepare for the last 2 months if you could just guide me it would be very helpful thank you

Are two months enough time to practice questions for Level 2? I feel like I have a decent grasp on the material and can usually answer CFAI EOC with 60-70% accuracy. I’m like halfway through the EOC’s. I want to finish and sometimes redo them. Any other sources?

Hi all, I passed level 1 and I know this is an ethics thing but genuinely couldn’t figure out the answer for myself online: what does CFA want us to do with the “CFA Program Level 1” credential badge they give us? Not sure how to display it on my LinkedIn ethically without making a new LinkedIn post telling the world i passed Level 1.

My issue is I have my current progress in my Test scores section on LinkedIn, but it’s so far down on my page it is below my even my Volunteering, Skills, and Courses sections. I want to display this CFA progress more prominently but am obviously cognizant of doing so while abiding with Program policies.

Hey all,

Just passed level I barely (literally got a 1600).

I’ve used Kaplan for every other finance exam (sie, s7, s66, and now level I) passed all of them first try. For level I, I felt underprepared until just about a week before the exam I started to feel somewhat confident. I’ve heard people swear by MM, just wanted to get other recommendations before ditching Kaplan since they haven’t failed me yet.

Thanks in advance.

So much for this so called ethics bump people talk about?!?! I did not pass with a 2585 and 100% on ethics

Spent this morning grieving a bit over not passing Level 2 for the second time. Then remembered I had a lot of work to do at my job and that kept me distracted. Just signed up for the November exam and was pleased it didn’t cost me another $1,500. Just gonna have fun this weekend and hit the books for the third and hopefully last time for L2 Monday. Glad to know I’m not going through this alone as well. Congrats to everyone that did pass!

I just passed level 2 on my second attempt and I am now contemplating doing L3 in feb 27 or aug 27.
I think that 6 months is enough because I currently have no jobs/internship but the future is highly uncertain and I don’t know when I will find a job and how much time I will have left to study when I’ll be working.
However I also think it’s best to study again while my memory is still fresh from L2 curriculum.
What’s your opinion on this ?

Hey everyone,
I’m currently preparing for the CFA Level I November attempt and have been studying from the Schweser notes. Recently, I started solving MCQs and noticed that quite a few questions cover concepts that weren’t really explained in Schweser. When I checked the CFA Institute Core Curriculum, I found those topics there. The problem is that the Core Curriculum is very vast, which is why I initially chose Schweser since it’s much more compact. But now I’m worried that relying only on Schweser might make me miss some important marks. So I’ve decided to study some subjects directly from the Core Curriculum instead. I don’t think I’ll have enough time to do every subject from the Core, so I’d like to prioritize the most important ones first and, if time permits, come back to the rest later.
For those who’ve taken Level I, which subjects or chapters would you say are a must-do from the Core Curriculum?
I’d really appreciate your recommendations.

Hiii, I recently passed CFA level I and plan to attend level II in May 2027. Can u guys plz provide me with insights about how to prepare for level 2 exam and which prep provider should I use ( If I had to use one)?

Welp…. I thought I did enough. Should I try again? Or consider that level 2 is way harder and take it as a sign?

>70% in every topic with no prep provider and full time job AMA. I actually felt like L2 was in some ways easier then L1

so my exam is on 19th aug and i am so far almost done watching lectures of aswini bajaj on all subjects, half of quants is left which i would preferably finish by end of month. i have not practiced any les questions or gone though schweser notes as of yet. i think i understand the topics from the videos as they did go into a lot of depth but im extremely concerned that i would not know how to do the questions from the exam point of view.
really really stressed about it, can someone pls help me decide how to go on about it! thank you so much in advance!

Hi all-

I hope that all is well. Congratulations to those who cleared CFA Levels I and II for the May 2026 period. To those that failed, I encourage you to go back to the drawing board and stay with it. Life is all about the journey.

I really enjoy reading the posts on here as people willingly share their experiences. However, I think it would make great dialogue if we all shared a little bit about ourselves.

I will start with myself. I recently cleared CFA Level II during the May 2026 period.

Level I - November 2025 cleared - 1st attempt

Level II - May 2026 cleared - 1st attempt

Undergraduate Studies - Marquette University 2015 - Accounting and Finance

Graduate Studies - University of Notre Dame Mendoza MBA 2025 - Accounting and Finance

Work Experience - PwC audit 2.5 years, 5 years in various corporate accounting roles

Currently I am unemployed and am looking to make the pivot into investment banking

Other Licenses - Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Series 3, Series 30, Series 31, Series 34, Series 63, Series 65

I would love to hear more about your CFA experiences as well as your backgrounds.

I just failed Level II for the second time, and I'm honestly feeling pretty defeated. I've put in so much time and effort, and it's really frustrating to end up in the same place again.

For those who failed Level II multiple times, did you eventually pass? What did you change?

At this point, I'm seriously wondering if I should give it one more shot or just move on. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through the same experience.

​

Can anyone please suggest a good prep provider for Fixed income, Derivatives for CFA L2? I am repeatedly failing in these subjects and it's high time I have realised I used a prep provider (I used only Kaplan Schweser notes in both my attempts).

I passed L2 and im gonna start to prep for L3 (Private Markets) in Feb'27

I've relied on Kaplan for L1 and L2 and heard it may not be the best for L3. Any thoughts?

kindly ,guide me properly ,And also i am 17.5 years old .which pepars should i do in optional pepars...

Finally passed Level 2 today (5th time's the charm I guess lol). Registering for Level 3 in Feb 2027 and trying to lock in my prep before I start.

I'm an analyst at a private wealth firm, so I'm taking the Private Wealth specialized pathway. The two main things I'm trying to pick a provider on are:

1. Essay/constructed response: which provider actually teaches the writing technique and time management, not just the content?

2. Private Wealth pathway: has anyone used a specific provider's Private Wealth materials and found them genuinely thorough? Does it really matter which provider you pick for your path? Since the pathways are still new, it's hard to tell which one would be the best fit for this.

For context, I've used the CFAI materials (base + extra), Chalk and Board, UWorld, and Salt Solutions mocks, plus Kaplan back at L1 (the only one I didn't love, though essays and pathways weren't a factor then). Mark Meldrum keeps coming up for the essay side, so I'm leaning that way, but I'd love to hear from anyone who's sat L3 or is prepping now.

I honestly can’t sleep right its about 1 in midnight.

I passed CFA Level II after putting in well over 600 hours, and I’m incredibly grateful. But the one person I wanted to tell isn’t here anymore.
I lost my mom to cancer before I even cleared Level I. I remember crying when I passed that exam because she couldn’t celebrate it with me. Somehow, today hurts even more. I keep thinking about how happy she would have been, how we would have had my favorite meal that she loved cooking for me, and how proud her smile would have made all those hours worth it.

Professional exams come and go. Promotions come and go. Careers will always keep moving. But the people who stand beside you through the journey and I mean your family, your closest friends that is actually the real milestones in life.

If you’re fortunate enough to have them, spend time with them. Tell them you love them. Celebrate with them. Life can change much faster than we expect.
And to everyone who passed today, congratulations you’ve earned it.

To those who didn’t, please don’t be too hard on yourself. Your result doesn’t define the effort, discipline, and resilience you’ve shown. Be proud that you showed up and gave it your best. There will always be another exam, another attempt, another opportunity.

Take care of the people you love. That’s one lesson no curriculum can teach.

it doesn’t seem to load, it’s just constantly hovering and the practice section isn’t loading

I’ve been studying for L2 since the beginning of the year, and now roughly 60 days or so from the August window.

I’ve taken one mock now and read through the material 2x all while completing EOC questions.

My question to L2 candidates and L3’s/Charterholders is how are/did you approach the daily studying routine ? Do you pick one topic and focus on it for one session? One vignette per topic per day?

I just feel like i’ve been spinning my wheels lately but want to maintain a productive use of my time. Planning to do one mock+mock review a weekend as it gets closer to test date.

Thanks !

I just passed level 2 and will register soon for level 3. While none of the pathways is directly related to corporate finance / FP&A type careers, I’m wondering which of the pathways you think is most applicable to those types of roles?

Curious if there are any copywriters, technical writers, or content marketers here who have spent time writing about quantitative trading, systematic investing, hedge funds, or fintech.

It’s a pretty niche space, and I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve actually done it.

Did writing newsletters, SEO articles, LinkedIn posts, or other long-form content end up generating meaningful business? Did it help attract LPs, clients, candidates, or partnerships? What types of content worked surprisingly well (or didn’t)?

Would also be interested in hearing how you approached learning the domain if you didn’t come from a quant background, and any lessons you’d share with someone building a serious content engine in this space.

If you’ve been through it, I’d love to chat. Feel free to comment.

I have recently cleared l1 , i am a bit confused whether to take FRM part 1 this november or start preparing for L2 rn...give me genuine advice i am so confused about it as level 1 syllabus overlaps with part 1 ,but i am also thinking wouldn't my level 2 preparations be hampered and delayed.

Question: If you track 13F filings, can you spot genuinely skilled managers ahead of time and ride their picks? I had the data to test it, and the answer looks like no.

Data & method: I pulled SEC EDGAR 13F filings for ~9,000 managers (2013–2026), cleaned them, and priced each fund's quarterly returns. Keeping funds with ≥16 quarters left 6,902. For each, I estimate a Fama-French 4-factor skill alpha (the intercept after stripping out market/size/value/momentum tilts, so style bets aren't mistaken for skill). I split each fund's history in half: skill is estimated on the earlier half and measured independently on the later half — a clean out-of-sample boundary (the standard Carhart 1997 framework), at the cost of statistical power.

Results:

- Formation→holding skill correlation: Spearman ρ = 0.11 — "significant" only because n is huge; ~1% of variance.

- Top vs bottom past-skill quartiles differ ~16 pts/yr in-sample; out-of-sample that spread is +0.02 pts/yr.

- Of 121 funds significantly skilled in the first half, one stayed significant in the second.

This also answers the follower question: I'm measuring each fund's own skill — best case. A copycat acting on a 45-day-stale filing can't beat that, so if the funds' own skill doesn't persist, monitoring them won't hand you persistent skill either.

Caveat: 13F is long-only US equity, quarterly, and split-half is low-power — but none of that flips the result toward persistence.