CFA Level I has 180 multiple-choice questions, split into two sessions of about 135 minutes each. CFA Institute suggests planning about 300 hours of study. Most of your plan comes down to spreading those hours sensibly across ten topics.
The exam at a glance
180 multiple-choice questions, with 90 in each session.
About 90 seconds per question.
Three answer choices per question.
All questions carry equal weight, and wrong answers aren’t penalized, so answer every question.
Topic weights
CFA Institute updates the weights, so check the outline for your exam year. On the current page, the 2027 outline shows:
Ethical and Professional Standards: 10–15%.
Quantitative Methods, Financial Statement Analysis, Equities and Fixed Income: 11–14% each.
Portfolio Construction: 8–12%.
Economics, Corporate Finance, Derivatives and Risk Management, and Alternative Investments: 6–9% each.
The 2026 outline gives Ethics a higher 15–20% and differs on some other topics.
Who can enroll
CFA Institute’s usual routes are a bachelor’s degree, or being in undergraduate study within its timing window, or 4,000 hours of work experience or a combination of work and education. Check the current rules, dates and fees with CFA Institute.
A simple study plan
Work back from your exam date, then divide about 300 hours by the weeks you have.
Cover topics first, weighted by their share of the exam. Don’t leave Ethics until the end.
Practise questions throughout, not only after reading.
Save your final weeks for mock exams, timed at 135 minutes per session.
Review your errors by topic, and fix the weakest areas first.
Common mistakes
Underestimating Ethics and how much it can affect your result.
Reading everything, with too little practice.
Never practising under timed conditions.
Preparing in Doha
See our CFA Level 1 training, or talk to an advisor about how it fits your schedule. Comparing qualifications? Read ACCA vs CMA.
Sources
- CFA
- Accounting and finance
- Exams
