CFA Exam Dates 2025- 26 (Out): Check Registration, Admit Card & Result Dates

The CFA syllabus covers topic areas related to investment management, financial analysis, ethics, and professional standards. Main topics are:

1. Ethics and Professional Standards

2. Quantitative Methods:

3. Economics:

4. Financial Reporting and Analysis

5. Corporate Finance

6. Fixed Income

7. Equity Investment 

8. Derivatives

9. Alternative Investments

10. Portfolio Management and Wealth Planning

These main topic areas are present across all three levels of the CFA exam. The complexity increases with each passing level. 

The CFA Level I exam comprises a total of 180 multiple-choice questions to be answered in two sessions of 135 minutes each. There are 90 MCQ questions for each session. The first session includes topics such as professional standards, financial reporting, and quantitative methods, while the second session includes questions about corporate finance, fixed income, derivatives, alternative investments, and portfolio management. This exam is given twice a year, once in June and once in December.

After passing the Level 3 of the CFA exam, candidates should register officially with the CFA Institute as the CFA Charterholder. This will open doors to various opportunities. Students can opt for jobs such as Investment manager, hedge fund manager, investment banking analyst, corporate financial analyst, stock analyst, etc. 

Students can also opt for further certifications such as Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)

The Level II CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam has a unique format compared to the other CFA exam levels.

1. The CFA Level II consists of item sets, known as vignettes which are designed to assess the candidate's ability to apply knowledge rather than just recall facts and definitions. 
2. The exam will be conducted in two sessions - morning and afternoon.
3. Each session will be 2 hours and 12 minutes long, with an optional break in between.
4. Each set will be followed by four or six MCQs.
5. The total duration of the exam will be 4 hours and 24 minutes, divided equally into two sessions.
6. The Level II CFA exam typically includes 21 item sets in total.
7. The Level II exam builds upon the foundational knowledge tested in Level I.
8. It focuses on the application of that knowledge to specific real-world scenarios and cases and includes topics such as ethics and professional standards, quantitative methods, economics, financial reporting and analysis, corporate finance, equity investments, fixed income, derivatives, alternative investments, portfolio management, and wealth planning.

Each question will be of three points, and there will be no penalty for wrong answers. The exam will be conducted in a computer-based test mode, and the number of questions has been reduced to 180. The duration of the exam has also been reduced, and there will be no more June exams at any level.