How many hours should I expect for the CFA 1?
I am contemplating shelling out 1600$ to take the CFA 1 in August as many of my coworkers have it and I am hoping to exit into a buyside AM/HF role. I asked this question on r/CFA and they were adamant it would take me 300+ hours and 3 months wouldn't nearly be enough.
However, I've talked to a few friends with a similar background and they all cited around 100 hours. I'm a senior at a highly ranked undergrad b school studying finance and got a 35 on the ACT for context.
I want to be sure I can pass while still enjoying my summer though so just wondering if studying maybe 10 hours a week for 10 weeks would be enough?
ChatGPT:
Totally get where you’re coming from — the CFA can be a good signaling tool, especially for buyside roles if you’re coming from undergrad and don’t have work experience yet. But here’s the thing:
Yes, the CFA Institute and r/CFA folks will push the 300-hour narrative because that’s the average across all candidates, including career switchers, non-finance majors, and people with weaker quant backgrounds. That doesn’t mean you need 300 hours.
Given your context — top undergrad b-school, finance major, ACT 35 — 100 hours could actually be reasonable if you’re sharp with time and focused. A lot of the Level 1 curriculum overlaps with core finance/accounting courses.
That said, 10 hours/week for 10 weeks is cutting it close. You’ll need to be very efficient, especially in areas you haven’t covered (ethics trips up a lot of smart people).
Suggestion:
• Try a diagnostic test or skim the CFAI learning objectives by topic to see where you stand.
• If you’re really scoring well early on, you can keep it light and still pass.
• If not, ramp up hours in the final 4–6 weeks.
And honestly — if your goal is AM/HF, the CFA is nice to have, not a must. Your time may be better spent on internships, networking, or learning Python/SQL/stats if you’re aiming for quant/analyst roles.
So yes, it’s doable in ~100 hours if you’re the right profile, but don’t underestimate the grind. Just know why you’re doing it.
Non-chat GPT opinion of someone who has passed L1 and L2 at 90th percentile:
Is it possible doing 100 hours? Probably - I personally didn't but despite being fairly intelligent, I'm not great at studying efficiently and I didn't plan on doing all this prep to fail (which btw more than 50% of people do). Heck even after the prep I wasn't even willing to bet that I'd passed - ended up with 90th percentile score but hey, you get my point.
To do 100 hours, you'd probably have to only skim the content (which should be vaguely familiar for a finance student apart from ethics and some econ), and jump straight to practicing questions (using the calculator too). You should probably spend the vast majority of your time on practicing questions for this method to work. Additionally you should probably buy a prep provider like Kaplan. Not only because you'll be able to skim material quicker (Kaplan notes are like 1/3 of CFA materials) but because you'll get extra Qs to practice.
I've definitely heard of people doing it like this with your background. It's not surefire, but if you know yourself well enough, you should know if this will work for you. Else, it's probably best to skim the content way ahead of time and see if it's less or more than you bargained for. That way you can always change tact if necessary.
CFA level 1 fail rate is inflated because people without financial backgrounds take it and others that are just trying to boost their resume. I did CFA L1 only watching Mark Meldrum videos, which frankly, for all levels feels like the best way to learn each topic. Level 2 gets harder because the people failing level 1 are pushed out and all of the content is significantly more difficult.
Personally if you have a finance undergrad background, and you actually understand the material you learned, i think 100 hours will be fine. Highly recommend watching Mark Meldrum videos if you are going down the 100 hour route.
There is a lot of crossover between Finance undergrad and CFA I/II, but 100 might be pushing it. If you are doing this method I would focus on question repetition in the Question bank and then go back through concepts you don't understand (no time to read through all the content and do mocks/questions in 100hr). Personally I would bump the last 2-3weeks to ~20 hrs and just focus on reps and completing the Question bank 2x if possible
Second this approach. I did 2hrs/daily Mon-Fri for max 12 weeks (forget exactly, but I signed up on the last possible day), minimal weekend studying and took Weds-Fri ahead of the exam off to do some final cramming (separately, craziest inadvisable prep story I've ever heard, know someone who would take off a week of work leading up to the exams and just straight cram - passed all 3 first shot).
As someone who has cut it a little too close for comfort on various pass/fail situations, I'd recommend preparing for the fact that the curriculum is pretty broad, so it's less a matter of being smart and more of making sure you have all bases covered.
Also second the comment about ethics - might be worth starting there if the topics are unfamiliar.
The thing that's not going to be covered in your finance undergrad is also the most important part of the test: the ethics section (makes up ~25% of level 1, can be a tiebreaker if you're close to the pass/fail line)
I spent probably 70/80 as a finance student w/BB IB background and passed. I think you're fine.
Quia cumque velit odit non vitae. Dicta praesentium debitis aut recusandae. Doloremque dolor quia maiores libero officiis et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...