CFA Level 1 - STUDY PLAN 2026

  • Overview

  • Instructor’s Notes

  • Video Explanation

The study plan has been structured after careful analysis to sequence topics logically for CFA Level 1. Follow the weeks in order for a balanced mix of quantitative and conceptual learning.

KEY used to represent CFA Level 1 topics:

QM

Quantitative Methods

ECO

Economics

CI

Corporate Issuers

AI

Alternative Investments

EI

Equity

FI

Fixed Income

FSA

Financial Statement Analysis

DT

Derivatives

PM

Portfolio Management

ETH

Ethics

Schedule

WEEK

01

QM
  • QM 1 PreInterest Rates, Present Value & Future Value- (60 minutes)
  • QM 1 CoreRates and Returns- (150 minutes)
  • QM 2 CoreTime Value of Money in Finance- (150 minutes)

WEEK

02

QM
  • QM 2 PreOrganizing, Visualizing & Describing Data- (100 minutes)
  • QM 3 CoreStatistical Measures of Asset Returns- (150 minutes)
  • QM 5 CorePortfolio Mathematics- (60 minutes)

WEEK

03

QM
  • QM 3 PreProbability Concepts- (150 minutes)
  • QM 4 CoreProbability Trees and Conditional Expectations- (90 minutes)
  • QM 4 PreCommon Probability Distributions- (90 minutes)
  • QM 6 CoreSimulation Methods- (60 minutes)

WEEK

04

QM
  • QM 5 PreSampling and Estimation- (60 minutes)
  • QM 7 CoreEstimation and Inference- (60 minutes)
  • QM 6 PreBasics of Hypothesis Testing- (120 minutes)
  • QM 8 CoreHypothesis Testing- (30 minutes)
  • QM 9 CoreParametric and Non-Parametric Tests of Independence- (30 minutes)

More Level 1 links

Navigate to related resources

Level 1 overviewLevel 1 syllabusCFA last 60 daysCFA vs MBACFA fee structureAll CFA articles