CFA® Level I

ABOUT THE COURSE

The first CFA® charter was awarded in 1963 and since then has grown to become the global standard: more than 250,000 candidates from over 160 countries register for the exams each year.

In three successive exams you will be assessed on a wide range of subjects, including analytical tools, asset valuation, portfolio management and ethical and professional standards. The knowledge you gain while studying will be invaluable to your future career in finance.

Quartic CFA® learning products

Quartic provides a wide range of learning tools for your CFA Program exams, using leading educational technology to provide comprehensive video libraries, question banks, live online workshops, progress tests and mocks plus all the faculty support you need while you’re studying, to help you to prepare for these challenging exams.

For CFA candidates with non-technical backgrounds we offer introductory courses on Financial Maths and Accounting.

Our learning tools are mostly located on the Quartic Online portal, with support from a set course workbooks, in print or e-book format. The e-book technology provides a unique freehand annotation capability, allowing you to sketch diagrams, write out formulae or pensively doodle during instructor-led or video sessions.

The videos and workshops are backed up with Q-banks containing thousands of CFA exam-style questions, each with fully worked or video solutions.

Our Summary Revision Notes and popular new Q Sheet^TM provide candidates with a summary of all key concepts, invaluable resources during the Revision phase.

Throughout the learning process our teaching faculty are on hand to provide CFA candidates with unlimited support direct from CFA charterholders – by phone, e-mail or Zoom plus all the faculty support you need while you’re studying, to help you to prepare for these challenging exams..

Exams

The Level I exam is a computer-based test with four available testing windows in each year, during February, May, August and November. The duration of the exam is 4.5 hours, with 180 questions split across two sessions and covering all ten topics.

Curriculum

Level I teaches the foundations of finance with a significant emphasis on the analytical tools.

The ten different topic areas are as follows:

Ethical And Professional Standards
Quantitative Methods
Economics
Financial Reporting & Analysis
Corporate Finance
Equity Investments
Fixed Income
Derivatives
Alternative Investments
Portfolio Management

Benefits

Registering for the Level I exam has many benefits, some more tangible than others:

Globally highly regarded program
Broad curriculum gives you exposure to many different topic areas
Provides you with advanced financial analysis skills
Shows dedication to the profession
Career recognition
Highlights your commitment to high standards of ethics
Allows you to network with fellow candidates and charterholders
Might be used for regulatory purposes (in the UK, Level I in combination with the IMC exam gets you RDR qualified).

Prerequisites

In order to enrol on the Program you need:

a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) OR
to be in the final year of a degree programme OR
to have four years of professional work experience OR
to have a combination of university and work that totals four years

You must also sign a statement of professional conduct, pay the exam fees to CFA Institute and be in possession of a valid international passport.

If you’d like to brush up your maths skills or you come from a non-financial background, we would strongly advise you to take our introductory courses on financial maths and accounting, to bring you up to speed before delving into your Level I studies..