Ultimate Study Guide that I used to Pass CFA Level I

Heres CFA Lvl 1. I put this together and it took me about an hour to type, so hopefully it helps more future charterholders get through Level I.

I 100% overstudied (went a little under 6 months) but it was the best call I made, because Level I is the foundation everything in Level II and III is built on. My mentor told me to study to understand, not just to pass — finance is basically the science of money, and once these concepts truly click, you'll know what to do with money the day you have it. So make it real: open a brokerage and actually look at a bond's YTM vs current yield, pull up a real options chain, find the 3 statements in a 10-K and watch net income flow into cash flow. When you can SEE it, it sticks.

I'm a systems nerd, so I turned the whole curriculum into a structured outline. Here's the breakdown.

Exam Outline + topic weights (read first):

Weights (2026): Ethics 15–20% (do NOT skip), FRA / Equity / Fixed Income 11–14% each, PM 8–12%, Alts 7–10%, Quant / Econ / Corporate 6–9%, Derivatives 5–8%.

The Ultimate Study Guide to Passing CFA Level I:

• Ethics — the 7 Standards (I–VII), know them cold
• Standard III (Duties to Clients) + Standard VI (Conflicts — disclose everything)
• GIPS (voluntary, firm-wide, comparability)
• Time Value of Money (PV/FV, annuities)
• Effective Annual Rate (EAR)
• NPV vs IRR (NPV wins when they conflict)
• Money-weighted vs Time-weighted return
• Standard deviation, normal distribution, z-score
• Hypothesis testing (Type I vs Type II error)
• Elasticity (price/income/cross)
• Market structures (perfect competition → monopoly)
• Fiscal vs Monetary policy
• Exchange rates + interest rate parity
• The 3 statements + how they link
• Revenue recognition (5-step model)
• FIFO vs LIFO in rising prices + LIFO reserve
• DuPont decomposition of ROE
• Liquidity / solvency / profitability ratios
• Deferred tax assets vs liabilities
• CFO / CFI / CFF (direct vs indirect)
• Capital budgeting (ignore sunk costs)
• WACC (after-tax cost of debt!)
• Operating vs financial leverage
• Modigliani-Miller (with/without taxes)
• Market efficiency (weak / semi-strong / strong)
• Gordon Growth DDM (own this formula)
• Justified P/E and P/B
• Bond pricing = PV of cash flows
• Current yield vs YTM vs Yield to Call
• Spot vs forward rates
• Duration (Macaulay/modified/effective) + Convexity
• Inverse price/yield relationship
• Forwards vs Futures (futures mark-to-market daily)
• Options: calls/puts, intrinsic vs time value
• Put-Call Parity
• Long call breakeven = strike + premium
• Swaps = series of forwards
• "2 and 20" + the J-curve (alternatives)
• Systematic vs unsystematic risk (only systematic is rewarded)
• CAPM + the Security Market Line (beta)
• Efficient frontier / CAL / CML
• The IPS — Return, Risk, Time, Taxes, Liquidity, Legal, Unique

Since Reddit wont let me put links, I have to put the links to these sources in my "Social links" part of my profile In the exact order of these below.

FREE Official Mocks + Practice (CFA Institute):

Gamified CFA Study App, Readings/textbook, mocks, exams, ect. Duolingo for CFA :

FREE Question Bank (150+ exam-style Qs):

FREE Study Materials + a 90-Q mock (300Hours):

FREE YouTube (Mark Meldrum, the GOAT of free CFA content):

Put your reps in on Ethics and FRA, do every mock you can, and trust the process. Good luck.
Save this somewhere before Reddit bans me lol.