CFA® topic map

Each topic area below lists its published weight band and the learning modules from the outline, with free sample questions and answers.

Level I

Tools and concepts — 10 topic areas, 180 questions

Ethical & Professional Standards — 15–20%. The Code, the seven Standards, and how examiners phrase violations.
Quantitative Methods — 6–9%. Returns, time value, distributions, hypothesis tests, simple regression.
Economics — 6–9%. Market structures, business cycles, policy, trade and exchange rates.
Financial Statement Analysis — 11–14%. The three statements, inventories, long-lived assets, quality of earnings.
Corporate Issuers — 6–9%. Governance, working capital, capital allocation, capital structure.
Equity Investments — 11–14%. Market organisation, indexes, industry analysis, dividend models.
Fixed Income — 11–14%. Pricing, yield measures, duration, convexity, credit spreads.
Derivatives — 5–8%. Forwards, futures, swaps, options and arbitrage-free pricing.
Alternative Investments — 7–10%. Private capital, real estate, natural resources, hedge funds, digital assets.
Portfolio Management — 8–12%. Risk and return, the CAPM, IPS construction, behavioural biases.

Asset valuation — 22 item sets (vignettes)

Ethical & Professional Standards — 10–15%. The same Standards, applied to dense vignettes with competing duties.
Quantitative Methods — 5–10%. Multiple regression, misspecification, time series, machine learning.
Economics — 5–10%. Two dense modules: currency equilibrium value and economic growth.
Financial Statement Analysis — 10–15%. Intercorporate investments, pensions, multinationals, report quality.
Corporate Issuers — 5–10%. Dividends and buybacks, ESG, advanced cost of capital, restructuring.
Equity Valuation — 10–15%. DDM, free cash flow, multiples, residual income, private companies.
Fixed Income — 10–15%. Term structure dynamics, arbitrage-free valuation, embedded options, CDS.
Derivatives — 5–10%. Forward commitments and contingent claims — binomial, BSM, the Greeks.
Alternative Investments — 5–10%. Commodities, real estate direct and listed, hedge fund strategies.
Portfolio Management — 10–15%. Active management, ETFs, multifactor models, market risk, backtesting.

Portfolio management — essay + item sets, plus a pathway

Asset Allocation — 15–20%. Capital market expectations, allocation principles, real-world constraints.
Portfolio Construction — 15–20%. Equity and fixed-income portfolios, alternatives, institutions, trading costs.
Performance Measurement — 5–10%. Attribution, appraisal, manager selection and the GIPS standards.
Derivatives & Risk Management — 10–15%. Options strategies, swaps/forwards/futures strategies, currency management.
Ethical & Professional Standards — 10–15%. The Standards plus the Asset Manager Code — which appears only at Level III.

Candidates choose one pathway, which sits on top of the core topics.

Portfolio Management Pathway — 30–35%. Active equity, yield-curve and credit strategy, LDI, trade execution.
Private Markets Pathway — 30–35%. GP/LP economics, private equity and debt, special situations, real assets.
Private Wealth Pathway — 30–35%. Goals-based planning, tax efficiency, human capital, wealth transfer.

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