I Failed the CFA Exam: Now What?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of candidates attempt to pass a CFA^® exam. Because the CFA charter is widely considered to be the gold standard within the investment community, it is no surprise that the intense difficulty of the exams cause the majority of candidates to fail at least once. And when it happens to you, it can be a frustrating feeling. But all is not lost. You have experience on your side, and you can retake the exam with confidence. You just need to keep a few things in mind as you prepare for your retake.

Key Highlights

1. The first step to deciding when to retake the exam is to assess your previous exam preparation experience.

2. Use your band number and topic score percentage as the foundation for your strategy for retaking the exam.

3. Depending on your topic score percentage, your plan should focus on three areas: curriculum knowledge, practice questions, and exam-taking techniques. 

Table of Contents

• CFA Fail Bands

• CFA Exam Retake Strategies

• Recent Pass Rate Takeaways

• Failing a CFA Exam FAQs

If You Did Not Pass the CFA Exam

Very few candidates pass all three CFA exams on their first attempt. CFA Institute estimates it takes the average successful candidate four years to complete the CFA Program. So failing one level, if not two, makes you an average candidate. It is difficult for most candidates entering the program to accept this.

While it is easy to feel discouraged, remember that you have already completed a large amount of the study requirement for your next attempt. Although the CFA Program curriculum does change each calendar year, much of the knowledge you gained from the previous exam will still be relevant for your next attempt at the exam. 

Planning Your Retake Strategy? Consider Adding a CFA Exam Review Workshop to the Plan.

What Are CFA Fail Bands?

If you failed a CFA exam you’ll receive an email containing a band number and a percentage range for each exam topic. That band number will indicate how far you were from passing the CFA exam. Band numbers are provided from a 10-1 range. Higher band numbers indicate you were close to passing, while lower numbers indicate you were further away from passing. 

Included with your band number, you’ll also get a score in each topic area. The score for each topic area is expressed in three ranges: less than 50 percent, between 50 and 70 percent, and more than 70 percent.

CFA Exam Score Grading Process >>

What To Do If You Received Bands 10, 9, or 8

Being in the 10th banding means you were a fraction away from passing. Sometimes, being so close is more frustrating than missing a pass by a long shot. On the positive side, this means you were only a few correct questions away from passing, indicating that you do not have fundamental deficiencies in your knowledge or technique.

Typically, your retake plan will consist of bringing any weaker areas up to speed and maintaining your core knowledge with the primary focus being on practice questions. Good prep provider question banks contain thousands of questions and allow you to custom-build exams around specific exam topics. You can also use online question banks to replicate mock exams.

If you are in bands 10-8, we would recommend initially focusing on self-study and then adding a review course later in your studies, especially if you feel you would benefit from a refresher on both technical content and exam technique.

Interpreting Your CFA Exam Results >>

What To Do If You Received Bands 7, 6, or 5

If you receive bands 7-5 after failing the CFA exam, this indicates you were outside the top 30% of unsuccessful candidates. Bandings in these ranges indicate that either your knowledge or exam technique was insufficient to pass the exam.

First, you need to analyze what caused you to fall into one of these categories. The most common reason will be that you ran out of time to properly prepare and knew that you had weak areas going into the exam. Candidates falling in these categories due to technical deficiency often benefit from attending weekly CFA exam prep classes again. Next time in class, you will know exactly where to focus.

If you felt that it was not the technical difficulty of the curriculum that caused you to fail, then it is more likely to be an issue of insufficient question practice, which, in turn, is normally caused by running out of study time. Candidates falling into this category will need to predominantly focus on question practice and will benefit from attending a review course.

What To Do If You Received Bands 4, 3, 2, or 1

If you scored in bands 4-1, unfortunately, you were in the bottom 40% of those failing the exam.

Before considering a retake, you really need to focus on the reason for this result. If you didn’t have the time to prepare for the exam properly, then a lesson has been learned. 

How to Pass the CFA Exam While Working Full Time >>

If you've studied over 300 hours, this is a little more worrying. First, you need to question your study technique. In particular, studying the technical material with insufficient question practice can cause failure, no matter how many hours you dedicate to preparation. 

We find that the majority of students can cope with the technical nature of the curriculum, but those who struggle with applying quantitative material may require more than the 300 hours average. Remember, 300 hours is just a guideline and an average. Speaking to thousands of candidates, we do know that a large number will take far more than this to prepare.

7 Tips for Effectively Using Your 300 Hours >>

The majority of candidates who receive bands in the 1-4 range will have both technical weaknesses and poor exam technique. Technical deficiencies can be improved by studying the CFA Institute curriculum and prep provider materials. Taking CFA mock exams and attending review seminars can improve exam technique.

Try Today’s Featured CFA Practice Questions

Designing a Strategy to Retake a CFA Exam

Below are the steps you can take to design a retake strategy for the CFA exam. 

Step 1: Review Your CFA Fail Banding

Since there are 10 different banding numbers possible it can be difficult to identify which topics or exam-taking strategies you need to focus on for your next exam sitting. If you spent 6 months preparing for the CFA exam and still got a band score of 10-8 you’ll need to dig deep to identify where things went wrong for you during your CFA exam prep. 

Start by reviewing your Ethics score. CFA Institute explicitly states that your score on the Ethics portion will determine if your overall score is around the marginal passing score (MPS). So, if you get placed in bands 10-8, and score poorly on Ethics, you probably know the cause of your failure.

Next, check whether you completed all the necessary practice questions. When we say “completed,” it is important to note that we don’t just mean answering the question, but also reviewing the answer. Reviewing the solution is of particular importance if you are to learn from your mistakes and improve your mastery of the curriculum.

Step 2: Review Your Topic Performance

The next step is identifying your strengths and weaknesses. When designing your retake plan, we suggest starting with the areas in which you clearly underperformed. Be very careful that you do not ignore your stronger areas entirely. Otherwise, you may find that you have just substituted weak areas for previously strong areas.

Any area where you scored less than 50% in the exam is considered a weak area. These areas are where you should begin studying. Next, review your moderate areas (50–70%) before reviewing the areas you performed well in the exam (>70%). This now forms an outline of the order in which you will tackle the subjects for a retake.

Step 3: Put Together a Plan for Each Topic

Based on your topic performance scoring percentage, you can develop a new plan for each topic.

If You Scored <50% in a CFA Topic

It is best to start restudying these areas from first principles. Start by reading and reviewing both CFA Institute and prep provider materials. It is a good idea to review the CFA Institute material to see if it helps improve your understanding, especially if you only studied from prep provider materials for your first sitting.

Once you reach the end of each reading, tackle both the prep provider and CFA Institute end-of-chapter questions. You are looking for significant improvement to be reflected in your scores. If you are not noticing an improvement in certain areas, it is worth using a CFA question bank to design tests covering only these readings. Once you are scoring above 70% when tackling questions on a specific reading, move to the next.

Download our CFA Program Fundamentals eBook To Help Prepare For Your Next Exam

If You Scored 50–70% in a CFA Topic

The frustration is that you won’t know exactly how close to 50% or 70% your performance was in these areas. It is best to start with a quick review of the study material within your prep provider notes or CFA Institute texts. While reading, you should be asking yourself the question, “Do I feel comfortable with this material?” Then, tackle end-of-chapter questions in both the CFA Institute texts and prep provider notes. Scores below 70% indicate you have yet to master the material, and more in-depth study and question practice is needed.

If You Scored >70% in a CFA Topic

The good news is that your performance on the previous exam indicates you had a good understanding of these areas and can translate that knowledge into correct answers on the exam. The main danger with these areas is that you give them very little time and attention and, as a result, what was a strong area becomes a weak area.

Our advice would be to start with the end-of-chapter questions from CFA Institute and your prep provider, rather than reading the material again. Poor performance on these questions indicates that you should go back and review the material. Most of what you need to refresh and maintain in these areas should come from question practice.

Step 4: Start Studying Early

Don’t start your retake plan too late. You want to have plenty of time to tackle the material you find technically challenging. The earlier you start, the less invasive the study becomes in both your home and work life. Enroll for the exam early to get the lowest possible exam entry fee. Plan to leave at least a month for topic review and mock exams.

We wish you all the best in achieving a successful result in your exam retake. Good luck in your studies. With effort and applications, you can pass the CFA exam.

CFA Level I 6-Month Study Guide >>

Takeaways from Recent CFA Exam Pass Rates

CFA pass rates have begun to normalize and even increase in some cases. Recent Level I rates have rebounded and been inline with pre-pandemic rates. The Level II exam is often considered the most difficult of the three exams and that continues to prove correct as recent Level II pass rates have fluctuated from high to low. Level III pass rates have stabilized and aligned with post-pandemic averages.

Frequently Asked Questions After Failing a CFA Exam

Below are answers to commonly asked questions by CFA candidates who fail an exam. 

How Many Times Can You Retake the CFA?

You can take each exam level a maximum of six times, a policy that was instituted in 2021. Also you can take an exam up to two times per calendar year, but cannot take the exam in windows that are less than 6 months apart.

When to Retake the CFA Exam

The first step to deciding when to retake the exam is to assess your previous exam preparation experience. How many hours did you spend preparing? Did you consistently stick to a structured study plan? Are there other study materials that could help you pass your next exam? 

Examine how you will approach exam prep differently going forward, reflect on your own personal/professional goals, and consider the various exam window options offered by CFA Institute to determine when to retake the CFA exam. 

In general, we recommend retaking the exam as soon as possible, especially if you can do so in the same calendar year. Registering for the next possible exam is best for the following reasons: 

• Momentum is on your side. Even if you have been taking a break since your last exam, all of the effort you put into preparing for it is relatively fresh. 

• The longer you wait to retake the exam, the higher the likelihood that you will forget the material that you have already learned.

It is particularly important to retake the exam in the same calendar year if at all possible, since CFA Institute changes the CFA Program curriculum on an annual basis. Retaking the exam before these annual updates will give you a higher probability of passing because you will be more familiar with the curriculum being tested.

Regardless of which exam you decide to sign up for, we have some recommendations for approaching the next exam attempt:

• Carefully review your exam results and use them as a diagnostic tool to help guide your studies on the next attempt.

• Organize your study plan to focus on weak areas first. Your study plan should be weighted heavily toward practicing the material using the SchweserPro QBank and end-of-chapter questions in the CFA curriculum. 

• After doing additional practice, if you are still performing poorly, revisit the SchweserNotes and OnDemand class videos to relearn the concepts with which you are struggling. 

Continue this process until a month before the exam, then focus on a well-structured final review process. especially if you were unable to do this for the May exam. 

For final review, focus heavily on practicing what you have learned, but with the Schweser Mock Exams rather than the SchweserPro QBank. After completing a mock exam, thoroughly review the answer explanations for the questions you answered incorrectly. Make certain you understand the logic behind the correct answer.

Also, be sure to use the OnDemand Review videos to sharpen your exam strategy and ensure you retain information for the exam. 

Finally, get help through our InstructorLink tool if you are still struggling with the material. We want you to pass the CFA exams and are always ready to help.

Do You Need to Re-Do CFA Practice Skill Modules (PSMs) After Failing?

If you fail the CFA exam and have to sit for the same level again, you do not need to complete another Practical Skill Module until you advance to the next level.

CFA Practical Skill Modules Guide >>