CFA Level I Success Drops to 43% as AI Models Ace the Final Exam
The August CFA Level I pass rate landed at 43%, down from 45% in May and February 2025. It still sits above the 10-year average of 41% and well above the lows seen in 2021 when widespread deferrals distorted outcomes.
At the same time, large-language models are now capable of passing Level III of the CFA Program in minutes, according to recent academic research. That raises a practical question for finance teams and candidates alike: how to work with AI without outsourcing judgment.
Key numbers
- Level I pass rate (August 2025): 43% (vs. 45% in May/Feb; 10-year average ~41%).
- More than 26,000 candidates sat for Level I across 502 proctored, computer-based centers.
- No deferral: 50% pass rate. Deferred at least once: 29% pass rate.
- Level II candidates from August are scheduled to receive results on Thursday.
AI's role: helpful, not a free pass
LLMs can compress tasks that eat up hours into minutes, including generating practice explanations and simulating item sets. But speed without oversight is risky. As the CFA Institute's education lead noted, AI can support decisions, yet human professionals must challenge, validate, and interpret outputs-especially in complex or novel scenarios.
What this means for finance professionals
- Expect wider AI use in research, reporting, and review-treat it like a junior analyst that needs checking.
- Codify controls: verification checklists, second-reader reviews, and clear model-use policies.
- Keep ethics front and center: disclose tool use if required, protect data, and avoid overreliance.
- Hire and promote for judgment, not just tool fluency. The edge is in framing problems and validating answers.
For candidates: execute on what the data shows
- Protect your schedule. The pass-rate gap (50% vs. 29%) signals that staying on track matters more than almost any tactic.
- Plan 300+ focused hours per level. Break it into weekly targets, add two timed mocks, and review errors the same day.
- Use AI for explanations and quick drills, then verify with the curriculum and official errata. Don't practice only with AI-generated questions.
- Write a 3-step validation rule for any answer: your reasoning, the model's reasoning, then curriculum confirmation.
Deferrals can be necessary, but the numbers are clear: interruptions correlate with lower pass rates. If you must defer, reset a specific study calendar within 48 hours and book your next mock date immediately.
For official pass-rate data and exam updates, see the CFA Institute's page: CFA Program results and pass rates.
Practical resources
- Curated AI tools for finance workflows (screening, modeling, reporting): AI tools for Finance
- Role-based AI course paths to upskill your team: Courses by job
The takeaway is simple: schedule discipline drives exam outcomes, and AI is a force multiplier when paired with verification and ethics. Use the tools, keep ownership of the judgment, and ship work you can defend.
