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Regardless of whether you’re preparing to sit for the CFA exam for the first time, or you’re planning to retake the level, it is important to consider the factors that could lead to an unsuccessful result.

Understanding the most widely recognized reasons for failing the Level I CFA® exam will enable you to build up a consciousness towards the various pitfalls. Here are seven reasons candidates don’t make it past the CFA exam, and some guidance, so that you improve your chances of success.

1. Neglected to Study Enough Hours

The CFA Institute strongly mentions that it takes at least 300 hours to pass each level of the CFA exam. The difficulty associated with balancing one’s work, social life, and education commitments is one of the key reasons the CFA course is extremely esteemed by companies.

Level I is the base level in view of core financial terms. It contains a considerable measure of standard information, and numerous candidates would have come across these terms during their previous financial education. This implies that the minimum time put in for Level I will differ significantly based upon a candidate’s earlier information and experience.

Regardless of how committed one aims to be, one simply doesn’t have enough energy. Therefore, a smart thought is to begin sooner than later, start with the material prior, and accomplish more practice than offered in classes. Keep in mind, you should aim to enhance your weak topics, maintain your strengths, and ensure that you have accounted for any educational module changes.

2. Specialized Gaps in Knowledge

Endeavoring any level of the CFA course with gaps in your content is a risky decision. CFA Institute does not release past exams and disallows candidates from talking about the content of the exam which implies one should have a clear understanding of the LOS. While it is important to practice topics that you strongly believe will be tested in the Level I CFA exam such as the ones with the highest weight-age, fewer weight-age topics are also crucial. CFA topics that you believe are of less importance will prove to be crucial especially if you aren’t strong in the main topics. These topics are usually left for the end and could be the defining point between a pass and fail in your CFA exam.

If you lack a clear understanding of multiple topics, your first move will be to clarify those misunderstandings either through the CFA study notes, CFA classes or through trainer assistance. Considering how the educational modules change every year, it is a smart thought to repurchase CFA study materials to guarantee adequate practice in new areas.

3. Ineffective Study Method

Live or online CFA exam prep courses are intended to quicken your comprehension of the core CFA content. Nonetheless, the productive utilization of one’s spare time is vital.

Most students believe that a good strategy would be to study the content and create your own notes to cover the educational modules. Although, the sheer size of the CFA educational modules implies that setting up your own notes with no external help is just too time-consuming. The likely consequences will be the inability to cover the entire syllabus, therefore, leading to gaps in your insight, due to doubts and lack of mock exams. The longer you prepare and practice, the more prominent the odds of achievement. Hence, dedicate the whole last month for review and practice.

4. Lack of enough practice

The most efficient way to pass any level of the CFA exam is to practice as many questions as possible. The significant issue that students face is that even though the content has been understood well when attempting mock exams, they are often confused or lost. Therefore, the more questions you practice, the more comfortable you will be. Some important study materials to go through before the Level I CFA exam are end-of-section questions, mock exams, and question bank tests. These questions will equip you with tricks, tips, and methods for quicker problem-solving.

Now that you are aware of the pitfalls, you can create a better plan to ensure greater success for the upcoming exam.

With the growing number of prep providers for the CFA® course, candidates are often confused by which prep provider is the most effective and offers value for money. To help clear your doubts, a series of factors have been mentioned below for consideration.

1. Suggestions from friends and family:

Do you know candidates who have completed the desired qualification? Your first move should be to interact with these individuals as they would be aware of the most effective study material and the key factors to focus upon during the CFA journey. On the off chance that you don’t know any prior candidates, reach out to your local CFA Society and inquire if either of their members would be willing to share their experience.

2. History of the Prep Provider:

Some financial training institutes have been creating prep notes, question banks, and mock exams for quite a long time, while others have just barely entered the market. The experience of the provider is crucial as it guarantees that their content and knowledge have been streamlined and refined throughout the years. This helps you effectively understand the CFA Institute’s exam requirements and prevents studying with a prep provider who is learning about the course requirements themselves.

The value must also be given to the volume of mock (practice) examinations provided and ensure that the online question banks are customizable so that you can work on your weak points. Select a provider who can offer you high-quality mock exams – an integrated learning test that targets all the areas of the curriculum rather than each topic individually which helps in recollection significantly.

3. Training by a certified instructor:

Being part of a financial training institution wherein the trainers themselves have studied and completed the certification enables them to have a student-centric perspective. This is imperative when identifying how to solve problems faced by candidates during their journey and offer tips and tricks. It wouldn’t be wise for you to take the advice of someone who hasn’t mastered the exam disregard the attempts.

4. An ‘approved prep provider’ status:

Certain Prep Providers that meet the CFA Institute’s guidelines receive a stamp of approval upon adhering to the ethical, educational, and professional requirements. Being an approved provider denotes that the institution has achieved the required benchmark for excellence and can collaborate with the CFA Institute by sharing feedback from the candidates regarding the course which helps update and improve the CFA Program curriculum and exam according to the latest trends.

5. Effective Study Plan:

One of the most common reasons why candidates fail is the lack of competent study practices. The habit of reading and note-taking which is commonly followed at universities is an ineffectual technique when it comes to the CFA Program exams. Aim to find a provider who has the study materials available as soon as the previous results are out and a trainer who applies real-life experiences into the learning process which will help you understand quicker and tackle the stringent rule of incorporating 300 study hours per level.

6. Classroom Education vs. Online Education:

Certain candidates prefer studying online as the classes are flexible and aren’t restricted to a specific time zone or location while others find learning in the traditional environment more convenient. Certain providers offer either of these options while others provide both, you need to effectively evaluate your learning environment and choose the one that enhances your knowledge. Along with this, you also need to compare the type of study materials offered – E-book or Hardbound textbook. When choosing between either, you need to ask yourself whether you will have the patience to stare at a laptop screen for 300 hours especially if you have been staring at it all day.

7. Size of Candidates:

The number of candidates using a specific financial training provider can speak volumes regarding their quality. More candidates imply more feedback for the institute to create and refine their examination materials. Moreover, a few also offer you the chance to compare your result against the other exam applicants.

At last, remember that a remarkable financial training provider can help ease your learning journey according to the program requirements. Although, even the best can’t substitute your need for hard work. There isn’t a sure shot in the market, and you must be wary of anyone who claims they can ease the examination responsibility significantly.