Chartered Financial Analyst · Level I

Two full-length mock papers

Built to the official exam specification: 180 items each, three answer choices, two timed 135-minute sessions, topic mix inside the published 2026 weight ranges. The clock runs, the paper submits itself when time is up, and nothing is revealed until you finish — then you get a scored breakdown and a worked explanation for every question.

Paper 1

Mock Exam 1

180 questions · 2 × 135 min

Broad first-pass coverage of all ten topics. Sit this one cold, under full conditions, before you look at anything else.

Sit this paper → Paper 2

Mock Exam 2

180 questions · 2 × 135 min

Entirely different items, leaning harder on application and calculation. Save it for two or three weeks after the first.

Sit this paper →

What the real exam looks like

Total questions
180 multiple choice, three options each
Structure
Two sessions of 90 questions
Time per session
135 minutes
Total exam time
4 hr 30 min, in a ~5.5 hr appointment
Optional break
Up to 30 minutes between sessions
Pace required
90 seconds per question
Session 1 topics
Ethics · Quant · Economics · FSA · Corporate Issuers
Session 2 topics
Equity · Fixed Income · Derivatives · Alternatives · Portfolio Mgmt
Penalty for a wrong answer
None — never leave a blank
Calculator
TI BA II Plus or HP 12C only

Source: CFA Institute Level I candidate resources. The 2026 curriculum is unchanged from 2025 — same 93 learning modules, same 365 learning outcome statements, same topic weights.

Topic weights, and where these papers sit

0%5%10%15%20%
Official 2026 weight range Where these papers sit
CFA Institute publishes weights as ranges rather than fixed counts, so the exact number of questions per topic varies between sittings. Every topic in both papers is placed inside its published range and each session totals exactly 90 — so a topic-level score here is a fair read on where you stand.

How to use them

  1. Sit paper 1 cold, under full conditions. One sitting, both sessions, real break, phone away, approved calculator only. A mock taken in pieces tells you almost nothing about exam day — what is being tested is your concentration across four and a half hours, not just your recall.
  2. Do the review properly. Budget two to three hours. Read the explanation for every question you got wrong and every one you guessed correctly. A lucky guess is an unmarked gap.
  3. Work the weak topics before paper 2. The score page ranks your three priorities by weakness weighted against how much of the exam that topic carries. A weak topic worth 16% of the paper costs far more than a weak topic worth 6%.
  4. Sit paper 2 two to three weeks later. Compare topic-level scores, not just the total. Flat or falling scores in a heavy topic is the signal that your revision method needs changing, not just more hours.

Reading your score

ScoreBandWhat it means
75%+ Comfortable Clear of any plausible passing line. Maintain, and protect the weak topics from decaying.
70–74% Likely pass On track. Keep sitting timed papers so exam-day pace does not eat the margin.
63–69% Borderline Could go either way. This is where fixing one heavy weak topic changes the outcome.
55–62% Below the line Content gaps, not exam technique. Go back to the material before sitting more papers.
Under 55% Well short Substantial re-study needed across several topics.

On the passing score. CFA Institute does not publish a minimum passing score — it is set after each administration by a standard-setting process, and reported estimates have generally sat below 70%. These bands deliberately use 70% as a conservative working target: clear it consistently and you are not depending on where the line happens to fall.

What the papers are built to drill

  1. Ninety seconds, then move. The score page shows your five slowest questions and whether you got them right. Long-and-wrong is the most expensive pattern on the paper — learn to recognise it and let go.
  2. Never leave a blank. There is no penalty. A blind guess is worth a third of a mark; a blank is worth nothing. The papers count blanks separately so you can see exactly what you gave away.
  3. Flag and return, don't stall. Press F to flag, keep moving, and press G for the navigator to come back. The score page reports how many flagged items you actually got wrong — usually far fewer than the anxiety suggested.
  4. Read the qualifier. Almost every stem turns on most likely, least likely, closest to, or best described as. Misreading a "least likely" is the single most common avoidable error.