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Exam prep · CFA Level I

CFA Level I flashcards from the curriculum you already have

Level I is 180 questions across ten topics, and most candidates fail on breadth, not depth. The decks below cover the quantitative and accounting foundations; the rest comes from carding your own curriculum readings as you go.

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Updated 2026-10-23. Decks are shared by Quizcard and its users; study them on the page or copy them into a free account.

CFA Level I at a glance

Format
180 multiple-choice questions in two 135-minute sessions of 90 questions each, computer-based.
Windows
Four exam windows a year (typically February, May, August and November). Register through CFA Institute.
Scoring
Pass or fail against a minimum passing score set after each window. Recent Level I pass rates have been in the 40s percent.
Study time
CFA Institute reports candidates average around 300 hours per level.

What the CFA Level I tests

  • Ethical and Professional Standards. 15 to 20%. The Code and Standards, GIPS. Heavily tested and card-friendly.
  • Quantitative Methods. 6 to 12%. Time value of money, probability, distributions, hypothesis testing, regression basics.
  • Economics. 6 to 12%. Micro and macro, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, trade and currencies.
  • Financial Statement Analysis. 11 to 14%. Statements, inventories, long-lived assets, taxes, ratios.
  • Corporate Issuers. 6 to 9%. Governance, capital structure, working capital, cost of capital.
  • Equity Investments. 11 to 14%. Markets, indexes, valuation models.
  • Fixed Income. 11 to 14%. Bond pricing, yields, duration, credit analysis.
  • Derivatives. 5 to 8%. Forwards, futures, options, swaps, basic pricing.
  • Alternative Investments. 7 to 10%. Hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities.
  • Portfolio Management. 8 to 12%. Risk and return, CAPM, portfolio planning, behavioral finance basics.

Free CFA Level I flashcard decks

  • CFA Level I - Quantitative Methods Glossary121 cards · Module 1: Interest Rates, Present Value, and Future Value · Module 2: Organizing, Visualizing, and Describing Data · Module 3: Probability Concepts · Module 4: Common Probability Distributions
  • Accounting Fundamentals: Financial Statements30 cards · University · Adjusting · Balance sheet · Basics · Cash flows
  • Macroeconomics Principles30 cards · University · AD/AS · Business cycle · Fiscal policy · Growth
  • Microeconomics Principles31 cards · University · Elasticity · Firms · Foundations · Market failure
  • Statistics 101: Core Concepts30 cards · University · Describing data · Design · Inference · Probability
  • Statistics: Hypothesis Testing Practice30 cards · University · ANOVA · Chi-square · Decision · Design
  • CFA Level I: Fixed Income and Equity Essentials38 cards · University · Bond Features & Types · Credit Risk & Ratings · Duration & Convexity · Equity Market Organization
  • CFA Level I: Ethics and Professional Standards36 cards · University · Code of Ethics · GIPS Basics · Standard I — Professionalism · Standard II — Integrity of Capital Markets
  • AP Statistics: Probability, Random Variables and Sampling Distributions38 cards · High school · Binomial Distribution · Central Limit Theorem & Standard Error · Conditions Checklist · Geometric Distribution

Missing a topic? Upload the chapter from your prep book and Quizcard builds the deck for you, grouped by topic, with figures kept from PDFs. How it works.

Test yourself: free CFA Level I practice quizzes

  • CFA Level I - Quantitative Methods Glossary quiz30 multiple-choice questions with explanations · no account needed
  • CFA Level I: Fixed Income and Equity Essentials quiz15 multiple-choice questions with explanations · no account needed
  • CFA Level I: Ethics and Professional Standards quiz20 multiple-choice questions with explanations · no account needed
  • AP Statistics: Probability, Random Variables and Sampling Distributions quiz14 multiple-choice questions with explanations · no account needed

Each quiz scores you at the end and explains every answer. Redo it any time; the questions reshuffle.

Sample cards from “CFA Level I - Quantitative Methods Glossary”

Opportunity Cost

Answer: The value that investors forgo by choosing a particular course of action — the return that could have been earned on the next best alternative.

Real Risk-Free Rate

Answer: The single-period interest rate for a completely risk-free security if no inflation were expected. Reflects time preferences for current vs. future consumption.

Required Rate of Return

Answer: The minimum rate of return an investor must receive to accept an investment.

Interest Rate

Answer: A rate of return reflecting the relationship between differently dated cash flows. Interpreted as required rate of return, discount rate, or opportunity cost.

Discount Rate

Answer: The rate used to discount future cash flows to find their present value.

Inflation Premium

Answer: Compensation for expected inflation over the maturity of a debt instrument. Reduces the purchasing power of money.

Showing 6 of 121 cards. Study the whole deck or copy it into your account.

A flashcard study plan for the CFA Level I

  1. Months 1 to 2: one topic at a time. Read the curriculum reading, upload it, generate a deck into a folder per topic, and study it the next day. Ethics first and last.
  2. Month 3: end-of-chapter questions and topic tests. Card every formula and every definition you missed.
  3. Month 4: two full mock exams, spaced two weeks apart. Study only the missed deck and the formula deck between them.
  4. Last week: Ethics reread, formulas daily, light mock review.

How to write CFA Level I cards that work

  • Formula cards need the variables defined and the one trap: for example, “effective annual rate: compounding frequency matters.”
  • Ethics cards work as mini-cases: situation on the front, the Standard it falls under and whether it is a violation on the back.
  • FSA cards should be “effect on” cards: “LIFO in rising prices: effect on COGS, net income, taxes, inventory?”
  • Keep a separate formula deck. Flip it every day of the final month.

Questions

Can Quizcard read the CFA curriculum PDFs?

Yes. Upload a reading and it generates a deck grouped by learning outcome. Long readings need Pro (up to 150 pages per document).

Is there a full Level I deck here?

The quantitative methods glossary is the largest public deck; the others cover accounting, economics and statistics foundations. Build the rest from your own readings.

Can I export to Anki?

Every deck exports to CSV, which Anki imports.

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Official information: CFA Institute: Level I. Formats and weights change; check the official page before test day.

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