CFA Level 1 Pass Rate: August 2026 Results and History

CFA Level 1 pass rate: current window and 10-year average

The official pass rate for the most recent window, August 2026, was 43%, from a pool of 28,145 candidates. That is above the 10-year average of 40% and a recovery from 39% in May 2026. CFA Institute reports pass rates per window; the table below shows the five most recent results.

Exam window	Level 1 pass rate	Candidates tested
August 2026	43%	28,145
May 2026	39%	31,566
February 2026	45%	24,006
November 2025	43%	26,752
August 2025	43%	26,192

The May window consistently produces the lowest pass rate of the year. Candidate-pool size is the primary driver: May draws the largest cohort, including more first-time candidates and a higher proportion of underprepared sitters. Smaller windows like February skew toward more experienced repeat takers, which lifts the average.

CFA Level 1 pass percentage by year (2017–2026)

The pass percentage of CFA Level 1 has averaged 40% over the ten-year period from 2017 to 2026, with the most significant deviation occurring in the pandemic-adjacent 2021 windows. The chart below plots the passing percentage across all windows since 2017.

Exclude 2021 and the series is remarkably stable: the CFA Level 1 passing percentage has sat between 37% and 46% across every normal window. That stability is deliberate — the Minimum Passing Score mechanism adjusts after each administration to hold the threshold constant, not the pass rate itself.

CFA Level 1 passing score: how the threshold actually works

There is a persistent misconception that a score of 70% is required to pass CFA Level 1. This is not true. There is no fixed passing score percentage. CFA Institute uses a Minimum Passing Score (MPS) determined by the Board of Governors after each exam sitting, calibrated using a modified Angoff method rather than a fixed numerical threshold.

What this means in practice: the MPS is an absolute standard — it reflects what a minimally competent candidate should know — not a relative rank. You are not competing against other candidates for a limited number of passes. If the entire cohort performs well, everyone can pass. If the pool underperforms, the pass rate falls. The pass rate is the output of where the MPS lands relative to the field, not a quota decided in advance.

CFA Institute does not publish the MPS after each window. Candidates receive a band-score report rather than a raw percentage. For the full mechanics of how that threshold is set, see our breakdown of the CFA Minimum Passing Score (MPS).

First-time candidates vs deferrers: the pass rate split that matters most

The headline pass rate aggregates two very different groups, and the split between them contains more useful information than the overall figure.

In the August 2026 window, first-time candidates passed at 49%, while candidates sitting after at least one deferral passed at 29% — a 20-percentage-point gap. May 2026 showed the same pattern: 45% for first-time candidates against 25% after a deferral. This is not a surprise to anyone who follows CFA Institute candidate data: deferred candidates carry accumulated rust, shifted study plans, and in many cases significant gaps between their most recent study session and their actual exam date.

The deferral penalty is real and structural. Candidates who defer once already face a headwind on their next sitting. Those who defer multiple times face a compounding disadvantage. This data point matters for interpreting the headline pass rate: the headline figure includes a subgroup passing at 25–29% that inflates the failure count substantially. Candidates who sit on schedule, prepare adequately, and do not defer perform meaningfully above the headline number.

Why the pass rate lands where it does

A 39–43% pass rate is not evidence that the exam is arbitrary or that most candidates are unqualified. It reflects a specific mix of causes. Candidates routinely underestimate the breadth of the curriculum — ten topic areas with distinct calculation and conceptual demands. Too little practice under timed conditions is the second most common failure mode. Weak exam-day time management costs a meaningful share of borderline candidates several questions they knew the answers to. And chronic underweighting of Ethics — which accounts for 15–20% of the exam and acts as a tiebreaker for borderline passes — is a structural error in most failing study plans.

We unpack each of these in detail in why the CFA pass rate is so low, but the short version is that most failure is structural and avoidable, not a matter of raw ability.

What the pass rate does not tell you

The headline figure pools candidates at every preparation level — from those who logged 400+ hours and multiple mocks to those who registered, drifted, and sat barely prepared. The two groups have wildly different outcomes but are averaged into one number. The rate among genuinely well-prepared candidates — consistent study hours, multiple full mocks, diagnostic-led review — is considerably higher than the low-40s headline. That is the single most important thing to understand about the statistic: it describes the field, not a well-prepared individual, and you are not condemned to the average.

What separates passers from failers

Analysis of candidate outcomes consistently points to three differentiators, none of which is innate talent. First, total study hours — 300 is a rough floor for Level 1, and candidates who clear it comfortably are usually well past it. Second, active practice over passive review: working problems and full mocks beats re-reading notes by a wide margin. Third, diagnostic-led studying — using mock results to attack your weakest sub-topics rather than spreading effort evenly across material you have already mastered.

Candidates who take mock exams and systematically close their weakest gaps before the real sitting significantly outperform those who rely on reading and note-taking alone. The pass rate, in the end, is less a verdict on the exam's difficulty than a summary of how the average candidate prepared. Change your inputs and you are no longer the average.