CFA Level I Pass Rate Falls to 39% — But the Number That Matters Is Elsewhere

CFA Institute has released the results of the May 2026 CFA Level I exam: of the 31,566 candidates who sat worldwide, 39% passed. That is below several recent cycles and below the exam's long-term average of 40%.

But the 39% headline is not the most useful number in the announcement. A different pair of figures, buried in the middle, says far more about how you should prepare.

The numbers that actually matter: 45% and 25%

CFA Institute broke the results down by candidate group:

A gap of 20 percentage points. Candidates who sat on schedule were close to twice as likely to pass as those who had pushed their exam back.

This is the part most CFA candidates have backwards. Deferring feels like the safe choice — "I'm not ready, I'll take one more window to study properly." The data says the opposite: the group that deferred did considerably worse than the group that simply turned up.

The reason is not mysterious. Deferring does not create study time — it breaks study rhythm. Level I spans ten topic areas, and most candidates forget faster than they can revise. Six months later, a deferred candidate is usually relearning ground they had already covered, with the initial momentum gone.

Chris Wiese, CFA, Managing Director of Education at CFA Institute, put it plainly in the announcement: staying on track with study and exam preparation remains the clearest indicator of exam success.

Why the pass rate falls when candidate numbers rise

The May 2026 window was one of the largest cohorts in recent years. Those two facts travel together, and not by coincidence.

CFA Level I is not graded on a quota — there is no rule that only the top 39% pass. The exam has a Minimum Passing Score, and anyone above it passes. In principle all 31,566 candidates could have passed.

But when registrations surge, the make-up of the candidate pool changes too: more newcomers, more people testing the water, more people who register first and plan to study later. A falling pass rate reflects the average level of preparation in the crowd, not a harder exam.

What that means for you: 39% is not your probability. Yours depends on whether you end up in the 45% group or the 25% group.

Where the exam was held

The May 2026 window ran at 524 proctored computer-based test centres, across 425 cities in 115 markets. The CFA exam is still an in-person, test-centre exam — there is no at-home option.

Dates to put in your calendar now

If you sat the August 2026 window, official results are released as follows:

Results are emailed after 9:00 am US Eastern time. CFA Institute generally releases results 5–9 weeks after an exam window closes.

What to take into your own study plan

• Pick an exam date you can genuinely hold, then hold it. The data says moving your date costs far more than it feels like it does at the moment you click "defer".
• Do not register first and plan to study later. That behaviour is precisely what produces the 25% group. Register when you have a concrete study schedule, not when you have an intention.
• Choose the later window up front rather than registering early and deferring. The calendar outcome is the same either way, but one path puts you in the 45% group and the other in the 25% group. If the time between now and exam day does not fit ten topic areas, admit that when you register — not when you have three weeks left.
• Measure with mock exams, not with feelings. "I don't feel ready" is the most common reason people defer, and that feeling is routinely wrong in both directions.

Sources

• CFA Institute Reports Results for CFA® Program Level I Testing in May 2026 — CFA Institute press release, 23 June 2026
• CFA exam results and pass rates — CFA Institute

All figures come directly from CFA Institute's own announcements. The analysis and study recommendations are Clever Academy's.