The Solurana CFA® Level I Difficulty Index
Last updated June 19, 2026 · refreshed each exam window
CFA Institute publishes topic weights, but not topic-by-topic candidate performance. This index fills that gap: a 0–100 difficulty score for each Level I topic, blending candidate-reported difficulty with our own question-bank data. The hardest topics are Financial Statement Analysis, Fixed Income, and Quantitative Methods; the most manageable are Corporate Issuers and Alternative Investments.
| Topic | Difficulty | Exam weight |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Statement Analysis (FRA) | 100 | 11–14% |
| Fixed Income | 65 | 11–14% |
| Quantitative Methods | 64 | 6–9% |
| Ethics | 62 | 15–20% |
| Derivatives | 55 | 5–8% |
| Equity Investments | 52 | 11–14% |
| Economics | 45 | 6–9% |
| Portfolio Management | 39 | 8–12% |
| Alternative Investments | 25 | 7–10% |
| Corporate Issuers | 10 | 6–9% |
Difficulty is a 0–100 score, relative across the 10 topics and scaled so the hardest anchors at 100 (higher = harder); the gaps between adjacent topics are often small. Method and sources are below.
What makes the hard topics hard
FRA carries the heaviest accounting load and the widest scope — more Learning Outcome Statements than any other topic. Fixed Income is dense with bond math: pricing, yields, duration and convexity. Quantitative Methods is an unfamiliar, math-heavy building block for many candidates. Derivatives packs a lot of new frameworks into a short, low-weight topic. And Ethics is conceptually light but judgment-heavy — and it is the single highest-weighted topic on the exam.
Difficulty is not priority — weight is
A hard topic matters less if it barely counts, and an easy one can still be worth full marks if it is heavy. Multiply difficulty by exam weight and the highest-leverage topics are FRA, Ethics, and Fixed Income — hard, heavy, or both; that is where disciplined preparation pays off most. The flip side: Corporate Issuers and Alternative Investments are quick wins, but their lower weight means you should not pour weeks into them.
CFA Level I topic difficulty — FAQ
What is the hardest CFA Level I topic?
Financial Statement Analysis (FRA) is the hardest Level I topic on our index — it carries the heaviest accounting load and the most Learning Outcome Statements, and candidates consistently rate it the toughest. Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods come next.
What is the easiest CFA Level I topic?
Corporate Issuers is widely rated the most approachable Level I topic, followed by Alternative Investments — both are relatively short and concept-driven. They are quick wins, but their lower exam weight means you should not over-invest in them.
Should I study the hardest CFA topics first?
Lead with the topics that are both hard and heavily weighted — FRA, Ethics, and Fixed Income — because that is where disciplined preparation moves your score the most. Difficulty alone is not priority; difficulty multiplied by exam weight is.
How is the Solurana CFA Difficulty Index calculated?
Each topic’s 0–100 score blends four signals: the official 2026 exam weight, candidate-reported difficulty aggregated from public sources, the average difficulty of our Level I question bank in that topic (difficulty-rated by charterholders), and the topic’s breadth (its number of Learning Outcome Statements). Scores are relative across the 10 topics and refreshed each exam window.