Solurana InsightsWhere to spend your hours: a study-time allocation for CFA Level I
Time is your scarce resource, not knowledge. Here is where to overweight it, and where to bank the quick wins.
The allocation map
| Topic | Exam weight | Difficulty | Study allocation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Statement Analysis (FRA) | 11–14% | High | Overweight |
| Ethics | 15–20% | Medium | Overweight |
| Fixed Income | 11–14% | High | Overweight |
| Quantitative Methods | 6–9% | High | Overweight |
| Equity Investments | 11–14% | Medium | Equal-weight |
| Economics | 6–9% | Medium | Equal-weight |
| Derivatives | 5–8% | Medium | Equal-weight |
| Portfolio Management | 8–12% | Low | Equal-weight |
| Alternative Investments | 7–10% | Low | Underweight |
| Corporate Issuers | 6–9% | Low | Underweight |
Exam weights are the official 2026 ranges; difficulty is the Solurana Difficulty Index; the rating tilts time relative to a topic's raw weight, toward the hard topics and away from the easy ones.
How to read it
Overweight — FRA, Ethics, Fixed Income, Quant. Spend more time than the raw weight suggests: this is where the marks are hardest to win, and hardest to win back if you skimp. FRA and Ethics together are between a quarter and a third of the exam and both punish shallow prep; Fixed Income and Quant are calculation-heavy and unforgiving of gaps. Quant is the sleeper: a modest weight but a high difficulty that candidates routinely underestimate.
Equal-weight — Equity, Economics, Derivatives, Portfolio Management. Hours in line with each topic's exam weight. The difficulty is manageable, so hours can track weight. Derivatives is conceptually hard but short; Equity is heavy but builds on familiar valuation logic, so it rewards steady reps over deep grinding; and Portfolio Management is low-difficulty but the heaviest of the easy topics, too weighty to underweight.
Underweight — Alternative Investments, Corporate Issuers. Capture efficiently and move on. Low difficulty and modest weight make these quick wins, not the place to lose a week. Corporate Issuers is the most approachable topic on the exam.
Two cautions
- These are tilts, not "skip it." Every topic has capturable marks, and taking any to zero is a mistake — Ethics in particular can swing a borderline result through the "Ethics adjustment."
- Your diagnostic overrides the map. If your FRA is already strong and your Derivatives is lagging, tilt to your own gaps — a generic allocation is a starting point, not a substitute for knowing where you lose marks. (A free 30-question diagnostic will tell you.)
The bottom line
The exam is won by spending hours where they convert to marks. The Difficulty Index says that is disproportionately FRA, Ethics, Fixed Income, and Quant, and much less Corporate Issuers and Alternatives. Allocate accordingly, then let your own results pull the weights around.
Find your focus areas — free diagnostic See the Difficulty Index →