What are the Level I topic weights for 2026 and 2027?
What changed in the 2027 Level I weights? Ethics falls from 15 to 20% to 10 to 15%, Quantitative Methods rises from 6 to 9% to 11 to 14%, Derivatives moves from 5 to 8% to 6 to 9% and Alternative Investments from 7 to 10% to 6 to 9%.
CFA Program Level I
Ethics 10 to 15% and Quant 11 to 14% in 2027
Your result
Ethics 10 to 15% and Quant 11 to 14% in 2027. On 180 questions, Ethical and Professional Standards is 18 to 27 questions and Quantitative Methods 19 to 26. From February 2027, Ethics falls and Quantitative Methods rises; November 2026 sitters keep the 2026 table.
Ethics
10 to 15%
Quant
11 to 14%
Economics
6 to 9%
- 2027 range (published)
- 2026 range
Questions people ask
What changed in the 2027 Level I weights?
Ethics falls from 15 to 20% to 10 to 15%, Quantitative Methods rises from 6 to 9% to 11 to 14%, Derivatives moves from 5 to 8% to 6 to 9% and Alternative Investments from 7 to 10% to 6 to 9%. The other ranges are unchanged.
I sit in November 2026. Which weights apply?
The 2026 table. The 2027 curriculum starts with the February 2027 window.
How many Ethics questions are on the 2027 exam?
The range allows 18 to 27 of 180 questions. CFA Institute does not publish the exact count for any form.
Are the weights per session?
No. They apply to the whole exam. Session 1 holds Ethics, Quant, Economics, FSA and Corporate Finance; session 2 holds the other five.
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How we work this out
What it does
Each topic's official range, what it means in questions out of 180, what changes in 2027, and an estimate from your own accuracy by topic.
The official exam-weight ranges for the whole Level I exam in the 2026 and 2027 curricula. November 2026 sitters use 2026; February 2027 onward use 2027.
Method
- Ranges are copied by script from CFA Institute's Level I exam page as recorded on September 27, 2026.
- Questions out of 180 are the range times 180, rounded outward: 10% to 15% is 18 to 27 questions.
- The change column compares the midpoint of each topic's 2026 and 2027 ranges.
- If you enter your accuracy by topic, each topic is weighted by the midpoint of its range and the result is normalized over the topics you entered.
Sources
Checked .
- CFA Institute: Level I exam: structure and year-specific topic weights, Topic weights tables, 2026 and 2027
- CFA Institute: 2026 Level I topic outline, 2026 topic outline
- CFA Institute: 2027 Level I topic outline, 2027 topic outline