CFA Level I Exam Pass Rate Stays Above Average at 45%
The pass rate for the first level of the chartered financial analyst exam stayed above its historic average, while additional test centers are poised to open in India and other locations outside the US.
In May, 45% of candidates passed the Level I test, unchanged from the percentage who were successful in February and up from 43% for those who took the exam in November, the CFA Institute said Thursday. That's also higher than the 40% average for the past decade and the lows from 2021, when exam performance was hurt by test-taking deferrals amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
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• For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. The pass rate for the first level of the chartered financial analyst exam stayed above its historic average, while additional test centres are poised to open in Africa, India and other locations outside the US. In May, 45% of candidates passed the Level I test, unchanged from the percentage who were successful in February and up from 43% for those who took the exam in November, the CFA Institute said Thursday. That's also higher than the 40% average for the past decade and the lows from 2021, when exam performance was hurt by test-taking deferrals amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The CFA Institute also announced plans for three additional test centres in India, along with new ones in Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique and Eswatini. The locations are set to open in November. 'We're committed to expanding access to the CFA programme and supporting candidates to test in a convenient location,' Chris Wiese, managing director for education at the institute, said in a statement. 'Adding new test centres across Africa and India reflects our continued investment in helping more candidates reach an exam centre within their home market.' The CFA charter is a coveted certification for professionals across the finance industry. The three-level test to become a charterholder is offered several times a year and can lead to new job opportunities and higher salaries. More than 24 000 candidates sat for the Level I exam in February, which was administered at 497 proctored, computer-based testing centres around the world. Level II candidates who took their exams in May are slated to get their results on July 1.
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Problem is, governments seeking agreements to whittle down country-by-country tariffs President Donald Trump announced on April 2, and then suspended till July 9, have no idea where those sectoral levies will land. For many, industry-specific tariffs may be more damaging than the broader levies. Trumponomics Podcast: Can the World Count on TACO Anymore? 'Imagine you're a Vietnam or Japan or Korea, and you've just agreed to some potentially painful compromises on reciprocal tariffs, and the very next day after this is announced, they turn around and levy new 232s against you,' said Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation. 'The last thing you want is to agree to a deal only to be hammered the next day.' A cautionary tale for many countries is the partial deal Britain accepted. That pact left key details about bilateral steel trade subject to further negotiation on a quota system and stronger origin requirements. 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Officials in Brussels see an agreement on broad principles to allow negotiations to continue as the best-case scenario at this stage in the EU-US talks, the people said. Japan is keen on settling all potential US tariffs — from duties on cars, auto parts and metals to Trump's country-specific levies – in one go. But a sticking point in negotiations has been the 25% tariffs on cars and car parts imposed by the Trump administration. Washington is focused on autos because it's the sector that's responsible for most of its trade deficit with Japan. But Tokyo sees that industry as a key economic pillar, since it employs about 8.3% of Japan's workforce and generates around 10% of gross domestic product. 'For Japan, automobiles are truly a matter of national interest. We will do whatever it takes to protect that,' Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters in Canada earlier this month, shortly after he failed to reach a deal with Trump in their in-person meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit. His hand-picked trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, has said Japan won't fixate on the July 9 tariff deadline as he continues talks with his US counterparts. Akazawa has said he expects a deal with the US will spare Japan from higher auto tariffs, even if Trump increases them against other nations. India Digs In India has dug in its heels on the issue and is unwilling to sign a trade deal with Washington that doesn't address both sectoral and reciprocal tariffs for its exports, people familiar with the matter said. When it comes to potential sectoral tariffs, Indian officials are pushing for a commitment from Washington that any deal matches the best agreement offered to any other nation it's in talks with, they said. Any deal with the US has to be defensible in the eyes of domestic stakeholders and the US insistence on retaining these additional levies will render Indian producers uncompetitive, the people said, requesting anonymity to disclose private discussions. Indian officials are also reluctant to sign a tariff deal amid uncertainty over their legality after a US federal court deemed illegal last month, the people said. A higher court later gave Trump a temporary reprieve of that order. Court Challenge Amid the legal uncertainty, some Trump administration officials believe the 232 levies could effectively supplant the country-by-country duties, Bloomberg News has reported. Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum, automobiles and the expected levies on pharmaceuticals have raised concerns among Indian exporters that have been urging the government to not ink a deal that will adversely impact their shipments. Exporters say the US move to raise levies on metals and autos are a huge setback for them. 'These duties impact India's engineering exports to the US, which are valued at over $20 billion annually,' said Pankaj Chadha, chairman of Engineering Exports Promotion Council. 'We hope that these sectoral tariffs will be suitably addressed in the bilateral trade agreement. --With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy. How to Steal a House Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags America's Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
