JoeyDVivre
New member
- Jun 18, 2026
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It's pretty odd that CFAI doesn't send everyone paper explaining this.
The way the passing scores on the CFA exams has been determined has changed through the years. At times, there were very specific formulaic ways of doing it. For years the standard was 70% of the score of the 95th percentile. Obviously with that way of doing it, a 70% would guarantee a pass. They don't do it that way anymore but that 70% number has enduring power.
The way it's done now is that there are charterholders who are called standard-setters. The standard setters gather in Charlottesville and look at exams and discuss what a "minimally qualified" LII CFA candidate should know. Nobody really knows what that means, but essentially they just look at tests and come up with the passing score. CFAI calls this the "Angoff Method" (which I personally find an offensive corruption of what the Angoff method is supposed to be).
That means that there is no passing score now. The score will be determined in late June and it will essentially be based on some subset of tests that are examined by the standard setters as well as whatever discussions go on around the conference table. However, it is very unlikely that the passing score will be greater than 70 and it's very unlikely that the passing score will be below 60. There have been lots of scores posted on AF over the years and there is no exam and no year in which I think a reasonable argument could be made that the passing score was outside this range.
The way the passing scores on the CFA exams has been determined has changed through the years. At times, there were very specific formulaic ways of doing it. For years the standard was 70% of the score of the 95th percentile. Obviously with that way of doing it, a 70% would guarantee a pass. They don't do it that way anymore but that 70% number has enduring power.
The way it's done now is that there are charterholders who are called standard-setters. The standard setters gather in Charlottesville and look at exams and discuss what a "minimally qualified" LII CFA candidate should know. Nobody really knows what that means, but essentially they just look at tests and come up with the passing score. CFAI calls this the "Angoff Method" (which I personally find an offensive corruption of what the Angoff method is supposed to be).
That means that there is no passing score now. The score will be determined in late June and it will essentially be based on some subset of tests that are examined by the standard setters as well as whatever discussions go on around the conference table. However, it is very unlikely that the passing score will be greater than 70 and it's very unlikely that the passing score will be below 60. There have been lots of scores posted on AF over the years and there is no exam and no year in which I think a reasonable argument could be made that the passing score was outside this range.
