What is the passing criteria?

[a_tokeria]

Hi,

What is the passing criteria of CFA exam L1. Is it number of seats? is it percentile? what is it ?

 

[koz]

No one knows...

But the algorithm they use is:

They take the top 1% candidate. Work out the bottom score of this top 1% group. The passing score is an (undisclosed) percentage of this score.

If you are borderline fail, they will take a look at your ethics score. If you do well there, they may pass you.

This is done because the top 1% is very consistent from year to year.

A good rule of thumb is - if you score 70%, you should be confident of passing.

 

[JoeyDVivre]

And based on reasonable estimation techniques used on AF the passing scores have been considerably less than 70% in the past, perhaps even less than 60%.

 

[koz]

JoeyDVivre, you are right. The actual passing score is probably ~60%.

70% is the figure that I personally aim for to be 100% confident of passing.

 

[jamespucyk]

70% of the top 1% has been stated and they determine it by commitee and so on. Plus they have stated you can fail one section with 0% on an exam and still pass (if you take FSA at Level 1), then it's around 70%.