Hello all. This question is directed toward folks who have sat for both CFA Level II and CAIA Level I. I recently took the CFA Level II exam and was wondering how much studying I would need for Level I of the CAIA if I were to want to sit for it in September. Is there much overlap between CFA Level II and CAIA Level I? Thanks in advance.
I found there to be some overlap between the two exams. Some of the basic topics and terminology, such as contango versus backwardation. Ethics is the same. However, I felt there was a lot of new stuff. Structured products, for example, I don’t remember being touched on at all in CFA, so that was all new to me. I think you’ll be fine taking CAIA level 1 in September though. Plenty of time to get the hours you need in and pass.
The Level II CFA exam is harder by the Level I CAIA exam by a factor of 20, at the very least (IMHO).
As Neil pointed out above, there are slight similarities; Ethics is a direct one-for-one porting from the CFA curriculum, while CAIA gets more in depth about HF’s, PE, RE, Commodities from a topical perspective. Structured Products & Real Assets are fun new sections that will be fresh for anyone not involved in each respective space, but isn’t incredibly difficult by any means.
Portfolio management is essentially condensed form across LI-LIII of CFA exam. Quant is just a crash course, essentially. Will be helpful to have been through LII of CFA exam, for sure. CAIA exam scrapes high-level surface of regression, risk, and return parameters calcs.
I really enjoyed the curriculum and think everyone at least remotely interested in alts should give it a go. Happy studying and good luck!