Was wondering what the minimum passing scores for CFA are. Heard previously that it was 70% of total marks. but apparently, its not entirely true. Found some research posted on http://whycfa.blogspot.com/2009/04/cfa-minimum-passing-score.html Good Luck for your exams.
Its curved using a formula that the Institute won’t disclose. Most folks seem to think it has something to do with the top 10% of scores. For level 1, its usually 62-64 % It sounds low, but when you consider that about 1% of test takers beat an 80, this isn’t your average college final exam.
70% of the top 1% average
People have said if you get over a 70% your very likely to pass. If your boarderline but do well on FSA and Ethics they will give it to you.
And of course its changing this year since there are only 3 options. It was somewhere it the low to mid 60s it seems but now could be in the 70s. In reality, no-one on these boards knows for sure although you will get people like ymc above giving their best guess.
naw, we got hold of an official cfai document that stated, 70% of the top 1% and that a fail in ethics leads to a point reduction and a score of 70+ on ethics results in a extra point awarded. it was an '05 document, but i doubt they can drastically change the rules from year to year.
If you look at how many passed level 1, it is around 30-35% of exam takers [fact] so this leads me to believe that CFAI just takes top ~30% [opinion]. example: Let’s say you had 10 people and these were their grades: 40, 50, 55, 60, 62, 63, 66, 70, 72, 73 They would take top ~30% so those who scored 70, 72, 73 would pass. Let’s say the exam was incredibly difficult with a lot of ambiguous questions and scores were: 30, 33, 35, 50, 52, 53, 55, 60, 62, 65 They would take top ~30% so those who scored 60, 62, 65 would pass. Because nobody ever had a perfect score [fact], I would think that peoples’ grades tend to fall in 30-85 range [total guess] so if you consistently score in the 70s on practice exams, you are in a very good position to pass (to be in top 30%).
i’m sorry but i highly doubt the egotastic gentlemen of the cfai do not use a static formula to calculate who passes and who fails. a % of a top group is a recognized representation of the test’s difficulty. just picking the top 30% wouldn’t make sense. and by this argument, they would just pick a different % of people to pass the exam every year. the pass rate fluctuates wildly.
Alright but the fact remains that about 35% pass level 1 each year. So 70% of top 1% is abosultely wrong. Unless that was a joke, in which case you aren’t helping. If you had 1000 people writing, top 1% would be 10 people. Then you say only 70% of those pass? So 7 people passed? That’s 7/1000 = 0.7% of exam takers passed the exam. This contradicts to the fact that 35% of level 1 takers passed.
kblade Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Alright but the fact remains that about 35% pass > level 1 each year. > > So 70% of top 1% is abosultely wrong. Unless that > was a joke, in which case you aren’t helping. > > If you had 1000 people writing, top 1% would be 10 > people. > Then you say only 70% of those pass? So 7 people > passed? > That’s 7/1000 = 0.7% of exam takers passed the > exam. > > > This contradicts to the fact that 35% of level 1 > takers passed. I think that the 70% of the top 1% is correct. I read somewhere that the this was in the minutes of one of their meetings. Say the top 1% averages a 95%. Then the MPS would be 0.7 * 0.9 = 63%
Ohhh, I see how that works. Yes that seems reasonable.
Bankin’ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > kblade Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Alright but the fact remains that about 35% > pass > > level 1 each year. > > > > So 70% of top 1% is abosultely wrong. Unless > that > > was a joke, in which case you aren’t helping. > > > > If you had 1000 people writing, top 1% would be > 10 > > people. > > Then you say only 70% of those pass? So 7 > people > > passed? > > That’s 7/1000 = 0.7% of exam takers passed the > > exam. > > > > > > This contradicts to the fact that 35% of level > 1 > > takers passed. > > I think that the 70% of the top 1% is correct. I > read somewhere that the this was in the minutes of > one of their meetings. > > Say the top 1% averages a 95%. Then the MPS would > be 0.7 * 0.9 = 63% Source: http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/overview/pdf/IntoOur5thDecade.pdf It looks like this methodology was correct from 1978 - 1989. But “Since 1989, no one method of establishing the MPS has been utilized.” Page 13, section “Setting the Minimum Passing Score” has a lot more information on this subject.
This thread is just an advertisement for TS’s blog as were all of his prior posts.
this is nothing, anyone here remember some time ago a few CFAI official document could be searched using google. 
don’t worry about all that stuff. just study the material, learn the stuff and you’ll pass.