How many hours does CFA prep take

Plan for 300 hours a level: CFA Institute's own figure for what successful candidates report. Then check that the course you buy fits inside it. The entry courses in our data run from about 65 to about 185 hours of video and notes, before you do a single question.

The 300 hours

CFA Institute's Level I page says: "Successful candidates report spending over 300 hours on average preparing for each level of the CFA exam." It is an average of people who passed, so treat it as a floor. Spread over the weeks you have:

Weeks until the examHours a week for 300 hours
12About 25
17About 18
26About 12
39About 8

How much of that a course fills

A course is not the 300 hours. It is the teaching part, and the rest is practice. The tables below give each provider's cheapest full course at each level with two figures: its teaching hours, meaning video plus notes, and the hours of everything in it, including the question bank and mocks. We count notes at three minutes a page, questions at two and a half minutes each up to 2,000, and mocks at six and a half hours each, the same for every provider. An asterisk marks a course where at least one figure behind the hours is our estimate from the provider's pages rather than the provider's own number. Prices were last checked 30 Oct 2026.

Level I

Cheapest full coursePriceTeaching hoursAll material
AnalystPrep: Learn + Practice$499160276
Kaplan Schweser: Basic$42974*170*
Mark Meldrum: Self-Study$440183*285*
Salt Solutions: Complete$59976*178*
UWorld: Core Essentials$39965*144*

Level II

Cheapest full coursePriceTeaching hoursAll material
AnalystPrep: Learn + Practice$499125194
Kaplan Schweser: Basic$47975*171*
Mark Meldrum: Self-Study$550183*285*
Salt Solutions: Complete$64967*146*
UWorld: Core Essentials$39965*113*

Level III

Cheapest full coursePriceTeaching hoursAll material
AnalystPrep: Learn + Practice$499160196
Kaplan Schweser: Basic$52950*146*
Mark Meldrum: Self-Study$650115*205*
Salt Solutions: Complete$74953*113*
UWorld: Core Essentials$39953*90*

How to use the numbers

The how the match works page sets out the method in full. The quiz asks your hours a week and your exam date and does this arithmetic for you.

Sources

PrepProviders research. Published 3 Oct 2026.

Quick answers

How many hours does it take to pass a CFA level?

CFA Institute's Level I page says: "Successful candidates report spending over 300 hours on average preparing for each level of the CFA exam." Plan for 300 and more if you are new to finance or short of time to practise.

How many hours a week should I study for the CFA exam?

Three hundred hours over 12 weeks is about 25 a week, over 17 weeks is about 18 a week, over 26 weeks is about 12 a week, over 39 weeks is about 8 a week. Count the weeks you actually have, not the weeks until the exam.

How long does a prep course take to get through?

It varies by a factor of three. In our data the entry courses at Level I run from about 65 hours of video and notes to about 185, before any practice questions or mocks. The table on this page sets them out.

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