Studied for the 2026 CFA Level I exam and sitting in 2027? What to re-study

Checked on 22 October 2026 against CFA Institute's 2027 Level I topic outlines (no public link we could confirm), its CFA® Program Level I exam page, the curriculum changes note for 2027 and the May 2026 announcement. Analyst Dojo is independent and not affiliated with CFA Institute.

This guide, part of our 2027 curriculum changes overview, is for anyone who prepared on the 2026 curriculum and now sits in 2027. Analyst Dojo teaches the 2027 curriculum on the 2027 study map and keeps the 2026 one on the 2026 study map.

When can you sit, and which curriculum applies?

November 2026 is the last sitting on the 2026 curriculum; every window from February 2027 uses the 2027 one. CFA Institute's May 2026 announcement covers "candidates sitting exams beginning February 2027", and there is no window in between. The November 2026 cut-off is our reading of the calendar, not a CFA Institute statement.

Window	Dates	Curriculum
November 2026	11 to 17 November 2026	2026
February 2027	22 to 28 February 2027	2027
May 2027	11 to 17 May 2027	2027
August 2027	15 to 22 August 2027	2027
November 2027	13 to 19 November 2027	2027

We last read these dates on 18 October 2026, when November 2026 registration had closed and February 2027 registration ran to 5 November 2026. Check CFA Institute's dates and fees page before you rely on any of them; our Level I exam guide has the fees and format.

From the February 2027 window there is no paid deferral under CFA Institute's deferral changes: a registered candidate who does not sit loses the fee, apart from emergency deferrals. As we read it, you cannot pay to carry a November 2026 registration into 2027.

What carries over, what to re-study, what is new and what is dropped?

Three topics need work; seven carry over. Weights are for 2027.

Topic (2026 name)	Weight	Verdict	New or changed	Dropped
Ethical and Professional Standards	10–15%	Re-read	Same Code and rules, new guidance, one module per Standard	GIPS reading
Quantitative Methods	11–14%	Re-study	Every module rewritten, 38 learning outcomes become 30	Harmonic mean, safety-first ratio, jackknife, rank tests
Economics	6–9%	Keep	Nothing found	Nothing
Financial Statement Analysis	11–14%	Keep	Nothing in the outline	Nothing
Corporate Finance (Corporate Issuers)	6–9%	Keep	New name only	Nothing
Equities (Equity Investments)	11–14%	Re-study	8 modules become 12, 66 outcomes become 37	Market Organization, Market Efficiency
Fixed Income	11–14%	Keep	Nothing in the outline	Nothing
Derivatives (Derivatives and Risk Management on the exam page)	6–9%	Keep	Weight up 1 point, no new module	Nothing
Alternative Investments	6–9%	Keep	Weight down 1 point	Nothing
Portfolio Construction (Portfolio Management)	8–12%	Keep	New name only	Nothing

The three topics that changed are 32–43% of the 2027 exam. The seven that did not are 54–76%, about two thirds at the midpoint. Our topic weights page has the full table.

What can you keep from your 2026 study?

Seven topics: Economics, Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Finance, Fixed Income, Derivatives, Alternative Investments and Portfolio Construction. Their learning outcomes are identical, so your notes, formulas and practice questions stand.

• Renames, not rewrites. Corporate Issuers is now Corporate Finance and Portfolio Management is now Portfolio Construction. Derivatives is "Derivatives and Risk Management" on CFA Institute's exam page, but the outline still says "Derivatives" and adds no risk-management module.
• Textbook check. For Economics, Corporate Finance and Alternative Investments we compared the 2026 and 2027 textbooks: same content and same end-of-module questions, with layout differences.
• Outline only. For Financial Statement Analysis, Fixed Income, Derivatives and Portfolio Construction we compared the outlines only, so we say their learning outcomes are unchanged, not their textbooks.

What should you re-study properly?

Quantitative Methods and Equities, in that order. CFA Institute says its updates, focused primarily on these two topics, "represent about 25 percent" of the Level I exam. Together they are 22–28% of the 2027 exam, against 17–23% in 2026, and most of your new-study time should go here. Then re-read the Ethics guidance, starting with I(D), and keep practicing the seven unchanged topics. Our study plan fits it into 12, 16 or 24 weeks, and every lesson is free.

Quantitative Methods

The weight rises from 6–9% to 11–14%, and all 11 module titles change. Returns, statistics and regression are still there, cut differently. Treat these as new:

• Index construction and index returns, moved in from Equities.
• A distributions module: random variables, probability trees, Bayes' theorem, and the uniform, binomial, Poisson, normal, log-normal and logistic distributions.
• One estimation and hypothesis testing module, now with confidence intervals, parametric value at risk and p-hacking.
• Portfolio math from portfolio returns through the minimum-variance frontier, the capital allocation and capital market lines, beta and CAPM.
• Simulation by historical simulation, bootstrapping and Monte Carlo, with Excel and Google Sheets steps.
• CAPM estimation by regression, and financial data science, AI and large language models.

Our Quantitative Methods change page lists every module, and the 2027 Quantitative Methods lessons teach them.

Equities

The weight stays 11–14%, but the topic grows from 8 modules to 12 and its learning outcomes fall from 66 to 37. CFA Institute describes it as "substantially updated". New or reshaped:

• Valuation grounded in financial statement forecasting, with scenario analysis and probability weighting.
• Industry and competitive analysis with Porter's Five Forces and PESTLE tied to valuation.
• Equity analyst research reports, including initiating coverage, sell-side versus buy-side research and activist short sellers.
• CAPM and multi-factor models for estimating the cost of equity.
• Equity jurisdictions, share classes and the voting process.

Valuation will feel familiar, but the 2027 modules are newly written, so study them again. See the Equities change page and the 2027 Equities lessons.

What should you re-read in Ethics?

The guidance, not the rules. The Code of Ethics and the 23 sub-standards keep their 2026 rule text. CFA Institute says Ethics now reflects the 12th edition of the Standards of Practice Handbook, "incorporating new guidance for each Standard". We have the Handbook but not the 2027 Ethics textbook, so what follows is the Handbook's guidance.

• I(D) Misconduct, the one that changes an answer. The 12th edition ties I(D) to professional conduct (your work, the profession, or use of your charter or candidacy). Dishonesty with no link to professional conduct is outside I(D).
• I(B) Independence and Objectivity. Shorter guidance, with the buy-side, custodian and IPO-allocation material gone and compliance practices cut to three.
• I(C) Misrepresentation. Plain language, responsibility for third-party information you use, and no implied past returns.
• II(B) Market Manipulation. A list of manipulation indicators and a compliance practices section.
• III(C) Suitability. A minor change: ESG preferences can be a constraint in the investment policy statement.
• III(E) Preservation of Confidentiality. A new section on vulnerable investors, including a secondary contact on the account.
• IV(A) Loyalty. More on leaving an employer: what you may tell clients after giving notice.
• VII(A) and VII(B). New VII(A) examples on exam conduct; VII(B) now says "consecutive sittings", not "consecutive years".

The weight falls from 15–20% to 10–15%, about 18 to 27 questions. Our Ethics change page has the detail, and the 2027 Ethics lessons follow the new structure.

What can you drop?

Anything the 2027 outline no longer lists. The 2026 pages stay online.

2026 material	2027 outline	Where to find it
GIPS reading (5 learning outcomes)	No GIPS module or outcome. CFA Institute's change note is silent; its exam page still names GIPS.	2026 GIPS lessons
Market Efficiency (forms, anomalies, behavioral finance in this module)	No outcome on it. Behavioral biases remain in Portfolio Construction.	2026 Market Efficiency lessons
Market Organization (financial system, intermediaries, margin positions, order types)	No outcome on it. Primary and secondary markets and trading venues survive in Equities.	2026 Market Organization lessons
Harmonic mean, safety-first ratio, jackknife, Wilcoxon, Mann–Whitney and sign tests	Not in the 2027 Quantitative Methods text we searched.	2026 study map
Quantitative Methods prerequisite reading	"Retired for 2027 and forwards", per CFA Institute.	Not needed

Two cautions. Index weighting is not dropped: it moved into Quantitative Methods. And know in one line what GIPS is, because the Handbook's III(D) guidance calls GIPS compliance the best method of performance presentation.

What happens to your progress on Analyst Dojo?

It carries over automatically. Lessons shared by both years keep their address and your progress; lessons that moved redirect and bring your progress with them. Lessons that exist only in 2026 live under /2026/level-1 and stay in your history. The study map at /level-1 is the 2027 course.

Questions from candidates moving to 2027