Quantitative Methods in the 2027 CFA Level I curriculum: the new module list, what is new and what left

Checked on 22 October 2026. Sources: CFA Institute's 2027 Level I topic outlines, the 2027 Quantitative Methods curriculum text, the CFA Program Level I exam page, the Updates to the CFA Program curriculum (press release, May 2026) and the Curriculum changes for the 2027 CFA Program (PDF). Analyst Dojo is independent and not affiliated with CFA Institute.

Analyst Dojo teaches the 2027 curriculum on its main study map and keeps the 2026 one, for anyone still sitting in November 2026. This page covers one topic. For the whole picture see the 2027 curriculum changes overview and the topic weights for 2027.

How big is the change to Quantitative Methods?

It gains more weight than any other topic, and every module is rewritten. The weight nearly doubles, and the topic now carries as much of the exam as Financial Statement Analysis, Equities and Fixed Income. CFA Institute says the updates to Quantitative Methods and Equity Investments "represent about 25 percent of the CFA Level I exam".

	2026	2027
Weight of the exam	6–9%	11–14%
Questions out of 180	about 11 to 16 questions	about 20 to 25 questions
Modules	11	11 (every title changes)
Learning outcomes	38	30

Fewer learning outcomes does not mean less to learn. The 2027 outcomes are fewer and broader, and the text behind them is rewritten.

What is the 2027 module list, next to 2026?

The 2027 modules are listed below with the 2026 module or modules each one draws on. Some of these 2027 pages are being rebuilt for the new text. Until a page is rebuilt, it shows the module's learning outcomes and lesson plan.

#	2027 module	Draws on in 2026
1	Returns of Financial Assets and Instruments	Rates and Returns (without money-weighted and time-weighted returns, and without the harmonic mean)
2	Types of Financial Returns	None. This is a new module.
3	Benchmarking Returns	The money-weighted and time-weighted return section of Rates and Returns, plus Security Market Indexes from 2026 Equity Investments
4	The Time Value of Money in Finance	Time Value of Money in Finance
5	Statistical Characteristics of Asset Returns	Statistical Measures of Asset Returns
6	Statistical Distributions for Financial Asset Prices and Returns	Probability Trees and Conditional Expectations, plus joint-probability covariance from Portfolio Mathematics and the log-normal distribution from Simulation Methods
7	Estimation and Hypothesis Testing	Estimation and Inference, Hypothesis Testing, and Parametric and Non-Parametric Tests of Independence
8	The Return and Risk of a Financial Portfolio	Portfolio Mathematics (the same ideas also sit in Portfolio Construction)
9	Simulation of Financial Asset Prices and Returns	Simulation Methods, plus the bootstrap from Estimation and Inference
10	Applications of Simple Linear Regression in Finance	Simple Linear Regression
11	Introduction to Financial Data Science	Introduction to Big Data Techniques

The full 2026 set is still on the 2026 Quantitative Methods pages. The two study maps are the 2027 study map and the 2026 study map.

What is new in 2027 Quantitative Methods?

Benchmarking Returns: index construction and index weighting

Index construction moves in from Equity, where it sat in Security Market Indexes. The module builds an index step by step and covers price return and total return indexes, weighting by market capitalization (with a float adjustment), price, equal weight and fundamentals, then rebalancing and reconstitution. Money-weighted and time-weighted returns now live here too. The 2027 Equities outline keeps only "describe types of equity indexes". See the Equities page for the other side of the move.

Types of Financial Returns

A new module with no 2026 counterpart. It compares the returns of financial assets, instruments and indicators, looks at long-term asset returns, and ties returns to risk.

Statistical Distributions

Random variables with their PMF, PDF and CDF, then the uniform, binomial, Poisson, normal, log-normal and logistic distributions. Going by the 2026 module contents, the PMF, PDF and CDF framing and the uniform, binomial, Poisson and logistic distributions are new to Level I Quantitative Methods. Probability trees, conditional expectations and variances, and Bayes' theorem join the module from 2026, and the log-normal distribution moves here from Simulation Methods.

Estimation and Hypothesis Testing

Three 2026 modules become one. It adds confidence intervals, parametric value at risk, p-values and p-hacking. The hypothesis-testing process is now four steps.

The Return and Risk of a Financial Portfolio

This module now runs from portfolio returns and drift through diversification, the minimum-variance frontier, utility, the capital allocation line, the capital market line, beta and CAPM. The same ideas stay in Portfolio Construction as "Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I and Part II", whose 2027 learning outcomes are word for word the 2026 ones. The 2027 text for those readings was not available when this was written. See the Portfolio Construction topic.

Simulation: three methods, one framework

Historical simulation, bootstrapping and Monte Carlo now sit side by side, each with spreadsheet steps. Historical simulation is new, and it brings value at risk with it. Monte Carlo now includes correlated assets.

Applications of Simple Linear Regression in Finance

The module adds an explicit learning outcome on estimating CAPM, so beta now comes from a regression.

Introduction to Financial Data Science

The old big data module becomes financial data science. It adds artificial intelligence and large language models to data types, big data and machine learning.

What left Level I Quantitative Methods?

We searched the full text of all 11 2027 modules for each of these and found none of them.

• The harmonic mean and cost averaging.
• Roy's safety-first ratio and shortfall risk.
• The jackknife.
• The Wilcoxon signed-rank, Mann–Whitney U and sign tests.
• The separate tests-of-independence module. Its tests now sit inside Estimation and Hypothesis Testing.
• The Quantitative Methods prerequisite reading. CFA Institute says the revisions "have made the Quantitative Methods prerequisite reading redundant, so it is being retired for 2027 and forwards."

The 2026 six-step hypothesis-testing process is also gone, replaced by four steps.

What carries over?

Most of the subject matter continues, often under a new module name and with new wording: time value of money, the return measures, descriptive statistics, the mechanics of hypothesis tests and regression. Of the 62 lessons we mapped for this topic (including the index lessons that sat in Equity and the Portfolio Construction lessons on risk and return), 13 stand as they are, 27 are edited in place and 20 move to a different module. One is folded into another lesson and one stays 2026 only. This is our own count.

Notation and terminology are what you will notice first. Returns are written with a lower-case r and expectations with square brackets. Some wording worth knowing:

2026 wording	2027 wording	Module
capital gain, income yield	price return (capital appreciation return), capital distribution return	1
USD/GBP 1.2602 (USD per GBP)	GBP/USD 1.2602 (same number, base currency written first)	4
nonparametric, lognormal	non-parametric, log-normal	6 and 7
Bayes' formula	Bayes' theorem (also Bayes' rule or Bayes' formula)	6
Paired comparisons test	Tests of Paired Difference (paired t-test)	7
Two-fund separation theorem	Mutual fund theorem	8
Serial correlation (our lesson wording)	Autocorrelation	10

The currency row is for the Quantitative Methods text only. Check the convention in each question before you calculate.

How does CFA Institute describe the change?

CFA Institute's 2027 change note says these things, in its own words:

• Quantitative Methods is "now organized around real-world applications, with more Q&A, knowledge checks, and targeted examples throughout".
• Coverage of estimation and simulation has been expanded "with step-by-step implementation guidance for historical simulation, bootstrapping, and Monte Carlo methods using Excel and Google Sheets functions".
• "Portfolio optimization readings have also been expanded and aligned with the Level I/II Python Fundamentals Practical Skills Module."
• "A new reading introduces financial data science, AI, and large language models."
• "Equation Explorers" are interactive lessons "available exclusively in the Level I online learning ecosystem" that accompany the Time Value of Money lessons. They are not in the curriculum text.

How should you study it?

Work in this order, because each step uses the one before:

1. Returns of Financial Assets and Instruments, then Types of Financial Returns and Benchmarking Returns.
2. The Time Value of Money in Finance.
3. Statistical Characteristics of Asset Returns.
4. Statistical Distributions.
5. Estimation and Hypothesis Testing.
6. The Return and Risk of a Financial Portfolio.
7. Simulation of Financial Asset Prices and Returns.
8. Applications of Simple Linear Regression in Finance.
9. Introduction to Financial Data Science.

Your calculator stays central. The 2027 text shows spreadsheet functions, not keystrokes, so practice on the TI BA II Plus or HP 12C with our calculator guide, whose keystrokes are our own. Keep the Quantitative Methods formula sheet open, and use the Quantitative Methods topic page as your map.

If you studied the 2026 version, start with the table above and re-study modules 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 first. Every lesson is free, and your progress carries over automatically. For dates and fees see the Level I exam guide, and for pacing the study plan. The other changed topics are on the Equities and Ethics pages.

Questions