You must register and enrol for the Level 1 CFA exam directly with CFA Institute at: https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa/register.

There are are 5 requirements for registration:

1. You must be either a university of college Bachelor degree graduate or equivalent or in your final year of the program or have a combined work experience and/or higher education of 4,000 hours that was acquired sequentially over a minimum of 3 years.
2. You must have a valid international passport.
3. You must be prepared to take exams in English.
4. You must meet the professional conduct admission criteria.
5. Living in a CFA Program participating country.

There are two types of fees:

1. CFA Program Enrollment Fee

• CFA Program Enrollment Fee is paid to CFA Institute to enrol in the CFA Program. This is a one-time fee (no subsequent program enrollment fee will be charged).  
• Effective for the February 2022 exams, the CFA Program fee will decrease by USD 100 to USD 350 from USD 450.

2. CFA Exam Registration Fee

• The CFA Exam Registration Fee is a fee paid to CFA Institute each time you register to sit a CFA exam. CFA Institute offers two tiers of pricing (early and standard). The price you pay will depending on when you register for the exam.
• Effective for February 2023 exams, CFA exam registration fees will increase from USD 700 to USD 900 for early registration, and from USD 1000 to UDS 1200 for standard registration.

Source: https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa/exam

The Level 1 exam is typcially offered 3 or 4 times per year. The usual exam windows are:

February, May, August, and November.

Source: https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfa/exam/computer-based-exams

Since 2010, the historical CFA pass rates for the Level 1 CFA exam have ranged from 22%-52%. The 10 year historical pass rate is 41%. (CFA Institute stats 2012-2021). Source: https://www.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/support/programs/cfa/cfa-exam-results-since-1963.pdf

The passing score is set by CFA Institute and is not released to the public, although research suggests it ranges in the area of 60 - 70%.

Exam Success has been facilitating the CFA Program prep process for over 20 years. Although quoting passing rates is not permitted by CFA Institute, probably since they aren't verifiable and can be misleading, we can tell you a few facts about Exam Success worth considering:

1 We're proven. We're Canada's longest serving CFA Program exam prep provider, since the introduction of the Euro.

2.We're respected.  We're voted #1 in the business. (2019 Top Choice Award Nominated).

3. We're trusted. We have a student satisfaction rating of more than 98% (student survey results 2014-2019).

4. We price in CAD, not USD (meaning our prep is are easier on the wallet than most others)

And if that's not enough, we are also offer free repeat privileges!

Considered by CFA Institute as the Generalist's Exam, the Level 1 CFA curriculum is fairly straightforward if you already have an academic background in finance — the content covers the same undergraduate introductory material (accounting, finance stats...). If you don't have a prior educational background in finance and the curriculum topics, your preparation will be tougher.

Voluminous Content

By in large, the biggest challenges for Level 1 CFA exam candidates are time management and discipline.  The volume of material  is extensive ( (there are typically over 3,000 pages in Level 1 CFA curriculum), there are lots definitions and formulas to memorize. 

According to UK NARIC (the national agency, managed on behalf of the UK Government responsible for providing information, advice and opinion on vocational, academic and professional skills and qualifications from all over the world), the CFA exams have been benchmarked individually by Level under UK Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF): 

CFA Level 1's difficulty is comparable to a Diploma of higher education (Level 5 qualification under RQF).

The topics and topic weights on the Level 1 exam are subject to change on a year-to-year basis, at the discretion of CFA Institute. Here are the Level 1 CFA exam weights by topic. Source: https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa/curriculum

The Level 1 CFA exam is a computer-based (CBT) multiple choice question (MCQ) test.  The exam is divided into two 135-minute (2-hour and 15 minute) sessions, with a 30-minute optional break in between.

Both sessions have 90 free-standing multiple choice items consisting of a question, a statement, and/or table as well as 3 answer choices (A, B, or C). Only 1 of the 3 given answer choices per question is correct. There is no penalty for choosing the incorrect answer.