CFA Level 2 Pass Rate: 2026 Results and What They Mean

The CFA Level II pass rate was 43% in May 2026, when 18,111 candidates took the exam worldwide. Over the last ten years (2017–2026), Level II has averaged about 45%, according to CFA Institute's historical results. Put simply, fewer than half of the people who take Level II pass it, and that's after they already cleared Level I.

Below you'll find the recent numbers from CFA Institute, what they tell you, and what the candidates who pass tend to do differently.

Recent CFA Level II pass rates

These figures come straight from CFA Institute's press releases and its historical pass-rate file:

10-year average (2017–2026): 45%

May 2025 was an unusually good window. CFA Institute noted it was "well above the 10-year average." The two windows since then fell back into the low 40s. If you want a realistic number to plan around, use roughly 45%, and don't read too much into any single window.

In older windows the swings were bigger. In August 2021, when testing was still being disrupted by the pandemic, the Level II pass rate was just 29%. Results from that period don't tell you much about today's exam, but they do show that one bad window doesn't mean the exam got harder for good.

The number that matters most: the deferral gap

The overall pass rate is less useful than the split CFA Institute now publishes between first-time candidates and those who deferred.

In May 2026, first-time candidates passed at 48%, while candidates who had deferred at least once passed at just 25%. November 2025 showed the same pattern (50% vs. 27%), and so did May 2025 (60% vs. 35%). CFA Institute doesn't publish a cause, but the pattern holds every window.

Here's a reasonable reading. Candidates usually defer because life got in the way, their prep fell behind, or they didn't feel ready. That lost momentum is hard to win back. Level II builds directly on Level I material, and every month away from it is a month of forgetting.

The practical takeaway is to pick a window you can actually prepare for, then commit to it. Deferring can be the right call in a real emergency, but it shouldn't become a habit. Rolling it forward because you feel "not quite ready" is a pattern the data doesn't support.

Why Level II is hard (even for people who passed Level I)

Level I tests breadth: can you recognize a concept and pick the right answer from three choices? Level II tests application in context, and the format is built to expose shallow knowledge.

According to CFA Institute, the Level II exam has 22 item sets (vignettes) with 88 multiple-choice questions, split into two sessions of 2 hours and 12 minutes each, for a total of 4 hours and 24 minutes. Each vignette is a mini case study: a page or two of company data, financial statements, or a client scenario, followed by four questions.

That changes things in a few ways:

• Reading costs you time. You have about 12 minutes per vignette. That time covers reading the case, finding the relevant numbers, and doing the math. Slow readers run out of time.
• Mistakes compound. If you misread the setup of a vignette, you can miss several of its four questions at once.
• The content is deeper. Topics like financial statement analysis (intercorporate investments, pensions, multinational operations), equity valuation models, and fixed income term-structure work go much further than at Level I.
• Memorization isn't enough. Knowing a formula doesn't help if you can't tell which of six numbers in the vignette to plug into it.

For a fuller comparison, see our breakdown of CFA Level 2 vs Level 1 difficulty.

How to put yourself on the right side of 45%

Nobody can promise you a pass. What the results and the format do suggest is where your prep should go.

1. Budget more hours than you did for Level I. Most candidates find Level II needs noticeably more study time. We cover realistic ranges in how many hours to study for CFA Level 2. Build the schedule backward from your exam date and include a buffer.

2. Practice in vignette format early. Don't wait until the last month to try item sets. Isolated flashcard-style questions build recall, but you also need regular practice pulling the right data out of a dense case under time pressure.

3. Do active recall every day, not only at weekends. Level II punishes forgetting, and the deferral data shows what happens when momentum drops. Short daily sessions with spaced review hold up better than cramming on Saturdays. This is the idea behind Certus's Duolingo-style approach: streaks, XP, and spaced-repetition flashcards that make it easy to show up every day.

4. Take full timed mocks. At least two or three full-length, timed mocks in the final weeks will show you whether your pacing holds across 4+ hours. Review every wrong answer, and every lucky guess too.

5. Treat your first attempt as the one that counts. Given the gap between first-time and deferred candidates, plan your life around the exam window. Don't plan the exam window around your life.

Does the pass rate mean the exam is curved?

Not in the way people usually mean. CFA Institute sets a Minimum Passing Score (MPS). When there are no major curriculum or candidate-population changes, it carries that standard forward between windows through a statistical process called equating, which adjusts for differences in test difficulty. The pass rate moves because candidate performance moves. It isn't set in advance at a fixed percentage. You aren't competing against the person next to you. You're competing against a standard.

Where Certus fits

Most Level II prep packages from the big providers cost hundreds to well over a thousand dollars. Certus is built to be the cheap, consistent daily-study layer: bite-size lessons, spaced-repetition flashcards, and XP and streaks that keep you studying between the long weekend sessions. Plans start at $9.58/month billed yearly. If price is a big factor for you, our cheapest CFA prep guide compares the options honestly.

If you're still early in the program, or you want to see how the Certus approach feels before committing, start with our free full-length CFA mock exam. It's genuinely free, you don't need to sign up, and you'll know within an afternoon where you stand.