I failed CFA L1, do I bother to try again?

CFA General
#1

Hi everyone. I would just appreciate some honest feedback.

For some context, I wrote CFA L1 in July last year, and was unfortunately not part of the 22% of people who passed. I was obviously devastated about the result, given the amount of work that I put in. I scored over 70% in 8 of the practice exams that I took, and so felt reasonably confident going into the exam.

I’ve recently started thinking about having another go at L1, but am worried about the prospects of potentially facing L2 and L3 in the future, given that I didn’t clear L1 first time. Upon reflection of my results, it is very clear that I fell short with Fixed Income, as I scored just below 50% on this section. Every other section I cleared very comfortably. I genuinely believe that if I scored fairly in FI I would have passed, but that’s where I need the feedback.

Based on this, would I be wasting my time having another attempt at L1? I’m worried about being one of those candidates who end up being stuck trying to pass L2 or L3 and regretting my decision to attempt the exams again.

Regards,

A candidate who feels a little lost at the moment

#2

Seems like you are already well prepared for Level 1 and only need to work on FI. Why not give Level 1 another try? You can always choose to postpone taking the other 2 levels.

1 Like
#3

You got most of the material under control and you were in a tumultuous sitting, so I say give it another shot!

FYI, I needed 2 tries to get LI.

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#4

I think you should give it another shot. I sat in July as well and had the same issue. I cleared all other topics but absolutely tanked in Fixed Income. I just sat again last week.

#5

Sure, I have a friend who didn’t make it past the third try and then didn’t regret it at all.