CFA Level I

17 sections available · 102 chapters available

Free CFA Level I study notes for CFA students. Each chapter breaks down a key concept with examples and practice prompts you can turn into AI drills in the thinka app.

Ethics: Code, Standards I-III

  • Ethics and Trust in the Investment Profession

  • Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct

  • Guidance for Standard I: Professionalism

  • Guidance for Standard II: Integrity of Capital Markets

  • Guidance for Standard III: Duties to Clients

Ethics: Standards IV-VII and Application

  • Guidance for Standard IV: Duties to Employers

  • Guidance for Standard V: Investment Analysis, Recommendations, and Actions

  • Guidance for Standard VI: Conflicts of Interest

  • Guidance for Standard VII: Responsibilities as a CFA Institute Member or CFA Candidate

  • Application of the Code and Standards: Level I

Quantitative Methods: Returns and Time Value

  • Returns of Financial Assets and Instruments

  • Types of Financial Returns

  • Benchmarking Returns

  • The Time Value of Money in Finance

  • Statistical Characteristics of Asset Returns

Quantitative Methods: Distributions, Inference and Data Science

  • Statistical Distributions for Financial Asset Prices and Returns

  • Estimation and Hypothesis Testing

  • The Return and Risk of a Financial Portfolio

  • Simulation of Financial Asset Prices and Returns

  • Applications of Simple Linear Regression in Finance

  • Introduction to Financial Data Science

Economics

  • The Firm and Market Structures

  • Understanding Business Cycles

  • Fiscal Policy

  • Monetary Policy

  • Introduction to Geopolitics

  • International Trade

  • Capital Flows and the FX Market

  • Exchange Rate Calculations

Financial Statement Analysis: Statements

  • Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis

  • Analyzing Income Statements

  • Analyzing Balance Sheets

  • Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows I

  • Analyzing Statements of Cash Flows II

  • Financial Analysis Techniques

Financial Statement Analysis: Assets, Liabilities and Quality

  • Analysis of Inventories

  • Analysis of Long-Term Assets

  • Topics in Long-Term Liabilities and Equity

  • Analysis of Income Taxes

  • Financial Reporting Quality

  • Introduction to Financial Statement Modeling

Corporate Finance

  • Organizational Forms, Corporate Issuer Features, and Ownership

  • Investors and Other Stakeholders

  • Corporate Governance: Conflicts, Mechanisms, Risks, and Benefits

  • Working Capital and Liquidity

  • Capital Investments and Capital Allocation

  • Capital Structure

  • Business Models

Equities: Instruments and Markets

  • Equity Instrument Features

  • Equity Jurisdictions, Classes, and the Voting Process

  • Equity Issuance and Trading

  • Sources of Equity Returns

Equities: Valuation and Company Analysis

  • Introduction to Equity Valuation

  • Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Growth Models

  • Relative Value Equity Valuation Approaches

  • Financial Statement Forecasting in Equity Valuation

  • Industry and Competitive Analysis

  • Company Analysis: Past, Present, and Future

  • Equity Analyst Research Reports

  • The Capital Asset Pricing Model, Market Model, and Other Factor-Based Equity Models

Fixed Income: Instruments and Markets

  • Fixed-Income Instrument Features

  • Fixed-Income Cash Flows and Types

  • Fixed-Income Issuance and Trading

  • Fixed-Income Markets for Corporate Issuers

  • Fixed-Income Markets for Government Issuers

Fixed Income: Valuation, Yields and Interest Rate Risk

  • Fixed-Income Bond Valuation: Prices and Yields

  • Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Fixed-Rate Bonds

  • Yield and Yield Spread Measures for Floating-Rate Instruments

  • The Term Structure of Interest Rates: Spot, Par, and Forward Curves

  • Interest Rate Risk and Return

  • Yield-Based Bond Duration Measures and Properties

  • Yield-Based Bond Convexity and Portfolio Properties

  • Curve-Based and Empirical Fixed-Income Risk Measures

Fixed Income: Credit and Securitization

  • Credit Risk

  • Credit Analysis for Government Issuers

  • Credit Analysis for Corporate Issuers

  • Fixed-Income Securitization

  • Asset-Backed Security (ABS) Instrument and Market Features

  • Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) Instrument and Market Features

Derivatives: Instruments and Markets

  • Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features

  • Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments

  • Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses

  • Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives

Derivatives: Pricing and Valuation

  • Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying Maturities

  • Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts

  • Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rate and Other Swaps

  • Pricing and Valuation of Options

  • Option Replication Using Put–Call Parity

  • Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model

Alternative Investments

  • Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and Structures

  • Alternative Investment Performance and Returns

  • Investments in Private Capital: Equity and Debt

  • Real Estate and Infrastructure

  • Natural Resources

  • Hedge Funds

  • Introduction to Digital Assets

Portfolio Construction

  • Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I

  • Portfolio Risk and Return: Part II

  • Portfolio Management: An Overview

  • Basics of Portfolio Planning and Construction

  • The Behavioral Biases of Individuals

  • Introduction to Risk Management

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