Feb 2027 CFA® Level I: Key Dates, Deadlines & a 6-Month Study Plan
A 6-month study runway starting around August 2026 is a comfortable, thorough timeline for the February 2027 CFA Level I exam window (22–28 February 2027) — enough time to cover all ten topics once, revise properly, and sit multiple full-length mocks before exam day. Registration opens 5 May 2026 and the standard registration deadline is 5 November 2026 — see the full date breakdown below.
Key Dates
CFA Institute sets registration windows, early-bird pricing deadlines, and scheduling windows for each exam cycle. Here are the confirmed dates for the February 2027 window.
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration opens | 5 May 2026 |
| Early-bird registration deadline | 7 July 2026 |
| Standard registration deadline | 5 November 2026 |
| Scheduling deadline | 10 November 2026 |
| Rescheduling deadline | 11 February 2027 |
| February 2027 exam window | 22–28 February 2027 |
Dates above are as published by CFA Institute at the time of writing. Exam administration dates can shift, so reconfirm on cfainstitute.org close to your registration date, or ask us and we’ll confirm current dates before you register.
A 6-Month Study Plan: August to February
This is the same structure we build actual batches around — five phases across six months, moving from foundations to full exam-condition readiness. A well-built plan on this timeline should get you through roughly 1,500 practice questions and 6 full-length mock exams before exam day, alongside full syllabus coverage.
August–September: Foundations
Quantitative Methods and Economics first — these underpin everything else. Quant now includes two modules carrying content migrated from Equities and Portfolio Construction (index construction, portfolio theory), so treat it as a slightly bigger foundation month than in 2026. Ethics basics begin here too, since it is tested throughout the exam, not just at the end.
October: Asset Classes I
Financial Statement Analysis and Fixed Income — both unchanged from 2026, dense and calculation-heavy topics that benefit from focused, uninterrupted blocks rather than being split thin across other subjects.
November: Asset Classes II
Equities (rebuilt for 2027 — three old modules dropped, five new ones added, including the shareholder voting process and analyst research reports), Corporate Finance, Derivatives, and Alternative Investments. This is the heaviest content month — plan for it, and give Equities the extra time its rebuild deserves.
December: Completing the Syllabus
Portfolio Construction, and a full pass to complete the restructured Ethics modules — Standard by Standard, as the 2027 curriculum now tests them, with GIPS dropped entirely. First full-length mock exam here to establish a baseline.
January–February: Revision & Mocks
The remaining full-length mocks, topic-wise weak-area drilling based on mock performance, and a final week of light review rather than new content. By exam week, the goal is familiarity, not first exposure.
Making Mock Exams Actually Count
Six full-length mocks sounds like a lot until you realise most candidates waste half of them by treating every mock the same way. A mock in December should not be used the same way as a mock in February — the goal changes as you get closer to exam day.
- First mock (December): This is a diagnostic, not a test. Its only job is to show you where your real weak areas are, as opposed to where you assume they are. Don’t study for it — sit it cold, off your first pass through the syllabus.
- Middle mocks (January): Use these to check whether your revision is actually closing the gaps the first mock revealed. If the same topics keep showing up wrong, that’s a structural problem in how you’re studying that topic, not bad luck.
- Final mocks (late January–February): These are about exam-day conditions as much as content — timing, stamina, and the mental discipline of moving on from a question you’re stuck on rather than losing ten minutes to it. Sit these under real timed conditions, not “whenever you get a free evening.”
The number of mocks matters less than what you do with each one. A candidate who reviews every wrong answer and traces it back to a specific gap in understanding gets more out of four mocks than a candidate who sits ten and moves on without analysing any of them.
Starting Later Than August?
If you’re reading this in October or November and August has already passed, the six-month structure above still applies — it just compresses. The phase order doesn’t change: foundations before asset classes, asset classes before completing the syllabus, completing the syllabus before revision. What changes is how much you can afford to slow down within each phase, and how early you need your first mock to get an honest read on where you stand.
Starting in August vs Starting in November
Not everyone starts preparing six months out. Here is an honest comparison of what each starting point actually looks like for a February 2027 sitting.
Starting in August (6 months)
- Comfortable pace — roughly 12–15 hours/week is enough for most working professionals
- Full room to genuinely absorb the rebuilt Equities topic and restructured Ethics modules, not just skim them
- Multiple mocks with time to act on what they reveal
- Lower risk of burnout heading into exam week
Starting in November (3 months)
- Workable for candidates with strong prior finance/quant exposure, but demanding for most
- Likely 20+ hours/week required to cover the same ground
- Less room to properly absorb the newly restructured topics — higher risk of surface-level familiarity instead of real understanding
- Fewer mocks, less time to correct weak areas before exam day
Neither is wrong, and a compressed timeline is not automatically a failing strategy — some candidates genuinely work better under a tighter, more intensive schedule. But if you have the choice, six months gives you more margin, and margin matters most on exactly the topics the 2027 curriculum changed.
Start Your 6-Month Plan on August 3, 2026
Our batch beginning August 3, 2026 follows this exact structure, built around the February 2027 exam and the 2027 curriculum from day one — mentor-led, 30 students, Delhi and online.