November 2026 is the last exam on the old curriculum

About a quarter of Level I changes from February 2027. Which window you should target depends on how far along you already are.

Last updated: 5 August 2026

If you are deciding when to sit Level I, one date matters more than any other: November 2026 is the last window tested on the 2026 curriculum. From February 2027, roughly a quarter of the Level I exam changes.

Confirmed What changes

CFA Institute puts the 2027 updates at about 25 percent of the Level I exam, concentrated in Quantitative Methods and Equities, plus a new module covering financial data science, artificial intelligence and large language models.

Ethics is restructured so that each of the seven Standards of Professional Conduct gets a dedicated module, aligned to the twelfth edition of the Standards of Practice Handbook. Level I Ethics goes from roughly five modules to around ten.

Confirmed What weights stay the same

Topic weights are unchanged at all three levels. Ethics remains 15–20% of Level I; Financial Statement Analysis, Equities and Fixed Income each remain 11–14%. Your prioritisation carries over: what changed is how the material is organised, not how much each area counts.

The decision, framed plainly

Two situations, two answers:

• You are already several months into 2026 material. Sitting in November 2026 lets you finish on the syllabus you have been studying. Deferring to February means relearning a quarter of the content with books that no longer match.
• You are starting now. There is little sense in buying 2026 material for a short shelf life. Plan for the 2027 outline and target February or May 2027.

A note on old books

For unchanged fundamentals, 2026 material retains some value. But for Level I Quantitative Methods, Equities and Ethics, using 2026 books as your main source for a 2027 attempt is a real risk. Compare the Learning Outcome Statements rather than assuming continuity.

Full detail in our guide to the 2027 curriculum changes.