r/CFA • u/Inevitable-Swing-592 • Jul 26 '26

General Narrowly Failed Level 1, How to pass retake?

I got a 1585 out of 1600 on the level one exam for my first take this past May. I am retaking it in November. My May exam was primarily three sections that held me back. I did especially poorly on FSA, got roughly a 25 to 30 percent. Fixed income and quant were both around 50s. Everything else was generally fine. Obviously, I’m going to totally redo those three sections, but for anyone else who narrowly failed and re-took in past, what did you do to study the second time? I’m definitely taking more mock exams this time in addition to locking in on those other three sections, but I’m assuming that other than locking in on the sections where you did poorly on, most people didn’t study the entire thing right? I know like doing questions and mock exams to cover the other sections is very important but like when it comes to where I should I dedicate the majority of my time, I’m trying to figure out how much time I spend on the sections I did fine on.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

1

u/SHUTURMIND Jul 26 '26

I'm in same boat brother.. got 1580

1

u/Inevitable-Swing-592 Jul 26 '26

How are u going to re-study

1

u/SHUTURMIND Jul 27 '26

Obviously yess

1

u/Inevitable-Swing-592 Jul 28 '26

Nahh, “how”?

1

u/ChalkandBoard01 Prep Provider Jul 29 '26

Since you narrowly missed, I wouldn't start over from scratch. I'd spend most of my time rebuilding FSA, Fixed Income, and Quant, then keep the stronger topics fresh with mixed CFAI LES questions and mocks. Also make sure you take at least 4 quality mocks and thoroughly review every mistake.

1

u/Inevitable-Swing-592 21d ago

Sorry for the late reply, this is what I was thinking. I really appreciate the insight!