How to use CFA mock exams to raise your score

A mock exam score is a number. The review is where the points are. Many candidates take five mocks and learn from none.

What a mock is for

A full mock exam does two jobs. It measures where you are, under conditions close to the real thing, and it teaches you how you behave in a 135-minute session: pace, fatigue and the temptation to dwell on one hard question.

It does not predict your result. CFA Institute does not publish a fixed pass mark, so no mock score can tell you that you have passed. What it can tell you is whether your results are stable, whether a topic lags and whether you finish in time.

Where mocks come from

Your registration gives you access to CFA Institute's learning ecosystem, which includes practice questions and mock exams. An optional practice pack offers additional questions and mocks. Prep providers sell their own mock exams too.

The official mocks are the closest guide to how the examiner writes. If you use a provider, compare its mocks with the official ones and treat the official ones as the standard.

When to sit them

Not at the start. A mock in week two measures what you have not yet studied. Use this order.

1. Foundation stage: a short diagnostic of mixed questions, to find gaps. Not a full mock.
2. Practice stage: question sets by topic, with review.
3. Simulation stage: full timed mocks, with revision of weak topics between them.

Keep the official mocks for the final stage, so you do not use them up before you are ready. Plan about two full mocks in the last weeks, spaced about a week apart so you can review and fix between them.

How to sit one

Recreate the exam.

• Level I has 180 multiple-choice questions in two sessions of 135 minutes. Each question has three options.
• Sit at the same time of day as your real appointment.
• Use your authorised calculator, not your phone.
• Keep to the time. No pauses, no looking things up.
• Allow about 90 seconds per question, and flag long ones to return to.
• Answer every question. All questions carry equal weight and there is no penalty for wrong answers.

Afterwards, take a proper break before you review. Reviewing while tired teaches little.

Reviewing a mock

Review takes longer than the mock itself, and it should. For every wrong answer, and every right answer that was a guess, write a short line in a table.

The columns that matter are cause and fix. After a mock, you should have a short list of actions rather than a feeling.

Common causes are: concept gap, formula or calculator slip, misread question, timing and a careless pick between two options. If most of your misses are slips, practise under time. If most are gaps, return to the topic.

What readiness looks like

The book defines readiness as a pattern, not a single score.

• Consistent results across two or more full mocks, close together
• No topic far behind the others
• Each session finished within the time, with a few minutes to spare

One strong mock after three weak ones is luck. Two similar results, above your earlier scores, mean your preparation is stable. A candidate in the book planned two mocks in April for a May exam, and both came in close together and above earlier scores.

When a mock goes badly

First, check the conditions. Were you tired, interrupted or short of time? Then look at the pattern of misses. A bad mock three weeks out is useful information, not a verdict. It tells you which topics need extra hours.

If both mocks are weak close to the exam, consider moving your appointment. Moving within a window costs US$250, and missing an appointment loses the fee, so decide early. A later window is usually cheaper than a retake, and the spacing rule makes retakes slow.

How many are enough

Enough to be sure of the pattern, which is usually two or three full ones, plus many topic question sets. Doing ten mocks in the last two weeks is not the target. Doing two well, with full review, is.

Start with a small set

You do not need a full mock to begin. Build the review table for your next twenty practice questions. After a week of filling it in, the same three causes of lost marks will keep appearing, and those three are the plan for the rest of your course.