The 2027 CFA Level I outline: ethics falls, quantitative methods rises and four topics get new names

The most expensive mistake this winter is a pile of 2026 notes for a 2027 exam. The weights have moved, and two topics have moved the most: the one that used to carry a fifth of the paper, and the one that now carries more than a tenth.

What changed in the 2027 Level I outline?

CFA Institute publishes a topic outline for each year. Compare the two for Level I.

Three headline moves: ethics down, quantitative methods up, and a small tilt from alternatives to derivatives and risk management. Four topics take new names, as the table shows. Six topics keep their weights.

What do the changes mean in practice?

Ethics falls, but it does not fade. At 10 to 15 per cent it is still one of the heaviest topics at Level I, and ethics returns at Levels II and III. Ethics questions reward careful reading of the Standards, so keep a steady diet of cases.

Quantitative methods nearly doubles. From 6–9 to 11–14 per cent means the topic joins the heavy group with financial statement analysis, equities and fixed income. Time value of money, statistics, probability, regression and basic data methods are now worth many more marks than a 2026 plan assumed.

The renamed topics are the same ground. Corporate Finance, Equities, Derivatives and Risk Management and Portfolio Construction cover what their older names did, with the weights above. The point of the rename is that a provider's table of contents may not match your outline at a glance.

How do you check your material?

Use material written for the year of your exam. If you sit Level I in 2027, check that your provider follows the 2027 outline. Before you pay, confirm four things.

1. It names your level and exam year.
2. It follows the topic outline for that year, with the 2027 names.
3. It includes questions in the format of your level.
4. The refund policy is set out in writing.

Fadi, in the book, bought second-hand notes from a friend, then noticed they were two years old. He kept them for background, used the official curriculum for his exam year and took both official mock exams under timed conditions. That is a good pattern: old notes can still explain a concept, but the outline for your year decides what you must be able to do.

How should you re-plan?

For a 300-hour Level I plan on the 2027 outline, the starting split in the book is 38 hours each for quantitative methods, financial statement analysis, equities, fixed income and ethics, 30 for portfolio construction and 20 each for economics, corporate finance, derivatives and risk management and alternative investments.

If you started on 2026 notes, do three things:

1. Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on each of the ten topics under their 2027 names.
2. Move hours into quantitative methods, and take them from ethics only as far as the new weight allows.
3. Replace practice sets that use the old names or weights.

What about Levels II and III? CFA Institute's Level II page shows one set of weights under the 2027 topic names, and Level III has a shared core plus a pathway. The exam map sets out all three levels. Chapter 5 of CredenTrek For CFA has the full tables and a self-rating exercise.