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The three-part test to become a chartered financial analyst is widely viewed as one of the hardest exams in finance. But new research shows that many of today’s AI models can pass it in a matter of minutes—and they continue to improve at a rapid pace.
Just because AI is getting smarter doesn’t mean analysts will be out of work anytime soon, CFA charterholders say.
In the study, researchers from GoodFin, an AI-powered wealth advisory firm, and the NYU Stern School of Business pitted 23 AI models against mock versions of the CFA Level III exam, including its notorious essay section. Responses were then scored by human graders and LLMs.
The researchers found that many cutting-edge models comfortably achieved a passing score of 65% or above. OpenAI’s o4-mini model scored 79.1%, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash scored 77.3%, and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 scored 74.9%. Models developed by DeepSeek and xAI also earned their CFAs.
AI progress. The study is yet another example of how rapidly AI tools have progressed since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public less than three years ago. Just last year, a study found that leading models could pass the first two levels of the CFA, but Level III’s essay questions remained a sticking point because of their open-ended nature.
Not anymore. Two developments helped the latest generation of LLMs clear the essays. First, AI labs have released “reasoning” models like o4-mini and Gemini 2.5 Pro that can break down questions into smaller steps, improving their critical thinking. Second, researchers used “chain-of-thought prompting,” where they asked models to explain their reasoning while approaching problems from multiple angles.
The LLMs’ performance is particularly striking because they passed without receiving any specific training, according to GoodFin CEO Anna Joo Fee. “What’s so exciting is thinking how much better you can make them with human experts, with training, with context,” she says.
The tools still have room to improve, says Fee. LLMs aren’t yet good at grasping user intent, especially when expressed through nonverbal cues like body language. Accuracy scores could go up as well. “It will dramatically improve over time,” she says.
What CFAs think. Kate Feeney, a wealth advisor at Summit Place Financial, studied three hours each workday for a year before sitting for the CFA Level III, which she passed in 2016. She says she isn’t surprised that AI can now pull off the same feat. “I personally had the hardest time with time management while taking the Level III,” she says. “And AI is incredibly fast.”
Derek Williams, an advisor at Veratis Advisors, earned his CFA in 2023 after five solid months and hundreds of hours of studying. “You can’t really wing it,” he says.
Just because AI is getting smarter doesn’t mean analysts will be out of work anytime soon, CFA charterholders say.
“My experience as a financial planner is that people don’t seek me out for technical knowledge,” says Williams. “Our industry is already moving towards not really relying on a person to do base-level analysis.”
Summit’s Feeney adds: “I think there’s definitely elements of advice that can be automated.” However, “You have to be able to effectively communicate with your clients. I don’t think empathy and that human component can be replicated right now.”
Mike de Massa, CIO of Forza Wealth Management, isn’t worried about AI coming for analysts’ jobs. But he does worry that AI tools could automate the low-level tasks that typically teach young CFAs important skills.
“If all the elementary schools gave kids calculators to learn their times tables, then when they get to algebra class, they’re not going to know what the heck they’re doing,” says de Massa. “AI is like a calculator for CFAs.”
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