CFA Level 1 Mock Exams: What Scores Predict a Pass?

CFA Level 1 mock exams are the single best predictor of whether you will pass. Based on data from hundreds of candidates in the February 2026 and May 2025 exam windows, those who score 70% or higher on first-attempt CFAI mocks almost always clear the minimum passing score (MPS) of 1600. But the mock score alone is not the full picture. Which provider you use, when you start, how many mocks you take, and what you do between mocks all shape your outcome. This guide covers everything CFA Level 1 candidates need to know about mock exams in 2026, drawn entirely from real candidate experiences and verified score data.

What CFA Level 1 mock exam score do you need to pass?

The CFA community has converged on a rough consensus: 70% on first-attempt CFAI mocks is the threshold where passing becomes likely. This number appears repeatedly across Reddit threads, results megathreads, and candidate retrospectives from 2025 and 2026 exam windows.

The evidence is compelling. In the February 2026 results megathread (290+ comments), a candidate who scored 76% and 78% on the two free CFAI mocks earned 1700 on the actual exam. Another who averaged 84 to 93% across eight mocks scored 1810. A candidate who averaged 74.7% across 10 mocks scored 1755 and passed “comfortably above MPS.” In the May 2025 results thread, a candidate averaging 68% on CFAI mocks passed with 1600, right at the line, while another averaging 73% across 8 mocks scored 1710.

But 70% is not a hard line. Plenty of candidates pass with lower averages. One r/CFA commenter reported they “barely averaged 60 and only did 3 mocks” before passing. Another who “never once passed a mock” and hovered in the 50s said “the exam itself was easier than the mocks/question bank.” A candidate averaging 63% across 6 mocks passed “comfortably,” describing the mocks as “slightly more difficult” than the real exam.

Here is how to interpret your CFA Level 1 mock exam scores based on real candidate outcomes:

• 80%+: Very strong. You are likely to score well above the MPS. One candidate averaging 84 to 93% scored 1810. Focus on maintaining consistency and fixing any remaining weak spots.
• 75 to 79%: Solid passing range. Multiple February 2026 candidates in this range passed with scores between 1700 and 1790. Continue targeting weak areas, but you can study with confidence.
• 70 to 74%: Competitive and likely to pass. A November 2025 candidate averaging 72% scored 1670. However, a bad exam day or unfamiliar question set could push borderline candidates below the MPS. Prioritize weak subjects aggressively.
• 65 to 69%: Borderline. Some candidates pass from this range; others do not. A candidate averaging 67% on mocks said, “every other hour I overthink and think I will fail.” One who averaged 68% passed with 1600 in May 2025. Another who averaged 65% passed with 1620. The risk is real but not insurmountable.
• 60 to 64%: High risk. One candidate averaging 60 to 69% across two official mocks passed with 1600, but this represents the low end of passable. You need to close knowledge gaps quickly rather than take more mocks.
• Below 60%: Significant ground to cover. Focus on understanding concepts rather than taking additional mocks. A candidate scoring in the 50s on mocks still passed, but described it as the exception, not the rule.

One critical caveat: first-attempt mock scores are far more predictive than retake scores. As one Reddit commenter explained, “When you redo the mock you actually have its memory somewhere in your brain. The results of first time taking mock simulate the real situation better.” A candidate who scored 70 to 75% on retaken mocks but only 60% on first attempts is closer to 60% readiness. The February 2026 candidate who scored 1560 (just below MPS) confirmed their 70 to 75% mock averages were from second attempts, with first-attempt scores around 60%.

How many CFA Level 1 mock exams should you take?

The consensus among successful candidates is 4 to 8 full-length mock exams. This range appears consistently in study strategy discussions and retrospective posts from passers across multiple exam windows.

One experienced candidate who passed all three CFA levels recommended “6 to 8 mock exams, aiming for 75% by exam day.” They also advised saving the CFAI mocks for last, noting that they are “the most fair and well written.” A 90th-percentile scorer who studied for 4.5 months took 8 full CFAI mocks spaced one week apart and saw steady improvement from the low 70s to the mid-80s. Another candidate took 14 mocks “to always remain confident that my mock scores are not decreasing,” though this is more than most recommend.

At the other extreme, some candidates pass with very few mocks. One who took only a single CFAI mock (scoring 74% on Session A and 78% on Session B) earned 1725. Another who ran out of time and took zero mocks still scored 1790, relying entirely on practice questions and Anki flashcards. These are exceptions, not strategies to emulate.

The number of mocks matters less than what you do between them. As one r/CFA commenter put it: “If you constantly step on a weighing scale hoping things would change, that is idiotic. But if you weigh yourself, then go back and change things, next time the weight will be different.” Another warned: “If you constantly do mock exams without closing knowledge gaps, you can do 25 mocks and be in the same place when the exam comes around.”

Here is a practical mock schedule:

• Mock 1 (5 to 6 weeks out): Diagnostic. Take it even if you have not finished all topics. One commenter recommended treating the first mock as “a diagnostic tool rather than a score check.” A 90th-percentile scorer started mocks 6 weeks out even though they had not completed all readings.
• Mocks 2 to 4 (4 to 3 weeks out): Targeted improvement. Study weak areas between mocks. Track scores by topic. Use third-party providers (Salt Solutions, Kaplan Schweser, or Mark Meldrum) for these early mocks.
• Mocks 5 to 6 (2 to 3 weeks out): Official CFAI mocks. Simulate real exam conditions: timed, closed-book, full length. These give the most accurate picture of your readiness.
• Mocks 7 to 8 (final week): Only if you have time and energy. Some candidates prefer lighter review in the last few days. One commenter advised, “I stopped doing mocks like 5 days before my exam so I wouldn’t panic about the score.”

Starting mocks too early can backfire. One May 2026 candidate noted that taking a mock before completing all readings was demoralizing. A commenter advised: “Don’t get discouraged if you get low 60s or even 50s for the first couple once you start doing them. You will see improvements.” A candidate who started at 52% on their first Kaplan mock was reassured that “Kaplan mocks are often harder than the learning ecosystem ones” and that with 60 days remaining, there was ample time to improve.

Which CFA Level 1 mock exam providers should you trust?

Not all mock exams are calibrated equally. Different providers vary significantly in difficulty, question style, and how closely they resemble the actual CFA exam. Understanding these differences is essential for interpreting your scores accurately.

CFA Institute (CFAI) official mocks are the gold standard. They are written by the same organization that creates the real exam, and candidates consistently rate them as the most representative. One February 2026 candidate who scored 1810 described their experience: “Exam day felt like just another mock, totally comparable in difficulty.” The Learning Ecosystem (LES) includes two free mock exams, and additional practice exams are available through the premium practice pack. A November 2025 passer confirmed: “The CFAI mocks are very similar to the actual exam. I even saw maybe 3 exact same mock questions on the actual exam.” Multiple candidates emphasized buying the premium practice pack, calling it “worth every penny.”

Salt Solutions mocks are intentionally harder than the real exam. Candidates frequently report scoring 5 to 10 percentage points lower on Salt Solutions compared to CFAI mocks. One candidate scored 71% on a Salt Solutions mock and felt it was “slightly difficult than the CFAI ones.” Another who scored 70% on Salt Solutions confirmed the difficulty was “greater than the 2 premium mocks I’ve taken earlier.” If you score 65 to 73% on Salt Solutions, you are likely in a strong position for the real exam.

Kaplan Schweser mocks fall in the moderate range. They are well-structured, widely used, and valued for early diagnostics. Commenters described Kaplan mocks as “trickier” and “wordier” than CFAI ones. One candidate who averaged 85% on Kaplan mocks scored 1820. However, another who scored 69.8% on a single Kaplan mock ended up at 1590, just below the MPS, highlighting that one mock is not enough data. A candidate who scored 52% on their first Kaplan mock was told not to worry because “Kaplan mocks are often harder than the learning ecosystem ones.”

Mark Meldrum (MM) mocks are considered well-written but tend toward the harder end. One candidate described MM mocks as harder than CFAI, with the real exam difficulty falling “somewhere in between.” Another candidate who scored in the 50 to 60% range on MM mocks found Kaplan to be in the 60 to 80% range, indicating the difficulty spread across providers. One commenter noted: “Used Mark Meldrum and took two of his mock exams that were significantly more difficult than CFAI.” That candidate scored 1740 on the actual exam.

A practical ordering for your mock schedule:

• Third-party mocks first (Salt Solutions, Kaplan Schweser, or Mark Meldrum): Use these for early diagnostics and stamina-building. Lower scores on these mocks do not necessarily reflect real exam performance. As one commenter put it: “Do Kaplan first. They should be trickier/wordier/tougher.”
• CFAI mocks last: Take the official mocks under exam conditions in the final 2 to 3 weeks. These give the most accurate read on your readiness. Multiple commenters stressed: “Save at least 1 to 2 CFAI mocks for the final 2 weeks.”

Why does the real CFA exam feel so different from mock exams?

This is one of the most debated questions on r/CFA after every exam window. “The actual exam was nothing like the mock exams,” wrote one February 2026 candidate who scored 1560 (just below MPS). They described the second session as “like a circus event” and noted that questions pulled from “obscure topics, a line you have read in a paragraph that you thought it was not important to remember.”

The r/CFA community is genuinely split on this question. Here is what the data reveals about why mock-to-exam gaps exist, and why the perception varies so widely:

The exam tests conceptual depth in unexpected ways. Mock exams tend to test core concepts in recognizable patterns. One commenter agreed that “mocks followed a theme of core concepts and topics whereas in the real exam, they pulled from every nook of the modules.” An experienced L3 candidate noted: “It’s not always more difficult but always different. The questions are a lot more thoroughly made.” The exam rewards deep understanding over pattern recognition, which can feel like increased difficulty even when the raw content is the same.

Session 2 is consistently reported as harder. This is one of the most reliable findings across exam windows. A February 2026 candidate who scored 1700 said: “The first part of the exam felt pretty representative but I was pretty burnt out during the second part.” They attributed this partly to never having practiced sitting through the full exam duration. Several November 2025 passers echoed this, with one noting their “AM session was weak it went difficult, my PM session was smooth.”

Nerves amplify the difficulty gap. A candidate who passed with 1755 observed that “everyone remembers the questions they got wrong, not the 120 they cruised through.” They also pointed out selection bias in post-exam discussion: “The people who found it easy aren’t posting about it.” One L3 candidate attributed the perceived difficulty to “nerves and fear” plus the small number of experimental questions that CFAI includes.

But many candidates found the exam comparable or easier. One commenter who passed pushed back: “There is no conspiracy. The exams are the same style of questions, and of course the same syllabus, as the question bank and the mocks.” A candidate who scored 1810 said the exam was “totally comparable in difficulty” to their mocks. Another who “much worse” on mocks “ended up in the 90th percentile,” calling the real exam “far easier.” One November 2025 passer described it succinctly: “The exam was representative of the CFAI mocks. I would say the actual exam is easy but the stress makes it more difficult.”

The takeaway: Expect the real exam to feel different from your mocks, but do not panic. The candidate who said it was “nothing like the mocks” scored exactly at the MPS (1600) with mock scores of 69 to 70%. Your preparation is working even when the exam does not feel familiar.

How should you review CFA Level 1 mock exams effectively?

Taking the mock is only half the work. The real learning happens during review. Top-scoring candidates consistently spend more time reviewing their mock results than they spend sitting the mock itself.

A 90th-percentile scorer described their review process: after each mock, they identified weak subjects, spent the entire following week studying those areas, then solved 10 to 20 targeted practice questions daily from those topics. They also created Anki flashcards from every question they got wrong. “In the last week, the flashcards and my handwritten notes came in handy.” They improved from the low 70s to the mid-80s across eight mocks using this exact approach.

Another successful candidate shared a specific cumulative technique: “Revise the concepts and solve 10 to 20 questions from the topics you revised. In the remaining days, take 10 questions from the subjects you did well on and continue solving questions from weak topics.” This prevents strong subjects from decaying while you fix weak ones. The approach treats mock review as an active learning cycle, not just a score check.

One particularly effective technique came from a passer who created an “Ethics Wall,” physically posting notes on their wall for every ethics mistake they made on mocks. They improved their ethics score from 50% to 90% using this method. Several other candidates echoed the value of making mistakes visible: reading every explanation, even for questions answered correctly, to catch gaps in understanding.

Here is a structured review process:

• Immediately after the mock: Note your per-topic scores. Identify the 2 to 3 weakest areas. Do not rush into another mock.
• Days 1 to 3 after the mock: Review every question you got wrong. For each one, determine whether you missed it due to a knowledge gap, a formula error, or a misread question. Go back to the source material for knowledge gaps. Make flashcards or notes for persistent mistakes.
• Days 4 to 5: Do targeted practice questions (10 to 15 per day) in your weak areas, plus 5 to 10 maintenance questions in strong areas. This cumulative approach is what separates candidates who improve from those who plateau.
• Day 6 to 7: Take the next mock.

One critical mistake to avoid: reviewing mocks without changing your study approach. As one commenter warned, “If you constantly do mock exams without closing knowledge gaps, you can do 25 mocks and be in the same place when the exam comes around.” Another put it bluntly: “Stop worrying about the scores and start working on the areas that tripped you up. Use the mock scores to help identify those gaps.”

Using an adaptive practice platform like Adaptilyst between mocks can help pinpoint exactly which subtopics are dragging your score down. When you know that your weakness is, say, modified duration calculations rather than “fixed income” broadly, you can target your review time with precision and see faster improvement on subsequent mocks.

What does the CFA Level 1 scoring system actually look like?

Understanding how CFA Institute scores your exam helps you interpret your mock results and set realistic targets. The scoring system was updated in recent years to provide candidates with numerical scores rather than just pass/fail.

CFA Institute reports Level 1 scores on a scale of 1000 to 1900. The minimum passing score (MPS) has been consistently set at 1600 across recent exam windows (February 2026, November 2025, May 2025). Based on community analysis, the scoring follows a straightforward logic: each of the 180 questions is worth approximately 5 points on the scaled score, meaning the MPS of 1600 corresponds to roughly 120 correct answers, or about 67% accuracy.

One candidate who scored 1810 broke down the math: “(1810 minus 1000) divided by 5 equals 162 correct answers, which is 90% accuracy.” They cross-checked against their topic-level performance and found the numbers matched closely. Another who scored 1670 estimated their accuracy at roughly 74%, which aligned with their mock performance.

CFA Institute also includes approximately 20 experimental (ungraded) questions on each exam. These are used to calibrate future exams and do not count toward your score, but you cannot identify which questions are experimental during the exam. All reported scores are multiples of 5.

Here is what common mock score ranges roughly translate to in scaled scores:

• 80%+ on mocks: Likely 1700+ on the actual exam. One candidate averaging 80% on 9 mocks scored 1690. Another averaging 85% on Kaplan mocks scored 1820.
• 70 to 79% on mocks: Likely 1600 to 1750. A candidate averaging 72% scored 1670. Another averaging 78% scored 1755.
• 65 to 69% on mocks: Could go either way. A candidate averaging 68% scored 1600 (passed). Another averaging 65% scored 1620 (passed). But a candidate with 69.8% on a single Kaplan mock scored 1590 (failed).

These are approximations, not guarantees. The exam you receive may differ in difficulty from your specific set of mocks. But the pattern is clear: consistent performance at or above 70% on CFAI mocks puts you in a strong position.

What about the waiting period after the real CFA Level 1 exam?

The 5 to 6 weeks between the exam and results day are, for many candidates, the hardest part of the entire CFA journey. Mock scores provide some comfort during this period, but they do not eliminate the anxiety.

One candidate who averaged 74.7% across 10 mocks described the post-exam spiral: “By the time I went to sleep that night I’d convinced myself I’d failed. A mock average of 74.7% across 10 exams somehow felt irrelevant.” They ended up scoring 1755 and passing comfortably. Another candidate averaging 75% on mocks said they were “totally traumatized” waiting for results after their second attempt.

The emotional pattern is remarkably consistent across candidates. As one commenter in the February 2026 pre-results thread put it: “Every other hour I overthink and think I will fail and another hour I think I’ll pass.” Another described the experience: “Magically, I forgot all about the exam the moment I left the center. I can’t remember any of the questions or answers I just wrote, and honestly, I think it’s a blessing.”

The February 2026 results megathread confirmed what experienced candidates predicted. Nearly every candidate who averaged 70%+ on first-attempt CFAI mocks passed. Candidates who failed typically had mock averages below 65%, limited mock experience (one or two mocks only), or scored well on retaken mocks but poorly on first attempts.

Several pieces of advice from candidates who have been through the wait:

• Avoid Reddit during the waiting period. “The post-exam Reddit rabbit hole is a trap,” warned the 1755 scorer. “Everyone’s talking about the questions they got wrong.”
• Trust your first-attempt mock average. Multiple passers and experienced candidates repeated this. One commenter told the anxious original poster: “If you were averaging 78s on your mocks, then stop worrying. You passed.”
• Remember the MPS adjusts with difficulty. If Session 2 felt brutal, it likely felt that way for everyone. One experienced commenter explained: “The MPS is determined by question difficulty. That difficulty is determined by CFAI and the graders, not candidates.”
• Keep it private. The 1755 scorer reflected: “Don’t tell people you’re taking the exam. Every family dinner becomes a check-in and every result becomes a public event. The pressure is unnecessary.”
• Trust one data point: your mock average. A candidate who averaged 78% was told by an experienced member: “If you were averaging 78s on your mocks, then stop worrying. You passed.” They scored 1755. The mock average is the most honest predictor you have.

How can you build a complete CFA Level 1 mock exam strategy?

Bringing everything together, here is a complete mock exam strategy for CFA Level 1 candidates, drawn from the combined experience of dozens of passers:

Phase 1: Foundation (8+ weeks before exam). Finish the curriculum. Do end-of-chapter questions and LES practice problems as you go. One successful candidate recommended finishing the syllabus at least 25 to 45 days before the exam and dedicating the remaining time entirely to mocks and review. Using an adaptive question bank like Adaptilyst during this phase helps identify weak subtopics early, so your first mock score is higher and more representative of your actual readiness.

Phase 2: Early mocks (4 to 6 weeks before exam). Take your first mock exam, even if one or two topics are still incomplete. Use a third-party provider (Salt Solutions, Kaplan Schweser, or Mark Meldrum). Treat this as a diagnostic, not a grade. A first mock in the 50s or low 60s is completely normal and not cause for panic. Spend the next week studying your weakest areas intensively and doing 10 to 20 targeted practice questions daily.

Phase 3: Improvement cycle (3 to 4 weeks before exam). Take one mock per week. Alternate between providers. Track scores by topic across mocks to spot persistent weaknesses. Continue the cumulative review approach: fix weak areas while maintaining strong ones with maintenance questions. If your scores are not improving between mocks, you are reviewing incorrectly. Go back to the source material for any concept you miss twice.

Phase 4: Final calibration (2 weeks before exam). Take the official CFAI mocks under strict exam conditions: timed, closed-book, no breaks beyond what the real exam allows. These give you the most accurate read on your chances. If scoring 70%+, you are in strong shape. If below 65%, shift entirely to weak-area review and consider one final mock in the last days. Pay special attention to ethics; multiple candidates cited ethics as the “swing subject” that determined whether they passed or failed borderline scores.

Phase 5: Final days (last 3 to 5 days). Light review only. Skim flashcards, formula sheets, and your notes from mock reviews. Do not take a new mock exam in the last 2 days unless you genuinely need one more data point. One candidate advised: “In your last day, PLEASE take it easy. Go out for a walk, the gym, a comfort meal. Get some good sleep. The energy and stress levels on the day of your exam are super important.” Rest and trust your preparation.

The candidates who pass CFA Level 1 are not necessarily the ones who score highest on mocks. They are the ones who use mocks as a learning tool, not just an assessment. Every wrong answer is a roadmap to what you need to study next. Follow that roadmap, and the score takes care of itself.