All the curriculum changes you need to know for Level II CFA® Program exam


Signing up for the CFA® Program exam in 2019? Here're all the curriculum updates you must know!

The curriculum changes guide in this post is copyright of and kindly provided by AB Maximus' textbook partner, Wiley Efficient Learning.

News of an upcoming inclusion of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin into the CFA® Program curriculum made ripples in the finance world earlier this year.

But it isn't a one-off inclusion - just a big one that made headlines.

CFA Institute regularly revises and updates the exam curriculum every year to ensure that your study materials and tests reflect up-to-date knowledge. This is to ensure the skills you learn while on the CFA® Program are relevant and will give you the best chance to be a successful investment professional.

This year, our friends at Wiley have published a handy guide to the curriculum changes for 2019. Whether you're a new student tackling practice papers or a seasoned student retaking the exams, it's important to be familiar with these changes.

For a downloadable pdf of all the changes, please scroll to the bottom.

 

Changes to the 2019 curriculum are as follows. Content changes are marked in green and study sessions with new names are marked in red.

New chapters are marked in blue, and removed chapters are marked in grey.

*In general, study sessions have been renamed with simpler names. For example, Equity Valuation had 3 study sessions in 2018, each with a different name. The new names for 2019 will be simply "Equity Valuation 1", "Equity Valuation 2" and "Equity Valuation 3".

 

Ethical and Professional Standards:

  • Changes to Reading 2: Guidance for Standards I–VII

  • New Reading: Application of the Code and Standards

  • Removed Reading 3: CFA Institute Research Objectivity Standards

  • Removed Reading 4: The Glenarm Company

  • Removed Reading 5: Preston Partners

  • Removed Reading 6: Super Selection

 

Quantitative Methods:

  • Renamed from Quantitative Methods for Valuation to Quantitative Methods

  • New Reading: Fintech in Investment Management

  • New Reading: Multiple Regression and Machine Learning

  • Removed Reading 10: Multiple Regression and Issues in Regression Analysis

 

Economics:

  • No changes

 

Financial Reporting and Analysis:

  • Renamed from Financial Reporting and Analysis: Intercorporate Investments, Post-Employment and Share-Based Compensation, and Multinational Operations to Financial Reporting and Analysis (1)

  • Renamed from Quality of Financial Reports and Financial Statement Analysis to Financial Reporting and Analysis (2)

  • Changes to Reading 14: Intercorporate Investments

  • New Reading: Analysis of Financial Institutions

 

Corporate Finance:

  • Renamed from Corporate Finance: Financing and Control Issues to Corporate Finance (2)

  • Changes to Reading 20: Capital Budgeting

 

Equity Valuation:

  • Renamed from Equity Valuation: Valuation Concepts to Equity Valuation (1)

  • Renamed from Equity Valuation: Industry and Company Analysis and Discounted Dividend Valuation to Equity Valuation (2)

  • Renamed from Equity Valuation: Free Cash Flow and Other Valuation Models to Equity Valuation (3)

  • Changes to Reading 29: Discounted Dividend Valuation

 

Fixed Income:

  • Renamed from Fixed Income: Valuation Concepts To Fixed Income (1)

  • Renamed from Fixed Income: Topics in Fixed Income Analysis To Fixed Income (2)

  • Changes to Reading 35: The Arbitrage-Free Valuation Framework

  • New Reading: Credit Analysis Models

 

Derivative Investment:

  • No changes

 

Alternative Investment

  • No changes

 

Portfolio Management

  • No changes

 

Wiley provides a handy pdf for those who want a breakdown of every reading. Download the pdf here.

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