📈 AI Now Passes the CFA Exams — All 3 Levels
- NewBits Media
- Sep 28
- 2 min read
New research from NYU Stern and GoodFin shows that today’s frontier AI models can pass all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam — including the notoriously difficult Level III essay section that stumped them just two years ago.
🧑💻 23 models tested
Multiple models achieved passing scores (MPS est. ~63%)
Models completed questions in seconds, finishing exams in minutes-to-under-an-hour vs. humans’ ~1,000 study hours across levels
🏆 Top overall scores
OpenAI o4-mini: 79.1%
Google Gemini 2.5 Pro: 75.9%
Anthropic Claude 4 Opus: 74.9%
📝 Human graders vs. auto-graders
Human graders scored AI essays +5.6 points higher on average than automated grading systems
🌍 AI Now Passes CFA Exams — Why It Matters
Two years ago, models failed CFA essays. Now they excel at them — signaling a major leap in reasoning and analytical capabilities. The NYU Stern and GoodFin study used mock Level III exams to minimize data contamination risk. Paired with earlier research showing success at Levels I and II, the evidence confirms that ai now passes cfa exams across the full sequence — a milestone in finance and AI capability.
As AI handles technical mastery, the human edge in finance shifts toward client relationships, contextual judgment, and trust — qualities no model can replace.
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