The table below collects per-attempt pass rates for the major finance credentials, but the rows don't measure the same thing. Some are a single sitting, some are multi-year averages, some pool several sittings, and the Series figures other than SIE and the Enrolled Agent figures are industry or provider estimates. The CMA figure is from 2020. Read each row's source for the period and population it covers before you compare two rows, and don't read the table as a current ranking.
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| Credential | Exam | Pass Rate (per attempt) | Period and population | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFA | CFA Level I | 41% | 10-year average, 2016 to 2025, all candidates | Source |
| CFA Level II | 45% | 10-year average, 2016 to 2025, all candidates | Source | |
| CFA Level III | 51% | 10-year average, 2016 to 2025, all candidates | Source | |
| CPA | CPA AUD (Auditing & Attestation) | 50% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source |
| CPA FAR (Financial Accounting & Reporting) | 43% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| CPA REG (Taxation & Regulation) | 64% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| CPA BAR (Business Analysis & Reporting, Discipline) | 42% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| CPA ISC (Information Systems & Controls, Discipline) | 68% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| CPA TCP (Tax Compliance & Planning, Discipline) | 78% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| CFP | CFP Certification Exam | 66% | July 2026 sitting, all candidates | Source |
| CAIA® | CAIA® Level I | 51% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source |
| CAIA® Level II | 63% | 2024 to 2025, approximate | Source | |
| FRM | FRM Part I | 47% | Historical estimate; period and population unverified | Source |
| FRM Part II | 55% | Historical estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| SOA | SOA Exam P (Probability) | 47% | July 2026 sitting, all candidates | Source |
| SOA Exam FM (Financial Mathematics) | 50% | Recent sittings, approximate | Source | |
| SOA Exam FAM (Fundamentals of Actuarial Mathematics) | 57% | July 2026 sitting, all candidates | Source | |
| SOA Exam SRM (Statistics for Risk Modeling) | 70% | Recent sittings including January and May 2026, approximate | Source | |
| SOA Exam ALTAM (Advanced Long-Term Actuarial Mathematics) | 45% | Recent sittings, approximate | Source | |
| SOA Exam PA (Predictive Analytics) | 65% | Recent sittings, approximate | Source | |
| SOA Exam ASTAM (Advanced Short-Term Actuarial Mathematics) | 45% | Recent sittings, approximate | Source | |
| CAS | CAS MAS-I (Modern Actuarial Statistics I) | 46% | Spring 2025 to summer 2026, passed divided by exams taken | Source |
| CAS MAS-II (Modern Actuarial Statistics II) | 52% | Spring 2025 to summer 2026, passed divided by exams taken | Source | |
| CMA | CMA Part 1 (Financial Planning, Performance, and Analytics) | 45% | January to February 2020, English-language attempts | Source |
| CMA Part 2 (Strategic Financial Management) | 45% | January to February 2020, English-language attempts | Source | |
| CIA | CIA Part 1 (Internal Audit Fundamentals) | 44% | Archived IIA rate; period and population unverified | Source |
| CIA Part 2 (Internal Audit Engagement) | 48% | Archived IIA rate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| CIA Part 3 (Internal Audit Function) | 56% | Archived IIA rate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| Series | Series SIE (Securities Industry Essentials) | 74% | SIE launch through January 31, 2019, all administrations | Source |
| Series 6 (Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative) | 58% | Industry estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| Series 7 (General Securities Representative) | 72% | Industry estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent State Law) | 72% | Industry estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law) | 68% | Industry estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| Series 66 (Uniform Combined State Law) | 72% | Industry estimate; period and population unverified | Source | |
| EA | EA Part 1 (Individuals) | 58% | 2024 to 2025 testing window, provider-compiled estimate | Source |
| EA Part 2 (Businesses) | 71% | 2024 to 2025 testing window, provider-compiled estimate | Source | |
| EA Part 3 (Representation, Practices, and Procedures) | 70% | 2024 to 2025 testing window, provider-compiled estimate | Source |
How each body calculates its rate
No two credentialing bodies compute a pass rate the same way, so read the table with that in mind.
CFA Institute publishes a pass rate for every administration. It keeps the passing standard steady from one administration to the next through equating, and sets it again after a significant change in the curriculum or the candidate pool. The table uses its 2016 to 2025 averages: 41% for Level I, rising to 51% for Level III, which only people who passed the earlier levels sit. Individual sittings land above and below those averages.
AICPA and NASBA report section pass rates, and a section passes at a scaled score of 75, which isn't 75% correct. The CPA rows use AICPA's published rates for 2024 and 2025: FAR 43%, the BAR discipline 42%, ISC 68% and TCP 78%. The source doesn't pin all four to one exact reporting window, so I wouldn't rank sections on small gaps.
CFP Board publishes overall and first-time rates for each administration, and the table uses the July 2026 overall rate, 66%. That's a single sitting. The FRM figures are approximate long-run averages from GARP, about 47% for Part I and 55% for Part II, and I haven't been able to pin down the exact years behind them. A Part II paper only gets graded if the candidate passed Part I, either at an earlier sitting or the same day in August, when GARP lets you sit both.
The SOA and CAS publish results for each sitting. The SOA's results notices give the average percent correct needed to pass and two rates: the raw rate across everyone who wrote, and an effective rate that leaves out people who scored under half the pass mark. The table uses raw rates. Exam FAM's 57% is the July 2026 sitting, and the CAS MAS-I and MAS-II figures pool six sittings from spring 2025 through summer 2026.
FINRA reported the SIE rate in its 2019 conference slides; the other Series figures here are industry estimates with unverified periods and populations. They run high (around 72% for the Series 7) maybe partly because a sponsoring firm has already screened the candidate.
The IRS doesn't publish pass rates for the SEE (Enrolled Agent), so the figures for Part 2 (Businesses, 71%) and Part 3 (70%) are estimates, and the published estimates don't agree on which part is hardest. Either way, each part passes most of the people who sit it. The CMA figure, 45% on each part, is the oldest in the table. ICMA reported it for English-language exams taken in the January to February 2020 window, the last window-specific rates IMA published, and said at the time that those results couldn't be projected to later windows.
Why a pass rate isn't a difficulty ranking
The rows come from different candidate pools, periods and scoring methods, so they don't measure difficulty on their own. Screening is one possible reason for some gaps. CFA Level III and the actuarial fellowship exams are taken by people who passed the earlier exams, and FRM Part II is graded only for people who passed Part I. Anyone can sit Exam P, while the Series 7 (firm sponsorship), CPA (education) and CFA Level I (degree or experience) screen candidates first. Most published rates also count repeat attempts, which can move a rate either way.
A more useful question is what an exam asks of you per hour of preparation. How quantitative is each finance exam breaks the same list down by how much of each exam is calculation, and the credential ROI map weighs cost and study hours against pay.
What pass rates are good for
They tell you how seriously to take the preparation. In AICPA's published 2024 and 2025 rates, CPA FAR passed 43% of attempts, which is one reason FAR has its own strategy guide.
They're not a good way to pick a credential. Pick by the job you want, then prepare for the exam in front of it. The finance credentials map matches credentials to jobs.
Whichever exam you land on, every FreeFellow question bank is free with an account, full solutions included, across CFA, CPA, CFP, FRM, CAIA®, CMA, actuarial, FINRA Series and Enrolled Agent.