The results for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) are going to be announced today, i.e. April 12, 2022. Although the results will be emailed to the candidates, they can also access the detailed results from the official website – cfainstitute.org. To check the detailed results, they have to use their email addresses. The results will be shown as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ and details regarding topic level performance will be shown.
What is the performance guide?
The exam performance guide as available on the official website helps one to get information regarding preparation for the next level or signing up to re-take the same exam level. This guide has certain elements which will be discussed in detail.
Score
CFA scores are represented by lines. A thin solid grey line would mean the minimum passing score (MPS) while a thick grey line shows the candidate’s score in the exam. Hence, if the thick line lies above the MPS line, then it would mean ‘pass’ and if it lies below the MPS line, then it means ‘not pass’.
True Ability
True ability means how thoroughly one knows the material which also influences one’s score in the exam. A candidate’s true ability is judged when they are asked unlimited questions under ideal circumstances. Since that is not possible, hence other favourable and unfavourable factors come into play.
Confidence Level
A light blue box displayed around the score represents a 90% confidence level. Now, depending on the characteristics of the exam, the true ability lies somewhere within this range. Candidates having scores above or below MPS can have high confidence.
Relative Performance
The performance relative to other candidates is shown using dotted and dashed lines. A purple dashed line represents the 90th percentile while a black dotted line would represent the 10th percentile. Since there is no separate passing score for each topic, understanding the topic area presentation becomes important.
It must be noted that strong performance in one topic area can offset weak performance in another. Hence, rather than showing MPS, the thin grey lines show 50% and 70% of the available points in a particular topic. If there are consistent scores above 70% of the available points, then it could mean a reasonable signal of topic mastery.
Moreover, the confidence interval box is going to be wider than the ‘Your Performance in the exam’ section. Hence, the confidence interval is wider when there are fewer questions or a wider dispersion of responses. If the score is much above 70%, then they are likely to have mastered a topic confidently.
Click Here to read the complete CFA performance guide