Why Pre-Packaged CFA Prep Materials Can Disempower Candidates — And What to Do Instead

From Traditional Teaching to Transformational Learning

For almost 2o years, I was deeply involved in teaching traditional CFA exam prep — the kind that revolves around videos, formula sheets, premade flashcards, and question banks. It worked for some. Candidates followed a structured routine, consumed the material, practiced diligently, and often passed. But over time, I began to notice something unsettling: despite all the materials, many candidates weren’t truly learning. They were mimicking. Memorizing. Hoping for patterns. And when the structure disappeared — during the exam or in real-world roles — their confidence often collapsed.

The Illusion of Progress

Pre-packaged study tools give the appearance of productivity. Playlists get checked off. Dashboards show progress bars. Familiarity with topics grows. But familiarity is not mastery. When CFA candidates passively consume content — especially at double speed — they reinforce shallow recognition, not deep understanding. Real learning demands friction. Real learning is difficult. Without the struggle to articulate, connect, and apply ideas, the knowledge evaporates under pressure.

The Problem with Passive Learning

Watching someone else explain a concept is not the same as being able to explain it yourself. Repeating someone else’s flashcards is not the same as choosing what’s worth remembering and why. Outsourcing these decisions turns candidates into spectators, not strategists. The CFA exam — and investment careers more broadly — require initiative, discretion, and judgment. If you don’t practice making sense of complexity during your studies, you won’t have the reflexes when it matters most.

Confidence Comes From Construction

There’s a deeper cost to passive prep: it undermines self-trust. When you build your own notes, draw your own diagrams, and teach the material back to yourself or others, you internalize it. You own it. This is how real confidence is formed — not by watching others perform, but by doing the work yourself, grappling with uncertainty, and forming clarity through effort. Pre-made tools rob candidates of this essential growth.

Preparing for the CFA Exam — or for the Investment Management Career?

The CFA exam isn’t the finish line. It’s a gate. Passing it with shortcuts leaves you unprepared for what comes next. In a profession where clients demand answers, markets shift suddenly, and decisions must be made under ambiguity, surface-level understanding isn’t enough. Candidates who lean too hard on pre-packaged prep often enter the workforce reliant on someone else’s lens — unable to frame problems clearly, question assumptions, or articulate ideas with conviction.

A New Way Forward: Active Learning

That’s why I changed how I work with CFA candidates. I no longer focus on “helping people get through the exam.” Instead, I help people learn how to learn — with strategies that deepen understanding, build independence, and transfer to real professional situations. I incorporate the Feynman technique, where candidates explain concepts to me in plain (exam) English simply as a test of true comprehension. I teach note-making methods like Zettelkasten, which build layered insight over time. These are not hacks — they are frameworks that train the mind to think.

The Strategic Edge That Matters

In today’s noisy, AI-saturated world, it’s not access to information that sets you apart — it’s judgment. The ability to filter signal from noise, to connect dots others miss, and to act with clarity in uncertainty. These qualities are not developed by clicking “play next video.” They are forged through intentional, active engagement with hard material — starting with the CFA curriculum itself. If you train yourself to think, reflect, and explain now, you’ll carry that edge long after exam day.

Build a Foundation That Lasts

The CFA charter should signal more than competence — it should reflect character, curiosity, and clarity. But that only happens when candidates choose to engage fully with the material, not skate across its surface. The time you spend now, wrestling with complex ideas and building your own understanding, is not just exam prep. It’s career prep. Life prep. And it’s worth doing the hard way — because that’s the only way it truly sticks.

The choice is yours: chase efficiency and remain dependent, or embrace difficulty and emerge stronger. One path leads to passing. The other leads to mastery.