AI Just Aced Wall Street's Hardest Exam
- Dec 17, 2025
- 1 min read
A new study by Patel and colleague (2025) just found that six leading AI models now pass all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification exams, with Gemini 3.0 Pro scoring a record high of 97.6% on Level 1.
The Details
In Decemeber 2025, researchers tested GPT-5, Gemini 3.0 Pro, Claude Opus 4.1, Grok 4, and DeepSeek-V3.1 across 980 questions spanning all exam tiers.
GPT-5 topped Level II at 94.3%, while Gemini 3.0 Pro dominated the most difficult constructed-response section with 92%.
In 2023, GPT-3.5 failed the first two levels, and GPT-4 passed only Level I, with the leap to near-perfect scores taking roughly 24 months.
An NYU study in September 2024, also showed models passing all three levels, but with scores in the 70s vs. the near-perfect numbers of current frontier systems.
💬 Note - Based on the structure of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) program:
Level I: Focuses on foundational knowledge and investment tools (like ethics, economics, and financial reporting). It tests your understanding of basic concepts.
Level II: Shifts to the application and analysis of those tools, specifically for Asset Valuation. It requires analyzing data to value stocks, bonds, and other instruments.
Level III: Focuses on Portfolio Management and wealth planning. It tests how to apply concepts to real-world client scenarios and includes "constructed response" (essay) questions, which differ from the multiple-choice format of the previous levels.
Comments