Last-Month CAIA Level I 2025 Review Plan: Drills & Formula Focus

Dimitri Dangeros, CFA, CAIA
4 hours ago
3 min read

The final month before the CAIA Level I exam is make-or-break. By now, you should have covered the full curriculum, identified weak spots, and built exam stamina. The last four weeks are about refining recall speed, mastering formulas, and drilling scenarios—not learning from scratch.

This plan condenses your time into high-yield practice and formula fluency, designed for the March or September 2025 CAIA exam windows.

Core Objectives for the Final Month CAIA Level I 2025 Review Plan

Lock in formula mastery for calculation-heavy topics.
Reinforce high-weight topics with focused review.
Simulate real exam timing under fatigue conditions.
Eliminate knowledge gaps via error tracking and revision loops.

Week-by-Week Breakdown

Week 1: Formula Consolidation & High-Weight Topics

Focus Areas: CAIA Level I 2025 Review Plan

Professional Standards & Ethics (15–25%)
Introduction to Alternative Investments (20–28%)

Action Steps:

Create a one-page formula sheet (or use an existing one) including:
- Sharpe Ratio, Treynor Ratio, Sortino Ratio
- Jensen’s Alpha
- Beta, covariance, correlation
- NPV, IRR, and DCF formula variants
- CAPM
Review common ethical violations with 20+ scenario-based questions daily.
Practice basic quant problems until you can solve them in under 90 seconds.

Tip: Say formulas out loud while writing them—this strengthens recall under exam pressure.

Week 2: Alternative Asset Deep Dive

Focus Areas:

Real Assets (11–17%)
Hedge Funds (12–17%)

Action Steps:

Work through three 20-question mini-tests per day focusing only on these topics.
For Real Assets: drill valuation methods for real estate, commodities pricing models, and infrastructure risk-return profiles.
For Hedge Funds: memorize strategy categorizations (macro, relative value, event-driven, equity) and their key risk metrics.

Tip: Build comparison tables in Excel for quick side-by-side review.

Week 3: Private Markets & Niche Topics

Focus Areas:

Private Equity (6–10%)
Private Debt (9–14%)
Digital Assets (4–8%)
Funds of Funds (2–6%)

Action Steps:

Review PE/PD fund structures, J-curve effects, and valuation methods.
Drill debt covenant examples and credit risk factors.
For Digital Assets: focus on blockchain fundamentals and token classifications.
Do two 100-question mixed-topic blocks in timed conditions.

Tip: Use flashcards for niche topics to avoid losing easy points.

Week 4: Exam Simulation & Precision Review

Action Steps:

Two full-length mock exams early in the week—one in the morning, one in the afternoon—to mimic fatigue patterns.
Spend the next day post-morteming mistakes—don’t just mark answers wrong, explain why you missed them.
Final three days:
- Light formula review (morning)
- Ethics refresh (afternoon)
- Early sleep, proper nutrition, and minimal stress.

Tip: Avoid “cramming” on the last day. A calm, rested brain outperforms a stressed, overworked one.

Formula Drill Framework

Daily Routine:

Select 5–10 formulas each day.
Write them from memory, checking for accuracy.
Apply them to two practice problems each.
Switch the next day to new formulas, rotating through the full list in 4–5 days.

Example Set:

Performance: Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, Jensen’s Alpha.
Risk & Return: CAPM, Beta, covariance, correlation.
Valuation: Gordon Growth Model, DCF, IRR, NPV.
Alternative Assets: Commodity pricing formulas, real estate NOI and cap rate formulas.

High-Yield Review Priorities

Ethics scenarios—these can swing your score in close-call situations.
Quantitative basics—especially where time pressure meets calculation.
Asset class-specific valuation models—quick recognition means faster problem solving.

Mindset for the Final Month

Speed + Accuracy: The CAIA Level I exam has 200 questions; you have ~72 seconds per question. Practice pacing.
Active Recall: Test yourself constantly—don’t just reread notes.
Error Tracking: Every mistake gets logged and reviewed until fixed.
Exam Stamina: Build your ability to focus for four straight hours.

Final Takeaway

The last month is not about covering everything again—it’s about sharpening what you already know, closing gaps, and ensuring you can retrieve knowledge instantly under time pressure. With disciplined drilling, targeted formula review, and timed practice, you can enter exam day confident, prepared, and ready to perform at your best.

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