Best CFA Level I prep provider: Meldrum, AnalystPrep, Schweser or the official study platform

Start with what your exam fee already buys

Every Level I registration includes the Learning Ecosystem, CFA Institute's study platform. CFA Institute lists the full curriculum for your selected exam, 1,000+ practice questions, two official mock exams released about 60 days before each exam window, a study planner and curriculum-based flashcards. It is also where you complete the Practical Skills Module, which CFA Institute requires at each level before you receive your result.

That is enough material to pass. What it lacks is teaching. The curriculum readings are long, and the practice questions come without the video walkthroughs that most candidates lean on for quantitative methods, fixed income and financial statement analysis.

So the honest answer to "best free CFA Level I prep" is the Learning Ecosystem you already paid for. Work through its questions and both mocks before buying any extra question bank.

CFA Institute also sells an optional Practice Pack. Its page lists five Level I mock exams, 1,000 extra Level I questions and one mock that runs in the Prometric interface with exam-day timing. The price shows only after you sign in. CFA Institute's page says candidates who score 70% on at least one official mock exam are nearly twice as likely to pass. That is CFA Institute's own figure, but it gives you a clear target for your final month.

Mark Meldrum: video teaching that follows the curriculum

Mark Meldrum's 2027 Level I packages, as listed on his site on 2 November 2026:

• Self-Study, $440. LOS-by-LOS reading videos, end-of-chapter question walkthroughs, seminar videos on harder concepts, lecture PDF notes, a Q-Bank, a formula sheet, live office hours and up to 10 instructor questions. Mock exams for the February 2027 window open on 15 December 2026, and the package expires on 2 March 2027.
• Self-Study + Applied Analysis, $750. Adds sector deep dives, financial modelling and AI applications that go beyond the exam.
• Instructor-Led Online, $1,310. Adds 30+ hours of live classes built around exam-style questions and up to 30 instructor questions.
• Instructor-Led Online + Applied Analysis, $1,630.

Meldrum's videos follow CFA Institute's own books reading by reading, so you study the official curriculum with a teacher beside it rather than replacing it with condensed notes. That is the main difference from Schweser. The trade-off is length: Meldrum's route takes longer than reading summaries.

The packages are sold per exam window and only to registered candidates. Meldrum charges $100 for a one-time move to an earlier or later window, so pick your window before you buy.

The Applied Analysis add-on is optional. Nothing in it is examined at Level I.

AnalystPrep: the large question bank

AnalystPrep's Level I page listed four packages on 2 November 2026:

• Practice Package, $349 (shown against $399). 4,000 practice questions, five full-length computer-based mock exams, a formula sheet, performance tracking and 12 months of access.
• Learn + Practice Package, $499 (shown against $599). Adds 60 hours of video lessons and 2,000 pages of study notes.
• Unlimited Package, $799 (shown against $1,297). All three levels, unlimited tutor questions and lifetime access with yearly curriculum updates.
• Unlimited+ Package, $1,299. Adds weekly live classes for Level I.

The Practice Package is the cheapest way here to add a large question bank and five more mocks on top of the Learning Ecosystem. If you have studied the curriculum and need volume, it does that job for $349.

The Unlimited Package only makes sense if you are certain you will sit all three levels. Paying for Levels II and III now ties money up in material you cannot use until you pass Level I.

Kaplan Schweser, and is it worth it

Kaplan Schweser sells CFA prep built around SchweserNotes, condensed summaries of each reading, along with its own question bank and mock exams. Schweser's site blocked automated access when prices were checked for this page on 2 November 2026, so no Schweser price appears here, and nothing on this page compares its packages with the others on cost.

Whether Schweser is worth it depends on how you learn. Condensed notes save reading time, which matters if you study around a full-time job. The cost is distance from the official text: questions on the exam are written from the CFA Institute curriculum, and a summary can drop details that the curriculum examines.

If you buy Schweser, keep using the Learning Ecosystem's practice questions and official mocks. They come from the exam's own question writers.

Compare Schweser's current Level I packages on schweser.com against Meldrum's $440 Self-Study and AnalystPrep's $499 Learn + Practice before you decide, because both include video teaching and questions at those prices.

The 2027 exam dates and fees

CFA Institute's dates and fees tool showed these Level I windows on 2 November 2026:

• February 2027. Exams 22 to 28 February. Registration closes 5 November 2026 and the scheduling deadline is 10 November 2026. Only the standard fee of $1,490 applies now.
• May 2027. Exams 11 to 17 May. The early deadline has passed, so the fee is $1,490. Registration closes 10 February 2027.
• August 2027. Exams 15 to 22 August. Registration opens 3 November 2026, the early fee is $1,140 until 20 January 2027, and the standard fee is $1,490 after that.
• November 2027. Exams 13 to 19 November.

The one-time enrollment fee showed as zero for these windows. CFA Institute charges $250 to reschedule within your window, and missed exams forfeit the fee. You can sit the exam at most twice a calendar year, not in consecutive windows or windows within six months of each other.

The practical choice for most people reading this in November: if you have not registered for February, aim for August and register early. You pay the $1,140 early fee instead of $1,490 and gain about six months of study, which fits CFA Institute's 300-hour figure if you study 12 or more hours a week.

The 2027 curriculum changed the topic weights

CFA Institute publishes separate Level I topic weights for 2026 and 2027, and they differ. For 2027, Ethical and Professional Standards is 10 to 15% (15 to 20% in 2026), Quantitative Methods is 11 to 14% (6 to 9%), and Portfolio Construction is 8 to 12%. Several topics were renamed: Corporate Issuers became Corporate Finance, Equity Investments became Equities, and Derivatives became Derivatives and Risk Management at 6 to 9%.

Two consequences for buying prep:

1. Buy a 2027 package. A 2026 package drills the old weights and the old topic boundaries. Meldrum sells separate 2027 Level I packages. Check that any provider's product names your exam year.
2. Rebalance your hours. Quantitative Methods roughly doubled in weight. If you were planning to lean on Ethics as a high-weight, easy-marks topic, it now carries less.

The CFA exam page has the format and question style in full.

How to combine providers without paying twice

Three combinations cover almost everyone.

1. Budget: Learning Ecosystem plus one teaching source. Add Meldrum's Self-Study at $440 or AnalystPrep's Learn + Practice at $499. Use the provider for teaching and the Learning Ecosystem for questions and both official mocks.
2. Question-heavy: Learning Ecosystem plus AnalystPrep Practice. If you learn from reading and need volume, $349 adds 4,000 questions and five mocks.
3. Structured: Meldrum Instructor-Led Online. At $1,310, live classes suit candidates who will not keep a self-study schedule alongside a job.

Do not buy two video courses. They teach the same readings, and the hours you spend watching the second are hours not spent on questions.

Whatever you buy, finish with official mocks. Aim for 70% on at least one before your exam, per CFA Institute's own guidance on the Practice Pack page. If you fall short, what to do after failing CFA Level I covers the retake timing. For the decision before all of this, CFA vs CPA and CFA vs FRM compare the credentials, and how long to study for CFA Level I sets out the hours by week.