# Reasoning Models Ace the CFA Exams

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.08270 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.08270/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 12 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Dec 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [GPT-4 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08774/) (2023)
- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [GPT-4o System Card](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.21276/) (2024)
- [Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06261/) (2025)
- [FinBen: A Holistic Financial Benchmark for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12659/) (2024)
- [FinGPT: Democratizing Internet-scale Data for Financial Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10485/) (2023)
- [Can GPT models be Financial Analysts? An Evaluation of ChatGPT and GPT-4 on mock CFA Exams](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08678/) (2023)
- [Advanced Financial Reasoning at Scale: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Large Language Models on CFA Level III](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.02954/) (2025)
- [Multimodal Financial Foundation Models (MFFMs): Progress, Prospects, and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01973/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [FinExam-10K: When Retrieval Helps Financial Reasoning?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.28155/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Previous research has reported that large language models (LLMs) demonstrate poor performance on the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams. However, recent reasoning models have achieved strong results on graduate-level academic and professional examinations across various disciplines. In this paper, we evaluate state-of-the-art reasoning models on a set of mock CFA exams consisting of 980 questions across three Level I exams, two Level II exams, and three Level III exams. Using the same pass/fail criteria from prior studies, we find that most models clear all three levels. The models that pass, ordered by overall performance, are Gemini 3.0 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Pro, GPT-5, Grok 4, Claude Opus 4.1, and DeepSeek-V3.1. Specifically, Gemini 3.0 Pro achieves a record score of 97.6% on Level I. Performance is also strong on Level II, led by GPT-5 at 94.3%. On Level III, Gemini 2.5 Pro attains the highest score with 86.4% on multiple-choice questions while Gemini 3.0 Pro achieves 92.0% on constructed-response questions.