All the curriculum changes you need to know for Level III CFA® Program exam

Signing up for the CFA® Program exam in 2019? Here're all the curriculum updates you must know!

The curriculum changes guide in this post is copyright of and kindly provided by AB Maximus' textbook partner, Wiley Efficient Learning.

News of an upcoming inclusion of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin into the CFA® Program curriculum made ripples in the finance world earlier this year.

But it isn't a one-off inclusion - just a big one that made headlines.

CFA Institute regularly revises and updates the exam curriculum every year to ensure that your study materials and tests reflect up-to-date knowledge. This is to ensure the skills you learn while on the CFA® Program are relevant and will give you the best chance to be a successful investment professional.

This year, our friends at Wiley have published a handy guide to the curriculum changes for 2019. Whether you're a new student tackling practice papers or a seasoned student retaking the exams, it's important to be familiar with these changes.

For a downloadable pdf of all the changes, please scroll to the bottom.

Changes to the 2019 curriculum are as follows. Content changes are marked in green and study sessions with new names are marked in red.

New chapters are marked in blue, and removed chapters are marked in grey.

*In general, study sessions have been renamed with simpler names. For example, Ethical and Professional Standards had 2 study sessions in 2018, each with a different name. The new names for 2019 will be simply "Ethical and Professional Standards 1", "Ethical and Professional Standards 2".

Ethical and Professional Standards:

Changes to Reading 1, 2 and 3
Renamed from Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct to Ethical and Professional Standards (1)
Renamed from Ethical and Professional Standards in Practice to Ethical and Professional Standards (2)

Behavioral Finance:

Renamed from Behavioral Finance to The Asset Management Industry and Professionalism
Renamed from Private Wealth Management (1) to Behavioral Finance
New Reading: Overview of the Asset Management Industry and Portfolio Management
New Reading: Professionalism in Investment Management

Renamed from Private Wealth Management (2) to Private Wealth Management (1)
Renamed from Portfolio Management for Institutional Investors to Private Wealth Management (2)
Changes to Reading 10, 11, 12 and 13

Capital Market Expectations:

Renamed from Applications of Economic Analysis to Portfolio Management for Institutional Investors

Asset Allocation:

Renamed from Asset Allocation and Related Decisions in Portfolio Management (1) to Applications of Economic Analysis to Portfolio Management
Renamed from Asset Allocation and Related Decisions in Portfolio Management (2) to Asset Allocation and Related Decisions in Portfolio Management (1)
New Chapter: Asset Allocation and Related Decisions in Portfolio Management (2)
Changes to Reading 16, 17, 18 and 20
New Reading: Analysis of Financial Institutions

Fixed Income and Equity Portfolio Management:

Removed reading: Reading 25: Equity Portfolio Management
New Chapter: Equity Portfolio Management (2)
4 New Readings: Introduction to Equity Portfolio Management, Introduction to Equity Portfolio Management, Passive Equity Investing, Active Equity Investing: Strategies and Active Equity Investing: Portfolio Construction
Changes to Reading 22, 23, 24 and 25