Margaret Franklin, the new head of the CFA Institute, failed her first round of tests when studying to become a chartered financial analyst.
She sat the first part of the CFA exams in 1994 as a new mother of a one-month-old boy. “I fell asleep in the morning exam. I thought I’d put my head down for just a moment and woke up significantly later, and did not pass my first level,” she says.
Although few will have made what she describes as an “insane” decision to take the test as a new mother, she is not alone when it comes to failing the CFA exams, which have been dubbed the world’s hardest. Only about 40 per cent pass the first level of the CFA exams, which are widely taken across the asset management industry. Fewer than one in five go on to receive the charter, which Ms Franklin was awarded in 1997.