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Vansh Chopra

Updated on May 23, 2026•others

Which one is tougher to do – CA or CFA?

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2 Answers
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Nitya Sharma
Updated on May 23, 2026

Both CA and CFA are considered difficult, but the difficulty depends on your interests and career goals. CA is usually seen as tougher in terms of passing percentage, detailed accounting laws, taxation, auditing, and long study duration in India. It also includes articleship training and multiple levels with very strict exams.

On the other hand, CFA focuses more on finance, investment analysis, portfolio management, and global financial markets. Many people find CFA conceptually challenging, especially because of its vast finance syllabus and self-study nature. Honestly, CA is often considered tougher overall because of its lower pass rates and broader practical workload, while CFA is preferred more by people interested in finance and investments.

Must Read: Top Accounting & Finance Colleges in India: Course & Fees

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Prreeti Radhika Taneja
Updated on May 23, 2026

Ithink thedifficultyof a course depends not on the curriculum but on the hard work and dedication of the students. If you’re studying hard and are following the right learning techniques, even the toughest of exams will look easier for you. But if haven’t prepared well and are not studying properly, the easiest of exams would look complex to you.

So it really depends on you which exam you find tougher—CFA or CA.

Now coming to your exact question with exact answer, when looked at the feedback of millions of students, CA doeslookdifficult. Not because the curriculum is hard but because of the completion level. Millions of students appear for the exam every day. But the clearing rate is only 2-3 percent.

On the otherhand, admittedly, CFA isn’t a very popular choice among Indian students. So competition level here is much low. So more students crack the exam! In fact, clearing rate of CFA is 40 percent.

Also, let’s not forget—Indian courses and exams are notoriously popular for being extremely (and irrelevantly) difficult for the students. And given CA is a home-grown exam and CFA isn’t, it is more difficult when compared with the later one.

Inshort, CA is more difficult—but not if you work hard.

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