UWorld CFA Review (2025): The New Heavyweight?
Best for: Best for Active Learners Updated 2/15/2025Price: from 600 USD/course
Pros
- Best answer explanations
- Exam-identical interface
- Excellent flashcards
- Trusted Wiley content
Cons
- Expensive
- Questions are very hard
- Videos less engaging than Salt
In the world of high-stakes testing (medical boards, nursing, bar exams), UWorld is a legend. They are famous for one thing: having the best practice questions and explanations in the business.
Recently, UWorld acquired Wiley’s CFA prep division. This is a massive deal. It combines Wiley’s respected textbooks and video library with UWorld’s superior technology and QBank.
So, is the new UWorld CFA course a Frankenstein monster, or the perfect hybrid?
The UWorld Advantage: Rationales
The single biggest reason to choose UWorld is the explanations (rationales).
Most prep providers give you a one-sentence explanation when you get a question wrong. UWorld gives you a mini-lecture.
- Visuals: They use custom diagrams, charts, and annotated screenshots to explain why the answer is correct.
- Distractors: They explain why the wrong answers are wrong, which is crucial for understanding the nuance of the CFA exam.
- Active Learning: You learn more from doing 10 UWorld questions than reading 20 pages of text.
The Wiley Integration
If you were a fan of Wiley’s “Bite-Sized Lessons,” good news: they are still here.
- Textbooks: UWorld now uses Wiley’s excellent study guides.
- Videos: The video library has been migrated. It’s solid, lecture-style content.
- Interface: The platform has been updated to look like UWorld’s sleek interface, which mimics the actual Prometric exam environment perfectly.
The integration of Wiley into UWorld is largely complete for 2025. While there were some initial hiccups during the transition, the platform is now stable and offers a unified experience.
Pricing
UWorld has positioned itself as a premium provider, similar to Kaplan.
- Elite: ~$1,000+. Includes everything (Video, QBank, Mocks, Flashcards).
- Essential: ~$600. Good for self-study.
Pros
- **Explanations:** The best in the industry. Period.
- **Interface:** Identical to the real exam, reducing test-day anxiety.
- **Flashcards:** Excellent spaced-repetition system built in.
- **Wiley Content:** You get the depth of Wiley's trusted curriculum.
Cons
- **Price:** It's no longer the budget option it once was.
- **Video:** Lectures are good, but not as engaging as Salt Solutions.
- **Hard:** The questions are difficult, which can be demoralizing for some.
Final Verdict
UWorld is the best choice for active learners. If you prefer to learn by doing rather than reading or watching, UWorld is unbeatable. The quality of their practice questions will force you to understand the material deeply.
If you want a more passive, “hold my hand” video experience, Salt Solutions might be better. But if you want to be absolutely sure you can handle the difficulty of the exam, UWorld is the way to go.