Pieter van der Berg, CFA, trades commodity futures for a proprietary trading firm. Shortly before a cocoa futures contract expires, he quietly buys up most of the cocoa that is eligible for delivery against the contract while also holding a large long futures position. Traders with short futures positions are forced to buy back their contracts from him at inflated prices. Did van der Berg violate the CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct?
CheapMocks · CFA® Level I prep
The whole Level I course, clearly explained. Fairly priced.
CheapMocks is a complete online course for the CFA® Level I exam: every topic in short, clear lessons, every answer explained, and every mock and practice question included, from $16.67 a month. We don't think anyone should pay $500 for a Level I course. Spaced-repetition flashcards keep it all fresh until exam day, and you can try the lessons and question bank free for 7 days.
7 days free, no card · Then from $16.67/month with the 12-month pass · The free mock is always free
Quantitative Methods · Rates and ReturnsTime-weighted vs money-weighted return- Short lessons
- 794
- Video lessons
- 218
- Flashcards
- 5,018
- Practice questions
- 2,900+
01What we stand for
Clear. Fairly priced. Built to stick.
Most exam prep is a wall of text and a $500 invoice. We don't think it has to be. CheapMocks is the opposite: explained plainly, priced fairly, and designed so you remember it.
Clarity
One idea at a time, explained properly
794 lessons of 10–15 minutes: the idea in plain words, a chart drawn from the lesson's own numbers, a worked example with BA II Plus keys and a quick self-check. Every question explains why the answer is right and why each wrong option is wrong.
- 218 animated video lessons
- 2,212 worked examples
- Every answer explained, wrong options included
Cost to value
Everything in one plan, from $16.67 a month
Lessons, videos, flashcards, the question bank and every full mock are all in All Access. No add-ons, no separate question bank to buy, no upsells.
- $199.99 for 12 months of everything, not $500+
- $149.99 for 6 months, $79.99 for 3, or $29.99 monthly
- 7 days of lessons and questions free, no card
- One full mock free for good
Consistency
A little every day beats cramming
Spaced repetition schedules your 5,018 flashcards, and the exam plan turns your date into a daily target.
Modern
Built for how you study now
A deck that works like Anki, an app for your phone's home screen and mocks in the real exam interface.
02Pricing
A Level I course shouldn't cost $500.
So ours doesn't. CheapMocks All Access unlocks the whole Academy, every mock and the question bank. Create a free account and the Academy and question bank are yours for 7 days, no card. Then subscribe monthly, or buy a 3-, 6- or 12-month pass that never renews. One full mock is always free.
7-day free trial
Free
No card needed · once per account
- Every lesson, video, flashcard and the question bank for 7 days
- The other mocks come with a plan
- Starts when you create your account
- Nothing is charged when it ends
- One full 180-question mock stays free after the trial
All AccessMonthly subscription
USD29.99
per month, billed monthly
- Every Level I mock exam, with full score reports
- The complete question bank, by topic and module
- CheapMocks Academy: every lesson, video and flashcard
- Exam plan, spaced-repetition deck and progress on every device
- Renews monthly, cancel any time
All Access3-month pass
USD26.66
per month · $79.99 once for 3 months · save 11%
- Every Level I mock exam, with full score reports
- The complete question bank, by topic and module
- CheapMocks Academy: every lesson, video and flashcard
- Exam plan, spaced-repetition deck and progress on every device
- One payment, no renewal
- 14-day money-back guarantee
All Access6-month pass
USD25.00
per month · $149.99 once for 6 months · save 17%
- Every Level I mock exam, with full score reports
- The complete question bank, by topic and module
- CheapMocks Academy: every lesson, video and flashcard
- Exam plan, spaced-repetition deck and progress on every device
- One payment, no renewal
- 14-day money-back guarantee
Best value
All Access12-month pass
USD16.67
per month · $199.99 once for 12 months · save 44%
- Every Level I mock exam, with full score reports
- The complete question bank, by topic and module
- CheapMocks Academy: every lesson, video and flashcard
- Exam plan, spaced-repetition deck and progress on every device
- One payment, no renewal
- 14-day money-back guarantee
Prices in USD, including any sales tax or VAT. Monthly renews automatically until cancelled and monthly payments are not refunded; passes never renew. Compare plans
03How the Academy works
Learn. Remember. Practise. Prove.
One loop for every topic. Learn it in a short lesson, keep it with flashcards, practise it in the question bank, then prove it in a full mock under exam conditions.
- 01 · Learn
Short lessons and videos
The idea, the formula, a worked example with calculator keys, a chart and a quick self-check.
794 lessons · 218 videos
Browse the lessons - 02 · Remember
Flashcards that come back
Finish a lesson and its cards join My deck. Spaced repetition, like Anki, schedules every review.
5,018 flashcards
Open My deck - 03 · Practise
The question bank
Drill a topic or a single learning module, with the answer and full explanation straight away.
2,900+ questions
Try the question bank - 04 · Prove
Full mock exams
180 questions in the real exam interface and timing, then a score report by topic.
First mock free
Start your free mock
04The curriculum
Every topic. Every module.
Written to the 2026 and 2027 Level I curricula: every learning module, every learning outcome. Every lesson, video and flashcard is in All Access, free for 7 days when you create an account. Exam format, topic weights and pass rates are in the exam guide.
05Inside the Academy
Built to make it stick.
Short lessons you can finish on a lunch break, visuals that show the idea, and a deck and exam plan that keep you on schedule until exam day.
Learn it
Animated video lessons
218 short videos that walk through the hardest ideas step by step, with captions, plus a video library to find them again.
Charts and diagrams that explain
1,409 charts, curves and flow diagrams drawn from the lesson's own numbers, so you see why the formula works.
Worked examples with calculator keys
2,212 worked examples from easy to exam level, 308 of them with the BA II Plus keystrokes.
A built-in BA II Plus calculator
Every question has a Calculator button that opens an on-screen BA II Plus with every key and worksheet of the real one (TVM, NPV and IRR, amortization, bonds, depreciation, statistics and more), so you can practise the keystrokes without your own calculator to hand.
Check yourself as you go
4,340 self-check questions at the end of the lessons, each answer explained, plus the exam traps to avoid.
Search every lesson
Type a term like duration, LIFO reserve or Sharpe ratio and jump straight to the section that teaches it.
Keep it
My deck, like Anki
5,018 flashcards. Finish a lesson and its cards join your deck; spaced repetition brings each one back just before you would forget it.
An exam plan that does the maths
Enter your exam date and the plan turns it into lessons per week and cards per day, and shows whether you are ahead or behind.
XP, levels, streaks and badges
Earn XP for every lesson and card, keep a daily streak going and collect 51 badges on the way from Candidate to CIO.
Study with friends
Invite friends, see a weekly leaderboard and compare progress topic by topic.
Progress synced to your account
Sign in and your lessons, deck and streak follow you from laptop to phone.
06Practise and prove
Then test it like exam day.
The question bank and the mock exams are the practice half of the Academy, included in the same plan. Drill what you just learned, then sit a full mock to see where you stand.
Question bank
2,900+ questions
Practise a whole topic, a single learning module or a mix of your weakest areas. Ten questions on the bus or a hundred on a Sunday, with no timer unless you want one.
- Answer and full working straight away
- Why each of the other two options is wrong
- Mapped to the 2026 and 2027 learning modules
- A built-in BA II Plus calculator on every question
- Ethical and Professional Standards
- Quantitative Methods
- Economics
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Corporate Issuers
- Equity Investments
- Fixed Income
- Derivatives
- Alternative Investments
- Portfolio Management
Mock exams
180 questions · 2 × 135 min
The same layout, timing and tools as the test centre: navigator, flags, highlighter and strike-through, plus a built-in BA II Plus calculator. Sit both sessions back to back or on different days.
Take the free 180-question mockA score report that tells you what to study next.
Score by topic
Weighted like the exam, for each session and the full mock.
Every question on one grid
Jump straight to your mistakes and read why the right answer is right.
Where the clock went
Time spent on each question, so you can see what slowed you down.
How you compare
Your score against everyone who sat the mock: the average, the spread and where you sit on the curve.
What to study next
Your weakest topics, each with a link to practise them.
Mock 1 · IllustrativeAbove pass range
71%
128 of 180 correct
Next stepPractise Derivatives first: it is your weakest topic.
See where you stand against everyone else.
After each session you see the average score of everyone who sat that same session, the standard deviation and where your score falls on the curve. These are the live numbers from 7 attempts at session 1 of the free mock, with an example score of 68%.
How an example score compares
- Example score
- 68%
- Average
- 63.2%
- Standard deviation
- 6.3 pts
- Better than
- ≈ 75%
4.8 points above the average (+0.8 standard deviations).
Move over the curve to compare any score.
07Try it now · no account needed
Judge the quality for yourself
5 real questions from our Level I question bank, across different topics. Pick an answer and check it: every explanation works through the solution and says why each wrong option is wrong.
- Original questions in the exam's three-option format
- Mapped to the 2026 and 2027 topics and learning modules
- Calculations checked independently before release
Using 31 monthly returns for Stock X and 41 monthly returns for Stock Y, an analyst finds sample variances of 0.00330 for X and 0.00182 for Y. He tests H0: σX² = σY² versus Ha: σX² ≠ σY² at the 5% significance level, assuming independent, normally distributed returns. For 30 and 40 degrees of freedom, the upper 2.5% critical F-value is 1.94 and the upper 5% critical F-value is 1.74.
The analyst should most appropriately:
A corporate bond has a yield-to-maturity of 4.10% calculated on a 30/360 day-count basis. A government bond of the same maturity yields 3.55% on an actual/actual basis. Using the government equivalent yield of the corporate bond, the yield spread between the two bonds is closest to:
An analyst researching a mid-sized chemicals producer gathers a credit rating agency's report on the issuer and data downloaded from a paid financial data platform. These information sources are best classified as:
The investment committee of the Ngata Community Foundation has agreed on the maximum overall risk the endowment may bear and now wants to translate that decision into guidance for its portfolio managers.
The committee's next step is best described as:
1 of 5
08Quality
Questions you can trust.
Practice is only useful if its answers are right. Every question goes through the same checks before anyone sees it. How we make questions.
01
Written to one house style
Three options, one best answer, realistic distractors, and never a formula handed to you in the question.
02
Every number recomputed
Each numerical answer and each numerical distractor is calculated again, independently, before release.
03
Reviewed before it goes live
A question appears only after approval, and a mock only when all 180 of its questions are approved.
04
Watched after release
Every question has a Report an error button, and questions that behave oddly in the statistics are checked again.
Clear and makes learning easier
The animated videos are really clear and the website and I found the topics to be easier to learn using this course than the official LES
09Questions people ask
Straight answers to the usual questions.
Anything else? Email support@cheapmocks.com or see Contact.
Q.01What is CheapMocks Academy?
Clear, affordable CFA® Level I prep: short lessons and every answer explained, with everything (lessons, flashcards, the question bank and every mock) in one low-priced plan, kept fresh by spaced repetition. It covers the 2026 and 2027 curricula in 794 short lessons across 117 learning modules, with 218 animated video lessons, worked examples with BA II Plus keys, self-check questions and 5,018 spaced-repetition flashcards. The question bank and full-length mock exams are part of it, for practice and for testing yourself under exam conditions.
Q.02What can I use for free?
Create a free account with your email or Google and you get 7 days free: every lesson, video and flashcard, and the question bank. No card needed. The full 180-question free mock exam with its score report needs no account at all and stays free, the first lesson of every module is open to everyone, and the titles and key points of the rest are too.
Q.03Are the mock exams and the question bank included?
Yes. One plan, CheapMocks All Access, covers the whole Academy, every Level I mock exam with its score report and the complete question bank. There is nothing to buy separately.
Q.04How does the free trial work?
The 7-day free trial starts when you create your account. It needs no card, unlocks the whole Academy and the question bank, and is once per account. The other mocks are not part of the trial: they come with a monthly subscription or a pass. When the trial ends nothing is charged: lessons and the question bank lock until you pick a plan, and your progress, deck and the free mock stay.
Q.05What are the plans, and can I cancel?
The monthly subscription is $29.99 a month and renews automatically until you cancel; cancel any time from your account page and keep access to the end of the paid month. The 3-month pass ($79.99), 6-month pass ($149.99) and 12-month pass ($199.99) are one payment with no renewal, so there is nothing to cancel. Buying another pass adds its months after your current end date.
Q.06Which curriculum does the Academy follow?
Both the 2026 and the 2027 Level I curriculum. Your exam date picks the right one: exams in 2026 follow the 2026 curriculum, exams from February 2027 the 2027 curriculum, and you can switch at any time. Lessons, flashcards, the question bank and the mocks follow your curriculum: the 2027 version has the rebuilt Quantitative Methods and Equities modules, one module per Ethics Standard and no GIPS.
Q.07How do the flashcards work?
Like Anki. When you finish a lesson its cards join My deck. Rate each card Again, Hard, Good or Easy and spaced repetition schedules the next review, so you spend your time on what you are about to forget. Set your exam date and the exam plan tells you how many cards and lessons to do.
Q.08What does the question bank cover?
2,900 practice questions so far, covering Ethical and Professional Standards, Quantitative Methods, Economics, Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Issuers, Equity Investments, Fixed Income, Derivatives, Alternative Investments, Portfolio Management. Practise whole topics or single learning modules, with the answer and explanation straight away.
Q.09Do I need my own calculator?
Not to study here. Every question, in the lessons, the question bank and the mock exams, has a Calculator button that opens a built-in BA II Plus: the same keypad and every worksheet of the real one, from time value of money, NPV and IRR to amortization, bond pricing, depreciation, date counts and statistics, keyed just like the real one. On exam day you still bring your own BA II Plus (or HP 12C), so practising the same keystrokes here pays off.
Q.10Are these real CFA exam questions?
No. Every lesson, flashcard and question is original, written to match the style, difficulty and topic weights of the Level I exam. Real exam questions are confidential.
Q.11Can I pause a mock or split it over two days?
Yes, between sessions. Each mock has two 135-minute sessions: finish Session 1, review your answers, and start Session 2 whenever you like, even another day. Within a session the clock keeps running, as it would in a test centre, and your answers save as you go.
Q.12Can I get a refund?
The 3-month pass, 6-month pass and 12-month pass have a 14-day money-back guarantee from the payment date. Monthly payments are not refunded, but you can cancel any time and keep access to the end of the paid month. The free trial costs nothing, so there is nothing to refund. See the Refund Policy for the details. Payments are handled securely by Paddle.
Q.13Why is it so much cheaper than other providers?
Because we don't think anyone should pay $500 for a Level I course. We run a lean web platform and sell directly, and one low-priced plan covers the lessons, flashcards, question bank and mocks, so you do not pay separately for each. Being cheap is the point, not a compromise: every lesson and question goes through the same checks.
Q.14Do you guarantee a pass?
No one can. The Academy helps you learn and remember the curriculum, and the mocks show you where you stand, but the result depends on your preparation.
7 days of lessons and questions free · No card needed
Clearly explained. Fairly priced.
The whole course, every practice question and every mock in one plan from $16.67 a month. Create a free account and the lessons and question bank are yours for 7 days, or start with the free mock.