Free CFA calculator practice

Charterly is a free calculator companion for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam. The practice library is tagged by Learning Outcome Statement (LOS), every drill shows the formula and the keystrokes for both allowed calculators, and the calculator companion catches device-specific mistakes while you work. Nothing on this page requires signup.

Browse practice drills

Open the calculator (BA II Plus)

Open the calculator (HP 12C)

What is in the free tier

• The TI BA II Plus and HP 12C calculators, in both keypad mode and form mode.
• Twelve device-specific mistake rules (M1 through M6 on the BA II Plus, H1 through H6 on the HP 12C). All free, all on by default, all dismissable.
• A practice library of more than a thousand LOS tagged drills, ten per day for free users, every drill annotated with the formula, the keystrokes, and the most common candidate error to watch for.
• A short personal dashboard with the last seven days of attempts, weakest LOSs ranked, and a cohort comparison flagged as an estimated baseline.
• Three saved scenarios at any one time, so you can preserve a calculator setup or a long cash-flow problem between sessions.
• Copy-text export of any solved problem.

Charterly Pro lifts the daily drill cap, adds full mock exams, unlocks the advanced calculator surface (Black-Scholes, DDM, Sharpe, and more), and adds PDF and Excel export. Pro is USD 9.99 per month or USD 59.00 per year, with a 7-day Pro trial. The free tier remains free forever.

See what is in Pro

How a practice session works

1. Open /questions and filter by LOS or topic.
2. Pick a drill. The drill page shows the prompt, the formula, the expected keystroke path for whichever calculator you have selected, and a hint panel that opens after a wrong answer.
3. Switch to the calculator (or use the floating calculator on the drill page) and solve the problem.
4. Submit your answer. Charterly checks tolerance against the seeded answer, records the attempt, and updates your dashboard.
5. If your keystroke path triggers a device-state warning, the warning appears next to the calculator result. The drill does not block you; you can submit your answer with or without acting on the warning.

The whole loop is on the same screen. No tab switching, no separate calculator app.

Both calculators are first class

Every drill in the library works on both the BA II Plus and the HP 12C. Where keystrokes appear in walkthrough mode, both keystroke paths are shown next to each other. The two engines share the canonical solver, so the displayed answer is the same to four decimals on either device.

If you switch your device preference mid-prep, your practice history, saved scenarios, and dashboard analytics persist. There is no "TI account" or "HP account" separation under the hood.

Read the BA II Plus setup and practice guide

Read the HP 12C setup and practice guide

What the mistake-detection layer does for practice

Most prep apps grade your final answer. Charterly's calculator additionally watches the keystroke path and the device state at the moment of the compute. If you left BGN on, or P/Y at 12, or the CF list is stale from the previous drill, a calm warning surfaces while the result is still on screen. The result is always computed. The warning is information, not a block.

This matters during practice because the candidate who consistently leaves BGN on sees the right pattern of wrong answers in their mock results but never sees the underlying cause. Charterly surfaces the cause every time the rule fires, so the habit corrects itself before exam day.

Read the twelve calculator mistakes

A calm short walkthrough

If you want to commit to twenty minutes:

1. Run the BA II Plus four-step setup checklist (or the HP 12C version) once. Two minutes.
2. Pick three drills from the practice library at random. Submit answers. Review the keystroke path on each wrong answer. Twelve minutes.
3. Check the dashboard at /dashboard. Note your weakest LOS. Six minutes.

That is the loop. Repeat for half an hour a day for a week, and the four-step setup becomes reflex, the twelve mistake rules become muscle memory, and the dashboard begins to surface real patterns.

What is intentionally not promised

• Charterly does not claim that using the free tier (or the Pro tier) improves your CFA pass rate. The product reduces calculator-driven mistakes; the candidate's exam outcome depends on many things outside this tool.
• Charterly is not affiliated with the CFA Institute, Texas Instruments, or Hewlett-Packard.
• The drill library is large but is not the full curriculum. Use Charterly alongside a curriculum provider or self-directed reading, not as a replacement.

Frequently asked questions

Is everything on this page free? Yes. The calculator, the twelve mistake rules, the question library (with a daily cap of ten on the free tier), the keystroke walkthroughs, and the seven-day dashboard are all free without signup. Charterly Pro lifts the caps and adds mock exams; the free tier does not expire.

Do I have to log in to start practicing? No. You can use the calculator, browse the library, and run drills without an account. Saving practice history beyond the free seven-day window requires an account.

Which calculator should I use? If you already own one, use it. If you are starting fresh, the device comparison page has a candid recommendation.

How fresh is the question library? The library expanded to more than a thousand LOS tagged drills in May 2026 and is refreshed as the curriculum updates. The number you see on the questions page reflects current state.

What is in Pro that is not on this page? Unlimited drills, full mock exams (three 180-question papers), advanced calculator surface (DDM, Black-Scholes, binomial, performance ratios, and more), full practice history (instead of the seven-day window), and PDF and Excel export.

Where can I read about how Charterly verifies its calculator answers? The correctness page explains the reference-case framework, Decimal.js precision, and release checks.