The material and analytical skills get more demanding as you go up the CFA levels. For instance, in CFA Level 1, you are presented with straightforward, brief questions. At Level 2, you read and analyze vignettes, which are short, hypothetical situations that involve a problem you're then required to solve. You can't just fall back on past knowledge at Level 2. It is necessary to apply more specific financial principles and use them in more creative ways to address each question's requirements. CFA Level 2 requires more analysis but less memorization than Level 1. This is to challenge candidates to apply their knowledge as opposed to simply recalling it. CFA Level 3 has a morning session consisting of constructed responses, which is again more advanced than what's expected in Level 2. However, Level 3 has 38 reading sessions as opposed to Level 2, which has 48 readings. Level 3 has more study sessions than Level 2, however, with 16 rather than 14.