Study CFA Level I While You Drive, Walk, or Train: Using a Podcast to Turn Dead Time Into Review

Most candidates study CFA Level I around a full life. The hours in front of a book are limited, and they are usually the hours you have the least energy for.

There is a second set of hours most people never count. The drive to the office. The walk to lunch. Time on the treadmill. The stretch of busy work where your hands are occupied but your mind is not. On their own, none of these are study time. But they add up to a lot of the week, and they are the easiest place to keep the material in front of you when a textbook is not an option.

Why a second pass matters

Reading a Standard once is not the same as knowing how to work it. Coming back to the same material in a different setting is one of the more reliable study habits there is. You are not trying to learn everything from a podcast. You are giving yourself another pass over material you have already read, in a format you can use with your eyes on the road or your hands on the weights. Hearing a concept explained out loud also works differently than reading it: when someone talks through why a tempting answer is wrong, the reasoning is out in the open instead of buried in a paragraph you skimmed.

Where the podcast fits

That is the idea behind the Totten Prep podcast, a CFA Level I exam prep show. It is built as a two host conversation: one host explaining the material, and the other asking the questions a candidate would actually ask and walking into the traps out loud. The current season works through Ethics and the Standards of Professional Conduct one Standard at a time, using fully fictional scenarios.

The format is made for listening while your eyes are elsewhere. A few ways candidates fit it in:

On the drive. A commute is often long enough for a full episode. Instead of a playlist you have heard a hundred times, spend it on one Standard.

On a walk. A walk around the block is enough for the part of an episode where the hosts reason through a scenario. You are moving, and the material is moving with you.

During a workout. Time on the treadmill or the bike is time your mind is free. An episode fills it without asking you to sit still and read.

During busy work. Chores, dishes, a repetitive task at your desk. The kind of work that occupies your hands and leaves room for something in your ears.

None of this replaces sitting down with the material and working practice questions. Think of it as the review layer on top: the way you keep Ethics in front of you on the days you cannot open a book.

Start here

If you want to see whether your reasoning actually holds up, test it. There is a free 90 question practice exam at Totten Prep that will show you fast whether you know the material or just recognize it. Then load the Ethics season of the Totten Prep podcast, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and let your commute, your walk, or your next workout do some of the work.

Totten Prep is independent educational content for exam preparation only. It is not investment advice, and nothing in it guarantees any exam result or score. CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute. Totten Prep is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CFA Institute, and CFA Institute does not endorse, promote, or warrant the accuracy or quality of Totten Prep's products or services.