Why the CFA Program has Levels in it?

The day I got myself enrolled in the CFA Program, I started thinking why the program has levels in it? I did check the CFA Institute website but couldn't find the answer there. Thought of asking it from any official in the CFA institute but postponed the idea as I didn't find it material to be discussed. Time went on I appeared in the exam in June 2011 with quite a few friends and passed the exam. Unfortunately a few among those who accompanied me during my journey in Level I were not able to pass the exam and are either repeating or left the field. After meeting a few of them I tried to figure out the reasons of failure as they could help me out in making myself better in Level II as it is way more in-depth and harder than its predecessor.

Innumerable reasons came in front me. I used to sit in my leisure time and recall the behavior of my friends towards their studies and used to inquire from them the reasons why they failed. Surprisingly it was then in the quest of identifying the reasons of failure; I figured out my analogy of why the CFA exam has levels in it. 

As we all know that the exam does not have any prerequisite knowledge requirements related to field, though it does require 16 years of education or 14 years of education with 2 years experience, a few of my friends who failed had finance background and they had allegiance with what the curriculum was saying or the topics covered in Level I were elaborating.

According to the exam, when we enroll ourselves in the CFA program we are technically at Level 0. It is like an initial stage. We begin our journey by learning a lot of things and equip ourselves with both the knowledge and desired skills to jump to the next level and then there comes a combat - the exam, which eliminates some people with inadequate skills of knowledge and allow some to promote for the next level. It sounds quite simple but if we look into its depth, passing Level I does not only make you eligible for the Level II exam but also ensures you that you have attained certain level of expertise which make you eligible enough to explore the depth of Level II. Those who think the Level will fall to their conscious (knowledge + skill) stage most likely fail in the exam as due to excellence guaranteed by the exam it cannot afford to lower its level at the conscious stage of the candidate but it ensures that the ability of the candidate rises and matches the benchmark set by the exam. 

It seems philosophical but if we surrender ourselves before the curriculum and read it with core purpose of learning and getting its essence out of it, irrespective of what we already know, our chances of passing the exam rise significantly. The moment we feel that we already know this or at some other stage or class we had read this in some other way and that was more productive etc. we get distracted. So in order to get the best out of our efforts one prerequisite necessary to better understanding is that we must surrender ourselves at enrollment, consider ourselves at Level 0, begin the journey like we know nothing and learn the maximum out of the CFA Program and get ready for the combat. I think it will greatly improve the probability to pass the exam. Based on my personal experience, as I had no finance background, I can certainly exclaim that it really works well!