CFA Last month Prep

Hi All,

I gave my first Practice exam morn and aft session.

I scored 50% marks and m not sure how to begin my revisions… I am very nervous now… Please help how shoudl i go forward…

Thanks…

Shruti

What practice exam? CFAI or Kaplan?

You will need to work very hard in the remaining 32 days. I am scoring 70-75% in Kaplan mocks and I still feel I have a lot of work to do to be confident of passing.

Do at least one 3 hour exam every 3 days. 1 day for exam, 1.5 days for review (approx 15-20hrs per week). The review is the most important thing as you will see where your gaps are. Learn your gaps and attempt another practice exam. By the end of this you will have completed 5-6 full 6hr exams.

Make sure you do all the CFAI EOCs as well as CFAI practice topic tests online.

I am completing 100 question schwesher q bank tests using all sections (this gives questions in the exam weights I believe). I am averaging 75 to 82% on these mini practice tests, using questions that I have not attempted yet. How am I doing?

Ive found Schweser QBank to be a lot easier than practice exam questions. You should go straight to practice exam questions now, especially CFAI ones.

i have done qbank of schweser… and was scoring 70% average on them… Now when i solved my schweser practice exam papers i feel i forgot alot of formulaes and concepts… Not that i dont know… but i could not recollect at the time of giving the exam…

i am solving the question paper thoroughly and i guess i ll be revising and thought of giving 6 hour full exams evry week. So by the exam date i ll complete 4 full 6 hour exams…

CFAI mock is the best gauge. If you’re 70%+ on it you’re money. Just keep reviewing and you’ll be fine. Mid 60s, keep working this last month and you’ll probably get there. If you’re sub 60 on CFAI, you’re probably toast but might as well keep working hard and see what happens.

Shrutic, since you were scoring 70% average on qbank, you definitely know the material. Now all you need to do is consolidate your understanding, and memorize all the formulas. You have a good shot.

If you do the CFAI mock exams and other practice exams (recommend around 6), you would be able to review the entire material efficiently. As you work your way through the practice exams, you will notice your progress and gain confidence.

In this last month, don’t try to master everything in the curriculum. Instead, focus on the major topics (FRA, Ethics, Quant) rather than spending too much time on details from the minor portions (such as AI and Derivatives). Study hard in the next 3 weeks, but go a bit easier in the last week before the exam. You want to be mentally fresh for the e-day. If possible, take the last week before the exam off from work. Study maybe 5-6 hours a day in that week but perhaps only 3 hours in the last couple of days just before the exam (these hours are just a guideline, would vary depending on the individual).

We discuss more details on the last month preparation strategy in this short video: https://youtu.be/C3QY2edKgdA

Good luck on the exam!

BullishBear Finance

Thank you! i have started reveiwing the whole course from the schweser notes… the only prob is i m forgetting the stuffs…

so my target is to review evrything by 20th may.

Thank you! Your video is helpful. I have seen that video before. Can yuou suggest me what shoudl i do? I was thinking of starting revising from schweser notes by going the all teh chapters.

But i have to asl give practice exams and solve them so what do u suggest will be better?

thanks alot for your updates and feedback.

Shrutic, my only advice to you is to spend as little time in the material reading/reviewing, and as much time as possible in mock exams and practice problems. Re-reading material or reviewing does very little help, unless you are sufficiently weak in that area. Having said that, I am in a very similiar position like you.

And the formulas, memorize them. Knowing them, but not being able to recall them on test day wont get you any points. To give you a little confidence, I know people that were mocking in the 60% range, and never mocked near the pass rate, and still passed L1 on test day. Stay vigilant and you can make it happen.

Shrutic, reading everything at this stage is probably not the best use of your time. Instead, focus on mock exams, blue box questions, EOC questions, memorizing formulas. If there is a particular area that keeps giving you trouble, go back and read that particular chapter.

One month is a long time, make the best of it and you may be pleasantly surprised smiley

BullishBear Finance

shoudl i doing eoc questions from schweser notes or just CFAI?

Honestly, your strategy should be to address CFA EOC questions first…

Afterwards, start spending a small portion of your study efforts each day making notecards of formulas and defnitions you do not know, and memorizing. Spend the rest of your study day reviewing mocks or taking mocks until the end. Repitition will get you there with the formulas you are struggling with. Everything else you can put on a notecard and drill it down.