Skipped Derivatives and Alt. Investments in L1, Passed, Need Suggestions

CFA Level II
#1

Hi Everyone,

I’m just looking for some suggestions on how I should start my level 2 studies. I miraculously passed level 1. I completely skipped the textbook on Derivatives and Alt. Investments because I ran out of time and needed to focus more on FRA and Quants. I used only the CFAI books and resources. Here’s my result:

  • <=50%

  • 51-70

  • >70

  • Alternative Investments 8 - - * - Corporate Finance 20 - - * - Derivatives 12 * - - - Economics 24 - * - - Equity Investments 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 48 - * - - Fixed Income Investments 28 * - - - Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Methods 28 * - -

I believe that I was on the borderline of passing based on my buckets above. I did well on Alt. Inv (not sure how) and failed Derivatives. In L1, these are small weighted areas but in L2, the topic weights range from 5-10 and 5-15% respectively. This concerns me as I could get unlucky and get an exam with 15% Derivatives.

My questions is: Should I review L1 Alt Inv. and Derivatives content before starting L2? I plan on actually reading all the text books for L2, again using the CFAI books. For that matter, do you guys recommend reviewing all of the L1 curriculum as a refresher? I spent well over the 300 recommended hours of studying so I know I need to start earlier and study harder for L2.

Quants is by far my worst subject. I don’t know why, but I always struggled with it (I barely passed it in my undergrad). Maybe I should focus more on reviewing that instead?

I appreciate any feedback.

#2

Essentially everything you need to know at Level II is contained in the Level II curriculum. You should read that first. If there are some fundamentals that you don’t get after that (and I’d be quite surprised if there were), you can go back to the Level I material. But it would surprise me if you need to.

#3

For derivatives, there are various optional segments contained within the L2 curriculum. I suggest you read through those.

#4

Do some Derivatives refresher from Level 1 (Secret Sauce) as they are going to build up in L2 and it will brutal if you don’t know the basics and concept from L1.