Plan of Attack

Im taking level 2 for the second time as I’m sure many of you are. Whats everyones strategy this time around?

I got the offical CFA materials this time around after strictily using schweser last time (ended up band 7).

The issue for me is the offical material seems just seems insane (~3000 pages compared about half that for schweser)

How are people attacking the material AND actually planning on retaining it…

yeah, its insane :slight_smile: i am attacking it these days, total focus on Official Study Material, its really professional & superb, but not easy to digest …

M4 holographic + nade launcher attachment

Stopping power, sleight of hand, sitrep

Honestly though, is Schweser really half the pages?

if i remember correctly its like ~3000 pages vs ~1800 or something.

currently going through capital budgeting in corporate finance … interesting topic

Read the CFAI. No shortcuts, no problems.

My strategy for this tme:

  1. read and highlight CFAI books

  2. make notes to check if everything in the sistem

  3. Schweser Concept Checkers from last year

  4. Finquiz notes and qbank

  5. CFAI EOC and blueboxes

Yes, it requires all my time (+ I work full-time and have family duties), but I really want to pass this year.

Also I plan to take some day-off to repeat material during the year.

seems to be the master plan :slight_smile:

I passed level 1 this past december and got band 8 for the June sitting of level II. Got over 70 in equity, ethics and FRA so I was happy about that but still failed. Didn’t have enough time to complete everything in the 4 months. I’m pretty positive with the CFAI books I would pass on my own this year but I decided to take the CFA level II course at university of toronto.

Pass rate for students is 94% and I’ve talked to students who took it and they said it’s pretty sweet. Pricey at 3 grand but I don’t want to waste a year and also I dont have the energy to just read the texts again.

I passed level 1 this past december and got band 8 for the June sitting of level II. Got over 70 in equity, ethics and FRA so I was happy about that but still failed. Didn’t have enough time to complete everything in the 4 months. I’m pretty positive with the CFAI books I would pass on my own this year but I decided to take the CFA level II course at university of toronto.

Pass rate for students is 94% and I’ve talked to students who took it and they said it’s pretty sweet. Pricey at 3 grand but I don’t want to waste a year and also I dont have the energy to just read the texts again.

yeah i was in the same boat passing in december then coming right after it in june- still i think it was more the content that was tested than my mastery of it. I really feel like just going after the core things didnt work well last time.

Any advice for those of you who used the ciriculum before? Do you skim? take notes as you go? just do EOC?

attack the jugular

do tons of practice problems

I’m reviewing using Elan (used Schweser last year) until Xmas, then in Jan and Feb I am going to read CFAI chapters on FRA, Corp Fi, Derivatives, and Fixed Income, then I am going to spend March, April and May doing blue boxes/EOC’s and Mocks until my eyes bleed

I passed L1 in Dec and was fortunate enough to pass L2 in June on the short schedule. Even shorter really because I switched halfway through ditching Schweser to go straight CFAI.

Anyhow, I skimmed CFAI cover to cover highlighting key points. This way you can cover many pages quickly rather than reading word for word. I also skipped most of the ridiculous blue boxes (some of which are many pages long and delve into far more detail than necessary). Did all EOCs though.

After skimming entire CFAI, went back through all materials again reading only highlights. And did EOCs again. Was left w/ just enough time to do a couple mocks. Passed >70 in all topics except econ and AI.

Where are people getting the practice problems this time around? I used the Schweser Qbank for L1 - not sure if there is a Qbank for L2? Is there any other source for practice problems that would be better for practicing and retaining the material?

I think CFAI is great.

Used strictly EOCs and mocks for L1 and L2.

I waited until the final 2 weeks of the exam before doing any practice problems; but if you want to do them after each chapter as a review and recycle the questions for final reveiw, I think that’s fine too.

there is a q-bank for L2. However, i would suggest using it only as a way to refresh yourself on weak topics. Qbank does not provide for very many item set type questions, and the ones it does have, aren’t that great. Your best source for practice questions are obviously EOCs and the topic-based practice tests provided by CFAI on its website.

Do 8 practice exams. That was my strategy for L2 and L3 (only did 6 for L1). Go HAM, if you feel like you have time to hang out with people after work and are not staying in the office studying on Friday nights and not waking up on Saturdays to study, eat, study, maybe watch some netflix, study, sleep, and then repeat on Sunday…then you are not going hard enough. I did ~260 hours from mid-March through May for L2…most peoples problem is that they slack and they think they’re studying hard but theyre not. If you actually devote all of your time after work and weekends to studying like a hermit…you won’t fail. Be anti-social…works every time…you’ll have time for others after you’re done with the exam.

+1

What are people’s strategies for tackling EOCs? If you don’t know how to do a calculation, do you:

  1. flip back and forth between the topic and the question? 2) leave the question for now and read the topic again?

Let’s say I don’t know the forward premium formula. Even though I try to understand it by going back to the book, I feel like it’s cheating if I just copy down the formula and just plug in the numbers (because everyone knows how to plug in numbers)