Who has started studying ?

Going to start studying today. Figured may as well give myself exactly 7 months.

Just read a page of FRA and am already exhausted. Have not done any sort of academics since last June. This is going to be tough to get on that grind again.

Reading ethics in my spare time at work. My plan is to do all the chapters in order this time. I failed in June after jumping around the readings too much and running out of time. Hopefully should be able to get a good flow this time around.

Officially started on the weekend, though I passively read through Ethics, Quant and some FRA over the past few weeks so I knew roughly what lay ahead. Up and running with a study plan, fingers crossed I can stick to it through the holiday season!

Best of luck with breaking the starting inertia!

I am planning to start studying in January but I know a lot of people have already started studying. Not sure which one is better though.

I started a while ago. The brunt of my study work is actually just reading through the material, taking notes, and doing all the EOC and blue boxes. This takes a LOT of time because I use the CFA material and I take notes in depth-to actually understand everything. This worked really well for me with level 1, thought the exam was really easy and passed with >70% in all topics except FRA (50-70%, made some stupid mistakes). The problem is it just takes a long time so I have to start earlier.

It’s not bad though, it’s gradual studying and I don’t have to kill myself or stress over it too hard. This first process takes me about 4 months (probably 300 hours just here). And then the next process is really chill, I will understand everything in the course at this time and know how to do all the questions so it’s just reading over my notes, repetition to really active the long term memory, and then drilling all the topic tests. Then 2 months out it’s mocks till I drop. I just started reading and taking notes on volume 5 so I’m almost 67% of the way through the entire course! Enjoying the material more than level 1 so far, I like that it’s more focused.

I put in around 600 hours for Level 1 and will probably hit the same for Level 2. Might be overkill, It’s probably overkill, but that’s how I learnt to succeed in undergrad which was killer and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Nice one WeekndLeaner, sounds like a really solid plan. Compared to what many will say your number of hours is way up there, but in my view it’s better to be over prepared and pass the exams than potentially need to repeat. There’s also the added bonus of having a deeper understanding of the material, therefore you’re getting a better ‘education’ for your money.

I’m aiming to be done with the readings (including all EOCs, BBs and Topic Tests) with two months left for revision. Will require discipline for sure! I need to use Schweser though as I find the CFAI material pretty circular and dry in large portions, however am supplementing my reading using the official text a lot more than I did in L1.

Best of luck to you!

You too buddy, I’m sure you’ll kill the exam.

Definitely not overkill if you have the time to put in 600 hours and you feel confident going into the exam. Better than the alternative. Good luck!

Started this month but just finished two readings in QM. Got to pick up the speed! All the best people.

Started in Oct, and only midway through Eco having done Quant - I agree with WeekndLearner, it takes time and it’s best to start early!

Just out of interest, what’s everyones weekly schedule like? I do an hour before work each weekday and 3/4 hours Saturday AM.

Joe

I just finished up volume 5 today and I can honestly say derivatives was a battle at some point. Holy shi*. It took me so long to go through each reading to actually UNDERSTAND what the hell was going on but once you get it, It all seems pretty simple. Understanding the concepts helped me to understand the valuation formulas, which also will help me remember them. Definitely glad I took the time to go through it slowly, will definitely pay dividends in the long run.

On to volume 6 tomorrow! Home stretch. Will definitely finish the course before the new year and it’s smooth sailing until june :). Its crazy to think that I started studying for level 1 around this time last year for the june exam, and I’m already almost done the entire level 2 course.

Good look with the studying everyone

The way my job is, we have a free period between August and October and between April and June. Other months are very intense at work so I started studying in August and Finished all my first readings (kaplan) including CFAI EOCs in October spending about 70 days and reaching 220 hours of study.

Now that work is really intense, I struggle to get 2 hours of study. So I just do videos and question bank before sleeping at night so that it keeps my study fresh and I don’t totally forget all i’ve read. I also use my weekend to solve a lot of EOC questions and Topic Tests.

I’ve reached 272 hours and I don’t regret starting early because when I started the Topic Tests, I started seeing a lot of concepts i read but have forgotten; so i had to go back.

I do not doubt that I will pass the exam come June if I don’t give up.

Started studying middle of November. Ethics is a no-brainer for me (Compliance Officer currently), so plowing straight into Quant. I’ve nearly wrapped that up, and then can burn through Econ. Goal is plow through FRA and Equity before end of January and have a lighter load and more in-depth review end of Q1 and Q2 before exam. Put in approx 350 hours for Level II last year but got burned with 90+ hour weeks at work the last three weeks before the exam. Talk about heartbreak. Hopefully I’ll be able to nail it this go-around.