Advice from this year's CFA LII takers?

CFA Level II
#21

1.Be willing to put in the time. I’ve never understood people’s obsession with trying to find the absolute minimum (e.g. 300 hours) required to pass the exam. The reality is that the “minimum” is going to be different for each individual. If you’re going to sacrifice 300 hours of your life to be a borderline pass, why not sacrifice an additional 100 hours so that you can dramatically increase your chances of passing? Also, you’re going to have to be willing to sacrifice a big portion of your life, whether it be family, friends or gym. If you’re not truly willing to do that, don’t bother IMO.

  1. The most difficult part for me was retention. Many will probably disagree with this and its unique to each person, but my biggest regret with L1 was having started studying so early (began in July for December 2015). Come review time in November, I barely recalled any of that material and found myself essentially learning it all over again for the first time. With Level 2, I started in mid-February and went full throttle until the exam. When I started reviewing, the material was still very fresh on my mind.

  2. Schweser is good for condensing the material, but that’s about it. Read thoroughly through the notes and mark them up, making notes in the margins. The Schweser EOCs are an absolute joke. Burn those and instead look over the Blue Boxes (especially the multiple choice formatted ones). Do the CFAI EOCs. I can’t stress that enough. It is stupid to not do the practice questions written by the same people who are writing the exam. Also, IMO don’t bother with the L2 qbank - most aren’t in the vignette form.

  3. Keep record of everything. I printed all the EOCs and answers and organized them by topic. For each question that I missed or any other questions that captured an important concept, I highlighted them as well as highlight portions of the answers so I knew the exact places I would return to come review time.

  4. Use the Schweser Quicksheet. I printed it out and then added formulas not already included along with small notes and page numbers corresponding with the material. MEMORIZE the formulas. Seriously, you have to having these down cold and all formulas in the curriculum are all fair game. The week prior to the exam, I spent hours mindlessly writing out the formulas (I call it the rainman method), and if I didn’t undersand what a variable represented, I would go back and review it.

  5. Don’t let the vignette format intimidate you. For the most part, they correspond sequentially with the questions and you’ll see this in the CFAI EOCs.

  6. My biggest piece of advice is NEVER PUNT a topic, which tends to be the case with the 5-10% topics. If you get stuck with two vignettes on a topic you skipped, you’re pretty much screwed.

  7. Review. Do the topic tests! I did all the topic tests and similar to my CFAI EOCs, I printed all of them highlighting concepts I struggled with. My last week I went through every TT problem I missed and made sure I could work them out. Many will disagree with this, but I absoltuely hated the Schweser mocks. They lacked a lot of the complexity included in CFA questions (i.e. TTs,EOCs,BBs) and have a different feel that isn’t representative of what you’ll see on the exam. When it was all said and done, I probably did all the EOCs atleast twice and the topic tests 1.5x along with a few other CFAI official mocks. I got >70% on everything and I’m confident this will work for others.

#22

A good number of Analyst Forum commenters tend to be all-this-or-that-provider or all CFAI. My goal was to read the CFAI material as much as possible and use the Schweser material for when I got behind (due to job or other unavoidable issues in life) or when I needed a slightly different explanation. My tip would then be to really map out your weeks by chapter goals once you set your starting date and your ending date so that you truly have a grasp of knowing if you are getting behind or not.

The most difficult scheduling issue for me from L1 to L2 was realizing that while I could get through 8 to 12 pages per hour (depending on subject) for the CFAI L1 material, I could only manage 4 to 6 pages per hour of the CFAI L2 material. Also, EOCs took much longer (for me anyway) as well.

For L2, the misleading thing for me was that several of the books/topics on their own felt pretty easy, and I tended to under-allot the amount of time it would take to review them at the end (and how difficult it is to recall even the simplest of concepts when you throw all of it into a blender). So, I would definitely advise planning on more review time at the end than you gave L1.

I wholeheartedly agree with WolfOfTryon’s point 7 to not punt. First, one “allowance” will lead you to more willingly give yourself more “allowances” to punt. Second, I did “punt” until about two weeks before the exam when I realized that you need every single point you can possibly give yourself. So, I spent several nights “un”-punting those topics in a panic - but the last-minute effort really helped me to decisively pass and not risk a “Band 9” or “10” result.

Depending on how you handled L1, you might not need to change for this next point. Don’t leave too many things until the end - like flashcards. If at all possible, make them as you go along. [Side note: One guy above says that flashcards are over-rated, but I think that’s really knowing your own style of learning. My retention was much better because I hand-wrote my flashcards, but obviously this guy didn’t need that method. Different strokes for different folks.] Doing the questions as you go along and then using something like Q-bank will help keep the material somewhat retained before the big review push. I made the mistake of doing the CFAI online Topic Tests at the end, and it was a bit overwhelming. I won’t make that mistake with L3.

#23

Oh, just one other thought. If you flip through the FRA section and don’t like what you see, I would advise thinking about the John Harris accounting workshop for L2. It’s pretty inexpensive and really makes that topic hurt a lot less.

#24

Surely not? you destroyed it champ!

#25

what’s the difference between QBank and Schweser Live or Live online test? You are the second person I just read that says QBank sucks

#26

what is a vignette format exam?

#27

Hi,

Wanted to give back to the community that has helped me with this journey. Here are the tools I used to pass the exam on first attempt:

-Wiley L2 videos: I enjoyed watching the majority of the videos, especially the FRA lecturer who was awesome.

-Wiley study guide: I read maybe 30% of the study guide (FRA/Equity/Valuation), usually after each video lecture.

-Flash cards: jointed down key concepts and practice examples as I watched the videos; valuable for FI, derivs, and quant topics with heavy formulas.

-CFA vignettes/practice problem sets on the website: Extremely useful; knock them all out! Please note that the CFA website becomes unusable come Tuesday-ish before the exam. I would recommend to get to this step by mid-April as there are many practice vignettes to go through.

-CFA mock exams, Wiley mock exams, Schweser mock exams! Can’t stress how important it is to keep knocking them out. Mocks and practice problem sets on the CFA website are the key to passing this test! If I had to do this again, I would finish all the videos (with emphasis on FRA and Equity) and CFA website problem sets in order to start on the mocks by early May. Do as many mocks as you can. I would complete one session in the morning and review the answers in the afternoon. Also, do not become discouraged! My first mock scored in the 40s (before I did any of the CFA website problem sets) and slowly got up to the 60s.

Things that I read others recommended but I did not use:

-CFAI material and EOC questions: I can see value in doing the EOC questions. I think the CFA vignettes/practice problems on the website are more efficient use of time.

-Schweser QBank: I tried using it but didn’t find the questions to be useful. There are very few vignettes in the QBank for L2.

Other considerations:

I found it extremely helpful to take the last week off work and focus on doing mocks and CFA website problem sets (given my procrastination). If you don’t want to take any chances please do them ALL! At least 4+ full mocks from various sources and all the CFA website problem sets. I simplest cannot stress on this enough.

For actual level of difficulty, I found the Wiley mocks to be the hardest. I thought the actual exam wasn’t as hard as I finished both sessions with over 30 minutes to spare. This is not to understate the difficulty of the exam, probably the hardest test I ever took in my life.

I hope this helps and good luck!

J

#28

It’s a beast! 10x harder than L1 format. Don’t overlook this… get started early and take a mock to get a feel for it.

#29

Thanks mksingh. I am sitting for Level II for my fourth attempt. I believe like you the best way to prepare is to read the CFAI curriculum. I have started in January, but I think I will start in October to go through the material twice. I feel like I always spend too much time when reading through the curriculum and not enough on pratice questions. How did you study the CFAI curriculum without getting behind on the readings? Thanks.

#30

I’ll be taking Level II for my fourth attempt. I read most of the CFAI material for Level I which I think helped me pass. I plan on starting in October this year rather than waiting until January so I can go through the material twice. What suggestion do you have for someone like yourself who took longer to go through L2 material? It seems I always get behind. Thanks.

#31

Start early, around October. Do many mock and topic exam as you can. If not having enough time, do schweser, I only do schweser and pass so I believe this is possible.

#32
  • Schweser only, even if you start early, just not enough time to use the wordy CFAI material.
  • Only use CFAI material for EOC questions, which you should try and complete all the way through twice. Last time closer to exam day.
  • Do all topic tests from CFAI website.
  • Notecard all formulas and important concepts. Begin notecarding repetitively in the beginning of April and ramp up the volume until test day.
  • Studying in the last month should be in every topic, just not focusing on one or two for a few days. The material is fleeting and you will lose it if you arent actively recalling it daily.
  • Mocks are important but I only did 2 full Schweser mocks, and both CFAI mocks for a total of 4 and I crushed the exam.
  • Aim to finish reading material and all CFAI EOCs, most of your hand written notecards by beginning to mid April, leaving plenty of time to revisit/mock.
#33

How I scored >70% on all topics with 270h preparation:

  • Prepared with Schweser Books
  • Studied intensely using flash cards
  • Did a few CFAI EOC and online questions ( with hindsight I would skip EOC and only focus on online questions).
  • Completed only the official CFAI mock exam 4 days prior to the exam

What I think were the reasons for passing Level II successfully:

  • I focused on topics I am not very firm with.
  • Repetition is key. I can study very effective using flash cards. Others recommend practicing questions. However, while studying, you should always focus on topics where you think you’re not well prepared.
  • Take off as many weeks as you can right before the exam. E.g., I had three weeks off and put in ca. 160 h during these three weeks.
  • Some topics in Level 2 are very deep (e.g., some PM and FI topics). Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to put in the necessary effort to understand these topics but I tried to focus on key messages that are likely to be asked on the exam. E.g., I studied the key assumptions and implications of the structural model in FI without understanding all the math. Usually, this is not how I like to study but sometimes you have to study for scoring on the exam not for understanding the topics in every detail.

Surprisingly I didn’t find Level II to be more difficult than Level II mostly because I had three weeks off right before the exam. In my opinion it is way more effective to study during your free time right before the exam than at the weekend after you’ve worked 50-60h.

Good luck everyone!

#34

Study material I used for both Level 1 and Level 2 was IFT video lectures and CFA books with EOC questions, CFA practice exams and CFA mock exams (for current and past year)

IFT video lectures proved to be the best ones for me to navigate and understand the CFA text book. Very clear precise and articulate lectures presented by Arif Sir.

#35

Many thanks to all for sharing their effective study plans. One common advice from all is “mock till you drop”. My question for the forum members is around this. Though its early days, but I would like to know which all mocks should be taken? I plan to study using CFAI text and Schweser. So, apart from 2017 CFAI mock, schweser mocks (vol 1 and 2), which other mocks did members take? Past year’s mocks? Are old mocks available once you register for the exam on CFAI website? As adviced by many, I plan to do 2017 BB, TT (CFAI) and mocks. Please advice.

#36

I passed as a retaker. Topic tests are the old mock exams broken into topics. I would do all of them multiple times. I believe there are 80+ of them. I passed only doing each topic test about 4+ times each until I understood it inside and out. Don’t bother searching for old mocks, just use the topic tests. I did all 6 Kaplan and Wiley has 2 mocks multiple times. The vignette format makes mocks different than L1 were you can use the qbank. Can’t do that for L2. My advice is you don’t need more mocks, just need to repeat the questions you do have.

#37

Schweser is the gold standard for mocks.

Wiley also has a practice questions package that includes a ~1400 question qbank and 2 mocks for $145.

Additionally Konvexity( http://www.konvexity.com/) provides low cost mocks and item sets ($45), from reading around the only con is that these questions are MUCH harder than the actual exam, and the English is not the best.

Either way my personal plan is to go through all EOC, topic tests and at least 6 mocks by exam day.

#38

Not so difficult at all. Practicing does the job. Keep the CFAI official practicing material regardless studying from 3rd party.

CFAI official curriculum EOCs and CFAI portal tests and of course official Mock as the bottom line.

#39

completely agree, if you can do topic tests several times + official mock, i think its sufficient. The level of mocks are anyway much harder, so will give you strong command over concepts

#40

Def do as many mocks as possible…make sure you have ample time to review them thoroughly as well.