Come on, judging from the general feeling here, a big part of doing the CFA program is feeling like a martyr who decided to walk a nearly impossible and perilous path. It is certainly one of the most difficult exams I did (but not the most difficult), but a lot of people like to come across as if they are completing an unachievable challenge (it is hard but achievable). I get that the harder you sell it the more meaningful it will be when you pass it, but let’s keep it real. Surely if someone studied literature or history then I believe that the CFA is impossible…but how many are they here?
I do like taking my time to study a subject too, but if so far you haven’t realized that the difference between pass and no pass is done in the last 45 days and on how quickly and many times over you can review the whole curriculum, then we live on different planets. Out of two levels completed, often I was surprised not to remember entire bits I read 3 months before - nothing. Let’s put it differently - what makes the most difference is not the first slow reading (3 months), but the last 2 quick reviews (3-4 weeks).
Come on, 6 months of zero social life is hard enough, why would anyone want to stretch that over summer too? I would dare to answer because they have no choice.
I would argue that what is suspect is the overzealous attitude of some people at the beginning of the path, which too many times I have seen fading into nothing.
I know this is a terrible rant, but I promised myself if I passed level 2 with relative ease I would speak my mind on the subject. Boom, there you have it
Everyone is different, ponch1080. Not everyone forgets what they read 3 months ago. If you figured out how to pass Level I and II, you should be able to figure out how to pass Level III. The afternoon will be an identical format to Level II, and the morning will be different.
I recommend reading through a past year AM exam even before starting to study the material. Read the questions and answers to get a feel for what they’re looking for. Good luck to all.
Yeah… this just seems like one massive resentment and not an accurate depiction of AF at all. Not sure who got you all bent out of shape but they appear to have done a good job.
Ponch, agree with you 100%. The pass rate is ~45%…not 4.5% or 0.45%. Roughly half of all people pass each test individually. It is hard, but not the impossible feat some make it out to be.
As far as the studying, I cannot wrap my head around why you would give things any more than a cursory glance before the new year. Take some time to relax, and find another mountain to climb (i.e. run a marathon, do a big house project, whatever.). I think many people fail to apply the ferocity with which they study for CFA to other areas of their lives.
You nailed it Matt. “Ferocity” is the word I was looking for. When one starts studying for any level of CFA, it will be about 6 months of regime shifting towards less free time (regardless how you organize your time, you have to put the hours in). Surely a slow read over summer will do something, but will also require time which you won’t spend on recreative things. I found such hobby time (DIY projects, travelling, or simply relaxing doing nothing) to be key in order to attack the exam and persist on studying towards the end (May) when you just want it to be over and laying in the sun since summer is almost there. What are such zealous dudes do once CFA3 is over? Start studying for FRM? Come on.
This exam requires a lot of precise knowledge, which you can only refine towards the end - so that “knowing a bit” of a subject almost equals “knowing nothing”.
This is why I encouraged my gf to be patient during my study time and to live our lives to their fullest between exams.
One last bit on L3 format: I took CAIA2 back in the day and it features open questions too. Of course CAIA is worth nothing compared to CFA…bla bla bla…but if you did your studying that format shouldn’t be a problem (as a side note, CAIA2 is not trivial). Besides, the vignette structure forces you already to understand what you are doing, so it wouldn’t be too far off from what we endured so far.
As I said, I don’t disagree with you, as I started in January for every exam.
What I don’t understand is the assumption that other people have no lives because they want to get going earlier. Are you insecure about your own life? Why does it matter that everyone knows what you do instead of studying? Are you not posting on the forum months before you’re going to start studying? Shouldn’t this be the last thing from your mind then?
For me its about a routine. I am the biggest creature of habit on the face of this earth so being out of habit of waking up, studying, going to work, hitting the gym, and studying more is driving me crazy. I plan on starting out putting in 30 min to an hour a day Mon-Fri soon and then really start ramping it up Dec. or Jan. I have done this for both level I and level II and have been rewarded on exam day. No need to change the formula now.
My sick and twisted brain secretly misses studying…
For what it’s worth, I started in mid-March thinking L3 was a joke. Big mistake because I had to kill it for a few months catching up. I also started studying L2 the first time in September and that was a big mistake because it did no good and I failed. I forgot what I covered early, but was reluctant to go back and study it again because I already covered it once.
I’d say chill out, enjoy life, repair your health and relationships, and usher in 2017 nice and easy. Then start jogging in the winter, pick up the pace in March/April, and sprint in May.
This is the key sentence. Otherwise you wouldn’t miss anything by starting as early as you could. I have already started and am planning to read entire official curriculum once (except Ethics which I plan to read 3-4 times) and entire Schweser notes twice also some chapters read several times. Also I am making the hand notes and doing BBs and EOC regardless 1st time doing it is just warm-up phase. My plan is finish with this phase latest till end of April and then start practicing EOCs again, Portal and Mock tests hardly and repeatedly till exam date.
I plan to start briefly looking over the material in September or October. Definitely not a fan of short answer questions, so I already know I’ll have some difficulty with L3. The last thing I want to do is wait another year to take an exam!
+1. I honestly started in September last year. I had done miserably in Ethics both L1 and L2, and I spent the whole month just on this. Had a perfect score on Ethics on the exam so there goes the you-won’t-recall theory. No matter when you start, what makes or breaks it for this exam is your review game. That’s why I’m a fan of the marathon approach. Start early but don’t go full throttle. I did about 10 hours per week until the New Year, then stepped it up. Was done reading by late March so I had well over 2 months to review. In the weeks prior to the exam I felt well prepared, as opposed to the L2 panic mode of the year before (I had started in Feb.).
