Might get discouraged early in the game because FRA is considerably more difficult than other subjects. Start easy and get your momentum going before hitting FRA/Derivatives & vomitting every day.
I disagree completely.
Eat your broccoli first.
If you start on FRA and get discouraged, switch to something else for a while, then come back to FRA. If it’s so difficult, you’re going to want to cover it multiple times. You cannot do that if you save it till the end.
Truth. I did that last year with Portfolio Management, saving it until the end and i got less than 50%
I also agree. The part I did last was the part I had to rush the most, because of time constraint. But you do get better retention compared with the topics you do first. Assuming you are going to review the entire curriculum more than once, memory retention is less of an issue.
My point is simply to warm up your brain with easier topics before hitting the more difficult ones. It’s a marathon and you do not want to sprint the first 2000 meters without warmups.
Personally, I did equity, alternative investments, & corp finance first as they are easy & interesting to me. Also, after you finish those 2~3 topics, you are already half way done (equity has the most weighting) so as you struggle with FRA/Derivatives, you will not be doubting youself whether you are making any progress.
Everyone studys differently so the strategy that worked for me might not work for you, but make sure you
- Start early
- Make a solid study plan & stick with it
- MASTER FRA/Equity
- Dont skip any topics
- Review constantly & do all EOC/BB/Mocks (easier to memorize formulas this way anyways)
Best of luck to all of you
If you start with FRA, skim it and plan on coming back imo. Or review regularly. Most other sections are more problem solving/logic oriented so theyre easier to retain over time. I did a really thorough pass on FRA and didnt even remember reading the sections when I came back for my final review. I had notes in the margins in my own handwriting that I had a hard time believing I wrote myself.
+1 for the ‘start in easy sections’ strategy. I skipped a year and had trouble getting back into the study every day minset. Eventually jumped to CF which helped build the right habits and set a good pace before going back to the more challenging sections.
Also, setting a schedule is huge at level 2 in comparison to 1. You can just go through level 1 material and pass if youre lucky but L2 requires more in depth understanding. Ample time to do a second review + problems is required.
The first two readings of FRA, at least this year, are either repeats or extension of L1 material. It’s not so bad.
Then the real fun begins.