I suppose some tips and feedback about the exam structure/difficulty would be helpful for those of us preparing for Level II right now. How does it compare with Level 1? How are the articles in the “Core and Integrated Topics” handled in the exam? I read the first 20 chapters of the original book casually (out of a total of 40) and was surprised at the very small number of formulae so far.
Dog
I read whole notes 3 times and key concept twice, marginally pass.
Expect the unexpected, i think each year exam is different 
The exam was hard in my opinion, it was harder than level 1 for me. i had hard time retaining the amount of information in the materials. specially that there are not much of calculations in the curriculum. by the time i finished reading it, i realized that i dont remember anything from the begining chapters. i read the material again throughly and did questions like crazy.
I recommend that you read the material carefully and do all the questions that you can get your hand on. get uppermark and/or schweser QBank, do EOC questions, practice exams, the workbook from CAIA webpage, and use the study guide from CAIA webpage to indentify keywords of each chapter.
Good luck
Ok, thanks for your words, guys. Looks like Level II is a mini beast; I will start reading Chapter 27 of the main book tomorrow (out of a total of 40) and so far, I have had to write down only six or seven formulae. So clearly Level II has few calculations and a LOT to digest.
Dog
CAIA exams are all a piece of cake. The real exams are much easier than schweser and the essay questions aren’t that difficult.
P.s you really couldn’t think of another username? Jesus…
Haha, I will take the remark about the username on the chin. Corny as it maybe, it had a nice ring to it and yours was obviously taken.
When did you take Level II?
Dog
LOL
DeadDogBounce,
My tips are the following:
1 - Read the CAIA official books carefully;
2 -Try to do as many questions as you can. The Schweser QBank and the Schweser Notes questions were more than enough for me.
Thanks, fbivictor. At the end of the day, it all comes down to reading everything and then solving as many questions as possible. I will invest in the Uppermark question bank, like I did for Level I.
Thanks,
Dog
From what I hear the exams are increasing in difficulty every year…I guess similar to CFA exams when they started out. I finished mine March 2012 so I can’t give any recent input. I did well with the required reading supplemented with UpperMark materials. I spent about 5 months studying for Level II.
^ That’s normal until things go into the other extreme and balance must be found again.