Assuming people come here with good CFA background and either hv completed L1 or L2… These are some of the questions majority of the CFA aspirants and would be CAIA asp. would hv… 1) How difficult is will CAIA be? 2) What % of Reading covered in both overlap - in otherwords what % of new materials is required by candidates to master for CAIA exams? 3) Review providers - you thoughts on who is good at it. I know Schweser is in the market, but not sure if that is their core competence as they are with CFA materials. And Stalla is not in the game. Any other suggestions ? BTW, I am happy to post 2nd in the forum.
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http://www.caia.org/program/prepprograms/ The consensus seems to be that Uppermark is the best followed by Schweser. The exams are not overly difficult, pass rates are in the 70th percentile.
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- not too difficult - passed all sections > 70% with about 30 hours of studying (post CFA level 1) 2) Fairly significant overlap with the CFA alternative sections. Covers more in depth in quants. very good curriculum overall for the knowledge 3) i used Uppermark – i believe they’re the oldest provider for CAIA. Schweser, I heard, is alright also. for CAIA level 2, you will definitely need the core books just for reference purposes since the review courses may not fully cover everything.
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i just wanted to post here for the heck of it - i don’t really have anything useful to say [pee]
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30 hours of studying is too less, i also passed CAIA Level 1 with more than 70% in all sections but 1. The time I took to prepare was significantly more than 30 hours, not less than 100
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Agreed with sameeragarwal. I consider myself pretty decent academically (I got >70% in all sections of 2008 CFA L1 and CAIA L1 with no finance background) and it took me significantly more time than adalfu suggested. I think good rules of thumb when reading anonymous internet postings are: - to multiply the number of hours that people claim they study by an average of x1 = 2.0 a) if the internet poster is male, x1 might even be higher (testosterone bias). b) if the internet poster is female, x1 tends to be closer to 1 (no testosterone bias) Furthermore, probably safe to say that you should multiply the number of hours recommended by the actual testing institution by x2 = 2.0 to get a truer figure.
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LMAO at sub!!!That’s a good one…
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hahahahaha… sublimity…that was hilarious!!
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sublimity Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Agreed with sameeragarwal. > > I consider myself pretty decent academically (I > got >70% in all sections of 2008 CFA L1 and CAIA > L1 with no finance background) and it took me > significantly more time than adalfu suggested. > > I think good rules of thumb when reading anonymous > internet postings are: > - to multiply the number of hours that people > claim they study by an average of x1 = 2.0 > a) if the internet poster is male, x1 might even > be higher (testosterone bias). > b) if the internet poster is female, x1 tends to > be closer to 1 (no testosterone bias) > > Furthermore, probably safe to say that you should > multiply the number of hours recommended by the > actual testing institution by x2 = 2.0 to get a > truer figure. I have always thought you are average academically - but above average in cheekiness and mischief. Was your Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts?
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I passed CFA1 in June 08 and CAIA1 in September 08. CAIA was pretty straightforward, I spent 140 hours on reading Schweser essential package 2 books + questions in Practice exam book and Schweser Pro. I got >70 in all sections for CAIA1. The material is very intresting.
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Does it mean having a Bachelors Degree from a Liberal Arts School suggests you are not as smart. Just wondering 
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2ndLuvGunner Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does it mean having a Bachelors Degree from a > Liberal Arts School suggests you are not as smart. > Just wondering No. I have smart friends who have liberal arts degrees.
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The last day to register for CAIA exam is today. I am looking to enrol but I realise that I might not have much time for preparation. To gauge my comfort level, I took the sample test from CAIA website without any preparation and scored around 50-60% (I took Finance undergrad). Do you think that the sample test on the CAIA website is an original reflection of the actual test? If it the case, then I might go for it otherwise I will postpone to Sep 2009. Thanks for any suggestions!
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dashingdude Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The last day to register for CAIA exam is today. I > am looking to enrol but I realise that I might not > have much time for preparation. To gauge my > comfort level, I took the sample test from CAIA > website without any preparation and scored around > 50-60% (I took Finance undergrad). Do you think > that the sample test on the CAIA website is an > original reflection of the actual test? If it the > case, then I might go for it otherwise I will > postpone to Sep 2009. > > Thanks for any suggestions! I read the curriculum for this exam in about 20 days. It is 3 books, about 700 pages of reading. I would advise Uppermark based on trolling old AF threads. You have more than enough time.
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Excellent suggestions, I wish I thought of taking the CAIA earlier. I haven’t written my CFA-L1 yet, so maybe its a better idea that I complete that this June. Seems the consensus is on Uppermark. Would you say the quality of the materials is similar to that of third party providers for CFA? Is there a curriculum for CAIA, or just a list of readings and LOS statements? I’m surprised there is no mention of Qbank or any other testing based software. Is this not relevant due to the apparent easiness of the exam?
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Yeah, there is a curriculum - though not like the CFA, you have to buy the separate books/papers themselves. Just go to their website (google it) and they tell you everything.
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Is there a point to getting the curriculum or should I just supplement the entire thing with Schweser instead? I have heard some people saying that reading both wasn’t very benefitial, so maybe I wont even get the curriculum? Just a thought.
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I would say just stick with Schweser. I used/read the curriculum and Schweser for CAIA L1 - curriculum was a total waste of time and didn’t help me get anything extra. For CAIA L2, I used the Schweser notes exclusively and I think I just did very well in my exam this morning.
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Good to hear. I am using Schweser right now for CFA-L1 and I think they do a good job of summarizing the information. I know there are some weaknesses to this approach, but I personally believe it is the best alternative 3rd party material for the CFA. I just hope that translates to CIAI. You have been of great assistance, thanks!
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