Hey all, just wanted to see if there is anyone taking the CAIA L1-2008 exam in September. Looks like some interesting stuff. I registered yesterday and ordered the books off Amazon. Schweser notes aren’t available right now. Just wanted to get a feel of what kind of community is around for this go, I know most of the guys on this forum have already written L2.
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Just wondering how much does it cost you on the L1 “text books”. And do you think Schweser is the better alternative compared to UpperMark?
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“And do you think Schweser is the better alternative compared to UpperMark?” Im taking L1 in september… in my opinion Schweser is focused on LOS and not long. Flashcards are very helpful too. I plan to study only from Schweser so i hope its enough? any insights?
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I think the L1 books come to around $300, and I shopped around. From what I hear from L2 candidates in this forum, the textbooks aren’t really required just a set of notes. Also I hear Uppermark is a better representative of the exam questions. Either way I choose Schweser notes (when they are released), because I like how they group content underneath the LOS, and how well they are written. I bought the textbooks because I wanted to supplement knowledge with in-depth review, and because I am interested in the material so it wasn’t really about the money. blue_ Looks like so far its just you and me studying until September. Registration was kind of steep hey? Have you bought any materials yet?
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>Looks like so far its just you and me studying until September … Count me in. I just haven’t do the registration yet 
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Excellent, glad to have you aboard peteus325. I don’t think Schweser materials go on sale for another couple months…but they are pretty vauge “Spring 2009”…yea thanks for that Schweser. Ok so 3 of us for September '09…not bad considering how early it is.
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I’m putting level 2 on hold until Mar 2010 so hope to see you in the L2 forum. Passed level 1 using Upper Mark highly recommend it.
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jcrick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m putting level 2 on hold until Mar 2010 so hope > to see you in the L2 forum. Passed level 1 using > Upper Mark highly recommend it. I can’t stray from Schweser, I like what I know. Congrats on the pass!! Any words of advice for us CAIA newbies.
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No advice really. Read and understand the material. The practice exams are similar to the actual exam. While the exam is not super easy, the material is not difficult to learn assuming you put in the time.
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Definitely get the question bank, regardless of which provider you choose…
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How many hours of studying does the CAIA recommend? I’m writing the CFA in June, so I wouldn’t have much more than two months to study for it if I choose to take it.
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check out the Program FAQ. here’s what it says… How long do I need to study for the exam? Regarding the amount of time necessary to devote to the program, we understand that all candidates are different. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to provide guidelines that would be appropriate for everyone. Nevertheless, based on candidate feedback, we estimate that Level I requires a minimum of between 150-200 hours of study, while Level II requires 200 or more. Finally, because the Study Guides’ number of keywords, main points, and learning objectives differ across the topics in both levels, the amount of time per topic will vary widely. i’m taking CFA level 1 in June also; just passed CAIA level 1. i think you can pass CAIA 1 since you’ve been practicing quant for CFA 1. CAIA 1 just goes a bit further with like the 3rd(skewness) and 4th(kurtosis) moment. GO FOR IT!
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I think I’ll continue to look into it for now. The benefits would be that I would still have all the CFA knowledge fresh in my mind, and that I already have the work experience covered, while the drawbacks would be potential burnout. More likely than not, I’ll commit sometime in June, and study pretty hard in July and August. For the time being I just need to focus on passing the CFA, as it’s crunch time for that. Hopefully I do it through, CFA/CAIA combination would be sweet.
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definitely shweet. once you start the caia curriculum, you’ll love it though. i used schweser 2007 notes and it was really enjoyable as it’s a casual, well detailed read. how’s the CFA studying going? i’m using schweser for that as well. finished quant like a week ago and have been doing financial statement analysis since then. i got annoyed with the schweser version of financial statement analysis because on a few occasions i saw that they were teaching stuff not in the CFA textbooks. if it’s quant, i welcome the extra knowledge. but not for financial statement analysis! i decided to just read the textbook while using schweser as an outline to focus on key points.
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Good points JaRvEy, I’ll be picking up the schweser notes as soon as they become available. Cramming for CFA-L1 myself, just finishing off Equity and the DDM. Not really sure how i’m going to approach the review process on that. I actually got some of the CAIA readings in the mail about a week ago, looks pretty interesting. Can’t wait.
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what’s making you unsure about the review process? i’m hoping to finish reading all the topics by may 1st and then just review til the day of the exam. i’ll do the textbook questions, sample, and mock nonstop til i get it right or go insane. haha
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Yes I am hoping to be done around May 1st as well. I am not really sure how I am going to approach the review process. Based on end of chapter quizzes my weakest areas are quant and FRA, so I think I am going to take a full dedicated week split between both of them. After that I will have 3 weeks of dedicated review to the entire curriculum (qbank, mock/samples from CFAI, Schweser).
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hey cfacowtown. drop me an e-mail to continue this conversation. i think i have some tips to possibly help you and it doesn’t make sense to bore these CAIA people to death. haha. harvey.chan214@gmail.com
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will do, thanks for the heads up.
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Below is what my plan turned out to be: -Read all the CFAI texts- done -Read all of the Schweser notes- done -Re-read the schweser notes, spending less time on the easy stuff and more time on the hard stuff- done -Re-read the CFAI texts, spending less time on the easy stuff and more time on the hard stuff- will be done mid next week -Q-Bank and sample exams for the last 6 weeks, taking time to re-read sections I’m scoring low on, as well as re-reading ethics. I feel pretty confident about the exam. I’m getting around 85-90% of the CFAI questions right, and I think I have a good comprehension of the knowledge needed. Hopefully I’m not too disapointed when I start QBank problems (the 90% will drop pretty low when I start doing questions from all sections) but I still have a lot of time to master it.
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