So a bit of background: I passed L1 last June at the completion of my MS Finance program and did pretty well on it with only D&A being the sections I got below >70 on. I registered for L2 not long after that thinking there’d be no better time to take L2 then right after L1.
Since then, due to not being able to land a banking/investment type job, I took a job in the audit side of a Big 4 firm and started in January. I’ve read the entire L2 curriculum, took my notes, etc. and am just starting to try to work through all the EoC questions now. Sitting at work today I asked myself: why am I studying for this? Everybody on here knows that CFA or progress towards it is not some magic fix or a way to jumpstart for a career, but rather a piece of education, experience and all that stuff.
So with 2.5 months to go I guess I’m wondering if it’s worth putting pretty much all my free time into this (and maybe failing b/c lets be honest, this is a hard exam). I also have to consider that I want to pass all 4 parts of my CPA before the end of the year to qualify for my firm’s $5,000 CPA bonus. I think if I push for L2 I’ll have major study burn out just when I need to step it up again. Also I want to note that I actually didn’t mind studying for L1, but this feels like so much more of a chore that I don’t enjoy doing the L2 reading or problems.
In your opinions…do you think it would be wise to get my CPA, get the bonus, and worry about L2 in a couple of years when I have a bit more direction on my career and see if it is something that will help me enough to be worth it?
Or should I push through until the exam? Even if I don’t study a ton more, I would still take the exam. I mean, why not? It’s paid for and there is always the miniscule chance I could pass.
Thanks for reading!