Hi Everyone, This is my situation: I have a BA in Psychology (graduated May 2010) and was blessed with a great opportunity to enter finance after I graduated. I have had no exposure to finance before my work experience. I currently work as a financial analyst in the banking industry. Fortunately, I have a God-given talent of understanding math relatively easily (I scored a 750 on the Quantitative portion of the GRE), so this is what has attracted me to being an analyst. Recently, I have seriously been considering going for the CFA. My question to you guys is: is this reasonably doable for me, given my lack of finance knowledge? Let’s say I put in 300 hours for Level 1 in December… do I have a decent chance? dorshem
Fortunately, I think you have a chance. IF God is willing to bless you again
Yes. Start in about August, take your studies seriously, rack up 3-400 hours and you’ll be fine. Far dumber sounding candidates with far weirder backgrounds have passed level one with far less time. Main thing is to take the exam seriously, put in the study time, and start taking mocks early so you can figure out where you suck. Go get 'em.
dorshem Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Everyone, > > This is my situation: > > I have a BA in Psychology (graduated May 2010) and > was blessed with a great opportunity to enter > finance after I graduated. I have had no exposure > to finance before my work experience. I currently > work as a financial analyst in the banking > industry. Fortunately, I have a God-given talent > of understanding math relatively easily (I scored > a 750 on the Quantitative portion of the GRE), so > this is what has attracted me to being an > analyst. > > Recently, I have seriously been considering going > for the CFA. My question to you guys is: is this > reasonably doable for me, given my lack of finance > knowledge? Let’s say I put in 300 hours for Level > 1 in December… do I have a decent chance? > > dorshem Sociology Major and level three candidate, YOU CAN DO IT!
bodhisattva: What did you do to prepare? Everyone: Is buying the Schweser Essential package going to be enough for preparation? Any tailored advice for my particular case?
dorshem Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bodhisattva: > > What did you do to prepare? > > Everyone: > > Is buying the Schweser Essential package going to > be enough for preparation? Any tailored advice for > my particular case? The Schwez essential pack is fine. I bought the one with video CD lessons because I hate attending classes on a schedule. The main thing is starting early, putting in the time (especially with Qbank for practice problems) and taking it seriously.
dorshem Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bodhisattva: > > What did you do to prepare? > > Everyone: > > Is buying the Schweser Essential package going to > be enough for preparation? Any tailored advice for > my particular case? Passed all three levels with nothing but Schweser. Didn’t even crack the CFA assigned readings.
Does Schweser create new study guides for the December 2011 exam? Will the June materials be good enough? Also, if I purchase the June materials, it will probably be off of eBay. Yea or nay?
dorshem Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does Schweser create new study guides for the > December 2011 exam? Will the June materials be > good enough? > > Also, if I purchase the June materials, it will > probably be off of eBay. Yea or nay? Let me answer your question with a question - given that you will spend anywhere up to 300 hours studying for the exam, is it worth it to jeopardise your chances by buying the June 2011 Schweser books and saving a couple hundred bucks?
jg1996business Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > dorshem Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > bodhisattva: > > > > What did you do to prepare? > > > > Everyone: > > > > Is buying the Schweser Essential package going > to > > be enough for preparation? Any tailored advice > for > > my particular case? > > Passed all three levels with nothing but Schweser. > Didn’t even crack the CFA assigned readings. Boom, did the CFA readings for fun AFTER I passed. They are too voluminous to study in time.
Wakeup call: 750 on GRE math =/= god given talent. There are literally millions of people who score better than that in the industry.
MCalamari Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wakeup call: 750 on GRE math =/= god given talent. > There are literally millions of people who score > better than that in the industry. GRE’s not even remotely that popular. Maybe you’re thinking of GED.
Unless things have recently changed, the December exam tests over the exact same material as the June test. Different questions and subjects on the test obviously, but the readings and Learning Outcome Statements are the same. So the June 2011 materials should be identical to the December 2011 materials.
I’m a little torn between purchasing the new materials, or going to eBay for the June materials. I’m leaning towards just buying the new to be safe. Maybe I’ll just create a new thread later just on this topic. Thanks for all of the advice, everyone. MCalamari: This thread isn’t an argument about whether or not my mathematical ability is God-given. However, notice that I did say “relatively”. I believe you made an incorrect inference. I’d be happy to further explain my reasoning through a PM.
750 GRE in Math is actually pretty crappy. The math section is easier than the high school SAT math portion.
Eaaassssyy, Internet kid. Why does it matter? I said “relatively easily” because I originally took the GRE to enter grad school for Org. psych. If I took the GRE with the intention of entering a more math-intensive program, like finance or econ, I believe my score would have been higher, as my study plan would have been different. That’s the long and unncessary backstory. Happy Birthday
hezagenius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Unless things have recently changed, the December > exam tests over the exact same material as the > June test. Different questions and subjects on > the test obviously, but the readings and Learning > Outcome Statements are the same. So the June 2011 > materials should be identical to the December 2011 > materials. I’m pretty sure that this is wrong. If I recall correctly there are a number of LOS changes from June to December, though yes most of the material is the same.
newsuper Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m pretty sure that this is wrong. If I recall > correctly there are a number of LOS changes from > June to December, though yes most of the material > is the same. You may be right but I know for a fact that as of a few years ago, the material was the same for both June and December. And the curriculum on the website states it is for 2011, not just June 2011. I’d verify with CFAI to be sure. Their website says the ebook is valid for both June and December.
> I have a BA in Psychology (graduated May 2010) and > was blessed with a great opportunity to enter > finance after I graduated. Fortunately, I have a God-given talent > of understanding math relatively easily (I scored > a 750 on the Quantitative portion of the GRE). You don’t need to worry about the Behavioral Finance section of Level III. You seem to have deep understanding of the overconfidence bias. >Recently, I have seriously been considering going > for the CFA. My question to you guys is: is this > reasonably doable for me, given my lack of finance > knowledge? Let’s say I put in 300 hours for Level > 1 in December… do I have a decent chance? I think 300 hours should be plenty. FSA could be challenging but you have plenty of time to prepare. Good luck!
750 on GRE quant is around 80-85 percentile. That’s pretty good for someone who was not focussing on that particular area prior to the test. To me that suggests had dorshem applied him/herself beforehand and been prepared to repeat the test if nesecssary, (s)he could have gotten over 90th percentile. Given that the test if generally taken by pretty smart people at 3rd level education, I’d say that indicates a significantly above average apptitude for basic mathematics. As for whether God is responsible for that apptitude is another issue entirely…