I just found out that the LEVEL 1 in December will be at a location in which I’m required to travel. I’m now looking at June 2013 as there is a good chance that it’ll be more accessible for me. However, I’m also debating about an online course or something.
I understand the many pros/cons with this decision, but I want to improve myself. The CFA is my primary goal though, but I would also want to work towards something. For the MBA program, I’m asking to see if I can take the core courses online and attend courses I feel are beneficial to me.
Thinking about studying for the CFA already and maybe taking an online course this fall.
No you have plenty of time to study for Level I. I started maybe one to two weeks after Labor day last year and passed.
Now on the flip side, you would have to be worried about Level II, as you won’t find out if you passed until the end of January, which leaves it somewhat tight for Level II studies. That’s if you wait until after you get the results to start studying for Level II. But if you are studious and start attacking 10 hours a week right away like I was not, then you should be fine for Level II as well. It’s significantly harder, and requires far more time to prepare. I liked the idea of taking Level I in December because it would make the completion of the curriculum 6 months faster.
Hmm. I was thinking the same thing, but don’t know how I’ll match up against the exam. I’m not under-estimating anything. Should I re-create a thread in the LEVEL 1 section?
I guess another question is whether this decision of mines make sense. Do I have to constantly pay membership dues of $275 a year going forward, for as long as I hold the CFA title?
How much time should we budget for L2? I also am doing December and hoping to carry right on into level 2 in June, never thought much about it taking that long for results. I’d hate to drop 500 on schweser notes for an exam I can’t even take.
There is requirement of 300 hours of study prescribed. To me it is like a minimum and certainly many candidates require more. I did require more myself.
If you can put those hours in before November end. You’ll need to have time to take practice Mocks etc after that and then revise your weak topics before the exam date again.
If given all your obligations, you can go for Dec’12, then sure do.
There is enough time- calendar days wise. You need to decide if you have time to put in.
I think you misunderstood hah. I’m not worried about L1, I was more sharing concern about taking L2 in June '13, but effectively only having february 1-may 31 to study. I did some number crunching though, and it won’t be easy but 3 hrs on weekdays after work and 12 hrs each weekend and I can still get 450+ hours in before end of may. 400 if I take a weekend off each month. And that’s not including any early studying I can get done in december-january if I decided to buy the study package before getting L1 results. And hell, its wintertime. Not much else to do anyway!
So all that said, I have no excuse to fail any of L1 in Dec. '12, or L2 or L3 in June '13 & '14.
I just found out that the testing center for DEC 2012 LEVEL 1 to be way out of range for me. I have inquired whether or not they have anything scheduled in 2013 near my area.
Can someone shed some insight on the ANNUAL DUES. Must they be paid annually when one receives their CFA title?
no way you can pass the December L1 exam if you started right now…impossible…never heard of anybody ever doing something like that…i mean, i know of a few who might have tried, but its impossible…you gotta plan 2-3 years ahead…
L1 isn’t too difficult, you can knock it down if you start now for sure, even though you have limited time to study because of your other obligations.
I don’t think you’ll pass L2 if you start in Feb, and you work full time and you have family obligations, unless you are exceptionally academically talented. L2 is a beast. 400 hours for a borderline pass, 600 hours for a solid pass, I would estimate. 300 hours and your odds would look something like 40% chance to pass, 60% chance to fail, depending on how well you guess, and luck of the draw on what actually gets tested.