After browsing through posts, I see that usually people are opining that 10 months is too much time and they will burn out soon. I guess these posters come from an accounting/econ/fin. background. Has anybody from IT background passed the L1 on the forum? How much time did they take?
I will wait to post on this thread after two months once I pass the exam 
sgupta0827 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I will wait to post on this thread after two > months once I pass the exam Will wait for your post:) How many yrs IT exp you have? And how many months CFA prep did you get?
Half of this forum are IT folks. 10 months is a little overkill.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much
I started in Feb and have about 7-8 years of experience. I would say plan for 6 months and 8 months for people who don’t have any background at all. Less than that will be again overkill which most of the people can’t afford if they have responsibilities and kids…
10 months … way too much
Im surprised that no one has suggested for you to take level 1 in DEC. I would strongly advise you doing this, you have PLENTY of time. I realise you may not have a strong knowledge in finance fundamentals but you will quickly catch on, if I were you, I would aim for December without a doubt.
^ +1
level 3 candidate here, are you crazy??omg its just level 1…if you think even for a second that it might take you 10 months then how are going to approach level 2 and 3??i mean come on put things in perspective and dont think and ask stupid things like this…just read the material from schweser 2 times,solve every schweser exercise complement with secret sauce and you passed… 4 months it will take you…and forget the b-----t about what background are you…it must take no more than 4-5 months end of story
There’s very little as annoying as people in levels 2 and 3 trolling this board to say how stupid people are for asking legitimate questions.
morebeans Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There’s very little as annoying as people in > levels 2 and 3 trolling this board to say how > stupid people are for asking legitimate questions. +++1111
wait just wait…until you reach level 2 or level 3 if you make it…then you will beg for advice and after you have seen the exams your opinions and judgement will change a lot… for now its okay,i understand,without having seen anything its reasonable to think that you need 10 months to prepare for level 1…and try to answer smart to others,it will eventually change you will see
With the CFAI text, it should take approximately 31 weeks. 27 weeks through the material 4 weeks for review. Found this study schedule from a google search. Can’t take credit for the schedule. Not sure who the author is? To review original document, google this “My recommended CFA exam study schedule” My recommended schedule These schedules are indicative only, you should adapt them to your own case and not follow the religiously. I identify two different scenarios: [You can study full time] If you’re in this case, ie. you can study CFA full time, then my advice is to : • register as soon as possible (to get the best discount!) • start your study 3 months plus two weeks before exam date • review content at average speed of 1 book every half month (=> 2 books per month * 3 months = 6 books + 2 weeks for reviewing content) it’s true that some books are far bigger than others, but it’s just an average. It might be better to follow your schedule per study session (90 days (= 3 months) / 18 sessions = 5 days per study session) I don’t recommend going lower than 5 days per study session • within last two weeks: 1. review all summaries from all books 2. redo all exercices from all books 3. perform mock-exams 4. review your areas of weaknesses (identified with mock-exams and redone exercices) 5. perform sample exams 6. review all summaries from all books 7. you’re ready! [You’re working and cannot study full time] • first of all, avoid the ‘bully’ strategy (ie. studying a lot, incl. taking holidays, right before the exam, and not long before) instead prefer studying constantly a couple hours every days (wake up one hour earlier and sleep one hour later) and more intensively the week end, during a longer period (learned content will go to long-term memory rather than short-term memory) • register as soon as possible (ie. september) to get the best discount! • start studying 31 weeks prior to exam date • try to learn 2 study sessions every 3 weeks (ie. 1.5 week per study session), ie. 18 * 3 / 2 = 27 weeks. For some sessions, one week will be enough, for others two weeks might be necessary (esp. if you’re under hard time at work) hint: try to go a little bit faster than 1.5 week per study session since you might need the equivalent of 4 standalone weeks to review already finished books each time you finish a new book • use the last 4 weeks to: 1. review all summaries from all books 2. redo all exercices from all books 3. perform mock-exams 4. review your areas of weaknesses (identified with mock-exams and redone exercices) 5. perform sample exams 6. review all summaries from all books 7. you’re ready! Whatever your profile is (full time|part time), you should try your best to avoid ‘learn & forget’ effect. Do the following: • study regularly (every days – even if it’s just to review already learned content) • prior to starting your new readings, review the (summary of) last 3 readings (ie. a moving average) • each time you finish a book, review all readings within all previously finished books (recently finished one included) • redo all the exercises from the entire book finished right before recently finished book Do your best not to be late on your schedule, otherwise it will hard to catch up. Well, that being said, good luck.
The number of hours spent studying is also a big factor. Fours months studying at 1 hour per day is different to 3 or 4 hours per day. CFA advise something like 250 hours to pass level 1, I think all up it took me about 400 hours.
I have a Masters in Finance, and I am taking 400+ hours to nail the coffin!! Don’t pay attention to anyone, start right away. If you take a long time, I will suggest you read the CFAI materials, and Schweser/or other prep materials in Conjunction. As in Read CFAI materials which gives you a broad perspective ( but much more interesting), and then read the Schweser, which is too the point ( but you might have a hard time catching on if you don’t have Finance/Accounting background). Good luck…shoot for the fences!!
ishfaque Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have a Masters in Finance, and I am taking 400+ > hours to nail the coffin!! > > Don’t pay attention to anyone, start right away. > If you take a long time, I will suggest you read > the CFAI materials, and Schweser/or other prep > materials in Conjunction. > > As in Read CFAI materials which gives you a broad > perspective ( but much more interesting), and then > read the Schweser, which is too the point ( but > you might have a hard time catching on if you > don’t have Finance/Accounting background). > > Good luck…shoot for the fences!! Thanks sir for a great response
Everybody is different. I have failed level 1 twice. I put in over 250 hours easy prep for Dec but I still failed. Don’t worry about anyone else just get the books as soon as you can and do practice problems. I score between 85 - 90% on Schweser tests but I’m still nervous about my third try for level 1. Don’t worry about other people just focus on what you can do to pass
Joetheboss Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Everybody is different. I have failed level 1 > twice. I put in over 250 hours easy prep for Dec > but I still failed. Don’t worry about anyone else > just get the books as soon as you can and do > practice problems. I score between 85 - 90% on > Schweser tests but I’m still nervous about my > third try for level 1. Don’t worry about other > people just focus on what you can do to pass Dude could you tell us the reasons why you failed twice? Is it nervousness in the exam or silly mistakes? Where you went wrong? That will be very helpful for all of us.
just remember you still have another 2 levels to go…its about 3300 pages of CFAI material for level II and about 2700 pages for level III, so 6000 pages. Plan about 400 hours per level. so about 1200 hours to pass all the exams, assuming you do it on the first shot each time which is a very low probabiliy (~9%) at 45% pass rate Level I, 40% pass rate level II, 50% Level III. 1200 hours is about 30 full work weeks of your life, at a 40 hour week. plan on using vacation time the full week before the exam, each time. Thats 13 vacation days (assuming memorial day is always observed the monday before the exam) you need to plan on using. Plan on missing memorial day the next 3 years (if you always take it in june) or plan on missing thanksgiving once this December, then the next 2 memorial days thereafter. the good part is you’ll save a lot of money by not going out at night, but figure $1200 for level I, then $700 for the levels thereafter, so $2,600. Set aside additional funds if you plan on using a prep provider. good luck.