Good Luck and best wishes to all december candidates…
was just wondering is there anyone whos going for june 2012…
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i have just started for june 2012. FRA is the first book im going to read and as im not working these days and have time im planning to go by CFA curriculum instead of third party material…im hoping six months will be enough for at least one reading and one revision… any suggestions? am i thinking the right way? if anyone has an online group for june 2012 please let me know. thank you
it’s a good idea to invest in third party material if you have the money. they are more concise and also cover almost everthing. if you are a fast reader with great comprehension then CFAI material should be fine. i’m using third party material cuz the institutes’s stuff was just putting me to sleep. plus third party stuff contain a lot of examples (plus the extra practice qns if u pay for them).
Yeah I agree that the 3rd party materials covers all key concepts. Definitely a good investment.
I agree with everyone else. CFA curriculum is very time consuming and academic. They are essentially text books, and I mean that in the most literal sense. I would invest in Schewesr or similar if you have the dough. If you are a fast reader, then go for the CFAI books, but just make sure you will finish in time to review. No sense if reading them if you don’t wrap up till two weeks before the exam.
I am also enrolled for June 2012.
thank you for all the input… if any of June 2012 candidate would like to coordinate study plans online skype: Gypsy.182
i’m enrolled for June 2012 i find that for some stuff that i didn’t go over in college, i end up spending lots of time on it. especially the stuff on probability. not sure if going for a third party material will help me out that much. the way i understand it is that the CFAI helps you understand the concept, while outside materials is a key summary of it all. so for someone with poor statistics background reading the textbooks is a must. any suggestions?
third party notes are pretty comprehensive. the one i’m using has 170+ pages for the quant section, majority of which is statistics and probability. you should be fine with either 3rd party or cfa stuff.
Enrolled for June 2012. I tend to agree with this. I got the Schweser study materials and while they’re definitely more condensed than the CFAI books, I find that I’m looking up even the most basic concepts - stuff I haven’t looked at in almost ten years. I get the impression that the Schweser books imply that we know a lot of the basics already. That’s part of the reason why I enrolled in the Schweser weekly classes. Also, I work full time, often long hours, so I hope I’ve given myself enough time to complete all the material by June. Any thoughts or suggestions?
i’m using elan guides and found no need to refer to cfa text. the last time i did stat was in high school. the only math i did in college were calculus I & II.
I have not enrolled yet for June 12 but will do it in Feb. But i am starting my prep. I want to know if there is a good topic that i can start with? I am poor in economics for sure. No idea about Asset classes topics. I should be fine with Ethics, FRA, Quant, & CF is what I think I can manager. If I get enough money by Feb then I will enroll. Wish me luck guys. I have to pass it but I am nervous as hell.
im sure you can do it KSL…just start now. i have also started few days earlier with the topic area im most comfortable with and thats FRA… i feel that if i finish few topic areas earlier i will be more confident and in high spirits to do the rest… i suggest you the same, although it depends on individual preference and how you manage your time. wish you all the best.
appreciate your encouraging words, Gypsy. The only strength i have is determination. but presently going through painful time in the life. So getting level 1 will be like a life saver. I need to arrange the money as well by feb. I started with ethics. It is second most important topic and I will need to revise it later to be able to get max in it. FRA, Quant should be easier so will deal with them later. Btw, I am totally IT guy (15 yrs). I had some exposure to accounts. I did Financial Accounting course which will certainly help in someway. I am in Austin. If anybody out there in the city, we can catch up.
I too am planning for L1 in June 2012. I have enrolled myself with Elan Guides and should have their material by end of this week. I am located in UK and am working full time. I have fair knowledge in areas like Economics, Quants/Statistics, Corporate Finance. Also have marginal knowledge in areas like Accounting, Derivatives. However I lack insight in areas like Ethics, Equity, Portfolio Mgmt, Fixed Income & Alternative Investment. I have yet to register myself with CFA however will do that by end of Dec. I don’t intend to study from the CFA books, will refer the books only for the questions at the end of chapters. As of now, for the preparation I plan to stick to the following 3, 1> Elan Guides (Videos/Notes/Practice questions) 2> CFA books only for End of Chapter questions. 3> Schwezer Q-banks (I hope they sell it individually) All the best to you all!!
Schweser is excellent for Level I. Their QBank is also good enough. I used Schweser in June 2011 and passed LI in first attempt. Only did Ethics Standards from CFAI Text and did chapter end questions after I was done with the whole readings.
I just completed December 2011. I studied all throughout the six months prior to the exam while also working full time. I found it manageable but you really need to sacrifice alot, from now until the exam just think of your life as work and CFA revision - put pos-its around your room etc to remind you of this. When results come out I feel I will either scrape a pass or fail in band 10, I am sure I would have secured a pass if I could go back in time and tell myself: - use Schweser notes sooner, they are really good at focusing your revision on whats important. I was using the text books up until a week before the exam and often got too bogged down in detail. For the topics you are comfortable with, Schweser is good enough. Don’t make my mistake of reading 30-40 pages of stuff you already know. - slacked off a bit in August, which cost me a good few weekends but as its colder now and less sunny I don’t think you’ll be as distracted - use whatever spare time you have!!! - negotiate with your employer to give you as much time off as possible, if you could get a month off right before the exams that would be really helpful - if you start right now, you should have thoroughly covered the curriculum in time for the exam. Good Luck. I hope I passed, but if not I’ll be joining you for June 2012. Take Care!
A month off before the exams?! damn. that’s asking a lot.