Wanting to begin CFA Level I

Hi all,

I’m looking into the CFA qualification. I am based in the UK and graduated from Uni last year and secured a graduate job within a bank. I’ve been in my role for c.10 months now. In that time I’ve picked up the Professional Banker Certificate and am now going towards becoming a fully Chartered Banker via the Chartered Banker Institute.

However, I want to try my hand at the CFA. At this point I’d be aiming for the June 2018 sitting.

My question is; what are the best providers for the course? I’ve read around and Kaplan/Schweser seem to be the most talked about.

Looking at the Kaplan website they have a couple of study packages - what would be the best to go for?

I’m very disciplined when it comes to study so putting in the 250-500 hours wouldn’t be an issue. However is there any material I can purchase to get a head start with regards to the study?

Any comments much appreciated.

Regards,

essbee

You can go for December 2017 CFA Level 1 Exam easily. Kaplan is great for Level 1. Seems like you have a good finance background, as long as you do a lot of practice questions, you should have no problem.

solebreadwinner - many thanks for the reply.

Have you personally completed the CFA I?

I’m looking at the Kaplan site just now and for the December 2017 exam they have a range of study packages. Is it worthwhile paying the $1,500 for the PremiumPlus package or is there no need for that i.e. would the Notes package be suffice?

Regards,

edit - I’ve also noticed that Bloomberg have an excellent looking package, has anybody had experience with Bloomberg?

Not yet. Notes package should be enough. Tons of people pass comfortably with just schweser notes, mock exams, and CFA mock exam.

Assuming you’re able to clear L1 in December, if you do NOT intend to sit for L2 six months after in June of 2018, there may be no point in taking the L1 exam in December and then waiting another 1.5 years before starting L2. My two cents is you go for L1 in December and L2 in June 2018, otherwise, just consider June 2018 for L1.

Unless studying ~June through November for an exam in December is just a better time of year for you than ~January to June.

Hey Essbee,

I passed level 1 last year and I used Kaplan’s “essential self-study” package. This package provides you with the notes to the level 1 curriculum along with their Qbank. I used this package almost exclusively, only using the end of chapter questions in the official CFAI text as additional practice. I did very well on the level 1 exam and I had no previous finance experience/education with the exception of an intro finance course in college. It did take me much longer to study for this exam than most because of my background, or lack thereof , however it sounds like you will do great if you put in the work. No need to splurge on the premium package in my opinion.

Best of luck!

Hi again,

I’m going for the CFA qualification for December 17 and my employer has came back and asked what provider I want to go with. I’m seriously considering Bloomberg’s Ultimate package - mainly as I won’t be footing the bill, why not go all out.

My question is – so, I would get the CFAI material AND Bloomberg material, do you study both or just study the material you have bought from another source?

Sorry for the stupid question, just want to get this started asap and fit in as much study as physically possible.

essbee.

Go for it then? I don’t know how good Bloomberg’s prep materials are. I can only vouch for Kaplan and Wiley.

Do it in December - CFA is a bit of a drag and takes a long time because of the way it’s structured - so no point dragging it out even longer. Kaplan is solid (others may be also). Buy the cheapest Kaplan option (if you have a .edu mail a/c you can get a discount). And, other than the ethics handbook, skip the CFAI stuff … thousands of pages you absolutely don’t need to read. Best prep is just to do exam questions under exam conditions. Test prep is hardly Bloomberg’s main business so I would skip that, whereas for Kaplan and Wiley it’s their bread and butter.

You have lots of time, why don’t you register first (is it even open yet for 2018 June exam?) and get the textbooks from CFAI, since you have time you can afford to spend more time on the books and not spend additional money on study guides, it’s worth and if the texbooks are oveerwhelming you can always buy the Schweser books by end of the year. From experience, you shouldn’t take more than 5-6 months to study for level 1.

BEST OF LUCK!

NANA

you’re so sweet and helpful awww so cute