Optimal Sequence for Studying Topics?

I am hoping someone who has already done the exam can give some advice here.

Ethical and Professional Standards (15%)

Quantitative Methods (12%)

Economics (10%)

Financial Reporting and Analysis (20%)

Corporate Finance (7%)

Portfolio Management (7%)

Equity (10%)

Fixed Income (10%)

Derivatives (5%)

Alternative Investments (4%)

Start studying the ones where you expect to get the most points (high percentage of points on the exam, topics you believe that you can learn) and finish with the ones where you expect to get the fewest points (low percentage of points on the exam, topics you believe will vex you).

Hi Leo XCVI

This isn’t really about optimal sequence, but I think it will help. I think you have to sort out the topics you enjoy/ find easy and the ones you find difficult and frustrating. Back when I studied for level 1, there were some topics which I found either boring or challenging and I tend to cut short my study sessions because of the frustration … and I did this numerous times. Although I starting preparing for the exam many months before, my progress wasn’t much because of this. This forced me to review the topics I found to be easy. Fortunately, it was enjoyable to feel competent when reviewing for the easy topics. Later on, I mixed up reviewing the topics which I felt competent in to immediately compensate for the frustration when studying for the difficult ones… and after a while, I made the realization that the difficult topics were no longer difficult. I felt like knowing these early on could have made the process less painful and most efficient. Lastly, create flashcards with anki.

Hope this helps in some way. :slight_smile:

Haven’t done the exam, but one thing I notice is a lot of what you do in Quant, you will find in all the other topics.