I am just starting out the CFA process and trying to figure out when to plan to take my first test. Is December too soon? How many hours do I need to dedicate to it? (If Dec too soon, when will June 2020 curriculum available?)
What study approach is best? I’ve read some Study Prep websites and they say curriculum has too many pages, just use their materials. I’ve passed actuarial and CPCU exams, but I never ignored the curriculum, so just curious what everybody does and uses to pass these exams.
Also, why are exams 2 and 3 only offered annually? Do they need a year of preparation?
How many hours you should spend depends on your background. Math, finance, economics. The more you know, the easier will be for you and you will spend less time.
Yes, curriculum is huge, but I would recommend you go through curriculum instead of prep providers’ materials if you want to gain solid knowledge. If you just want to pass the exam, go with prep providers.
It is not too late for december exam. You just need to plan and allocate enough time for preparation. Let’s say you start now. It means you have 6 months and you should spend on average 300 hours studying. It goes 50 hours per month or almost 2 hours per day.
That’s a way to understand time cost of your commitment.
The exam is just designed to be organized once a year. I assume that is thought to be optimal.
December is doable if you start now and have a good finance/quant background. It gives you less than six months for L2, which could be risky since L2 is such a huge jump in difficulty from L1.
You have 12 days to take the next one. If you can knock out a subject a day, you’ll still have a few days for mocks.
GL!
i don’t even have the materials yet. Plus, if Dec registration is $1000 at this point, i’d hate to see late fee for June sitting. 
Thanks! I have math and actuarial background, with touch of Finance, Econ, and Risk Management. I like to do full complete OCD study, so I’ll probably wait until June 2020 so I have a lot of time. (Plus, Dec registration way too much as this time.)