For those of you who have passed at least CFA Level 1: What is your background in Finance? I was a Political Science/Philosophy double major in college. I passed the Dec. 08 test on the first try through self-teaching. It was bad in the beginning…I didn’t understand basic quant or econ. I guess I’m sort of tooting my own horn here, but really am interested in what kind of backgrounds most people have.
Just Passed with three months of studying. BS - Finance University of Colorado - Boulder MBA-Finance/International Business Regis University 6 years in financial services
Northeastern Undergrad Major-Finance Minors- Psychology & Law 1.5 yrs Regulatory .5- Financial Services
i passed with no finance background…[4-5 months of Study] Although I work in financial services, what I do is IT stuff. I developed trading software couple of years back… I’m a comp science grad… I used mostly CFAI text and Q-bank. [Solved close to 1000 questions] Wrote only 3 practice tests [CFAI 2 mocks and 1 free sample]
i passed with no finance background… bachelor of science (chemistry) (advanced) bachelor of laws (honours) I used CFAI tests, QBANK including readings on QBANK, audio tapes and I watched videos in the week before the exam. only glanced at Scheweser tests. I spent between 65 and 100 hours in total. closer to 100 if you include listening to the tapes to and from work. got 9/10 >70%
BS in Operations Research - Cornell MEng in Financial Engineering - Cornell I did take bunch of finance, business and econ electives though. Academic+work experience+self study of FSA/Corp Finance did the trick. Did 2 months of studying on weekends at most. HOWEVER, I wouldn’t recommend this plan to anyone with worse finance/math exposure.
I’ve also been wondering how much finance typical Level 1 candidates have in their background. I was a political science and French major in college (graduated 2 years ago). I didn’t take any finance courses but did take three econ courses - macro, micro, and macro theory - my freshman year in college. I’ve worked in finance (private equity advisory/placement) since I graduated, so I’ve gotten a pretty good background over the past 1.5 years, and have also taken a very easy intro to corp finance and intro to financial accounting class at NYU within the past 9 months. I’m just finishing up quantitative methods for June 09 level 1 and feel like I’ve moved pretty slowly through it (2 solid weeks), which has made me a bit nervous about my background. How did others with a less financial background do on the Level 1 (and how do those who are currently studying feel about the pace/retention rate)?
BEng in Computer Engineering from National University of Singapore Taking part-time classes in Creative Writing from University of London (Yes, I’m mildly bizarre) Been working in a finance role in an investment bank for 1.5 years which gave me a better feel for picking up financial concepts, even without a financial background. Registered for L1 Dec 08 exam about 3 months before the exam and didn’t do any research on how to prepare. Dived straight into the CFAI notes, struggled for a month or so, while keeping up with travel plans I’d made prior to signing up for the exam. Two months before the exam, I realized there was no way I could cover CFAI notes before the exam, picked up Schweser and went on overdrive for about 1.5 months amidst mad hours @ work (thank heavens for weekends + 10 days of study leave - work days were a write-off for me, except for the last 3 weeks or so when I crammed late into the night after work!) No QBank or Secret Sauce or any such thing for lack of time. Did mock/samples from CFAI and ran through Schweser Vol I sample papers. Passed with 9/10 > 70% with 51-70% in AI> This might seem like I’m being pompous but I write this to encourage any other last-minuters out there to not give up. Reading AFers in the month before the exam made me extremely nervous because I seemed to be the only one with < 3 months prep!
Did the L1 right on the back of finishing my dual MBA/MSF degree. 10 years of IT business analyst experience working with SAP. MBA/MSF definitely helped prep me for the exam.
I took up Business Management for my Bachelor’s Degree from Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines). Had 1 finance class, and 1 finance elective which I took in San Francisco during an exchange programme. But what really helped me was my exposure in Accounting, as FSA comprised a significant portion of the test. Am working in a bank, but not in a role related to the CFA material.
BSc biochemistry, PhD Neuroscience… no finance background whatsoever… passed level 1 by working hard studying only Schweser Notes, bought videos and samples tests but never used any of them. I didnt even bother doing the CFA mock test or Schweser practice exams… just study the notes and learn the concepts once, remember them the second time.
4th year Finance&Accounting student… studied L1 for about 3~4 months… passed first time.
lcampbell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’ve also been wondering how much finance typical > Level 1 candidates have in their background. I was > a political science and French major in college > (graduated 2 years ago). I didn’t take any finance > courses but did take three econ courses - macro, > micro, and macro theory - my freshman year in > college. I’ve worked in finance (private equity > advisory/placement) since I graduated, so I’ve > gotten a pretty good background over the past 1.5 > years, and have also taken a very easy intro to > corp finance and intro to financial accounting > class at NYU within the past 9 months. > > I’m just finishing up quantitative methods for > June 09 level 1 and feel like I’ve moved pretty > slowly through it (2 solid weeks), which has made > me a bit nervous about my background. How did > others with a less financial background do on the > Level 1 (and how do those who are currently > studying feel about the pace/retention rate)? Take stats course at your local community college. Calculus too.
Interesting how varied the backgrounds are of people. I felt good in my L1 studying with one minor exception…I have to cut out my extracurricular activities, especially those that hinder retention.