Lot of people passed here on AF and i’m pretty happy for them.
A guy asked to those who passed what they did to succeed, so to confirm they did good i’m gonna share what I did wrong (in my opinion)
Just a little background: I started L1 in June last year for December exam, I have light finance/accounting background and English is neither my mother tongue neither my work language and i do work 40h per week, but i did managed a pass. As soon as i passed i registered for L2.
That’s left me with 4 month of study instead of 6 as previous, i used schweser for L1 but decided to go for curriculum for L2 that’s my first mistake considering i have less time i should have sticked to schweser or Wiley. People will argue curriculum is the best, yes it’s the best if you are full time student, as i concern i rushed my ass to finish the books during the first 3 months, what’s happened? I read fast but not effectively.
I though L2 was like L1, again i was wrong L2 is much tougher than L1, you have to learn way more important stuff.
I started in June 2016, got a month and half break in the middle and continued in late January, the last month (may) was very rough i was exhausted, my motivation, focus and confidence eroded. I’m not saying don’t do it after December but take in consideration that you have less time and you literally chain a new 300h of study. So 600h of study in less than a year
When i did the mocks my confidence just felt to 0 and i started to think “i’m screwed fuck it i’ll do it next year” NEVER FUCKING GIVE UP, it’s what i did i gave up in my mind, i started the exam as a looser, don’t fucking do it. With the right mindset i could have done a lot better
I think i studied around 250h. the 300h+ isn’t a myth, work as much as you can.
I hope it will help people to avoid basic mistake I made
and again congratulations to those who passed you deserved it
I concur djego… my first two attempts I boneheadedly studied from CFAI text only and scored Band 1 and 5. It’s too easy to get bogged down in detail and not understand the concepts. This is the weakeness of the CFA program, the writings are from CFA’s who aren’t necessarily trying to help you understand the material, rather trying to publish an academic paper.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences Djegu. I’m a believer that failure can teach more than success. I hope this helps guide future candidates who enter the L2 arena.
