I’ve heard mid-September is a good time to begin but I’d like to hear what other people say.
Starting early January is still okay if your work doesn’t require much long hours. If it does, then November would be good to start (or even earlier).
I started last week. I don’t have a finance or accounting background and I work in commercial real estate so I am taking as much time with this material as possible.
This is probably a perfect example for when the benefits of starting early out way the costs. Yes, I really think there are drawbacks to starting early. In particular, there’s likely to be larger gaps of time when you haven’t touched a particular topic and maybe don’t recollect it all that well (forcing you to re-study or re-read material, which in some sense isn’t optimal). For all those who don’t have a busy season between January and exam day, and have some finance background beyond what was in L1, I’d recommend starting at the end of December/beginning of January.
I’d second Mamba. I think it’s best when you’re studying 20-25 hours a week for 5-6 months. Use the last 6-8 weeks on reviews and mocks and ramp up the hours in the final month and you should be ok.
I’m probably going to start the Saturday of Thanksgiving break or the first week of December. Already studying for another exam right now and purchased MM’s single subject package for FRA Level I to review at this time as it was by far my weakest section from Level I (my own fault for bad time management) and heard it only gets harder for level II.
agree with fino_abama: It works well to start in January in case your work load isn’t bad.
More technical than what you saw in L1, but way less material. Three core readings. I don’t know about you, but I prefer more technical reads where you can work through the logic for some accounting process rather than committing dozens of seemingly arbitrary financial reporting standards for US GAAP and IFRS to memory.
Start early. Level 2 is much more difficult compared to Level 1. It’s a mile wide and very in depth.
I mentioned this on another thread, but if you are weak in FRA and have some discretionary cash to throw to prep providers check out John Harris (Financial Accounting Workshops). I think he still writes/teaches for Schweser, but runs a separate two-day workshop that focuses specifically on FRA. Not sure if his schedule is out yet for 2019, but he typically hits the larger cities (i took it in Chicago area). Great instructor and actively works through the problems. Also spoke with him on the phone after the class on some subsequent questions that i had leading up to the exam. I ended up well over the 90% score and attribute that to his class and materials.
November lightly then January seriously then March super seriously then May like s e r i o u s l y
I started studying around October last year and finished my first book by around March this year. Then I quit my job and finished the rest of 5 books and passed in June.
I’d give it at least a week.
Two would be better.
On average, you will be putting in 400 hours of studying (took me more than that). I couldn’t productively study more than 3-4 hours at a time, even on the weekends. I just wouldn’t retain things after 4 hours. During work days (I put in 10-12 hour days), I found it best to always touch the curriculum every day in some way to maintain continuity and focus. So, if you have a full time job, it is best to start early (ie. now).
Unless you want to feel like there is a constant fire under your you know what then I’d suggest starting sooner rather than later
If full-time job and busy, start now
If full-time job and not busy (can have 2 hours every day for study), you can study later like in November.
If not full-time and not busy (can have 4 whole days per week to study, each day for 5 hours), you can start even later like in Jan.
Of course, it also depends on your Level 1 performance. Top 10% passed needs less time than those who are just around the line.
I took the same approach but instead of quitting, i asked for unpaid holiday leaves starting from bgn of March with some occasional coming back due to the workload of my team (3 weeks in total) . Luckily, my boss is a nice guy and he was impressed with my dedication and let me have more time to prepare for the exam. Im really grateful for that. My situation by March was better than u. At that time i’ve already covered Quant, Fixed Income, Corp Finance, Derivatives and part of FRA.
after you recover from the super bowl party
if you start mid February you should be good.