Some Help to Better Plan our Last 5 Weeks

Hi All,

It would be helpful to get the estimated # of hours it takes you to do some review tasks so we all have a better idea of how to plan the rest of our review. For example, we have just over 5 weeks left and I plan to study at least 3.5 hours a day (avg), for a total of 120+ hours. My plan is as follows:

  • Do a complete review and understanding of entire curriculum (read through schweser secret sauce/ presentation slides and redo significant problems) Estimate 30 hours
  • Memorize important lists and formulas: Estimate 10 hours
  • Do 6 or 7 practice exams (6 hours each), then mark and understand correct and incorrect answers (6 hours each): Estimate 72 - 84 hours

I think one of the most important/overlooked item there is the memorization of lists and formulas, last year (level 2) it improved my practice test scores from mid 60%'s to low 80%'s.

Any contribution should help all of us (especially if you’ve already gone through the schweser secret sauce and can estimate the time it took you).

Thanks,

Is it really worth the time taking that many practice exams as if they are real tests (e.g. blocking off 3 hours, doing the whole thing before checking answers)? The other option is to take a few for real to make sure you are passing, then do the rest in a more speedy, one by one, problem and check method. Might speed up the process and allow for time to be spent on brushing up weak areas. This worked well for me at Level 2. I took probably 4-5 3 hr tests for real (was scoring around 75% or better), then just plowed through the rest for practice. Anyway, just a thought.

I also completely agree with your lists and formulas method. As for formulas, I have a cheat sheet of all formulas from the back of each Schweser book and have gone through and added formulas during my second or third time through the material. I plan on reviewing this multiple times. I haven’t done anything similar for lists, but this would be really helpful, especially given a few of the essay examples asking for this type of thing i’ve come across so far. What’s your process for lists?

Overall, I think your plan is a good and reasonable one. My plan is very similar. I think practice problems are key above all else however they come (Schweser Qbank/essays, Schweser exams Vol 1 and 2, and CFAI mocks.

As for me, I’ve done around 30% of the Qbank (only Advanced until unavailable), which I’ve done book by book in blocks. Once i’m done with this i’m going to hit the Secret sauce. After that it’s going to be all schweser mocks and CFAI mocks.

Good study plan! I also keep a separate log of items I just have to commit to memory (although most concepts you just have to understand). List questions are very common in essay and MC questions. It could be as easy as a list of the advantages/disadvantages of XYZ strategy or the list of the 7 characteristics of a valid benchmark: SAMURAI: 1) Specified in advance 2) Accountable 3) Measurable 4) Unambiguous 5) Reflective of current investment opinions 6) Appropriate 7) Investable

A question about this could be something like “Evaluate the usefulness of an Absolute benchmark” or MC “Was Jerry correct in rejecting XYZ benchmark because it was not specified in advance. Was Joe correct in accepting a benchmark based solely on it’s measurability.”

For practice exams, I’ll start my first next week as open book and not looking at the time just to get a taste for the exam. After I review that first exam, I’ll start memorizing lists and formulas by simply writing them out until I can write them without looking.

For the second practice test and any subsequent exams, I will sit down for 3 hours at a time and not check answers until I’m done. I do this to prepare for the test taking scenario and to give myself the positive feedback as I continue to improve.

I like prophets’ plan, but I think the original plan is a pretty good one.

As a retaker, one of my bigget mistakes (aside from having a baby in the middle of this thing) was not taking exams early enough. So, I would strongly encourage going through all of the practice exams you can get your hands on in whatever fashion works best for you. I also signed up for the BSAS live mock. So, every weekend from here on out I will be covering at least one exam.

what else have you done so far?

Modafinil

Wish I could find some!

Assuming this was directed at me, so here goes:

  • All CFAI EOCs and blue box

  • All Schweser EOCs and blue box

  • Through 40% of the QBank now

  • Reviewed the 2011 CFAI morning exam

  • 2 passes through the Secret Sauce

  • Quite a few passes through the quick sheet

  • Couple of practice runs through the formulas (any formula I have trouble with gets written down 5-10 times)

That’s about all I can think of. Probably forgetting some stuff that I did.

thx bigml.

modafinil does long term damage to your dopaminegic neurons.

stay with a more natural approach:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/alzheimers-1126.html

exercise

=

brains

For me modafinil is a way to go

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