I will argue that the majority is on the side of utilizing the passing of each level towards furthering of their careers or breaking into the field of investments as opposed to learning the material for their own use solely.
The issue I’d want some feedback on is retention of the material for the purpose of relevant jobs. I will group L1 and L2 in to one category because of the similarities and relevance mainly for analytical and modeling jobs. L3 for the sake of argument I’ll tie to portfolio mgmt and investment strategy sort of roles.
Assumption: You are not in the investment (CFA relevant) field yet. You wrote all three exams one after the other continuously. You passed on first attempt.
- L1/L2 : You are hype studying for exam day. You are on fire. You remember every single formula. Every single pro/con for the different arguments and concepts.
Exam Day : you are at your peak of the information in your brain. You are articulate and fluent in it. You have deeply engraved mind maps of the various methods to derive reasonable answers.
After Exam Day: Knowledge is slowly turning bleak. Fading. You still remember the main ideas but you lack finesse and articulation.
Few months down the road. You start L3. No matter how mastered L1/L2 were, they’re turning into a distant memory. You start and finish L3, say you mastered most of the material and are done with it. L1/L2 at this stage you can barely remember (in terms of mastery). After L3, same process; L3 material is now slowly seeping out of your mind.
Now let’s say you get interviews for analyst roles (L1/L2) relevant.
How do you at this stage (post L3) bring your knowledge to that true finesse level? Do you even need to rub it to the point of finesse? Do you review all your L1/L2 notes to be relevant, organized and articulate? I have OCD, I feel like I need to bring the game to mastery level in order for me to feel comfortable in interviews only to walk in and not being asked a single technical question
Similarly, you get interviews for portfolio associate/ assistant roles. IPS building or wealth management (L3 relevant) interviews.
How to stay on top of your game? Articulate and precise with the knowledge that you’ve once “mastered”?
The above questions pertain to being articulate and ready for interview purposes. During one’s downturn, is it expected to just keep reviewing stuff? But what happens under the situation where someone is working an irrelevant job (such as a teller/ or back office) and he’s putting in 40-50 hours and has no time to be on top of the material constantly?
Now on the contrary, from my personal experience I have found some randomness in the correlation between whether it matters to be super prepared (material wise) and interview expectations. For example, apparently not all interviewers will ask you anything relevant to the CFA material. Case in point: Went in for a Pension Analyst role, Portfolio Assistant and an Associate role at big financial institutions here in Canada and the interviewer did not ask me a SINGLE technical question. Not one. It was all general behavioral b.s and a lot of staring.
Only one of my previous interviews (which i landed) was for private company valuations was i asked whether i can build models, come up with discount rates, conduct FCFF present values etc etc.
Going forward, again got an interview for an Portfolio Strategist - Investments. Role relates to recommending optimal strategic model portfolios based on the statistical evaluation of risk, return, and correlations. (i.e. efficient frontier). Conducting style and attribution analysis of client PFs.
Review L3 material or go in smile and be asked lame behavioral questions and stare at each other?