… on schedule ? … or feeling overwhelmed ?.. …i just feel that i’m not retaining anything… i read a session and it seems to all make sense… and the next day i can’t remember the difference between the return obj of endowment and foundations 
… and even if i know the answer i can’t seem to put it properly in words for essay ques…
I am feeling the same way, but I am hoping (from past experience) that I would be able to perform under pressure of the exam. My bigger fear is Schweser - I am feeling that the coverage is very shallow and it is going to come back to bite. And it is too late to shift to CFAI texts. The time for that was in December.
I have stuck with my (previously successful / efficient) strategy of speed-reading everything in Schweser (almost done) before doing questions / past exam papers. I think I will be very badly prepared for the questions when I am done speed-reading, which was not the case for Levels I & II.
i will take the week after easter off from work. that will give me 10 full study days. hopefully i can master some of the L3 concepts during this time period. personally, i find it quite tough to study during the week in the evenings. i get at most 2 hours of reading in, but this is pushing it. the weekends are easier for studying, but i guess everything else (social life, workouts, etc.) is suffering when studying the whole weekend. i am interested in how people manage both a busy work and study schedules? any advise? as for schweser and CFAI texts - i try to use both. i read the study session and complement with CFAI texts. sometimes the schweser notes suffice, othertimes, CFAI texts are helpful to get a broader picture. hopefully not all the details from the CFAI texts are asked come june 7. good luck everyone!
I am just trying to get all the pieces in place at the moment, and the crucial period will be the 10 days of study leave (14 days studying) I have at the end. CFA is not really intruding on other things yet… perhaps 8hrs a week… but I am reading Schweser and trying to eliminate (literally cross out) all the unnecessary sentences / passages (either b/c they are gratuitous or b/c I know it from prior knowledge). The end result will be that I can review a “slimmed-down” Schweser book in a matter of hours. At that point (probably end of Mar as I am away Easter weekend), I will take care of all the Schweser questions and refer back to my slimmed-down Schweser to review the answers. After that (May / June), I’ll do exams and work like a mofo in the last 14 days. Hopefully, it is enough. At the moment, I struggle to see how I will do more than 200hrs or so in aggregate.
I’m ok with the material so far, but I’m finding the derivative STRATEGIES really tough to remember. The payoffs, etc. aren’t so much a problem but when to apply them is more difficult and there all over the place (i.e FI, equity, Risk Mgmt) Anyone find a way to break it down into a simple method?
CFAAtlanta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- . My bigger fear is > Schweser - I am feeling that the coverage is very > shallow and it is going to come back to bite. And > it is too late to shift to CFAI texts. The time > for that was in December. same here… i started late and initially i kept jumping to CFAI but there is no time for that now… so i’ll just use the texts for the questions which i have heard are a must do. is there any session, that anyone feels, just has to be done from CFAI ?
I have not yet begun to panic! 
I threw in the towel - Schweser seems false economy for me as it is impacting my confidence going into the exam. If you think you cannot, you probably will not. Plus I don’t know how much time I am saving as sometimes I just don’t get what Schweser is getting to and I end up spending an inordinate time to either figure it out or go to the CFAI text anyway. So switching to CFAI texts. I am almost done with risk management and derivatives (Volume 5). What a pleasant change - bring them on! It took me 4.5 days for the volume, of which 2 days were weekend days and I took one day off, i.e. 3 full days plus 1.5 work days. But it was very smooth going. I already did bond portfolio management from CFAI text. The rest I will have to pick and choose. Now on to Volume 2 - which should account for about 50% of the morning exam (PWM and Institutional Investment). Hopefully I will done with the first pass through the curriculum - mostly (important topics) from CFAI and some from Schweser by mid-April. Then I will need to decide on my strategy for the second pass.
I just finished Study session 13. I am on track for my schedule of 1 session/week and will have 7 weeks left to review. I do have the same feeling that I’m not retaining much. I have no problem with the materials when I read it but I dont’ remember what I studied 2 weeks after.
From last year’s scores, it looks like that the afternoon session saved the folks, even when they did not do so well in the morning. So, I am quite focused on FI, derivatives etc.
Finishing the curriculum tonight, then starting review and notecard making. Hoping to be reviewing a large stack of cards by month end while at the craps table in vegas.
I should be finished with SS13 in the next day or two, depends on how much work I want to do… Should be able to knock out 14 adn 15 in one week they don’t look all that long. SS13 is a long one though, I think ~200 pages CFAI + ~120 pages Stalla, damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
Hoping to be done with Schweser book 4 by the weekend. Then hopefully book 5 by the end of month. Then two months to re-read, review, and do questions…
Feeling ok, like everything is coming together, but seeing how little time I have and how tight I need to be for the exam, so starting to hustle more.
I think CFAI has done a good job this year putting together the texts. They are colorful, easy to read and the explanation is really good. It is worth a read if you have the time.
I hope to wrap up everything by april or mid may … then have at least 3 weeks to review… on a happier note, i have 4 days of unexpected holidays coming my way… my office is shutting down for major renovations 
… hopefully, will be able to cover lots then. a ques - the end of chapter ques in the CFAI are imp but what abt the examples given in those blue boxes in the readings… there must be 15-20 per reading…worth doing ??
i am still on book 5 in CFAI, i hope to finish CFAI material first week of april and then start schweser/qbank. I guess i am behind
i’m progressing through the readings however i have not done too many Q’s … I’m hoping to read through everything by mid april … I’m also starting to get real nervous …
> > a ques - the end of chapter ques in the CFAI are > imp but what abt the examples given in those blue > boxes in the readings… there must be 15-20 per > reading…worth doing ?? Good question, I’m wondering the same thing. Anyone?