As some of you know from my previous posts, I failed L1 with a band 10 in my first attempt @ the CFA. I signed up for the December tests. For my prep the first time, I read the Elan guides and did all LOS problems along with select Elan practice q’s. I took as many mocks as I could and still did not pass. This time I am going to use Q bank and do more elan questions in addition to the EOC questions. I am trying to figure out how I am going to go through all of the material again. I think I am going to start with my worst topics instead of going in order… Any other suggestions?
I used Elan too. During the last few days, I read the 11h review guide soooo many times. You know at the beginning I didnt like this 11h book, then i realized that if you don’t understand this book and like it, that means you still have a lot of concepts to master from the curriculum or the study notes. For some reading, after doing all the mocks exams, I went back to the Elan study notes to read all the chapters (like FI, Equity or FRA). It takes time, but it works. I felt very confident during the exam (except econ, lool)…and of course, I managed to know how to play with all the formula. Elan formula sheet is a good starting point, I just added my own comments on it to customize it.
Yiota, You think just 11th hour guide and tons of questions will do the trick?
What topic areas did you not do well in. If you were weak on the same ones during the practice tests maybe you should get the videos for those.
I recommend QBank. You seem to have put in a lot of time the first time, so I doubt that you are unfamiliar with the material. More practice questions seems like the way to go. Also, daily massages.
Multiple Choice Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 8 - - * - Corporate Finance 20 - * - - Derivatives 12 - * - - Economics 24 - * - - Equity Investments 24 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 48 - * - - Fixed Income Investments 28 * - - - Portfolio Management 12 - * - - Quantitative Methods 28 - - * I need to pick up my FSA score without a doubt. I don’t understand why I scored so poorly in Fixed Income. I was killing that section on every mock exam / end of chapter questions.
invic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yiota, > > You think just 11th hour guide and tons of > questions will do the trick? I don’t think only that will do the entire trick, but that helped me. You know the exam was on June 4. On May 21, I went to the schweser live mock and I barely scored 55%, same think on the first Elan mock AM at the same period which is yet the easiest of both of them. I was so desperate because i realized how the retention issue affected me (I’d been studying for months and I have a finance background, but I have a busy work too). So what I did, I spent time reading all the answers of the mocks to get how I shoud read the curriculum. I read both schweser answers and Elan 1st mock answers in details. Then I went back on my study notes and read them now carefully, taking notes and working on formula, connecting all the dots, making sure I UNDERSTAND what I was reading too. It took me time, I had to take more days off at work, I was living CFA. I timed my mocks exams, then took time to go over all the answers even if I got them right or already know them, and for all the new questions, I went back on the book to read the corresponding sections again and again. Then I started my reading of some curriculum or some chapters + the 11h review… I scored >70+ on all topics Regarding the schweser live mock, even if it’s not really representative of the real exam (I think Elan is the good proxy), i recommend it as well. It helped me realize how important time management skill is for this exam as well. Fortunately i didnt realize that on exam day, lool.
first of all I am amazed to know its band 10. I have above 70 in all sections except FI, eco, and quants 50-70.And unfortunately less than 50% in ethics which was my strongest and in my views easiest point. I know and sure it was just the matter of two or three questions.
well if you got under 50% in ethics, then it can’t be your strongest now can it?
malik3 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > first of all I am amazed to know its band 10. I > have above 70 in all sections except FI, eco, and > quants 50-70.And unfortunately less than 50% in > ethics which was my strongest and in my views > easiest point. I know and sure it was just the > matter of two or three questions. Well those four subjects are over half the exam, right? Getting over 70% on derivatives, A.I, P.M, etc., won’t get you many points. Invic, I would just focus on your weak areas…I was in band 10 (non-finance background, the FRA and corp. finance really hurt me) and need to drill over those two and then just refresh myself in all the others. My strongest categories were Equity, FI, PM and Quant; middle of the road in the rest (although I felt reasonably confident in most of those categories). Still enjoying summer, won’t even pick up the books to look at until probably Oct. I remember cramming hard and saying, if only I had another 2-3 wks for mocks and practice, lol.
I barely passed L1. What helped me was sitting down the week before the exam and breaking up the schweser mocks. So I would drill all the FI questions from Schweser Mocks, then drill all the equity q’s, then all the CorpFin q’s etc etc. THat really solidified my thinking. I scored 50% on the CFAI mock weekend before exam btw.
I managed to pass level 1 in the first attempt. My routine was to break down the readings and re-read them. I managed to re-read the whole syllabus from Shweser 4 times before the exam. Did Ethics from Curriculum as it was relatively harder for me. The least which I had to do was to solve the Curriculum end questions. I did curriculum end questions and appeared in the curriculum mock and secured 82%. You’ve 109 days left for the exam. Focus on clearing your concepts of weak areas. Do curriculum problems and chapter end questions, you’ll pass the exam. I wasn’t a full time student only managed to read in chunks of 20 minutes and I could only make 5 chunks a day. Roughly 100 minutes of concentrated reading.
It’s not that hard really, just do every single practice problem you can get your hands on. I failed band 10 in June 2010 despite reading the text (elan and CFAI) almost twice. This year I did the entire Q bank (hard and medium) and almost all of Elan’s 2000 practice questions. Didn’t even read the text execpt for areas that I knew would be tested heavy or needed some clairification. The exam felt like a breeze and in both sections I walked out after 1 hour. Result was I crushed it with 70+ in all sections execpt Econ. There is really only so many ways they can ask certian q’s so after you go through about 1500 q’s you’ve probably seen it all.
Yeah I started last night. I re-arranged the scoring tabs they send in the email to re-arrange by topic weight first. I am just going to go through Elan’s 11th hour guide and do all EOC , Qbank and Elan practice questions and just review whatever trips me up…
invic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yeah I started last night. I re-arranged the > scoring tabs they send in the email to re-arrange > by topic weight first. I am just going to go > through Elan’s 11th hour guide and do all EOC , > Qbank and Elan practice questions and just review > whatever trips me up… Do mocks exams, as many as u can. Then carefully go over the answers and go back to the books or 11h review to re-read all these concepts.
Yiota, I didn’t have Q-Bank the first time around, just elan and CFAI. You’re saying I should just generate as many mocks with Q-Bank and just re-read whatever I don’t understand?