Hi all, first time poster. I failed Level 2 this past June and know that I need to change my preparation method in order to pass this test. I would like to share with the board what I have done as well as what I plan to do differently this time around and am hoping some of you can spare the time to give me some constructive criticism on how to prepare. First off, here is how my results came in: Q#TopicMax Pts<=50%51%-70%>70% -Alternative Investments18*-- -Corporate Finance36–* -Derivatives36-*- -Economics18–* -Equity Investments72-*- -Ethical & Professional Standards36-*- -Financial Reporting & Analysis72*-- -Fixed Income Investments36-*- -Portfolio Management18–* -Quantitative Methods18-*- Your score band: 8 For study I read through all of the Schweser notes and answered all review questions within the books. However I did not read any of the CFAI texts or do the CFAI End of Chapter questions which I have determined from searching this forum are very important. I also did not leave myself enough time for doing any practice exams, drilling additional questions, or material review. I put in approximately 180 hours of study, clearly an insufficient amount. My plan for next year is to this time read through all the CFAI curriculum and of course answer their EOC questions. I will supplement weak areas with my Schweser notes from last year. And I know that I will need to finish this read-through at least one month (preferably two) prior to the exam so I can take practice exams, drill questions, and review material. I think that I really need to put a big emphasis on doing a LOT more review questions this time around as that was clearly lacking last year. If anyone has additional suggestions I would really appreciate it. I do think the biggest thing for me is going to be just carving out more hours to prepare. I’m not going to whine about why I haven’t been able to spend more time on this thing on the past because I know that a big part of passing these tests is simply finding a way to make the time for effective study and the good news is that I don’t think I’ll have any obstacles to doing that this coming year.
I have been successful at these types of exams many times and what works for me has been to make a schedule, assign myself readings or topics for each day and stick to it. The schedule would involve a first pass through the material, reading for understanding first. The second pass involves every question you can find (Schweser and CFAI EOC for example) and doing them until you get them right. The third pass involves memorization and review of tough topics. The last few days are straight memorization and cutting losses on topics that are beyond hope (i.e. memorize how to answer a few basic questions even if the topic is mostly a write-off). This approach seems to work for me because the first pass gets me ready for what i need to know and some of it gets stored in my memory. The second pass solidifies it and the third pass is for memorization. By the exam date, the longest I’ve gone since reviewing a topic is therefore only maybe 2 weeks. If you go start to finish read, study, memorize, then it may be months since you last reviewed chapter 2, for example. Just my thoughts. Everyone studies in different ways. Good luck!
Level2Ain’tEasy I had a similar experience last time, but I put in a lot of hours. I found, as pointed out by bluekayaker that one of the most important aspects of the material is review. I could have nailed any given section after reading through the book and doing the EOC questions, but as I moved on, I did not review until a month before. This was definitely my demise as my brain started to confuse little details, which make up the dfining line between a pass/fail on L2. As a re-taker, I am going to make my way through the CFAI curriculum starting mid-September. I will make short notes along the way about the topics and details I will need to review (definition and bullet-point types, makes reviewing quicker and easier to remember). I am going to dedicate 1 of my study sessions per week (3 study nights after work for the first 5 months, 4 afterwards) just for reviewing my notes and any topics I had trouble with during the previous week. I will do EOC questions after each reading. After this first run through, I will go back and review all my notes, take down topics still giving me trouble, and review them thoroughly, re-reading and making more detailed notes. Then I will attack the EOC questions hard covering any topics I have trouble with in my Schweser notes from last year or CFAI, depending how much detail I need. If I have time, I will re-read the stuff I find foggy in Schweser, and begin practice exams in mid-april. Review, questions, review, questions, etc… until June. Hope this helps
Yes good suggestions from both of you, I appreciate it. I have already put together a schedule as bluekayaker suggested and I have done the same thing as you TDIGZ; I plan to finish the CFAI read-through 2 months before the exam in order to leave plenty of time for review, practice exams, and questions questions questions. No review period this time really killed me on the test. As one example, when I got to the vignette in FSA on All Current vs. Temporal currency translation I forgot a number of the basic translation relationships and consquently bombed that section. That’s just rote memorization that obviously needs to be hammered home in the last week or two before the exam.
@ Level2Ain’tEasy No review period this time really killed me on the test. As one example, when I got to the vignette in FSA on All Current vs. Temporal currency translation I forgot a number of the basic translation relationships and consquently bombed that section. That’s just rote memorization that obviously needs to be hammered home in the last week or two before the exam. Aboslutely!! had that same problem in FSA!!! TRAGIC!!
Also be aware that 2 months sounds like a long time for review, but if you build in the last 2 weeks for memorization/cramming, that really leaves 6 weeks for a broad review, and with 18 topics that is only 2 or 3 days per topic. When you map out a schedule it really draws attention to how little time you have on each topic even with months of preparation. I think I finished the readings about 6-8 weeks before the exam, and I found that really tight (mind you I’d not done ANY EOC at that point). Cheers
I did schweser and CFAI EOC questions last year. not enough. In my opinion, the most important thing in this exam is REVIEWING WHAT YOU ALREADY STUDIED. When I was reviewing in April/May things I studied in December, it was like relearning it all over again! This time around I am not using Schweser, nor am I reading ALL the CFAI texts. I am skimming through the text and refreshing my knowledge through my 100 pages of notes I took the first time through. I will FOCUS on EOC questions and SAMPLE questions. But now, after I go through book 2, I will spend a day or two and review book 1. Then after book 3, 4, 5, 6, I will go back and review all the ones I’ve seen before. The key is to keep the stuff relatively fresh in your head so during your review in April you are focusing on tiny details instead of broad subjects 
Starting this weekend… Helloooooo soft dollar standards!!