Other than the fact that they included a dated item set and miscategorized the item sets, I thought the Wiley mock that I did was pretty good.
I have to give back to the community that helped me passed on my third attempt. It truly takes a village.
Below is the schedule I wrote out at the beginning then what I did.
Summary:
PRACTICE. REPETITION=CONFIDENCE
My second attempt in 2015 was a band 9. Heartbreaking. I know how devastating it feels. Trust the process and never give up.
I went through Kaplan then basically started pen to paper. Overall, I put in 600 hours and that pass felt so sweet. Passed with all but two topics (Econ & Quant) above 70%.
The topic tests are previous mocks. Do them. Then do them five more times. Understand that concepts and the details. My approach was to understand the material and practice it so much to a point where I could not get it wrong. It had to become like muscle memory.
EOCs are a must. Then mock il you drop baby. Between CFAI Mock and Kaplan I did seven mocks. Then add the topic tests which I basically knew all 83 by heart I made sure I did everything I got my hand on. I even did the free mock by 300 hours. Blue boxes are great learning tools. For me, I timed ALL my item sets. 18 minutes. It got to the point where I knew exactly what minute it was without looking at the clock. This kept my mind and body in sync with the pace I wanted to go.
I agree the formulas being critical. Basically, know it that you don’t even have to think about it.
Cut no corners. Why risk all those long hours? I gave up an entire six months of my life for this. Problems struck in March but no matter just keep going.
CFA Level II Exam 2016
11/29/2015 Prep - Build Game Plan
December & January - Review - Notes
February - EOCs
March - Topic Tests
April & May - Mocks
June - Pass Exam
12/1/15 Ethics
12/11/15 Quantitative Methods
12/22/15 Economics
12/30/15 Financial Reporting Analysis
1/9/16 Corporate Finance
1/17/16 Equity
1/24/16 Alternative Investments
1/27/16 Fixed Income
1/29/16 Derivatives
2/1/16 Quantitative Methods EOC
2/4/16 Economics EOC
2/6/16 Financial Reporting Analysis EOC
2/11/16 Corporate Finance EOC
2/12/16 Ethics EOC
2/13/16 Corporate Finance EOC
2/15/16 Equity EOC
2/24/16 Fixed Income EOC
2/25/16 Alternative Investments EOC
2/27/16 Derivatives EOC
3/2/16 Portfolio Management EOC
3/3/16 Topic Tests
3/12/16 Ethics
3/13/16 REMOVE DISTRACTIONS
3/18/16 QBank
3/25/16 Financial Reporting Analysis EOC
3/27/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
4/5/16 Topic Tests
4/8/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
4/15/16 Topic Tests
4/16/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
4/17/16 Kaplan Practice Exams & Topic Tests
4/18/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
4/21/16 2015 Mock Exam
4/22/16 Curriculum Review
4/23/16 Topic Tests
4/25/16 2016 Mock Exam AM
4/26/16 2016 Mock Exam PM
4/27/16 Topic Tests
4/28/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
4/29/16 Financial Reporting Analysis
5/2/16 Kaplan Practice Exams & Topic Tests
5/3/16 Topic Tests
5/4/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
5/5/16 Topic Tests
5/8/16 Kaplan Practice Exams & Topic Tests
5/9/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
5/12/16 Derivatives EOC
5/13/16 2010 Mock Exam AM/PM
5/14/16 Fixed Income EOC & Corporate Finance EOC
5/15/16 Financial Reporting EOC
5/16/16 Kaplan Practice Exams & Topic Tests
5/17/16 Topic Tests
5/20/16 Equity EOC & Kaplan Practice Exams
5/21/16 Topic Tests
5/23/16 BPP Mock Exam & Ethics EOC
5/24/16 Kaplan Practice Exams
5/26/16 Topic Tests
5/28/16 EOC & Topic Tests
6/2/16 Review
6/4/16 CFA Level II Exam
I took spent 100 odd hours and past L1 first attempt. Then I spent about 200 hrs and failed L2 first attempt. Then I spent another 200 odd hrs to pass L2 second attempt and passed this time. So L2 was much harder than L1 for me. 
I started on February 1 as I was only able to register for L2 on January 29 (waited for L1 results), and I used only CFAI books. The most painful 4 months in my life! 1-1,5 hours every morning in the office + all-day weekends and 3 weeks off work before the exam.
Make a schedule and plan at least 2 weeks for a recap (I had 3 'cause I started very late). End of chapter questions shall become your bible. What proved extremely helpful for me was notes on all questions I got wrong in EOC and mocks (especially ethics), like “it’s not OK to use CFA on a company’s letterhead but OK for your personal one” and staff like that. I ended up having kind of Indiana Jones journal which was basis for my recap. Good luck!
Thanks all for the advice. So, I will stick to Schweser and CFAI mocks, EOCs, BB and TT. Hopefully these should suffice.
If any of the members have a different view or think I should add other mocks to my preparation then please do share your thoughts.
It’s also called an Item Set format. A case scenario is given which is followed by about 6 multiple choice questions (with 3 potential correct answer options, you need to choose one correct answer) to be solved based on the information provided in the case scenario. You can get sample questions from cfa insitute website for Level 2.
Hi “NoPlace26”,
I absolutely agree with you and liked your game plan. I just can’t believe someone passing the exam without having a written gameplan which is backed up by Action. Hats of to you.
I always study with a written game plan and always track it on a daily basis. There are times when I dont hit the goal as per my game plan, but then I do revise my game plan. It’s absolutely a must.
Hmm…I studied the CFA curriculum books 2 to 3 weeks before the exam and completed all the practice questions. Also skipped some sections like derivatives and alternative investments where the topics are light.
I felt like I didn’t study enough hours, but when I tallied it all up, it was at least 450 if not more. It was probably 450 excluding the week leading up, which I took off from work.
I started in January with the weekly Kaplan courses. I did the in-person classes to make sure I stayed on pace and also to keep me focused (I know myself, if I did online courses my ADD would take over).
There were definitely times that I felt like I was falling behind, and I felt like I didn’t fully grasp any one topic comfortably before tackling the next. In April, I was on track to finish with Derivs and PM left - but I burned out and felt like I completely fell off the bandwagon at that point.
What saved me:
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I had been doing the EOC questions along the way, while reading the Schweser text. Especially for topics that I felt were especially challenging for me, I tried to do the EOCs at least once, if not twice. I did concept checkers in the Schweser books when I had time after the EOC questions.
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I took John Harris’ accounting course.
I did just shy of 4 practice exams. I did a live NYSSA (provided by Kaplan) mock very early, mid April. I didn’t do enough mocks to feel comfortable going in, and if I could re-do it I would do at least 6-7 full mocks. Being burned out towards the end was no fun but even having passed, I would’ve liked going in feeling more confident.
I did not find the 3 day live review that Kaplan offered to be very helpful for Level 2. It was way too much material, and overwhelming. The instructor glossed over concepts way too quickly. It wasn’t his fault entirely, there is simply too much to cover in 3 days. It would have been better if they chose to only cover the most heavily weighted topics in greater detail and depth.
Good luck all!