Hi, I am looking to take the CAIA exam in March. I was an excellent student in school but feel I have been really struggling on this. In school, I had tons of time to devote to studying but I feel now I need to learn how to be efficient and I just have not been. Additionally, I don’t really have weak points in my estimation, everything is just below average. I have been reading the textbook since August but after visiting this page shifted to Uppermark in late October. Was hoping to get some feedback on my study style because my scores have stalled. I have a little bit of free time coming up and I hope to get some opinions on how best to use it.
I have 3 days off for xmas and new years and 2 weekends at home to myself. I am trying to figure out how to best use this time. Since my current methods aren’t working, the best I can come up with is to try to vary the ways I study. So I hope 12 hours a day on the holidays. With 4 hours of the Uppermark web lectures, 3 hours doing QBank and then 4 hours of reading and 1 hour of working on memorization of formulas.
Per Uppermark I am about 48% through the entire Qbank with a total blended score of 57%. I score in the 75% range on ethics, and about 40% on structured products and everything else is north of 50% but south of 60%.
I work full time in finance and I generally try to take 10-30 Qbank questions a day. Write down concepts I do not know, then read the flashcards or the study notes from Uppermark on these learning objectives. Yet my scores are not moving upward. I know a big issue is the total study time as I probably study on average 30 minutes to an hour a day during the workweek. And 8 hours on weekends. The workweek studying is often just sneaking things in around firedrills and while eating. Not what I consider great study time. I am also concerned about advancing through Qbank and then my scores artificially inflating because I am just memorizing them. Any advice would be appreciated.