^there was not a single binomial option tree on my exam
jojosf and any other repeater: My experience: 2007, Dec LI pass 2008, LII Fail band 7 (not enough time for me to prepare, used only Schweser notes) 2009, LII Fail band 9 (<50 FSA and 51-70 EQ, used mostly Schweser notes, apparently I didnt learn leason from previous year) 2010, LII Pass (did not read any text other then reference, did the 16 week online Schweser course which I give a 7/10 and went to Windsor which I give a 9/10 especially for a high band fail repeater, I did most of the CFAI EOC questions and about 2,000 Q Bank questions which the Q Bank I only give a 5/10) For me going to Windsor so that I could understand FSA better was what probably allowed me to pass this year.
I would say this. Take a break from the CFA. Complete your CPA first since that is needed for your job as well. Then come back with a lot of confidence ( since you would have the CPA atleast under your belt) and knock this thing off in 2 successive years. I have a feeling that if you take it the 4th time in 4 consecutive years you will have a huge burn out feeling. Ofcourse the above applies if you can finish CPA all 4 exams by june next year. I dont know when the CPA exams are conducted though.
hello everyone, thanks for your comments. CPA exams you can schedule as you please. only requirement is that from the day they allow you to take them you need to finish all in 18 months time. so i dont think cpa is that much of a problem since you can not only study the way you want but also decide when you are ready for any particular exam and if you fail, you schedule the same one a month later. so i think that is a huge advantage. my plan was to do 2 of the 4 until end of this year, then the L3 (which is not happening now), and the other 2 cpa exams 2nd half of 2011. the question now is, if taking a break from CFA until L2 2012 would require a much deeper preparation compared to doing it again next year. I also agree that EOC is a must, any mock available is great, qbank is not very helpful. I find it rather easy and it is not in item set format so it doesnt have the same value as a mock. i knew most formulas cold as well. what was so helpful in windsor week? thanks!
jojosf Wrote: … > > what was so helpful in windsor week? > > thanks! I am not always great at learning things that do not make sense to me. About 1/2 of Level II FSA was not intuitive for me along with a few fixed income LOSs. Having someone lecture on why something makes sense was very beneficial for me. Going over everything in ~6 days was intense but because I came in prepared it was nice to have another run through, even for my strong areas. I only took notes on things I was not strong on and the weekend afterward it I made flashcards using my notes to hammer home my weaker areas. Having nothing else to focus on for ~6 days was great. Though one could take the week off to self study (and save $2,000), the discipline of 8.5 hour days of classroom lecture is nice. By the end of the last full day I thought my brain was going to explode. That said I’ll be there for L III in May.
if FSA is the source of your problems, and you have John Harris coming for a local class (or some place near by where you live) - you pay only 500$ for his 2 day course locally + materials are included. and that might put you over the hill - since as many others would vouch for - he is the best there is. He also is at Windsor - so you would not be missing much. In addition he also offers you personal tutoring on FRA related questions when you have questions / doubts.
Do level 2 materials change a lot from year to year? Can I use 2010 schweser for 2011? Thanks
I agree with most people on this post. You have to decide what you want to do first, CPA or CFA. It’s very difficult to do both at the same time. What I did was pass my CPA exams while I was working as an accountant and then began taking the CFA exams now to make the switch in finance. If accounting is not what you want, then taking the CPA is a waste of your time.
cpk123 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if FSA is the source of your problems, and you > have John Harris coming for a local class (or some > place near by where you live) - you pay only 500$ > for his 2 day course locally + materials are > included. and that might put you over the hill - > since as many others would vouch for - he is the > best there is. He also is at Windsor - so you > would not be missing much. In addition he also > offers you personal tutoring on FRA related > questions when you have questions / doubts. 500 well spent.
I’m not a genius, liberal arts background and can understand your frustration. You need to learn to study better, not necessarily more. If you put in solid and strong preparation - unless you are subnormal in intelligence - you should be able to get through the exam (barring something like a major panic attack or a flood). What is solid and strong preparation? In my opinion, it’s not reading the material once. I read it over and over again. The first time I’m learning definitions, the second time I’m seeing the big picture, the third time I’m getting details that I missed. Then I’m working on problems related to it. Just going and doing the EOC problems, reading the answers and trying to guess at it is a losing strategy. No retention, no learning, and poor attention to detail. Read actively, underline things, take notes, and read the chapter over and over again over several successive days until you literally know all the details, see the big picture and small clearly that as you’re reading you’re already anticipating what they will tell you in the next LOS. When you’ve done that, you’ve done a fair job of doing the reading. Then you’ll need to drill problems like Hell and memorize what needs to be memorized. Also if you can get real life practice with this stuff it really helps. For example, when you actually try playing with call and put options through something like an etrade account its very intuitive and makes sense much more so than theory in a textbook. Next time you are thinking about the odds of something happening, think of it as a distribution. Look at real financial statements, think about them and become familiar with them. You should be able to draw a financial statement in your head if you’ve given yourself good prep. You should be able to see them like blueprints and their ratios and fundamentals like building blocks.
I hate Accounting and consider it one of my weaker areas as well, but I have taken John Harris’s classes for both L1 & L2 and gotten 70%+ on FSA for both. John Harris is definitely one of the best teachers out there, and I am comparing him against both my undergrad and grad teachers, not just CFA lecturers. pupdawg82 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cpk123 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > if FSA is the source of your problems, and you > > have John Harris coming for a local class (or > some > > place near by where you live) - you pay only > 500$ > > for his 2 day course locally + materials are > > included. and that might put you over the hill > - > > since as many others would vouch for - he is > the > > best there is. He also is at Windsor - so you > > would not be missing much. In addition he also > > offers you personal tutoring on FRA related > > questions when you have questions / doubts. > > > 500 well spent.
June 08 - L1 Pass June 09 - L2 Fail (Band 2) Depressed so much. Could not make up. June 10 - Did not appear 
June 11 - will be back with full motivation.
concentrating on the big dogs! FRA, EQUITY and ETHICS should do the magic!
Thanks everyone! I haven’t decided if I want to continue. It’s not a necessity for my job field to have the CFA but I started it some years back and it is something I would have liked to finish. Given that i wasted two years on tryign to study from CFAI text only does make me feel like it was not as bad as it looks failing 3 times. Depending on how my work load will develop I might go for it again…
hey jojosf, the only thing i can tell u with regards to the cfa is just to prepare differently. What can you do this time differently from how you prepared the previous couple of times? i can’t apply this to my cfa exams because i’ve never had to take them more than once, but in sports i always try to find different wins to win the game… hope tha thelps.