3/3.
The fear of committing another 9 months to material already covered is powerful motivation.
18 months here. My motto: better to over-prepare than underprepare and lose another 6 months of your life.
since we’re bragging, i’m also a CPA. got my CPA, CFA before i turned 25. boom.
3/3 as well
My Grids:
Level 1 (2013) - 9 above 70%, and 1 50-70%
Level 2 (2014) - 6 above 70%, 3 50-70% and 1 below 50%
Level 3 (2015) - Everything in AM and PM above 70%
When I started studying for Level I, I decided very early on that I hated studying for it.
And I realized that I’d hate it ten times as much if I had to do it a second time.
So I studied like mad.
3/3.
(The fact that taking the exams was my employer’s idea, and that they would pay for the exam and a 2-3 day review only if I passed was also strong (financial) motivation to pass each the first time.)
I think the motivation to not waste another year of my life is strong enough for me to overprepare and kill it first time around for each level.
Yeah, 3/3 here as well. Feels d**n good. I can’t wait for memorial day weekend in 2016.
Question is - do you include this on your resume? Impressive feat, but you don’t want to seem like a d bag.
3/3 here as well. But I had jitters in L2 and L3…
Although commendable achievement, there are lot of factors that gives you the result. Whenever I met another CFA charterholder, no one asks how many attempts did it take? which shows no matter how many attempts it take, you deserve the same respect.
Definitely don’t do that, you can imply it by listing the years but blatantly state that you passed it 3/3 is uber douchery behaviour.
Fair point, I thought that as well. Thanks.
#mindblown
3/3 18 mo. master race checking in
Think about how lucky you are, compared to people who fail bands 9-10.
I don’t think anyone’s ever done it in 18 months. for that to be possible, you would have to register on the exam day for level 1, not study at all, and just walk in and do it. As far as I know, you have to register at least a few months in advance. But I can see how it would pat your egos to say that.
3/3
in between new house, new job, two newborns, and nearly a divorce !
3/3 in 18! I did it and so can you. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Listen to the good guys and enjoy the process of self-discovery as well as the grunt work. It’s natural to feel like whining when the journey gets tough, but always stay positive and think about the folks who do not enjoy the same kind of privileges as you.
Actually more like 3/3 in 20 months (5 months for Level I, 5 months for Level II, and 10 months for Level III).
Total time spent:
Level I: 254.5
Level II: 313.5
Level III: 458 (yeah, no way I was gonna let Level III slide plus I had 2x the time as Level I and Level II)
Barely touched the CFAI text but practiced like crazy, made my own notes, meticulously detailed my progress, and continuously refined the areas I needed to work on. I tried my best at making the journey my own and had most of the key concepts clear in my head walking into the exam room (not gonna lie: I was dreaming about Level III material in the weeks leading up to the exam). Still somewhat stressful each time but I felt like I gave my best effort and came back home with no regrets. Not really stressed about the results each time.
I have a family with kids and a full time job so this feat is possible for anyone who puts his/her mind to it (helps a lot of have a VERY understanding SO to whom you can dedicate each victory). I am convinced of it, and wish all future AFers the best of luck and making good friends along the way.
Peace.
Did you actually time the whole thing with a stopwatch?
After each study session, I recorded my time spent. This way, I forced myself to study efficiently and diligently. Time is valuable so I wanted to make a point of it. Another benefit was that it provided some structure to my self-designed study program that clearly lacked structure and I attacked the topics according to the importance for the next exam (not necessarily in the order provided by CFAI or Schweser). For example, 100 hours into each level, I had a sense of where I needed to be (not perfect but an estimate) and this motivated me to work harder to cover all the key topic areas.
lol
3/3 - like S2000 the thought of repeating became my main motivation early in the process. I almost have more admiration for the discipline required to retake an exam at any point - even once. Also - agreed, I cringe at the thought of putting “Passed all levels on first attempt” on any professional profile - shows a lack of swagger.
3 for 3 here.