We had our first in Sept 2007 and I studied for (and thankfully passed) L3 in June 2008. Those first few months were rough in terms of sleep, so I was thankful I wasn’t really studying then. Starting in January, I studied from 6-8am before work every day and never on the weekends. Starting in mid march-late april I started studying more at night after our daughter would go to bed (around 8pm). And started studying more on the weekends here and there. Starting in May, my wife basically became a single mom. I still kept the same weekday schedule but studied pretty much all weekend every weekend up at the library. I even sent her and the babe away on a weekend with my folks so I could have a little peace and quiet. Oh yeah; I threw in a schweser online weekend review three times in there also. My wife was great through all of it. We both had to remind ourselves that an hour or day or week this year is a lot better than next year. Good luck and enjoy it. It’s all worth it (the kid, that is).
It definetely makes it more difficult. I failed L3 in 2007 trying to balance work, family, and CFA. In 2008, I had to focus on CFA. I didn’t start until March, but I only did the minimums with work and the family once I got started. Those sacrifices are over now that I passed and that time period looks brief. If I were you, I would be looking over the material now to try to keep it fresh. I don’t think full blown studying is required, but just try to keep most of what you have learned and just add to it in the spring.
turkish_dude, you have no idea. Give some due credit to all the parents out there who put themselves through this, pass or fail, they go through way more than the worst gf/bf could ever bring.
- Block out baby sleeping times for study - a) Afternoon naps on weekends, b) After the baby falls asleep at night. 2. Arrange for spouse to do fun stuff with baby say at Gymboree or the Museum so that you can study at home on weekends. 3. Hire someone to help with chores - cleaning service once every six weeks for the next six months
Anyone having to take these CFA exams with children and/or spouses have my respect and admiration. As a single guy with zero commitments, I can’t fathom how you all do it!
It is rough but not impossible. My wife and I already have three children (ages 4, 3 & 1.5), and I took level 1 three months after our first child was born, and this week I received the news that I have passed level 3. It hasn’t been easy, especially because during the last 4 years I have also finished my MBA, got a job, got fired, and got a better job. I still feel somewhat shell-shocked. Here is what I can tell you, the toughest part is when a newborn cries at night, but that will pass. What I have done (you can take my advice or leave it) is to try to find some other place to study when the baby is young. That way, even though I was home less often when I was home I could dedicate 100% of my love and attention to the family. I made a deal with my wife that I would study one Saturday and spend the next Saturday 100% with my family. Sundays were always 100% family days. This was a good arrangement because I was able to study peaceably without feeling guilty for neglecting my family, yet on the off-week I was able to dedicate myself 100% to the family without feeling like my study was being neglected. It worked for me which doesn’t necesarily mean it will work for you. When the kids got a little older it became easier to study at home, in fact I think it was good for my oldest daughter to watch her daddy study and it has awakened an interest in her for books and learning. We actually made a game of it where I would sit next to her with my videos and books and she would get her calculator and pencil and scribble notes all over her notebook while I took notes. She would often ask questions but I was still able to concentrate. It was kind of fun, I remember her looking at a graph and asking why grown up “pictures” were so funny. I also learned something important about my daughter, she told me that she thinks that Peter Olinto [Stalla Videos] is “cute” (and she was only 3 years old at the time). Sorry if I got carried away a little. The most important thing in all this process is to have a loving and supporting spouse, and I have found that it works a lot easier when you balance your time and dedicate yourself 100% to whichever priority you are with at the moment. Swisira’s comment about the 1 on 1 time is spot on!
I am a new mom and I know it can be done! Get the support from your family! I was carrying my son while studying for L3 this year. I started early January and planned to finish the first time review before his birth in the middle of April. My gut feeling told me from beginning this level will be much harder than any of the previous two since english is not my mother tongue plus the coming baby. Indeed it was painful to study at night while working during the day. Everyday I was feeling tired and sleepy after come back home evening and have to have a nap before I could study continuously for 2 hours max. Thanks for family members, I don’t have to worry about the chores such as cooking!!! My son came out early on April 5, which is 3 weeks earlier than the due date. Good thing is you can take the maternity leave after the son was born. However at least the first month, don’t thinking about studying more! Just like what IamArkad said, the toughest part is you have to wake up to nurse when the baby cries at night, especially demanding for new mom. Very exhausted in the first 2-3 weeks after the newborn and couldn’t do anything but rest. So April is gone and I picked up the books again in May. During the last month, I quickly finished the rest topics and reviewed the materials with secret sauce the second time(I would highly recommend it during the last month when you run out of time!). I also did all the after chapter questions, some schweser sample exams and CFAI’s. I didn’t finish AM on the exam day and felt terrible. Like others I feel better in the afternoon. I told my friends that I would be happy if I can score at least 50% in the morning. My test result is 58% AM and 75%PM and I passed! I was so deeply relieved after my husband checked it for me on 19th. So I would say it’s not impossible. Just need to work harder and get all the helps that you can. I respect all the moms doing CFAs and dads too and I knew it’s not easy!!!
Hello everyone! Many of the posts have already added valuable advice, so I’ll keep mine short. First of all, I think there is a difference in studying if you are the Mom, not the Dad. I’m the Mom, and I took Level 2 with a six month old baby and while it’s not easy, there are 3 things that really helped. One: I lived like a nun for 3 months before the exam. I worked, studied, and was a Mom and Wife. That’s it. I didn’t see one single movie and didn’t go out to dinners, etc. I sacrificed anything extraneous, knowing it was a short term sacrifice. Second: lots of folks will disagree with this advice, but hey, it’s how I survived. I was nursing my son, and he was waking at night, and I was getting exhausted. I brought him into bed with me at night and that helped my rest EXPONENTIALLY. Of course, you’ll have to wean the baby back into the crib but I did that over the summer after the exam with minimal problems. Third: I made good use of note cards and the Secret Sauce- when I was feeding him, or playing with him, or (chuckle) even taking him for walks I would have something with me to study and I’d try to use every moment to master just one more concept. I would walk around my neighborhood with my son in a backpack and note cards in front of my nose!!! Good Luck to all the Padres on the Forum, I look forward to sitting through Level 3 with you all!
wife was pregnant during level 1 last december, and bby was born in Feb. and I just took level 2 and passed, thankfully. Sponge_bob hit the nail on the head above.
Wow cfa1jz! That is an impressive feat. Others cannot fully appreciate how difficult this is unless they are a parent. The first several weeks are very tough because you have to feed them every 2-3 hours. I remember rocking my daughter once from midnight until 3 AM because she wouldn’t go down. By the time I got her down, it was time to eat again. I am just a dad, and I could not have done L3 having a baby in the spring. A mom with the toll it takes on her body! Wow! It’s a good thing I got L3 knocked out this year, because I have twins due in Feb. I don’t think I could have passed with a 2 year old and new twins. My hat’s off to you CFA moms out there! There’s nothing hotter than a preggo CFA chick that passed her test!
i may sound rude but people who complain about CFA and kids are real bad planners for eg, having birth of your kid 5 days before the test, having little time for the test coz the small one was taking up all the time are to my mind real bad bad planners, i mean common guys there is a thing called planning in life, you can always plan things around your own goals and objectives ( your wedding, family planning etc), so if give CFA a back seat due to poor planning then you guys have no sympathy frm me, if you failed this test its coz your lack of commitment to the program and nothing esle., if thats the case you need to admit that you failed coz CFA was not your number 1 priority ( nothing wrong in it) and should not whine about the fact tht coz of x reasons i wasnt able to concentrate on CFA I can understand your kid, spouse, someone in the family falling sick and hence you not being able to concentrate on CFA as an geniune out of control situation, its just plain bad luck and yes you have reason to think that life is unfair but this post makes me sick!!! just my 2 cents on it
It’s so funny to here non-parents talk. CFA_Werewolf, not everyone just gets pregnant the first month they stop using birith control. It takes most people several months, some years, some never. Thus, you can “plan” all you want but it doesn’t mean it will work. Most people are getting married later in life. Then you don’t want to have a kid 1-2 years into a marriage. If you want 3 kids, you are looking at 5 year min for that. The biological clocks ticks where you cannot “plan” much. Once you are ready for kids, you pretty much just have to take them as they come. Nobody was complaining about it either. They are merely stating a fact that having kids along with CFA is challanging. Nobody needs your clueless uninformed post.
Kudos to cfa1jz and smokin’ hot. I thought it was tough as a father of two, but my situation was a walk in the park compared with the two of you.
CFA_Werewolf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i may sound rude but people who complain about CFA > and kids are real bad planners > for eg, having birth of your kid 5 days before the > test, having little time for the test coz the > small one was taking up all the time are to my > mind real bad bad planners, > > i mean common guys there is a thing called > planning in life, you can always plan things > around your own goals and objectives ( your > wedding, family planning etc), so if give CFA a > back seat due to poor planning then you guys have > no sympathy frm me, if you failed this test its > coz your lack of commitment to the program and > nothing esle., if thats the case you need to admit > that you failed coz CFA was not your number 1 > priority ( nothing wrong in it) and should not > whine about the fact tht coz of x reasons i wasnt > able to concentrate on CFA > > I can understand your kid, spouse, someone in the > family falling sick and hence you not being able > to concentrate on CFA as an geniune out of control > situation, its just plain bad luck and yes you > have reason to think that life is unfair > > but this post makes me sick!!! > > just my 2 cents on it you are either fucking with eveyone on purpose, or you are a moron. I’m guessing the latter.
werewolf, I started the thread and was not complaining…just looking for advice/wisdom. if you don’t like it there are plenty of other threads with people soliciting your input… CFA is not my sole purpose in life, i just want to pass very badly and i failed this go around. I am not back office and I make in mid 6 figures . I am doing quite well and am passing these tests for my own edification…I am not complaining at all but as a new parent would not have changed it at all. It was my intention to pass before having the child but getting that dream job in the months before made that too constraining on my time, which to me the CFA is just a means to that $$ end…
CFA_Werewolf is obviously just posting this to get a rise out of everyone. I think everyone that posted something here can agree that we plan the CFA around our lives and not vice versa. If you seriously feel that the CFA should control your life than your life must be pretty boring. It would be pretty pathetic to think some test would ever be more important than your family or children. Nobody here is complaining. We are all just sharing our experiences in life. Something I would suggest you start to enjoy before you realize that basing your life around a test is not going to do anything for you. If you have kids and a family then I feel sorry for them. You should probably take a step back and look at what you just wrote because its pretty sad. I think everyone on here would give up getting the designation for years of happiness and health with their families. Luckily it does not seem that anyone here would have to because they care about their families and can plan pretty well on how to handle taking a test and being good fathers/mothers/husbands/wives.
SunDevil05 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CFA_Werewolf is obviously just posting this to get > a rise out of everyone. I think everyone that > posted something here can agree that we plan the > CFA around our lives and not vice versa. If you > seriously feel that the CFA should control your > life than your life must be pretty boring. It > would be pretty pathetic to think some test would > ever be more important than your family or > children. > > Nobody here is complaining. We are all just > sharing our experiences in life. Something I would > suggest you start to enjoy before you realize that > basing your life around a test is not going to do > anything for you. > > If you have kids and a family then I feel sorry > for them. You should probably take a step back and > look at what you just wrote because its pretty > sad. I think everyone on here would give up > getting the designation for years of happiness and > health with their families. Luckily it does not > seem that anyone here would have to because they > care about their families and can plan pretty well > on how to handle taking a test and being good > fathers/mothers/husbands/wives. Agreed. On an un-related topic: SunDevil05 I assume that you are an ASU alum. . . we are going out there for the UGA game. . . any suggestions on what to do/see while we are there? We will be there for a few days. This game is going to be awesome. . . there are a ton of Georgia folks coming out there.
My respects to all the mothers who have passed this test. I had to adjust to having babies in the house while studying, but I am there father, I could not imagine doing this as a mother. Way to go!
I thought there were some benefits; like you have to get out of the house and go to the library (impossible to study at home)…but overall, it’s a bummer. My wife was always on me and I didn’t spend as much quality time with my kids as I would like. I think the key is that your wife needs to be on board. Happy wife=Happy life
JustPass, I did graduate from ASU. Hopefully we can give the Bulldogs a game. Our defense has always been suspect though so it will be tough. Great chance for ASU to show how far along the program has come though. I would suggest heading down to Mill Ave. after the game is over. It will be packed with people and there are tons of bars down there that you will be able to choose from. I would also say that you need to make a stop up to Scottsdale for dinner and a night out. Dos Gringos is a good place (they use to have $2 Coronas but with inflation that is probably $5 now). If you like hiking I would suggest heading to Camelback Mountain or any of the mountains around Phoenix will do. The views from up near the top are amazing. I think they have horseback riding at most of those places too. I would suggest heading up to Sedona but if you are only there for a few days it might not be worth it. Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale area is a great place though and you should be able to find something fun to do while you are out there.