get the free elan formula guide (70 pages i think), once a week go through it one time. the last 2 weeks i looked at it every 2 days. only takes like 1-2 hours to read it. *yes i said read it… when i read the formulas i’m talking through what each variable is, how it affects the formula, what the overall relationship is with the formula.
Try to answer as many questions as you can that people post on the forums. Even if you don’t know it learn how to and teach someone else. that’s the best way to learn. Also try to explain it as if that person has absolutely no background in accounting/finance/investments etc. This will really test your understanding at hand.
research something if you have to till you are satisfied, go outside the sources of cfa if you must. for example does anyone know the difference between total cost, net pension expense, total net pension cost, total net pension expense? this was not explained throughly in the book and the EOC weren’t helpful either. I spent an hour reading through accounting standards searching for an understanding of what the differences were. Now i won’t forget.
basically the mind set i try to keep is to understand why everything happens the way it does. Now i don’t go around thinking why the grass is green or anything. But i don’t just accept the fact that prices decrease when rates rise. I want to know why from a formula standpoint and the simple laments terms reasoning.
This strategy helped me tons when it came to test day I was able to fly through the questions because my strategy helped me develope a strong understanding of the topics.
I would read through then answer relevant questions and kind of dart in between the questions and the vignette for the relevant information. I also tend to be a fairly fast reader and test taker as mentioned so this strategy did not hurt me time wise. S2000 is probably one of the best people to be advised by on how to effectively take the tests. Seems like maybe you burnt out before the exam and the exam day jitters maybe played a part as well.
When you start reading the vignette, you’ll be doing so with a purpose: finding the information you need for question 1, finding the information you need for question 2, and so on. You may not have to read the whole vignette, but I would plan on reading all of it.
Don’t read the entire vignette: finish sooner, risk missing important information.
Read the entire vignette: get all of the important information, risk not finishing.
I will read all 6 Q’s with an understanding of what they are looking for. I will highlight key words within the question that way it will be easy to reference back when I am reading the vignette. As I read the vignette, I will be looking specifically for those notions that the question is asking for (my highlighted/underlined key words) in hopes of drawing the conclusion that correctly answers the question.
If I can understand the questions they are asking, I will have to make sure I look for little tricks they throw in such as LIFO vs FIFO and notes that affect the outcome of the problem. I know how to do the problem, however, I need to ensure that I have all the right pieces of information to solve that problem.
After the exam, my dad asked me how it went. I said it went well if I answered the question they were asking. I believe that is my problem. I need to make sure I have all the information to answer the question correctly.
When answering mathmatical/techincal questions S2000 and you read the part of the vignette to answer the question, how do you know you have all the pieces in play to answer the question correctly? Is there a strategy that you could share to tell me how to find all these details besides obviosly reading the info ha.