Hi,
Could someone shed some light on the amount of time as well as effort required for CFA L1? I’m done with both the parts of FRM.
Also what are the ideal resources for preparation?
Thanks
25% more effort for CFA L1 than FRM L1 mainly due the size of the curriculum in comparisson with FRM.
New things you will encounter are Ethics, Economics, FRA
Your advantages: Quantitative, Fixed Income, Derivatives, some parts of Corp Finance, Portf Mgmt
The other topics are bearable.
That was quite detailed thanks.
Follow up, will I need the staple 300hrs of prep or will I be able to speed through?
And what resources should I be using to prepare for the exam?
Also, are there major differences as far as the exam is concerned besides the portion- as in the question style etc?
300 hours is a benchmark that does not fit everyone. In my case, for example, I didn’t count the hours I studied, I counted the exercises I solved, which is a more tangible measure of the performance evolution you have developed. If you want to know my opinion, knowing you have passed both FRM exams you will need lesser hours, however, the exam style could be different, so practice a lot of exercises.
I know that FRM exam is 4 hours straight in the morning and 4 hours for the part II but it is optional to take it in the same day, so I think you are used to do 4-hour exams only. CFA exams are 3 + 3 hours in AM and PM sessions, so this is a point to consider. Practice mocks.
The questions give 3 options only, not 4 like the FRM exams. I think this is an advantage for you.
The key word is “practice”. Good luck in this new journey of yours!
Okay that cleared up quite a lot 
Yeah, probably will have to work on that 6 hour conundrum.
What about the resources one should use to prepare? Which would reccomend? I browsed around the CFA forums and there was a lot of chatter about mocks. Are these mocks by Kaplan or CFAI themselves?
Also I keep reading about EOCs. Are these the questions at the end of each chapter in Kaplan material?
Thank you for your wishes
I used Kaplan mostly and went great. I used both sources the CFAI curriculum and Kaplan Schweser end of chapter questions. EOC’s are from kaplan but CFAI books too, so don’t complicate.
You have many other 3rd party providers like Wiley, many people is increasingly relying on it this days. In my opinion, the most popular providers are good enough for L1.
Mocks are important, practice 2 or 3 or more if you can.
GL