I must say i’m slightly disgruntled at the CFA institutes recommended 250 Hours of study, this is grossly underestimated, i feel one needs at least 400+/-. It is a fact that if they mentioned a higher amount of study time required, the pass rate would be higher. I’ve worked every day for 2 hours and i’m really do need more time for reviewing the final questions. It really is unfair, had i know before hand i would have applied for June 2009…But then again they want you to fail, in order to obtain more revenue. Nice going…why not make it 150 hours.
CFAI does not know the background of every person applying for the exam. So the 250 hours is a best-guess estimate for someone already in the field, and does this for a living. If you look at it that way, you know that the estimate is way low for someone who is looking at this whole host of material for the first time. Yes, they however do not mention the above fact (that it is meant for someone in the field) anywhere, which does suck.
So what are you recommending a statement similar to the following? For those people who already have a CFA then it will take 250 hours of study to prove that you already have it, otherwise it will take 400 hours of study? (Authors note - yes the use of CFA as a noun was intentional.)
I believe that CFAI states that 250 is the minimum you should plan for (I studied for about 400 for Level 2) Good luck this week boys and girls…240 questions is actually good if you have studied and really worked at this…gives you 240 chances to show you prepared well
250 is probably a good average for those in the industry. 350 is better for new grads or people from other fields. I’ve studied about 350 hrs (no background or finance job).
I suppose the only positive is that they actually got me to graft harder, which plays an advantage for 2009, which sounds pessimistic if i’m writing on Saturday but seriously this aint your ordinary exam. It’s a freaking beast!! You’ve practically got to be a walking calculator and financial encyclopaedia with in 250 hours, and I;m not complaining because this is what I want, and I’ve been enjoying study for it, i just need more time, that’s all. PS…Aussie, I don’t understand your statement.
I studied about 150 hours total for this… and I feel adequately prepared. BUT, that is because I took a lot of business classes in college, including economics, and some pretty intensive accounting classes (which involved going thru financial statements in great detail), so that’s over 1/3 of the material right there. Derivatives I already know like the back of my hand, so it only took 30 minutes to go thru those readings. I also took a bond class, so a lot of the NPV and time value of money stuff is taken care of. So when you count the time I spent there, it far exceeds 250 hours. I think CFAI Should not publish an estimated amount of time needed to study, I’m sure there’s people who can pass without opening the book, and there’s people that won’t pass regardless of how much time they get to study. By publishing the estimate without any real research or backing of how long it actually takes people to study… they are in violation of Standard I©: Misrepresentation 
I studied way more than 250 hours, way more.
TheAliMan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I studied way more than 250 hours, way more. Do you have a background in business or finance though?
Nope! I guess that’s why!
It depends on your background. I started studying for LI after a bike race on May 5. I’ll bet I didn’t get in 100 hrs total. But I had a huge background in lots of the stuff. If you are new to finance, it will take you way more than 250 hours.
For someone not in the business… CFA Text (reading)…approximately 2400 pages of material 3 minutes per page one pass would equal 120 hrs. Between August and April you probably need two passes 240 hrs just for the reading. CFA end of reading problems approximately 1200 avg. 5 minutes a problem some of the problems can take 20 minutes…you should do them 3 times per pass…make it two passes from August to April…600 hrs. For someone not in the business who starts in August and goes through the material twice before reviewing the material 840 to 1000 hrs. Tag on 200 to 500 hrs for review…1200 to 1500 hrs. I have under estimated the time needed for 3 years. I believe I finally figured it out. Warrenb1 (stockpicker)
3 minutes a page is ridiculously slow!
I passed 250 hours study many weeks ago, and I have a background in economics. Yet I still do not feel well prepared. Many times I get tripped up by CFA Mock questions - my knowledge of fixed income is not great, ditto the latter half of FSA, I am ill-prepared for Alternative investments. I don’t know where the time has gone…
fortunately for you alternative investments is only 3 % of the total A lot of it is just common sense anyway… NPV of real estate investments, hedge funds on avg perform > the index avg, BUT Suffers from biases (survivorship and self selection). Venture capital / distressed securities are for a LONG time horizon, venture capital NPV needs adjustment for success %. If you know that much you should get a 50 on the alt investment section. Anyway, for someone w/ 0 financial / business background, I’d say you need to prepare for a full year for level 1… so you understand the basic concepts in and out.
I thought In had a finance background, but I have probably spent 350+ hours. Friends who have passed say CFA was easy? and those who haven’t do not comprehend how much work it is. One think I am wondering, is that after 3 months locked in a room with books and the internet, no socialising or even beer…does the CFAi have any guidelines to help candidates to integrate back into society after the exam?
perdition Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One think I am wondering, is that after 3 months > locked in a room with books and the internet, no > socialising or even beer…does the CFAi have > any guidelines to help candidates to integrate > back into society after the exam? I am thinking that they call it CFA Level II and III
Given that I studied for June and failed, and studied again… definitely have spent 500+ on this…
This thread makes me feel i am going to fail. have spent maybe 100-150 hours total with 0 finance background (though i have a maths background). I have however been passing the mock exams so I guess we’ll see. There is also plenty of time left.
250 hrs… probably is my total sleeping hour for recovery after finish the exam