Cleared level II with LESS THAN ONE MONTH PREP?

CFA Level II
#1

Fortunate enough to see the ‘Congratulations’ on opening the email from CFA Institute. Scored above 70 in 6 subjects, including most important topics. Did anyone else clear with 4 weeks prep?

I started during the first week of May and slogged those last 3-4 weeks. But, not all days were productive. Last 3-4 days, I had my a** on fire…DO or DIE!..I badly wanted to clear all three levels on first attempt; was confident during the level I results, but wasn’t sure time. I saw quite a few students on this forum start off at roughly the same time, so realised that I wasn’t alone…Like most others, I was skeptical of clearing the exam within a month’s prep…had long work hours as a financial analyst, so couldn’t find time…but now that I see my results, I’d say ’ It’s possible!’…Some luck, lots of hard work & stamina and a never-give-up attitude helped me clear this exam. And of course, I remembered God more than I ever did for any other exam! :wink:

During my prep, I ran short of time at the end, couldn’t complete my syllabus (insignificant portions were given a skip during the first read)…With 4 days left for the exam, I had one question in my mind --> should I do 1-2 mock tests OR revise whatever I had already read …I decided to revise since I was unsure if I could remember anything, leave alone solving questions…and even if I solved papers instead, I would have to come back to the books to re-read concepts…this didn’t make sense…so just started re-reading…, I was in a horrible position since the re-reading consumed much time…did whatever I could and then came the D-Day!..i couldn’t recollect some key formulae at 6.30 am on the day of the exam…went through the cheat sheet/ formula sheet during the last hour to revise all that stuff and began my journey towards the test centre…by then, I was too tired and sleepy as I went against the general advice of sleeping well before the day of the exam…I didn’t sleep that night and hardly slept the previous night as well…My state during and after the exam is anyone’s guess. All I wanted was to sleep and forget about a paper that I thought I would flunk with a fair amount of certainty. Had I flunked, I don’t think I would have taken it next year…I told myself one thing ’ Nail it OR get nailed and forget about it!’

I wouldn’t advise test takers to do something of this sort, unless you’re unable to start earlier owing to some reason…But I can say one thing for sure…The test questions are quite easy if you are well prepared…trust me when I say that…The b*tch is the vast syllabus, which needs more than one reading for sure…I know this is not new information, but I second that opinion…During my second read, I couldn’t recollect 40-50% of what I read the first time…An above average student can clear this exam in 4 weeks, if he/she puts in 12-14 hours on average. But of course, this is a tough ask!! I don’t see why people find clearing the exam with a month’s prep impossible!..12-14*30= 360-420…so basically, even if you study 10 hours for 30 days, you will meet the minimum study hours required by the institute…in fact, this will be a concentrated effort, since you’ll only be studying and will be less distracted…the only difficulty is to control your emotion of a possible failure and keep pushing yourself, while not bothering too much about the mock test results / concept clarifications that others post…the latter will just bring you down since you are in a different position that the are…

Although I studied a bit more than the required hours, I found some questions quite difficult on the exam, especially topics which I didn’t prepare well…By starting early, you’ll at least get that additional time to pour over concepts that elude you…If you start late, you’ll have to study smart…At the same time, be prepared to stare at a couple of questions in the exam, wondering which option sounds better for a guess - A, B or C?..I just left those few questions unanswered and randomly marked them at the end without looking at the question…A blind guess!..there were a few of those in the exam…for many other questions where I was not so confident, I was able to stike off one inappropriate option and let luck do its part…having said that, there were a lot of questions which I could solve confidently, thanks to the re-reading over the last four days…The formula sheet saved my a** for 2-3 questions…these were ‘plug and chug’ problems…I forgot these formulae and recollected them while reading the the cheat sheet…So yes, the last hour prep mattered and actually made a difference!…

Looking back, I realise that my case was a case of desperacy! If you are unprepared and have to fail, you will…but don’t give up like 2 weeks before the exam…In my case, it was the last 2-3 weeks that made all the difference!..Don’t give up till your neck breaks!..after all, why repent later for having not given the best you could have and should have?

I plan to re-read the syllabus again sometime later this year…will start my level III prep in Jan next year…And now that I’ve managed to get this beast out of the way, I will continue to live my dream of clearing all three levels on first attempt! - at least until the level III results are out next year! :wink:

Would like to hear your experiences if you crushed level 2 with a crash study plan…

#2

the thing about last hour prep/ and lunch time review might be worth 3-5 extra points which might be the difference between fail and pass

the amount of hours required really depends on the person, background, experience, IQ, studying skills.

#3

oh about lunch time!..I was almost dead…sat on the floor in the corner of a central hall among hundreds of candidates…i was drained out by then…just wanted to go home…checked out 3-4 vital pages of FSA…vital because that chapter was important and it didn’t show up on the first part of the exam…I was damn sure it would show up and it did…but other than that I was just staring at the ceiling…I didn’t mind writing the second part right away…just wanted to go home and crash on bed…

yea i agree to an extent…but what I’m trying to highlight is that people just give up during those last few days when you can actually make it count…people take so many mock exams without command over the syllabus…I think that’s counter productive…you’ll waste time reasoning out why you went wrong on each problem when all it needed was revising the syllabus and getting that question right on the first go…mocks are good, but only after you think you can hit 60-70% on them…two reads and 1-2 mocks are perfect for a 4 week prep…I tested myself directly on the exam…I obviously solved the concept checker from schweser…that’s not really enough…but you’re better off getting you concepts in place before solving from the institute books and taking 6-7 mocks and previous years mocks from the institute that many claim to do…

#4

I mentioned this on the results thread that I began the Thursday of the week before. No looking at notes, tests, anything before then. I’m good at digesting and retaining material short-term, but anything I studied in January or February would have been easily forgotten, so what’s the point.

Unlike last year, where a week and a half was enough to kill L1 (the actual Schweser reading took less than a week and I took 6 practice exams all in the 83-88 range after that), I just barely squeaked by L2, and if I’d studied one day less I probably would have failed. I didn’t finish the reading until the evening before the exam, and didn’t do any actual practice tests - I started one but realized I didn’t know how to do so much stuff that instead I just looked at the problems alongside the solutions on a couple tests in the sections that I knew would give me the most trouble. I also printed out and skimmed through Secret Sauce once that night and the morning of, and tried to cram as many formulas from the sheet as possible into my head (used mnemonic devices, etc. to memorize more effectively).

I actually felt okay about the test, especially the afternoon, and afterwards gave myself a 70% chance at passing. I ended up with <50% on Ethics & FRA, so in the end I couldn’t have passed by much…regardless of my pass this is a lesson learned, and I’ll definitely put more effort in to L3 and FRM prep.

I come from a quantitative, not accounting/finance background - what a lot of finance types who prep for 4 months don’t realize is that someone with a serious math background has a couple distinct advantages: first, they are probably very comfortable with numbers and calculations, which is a huge part of the test, even if it’s basically grade school math; second, it is a lot easier to learn college-level material once you’ve done “real” math, as it totally changes your perspective and how you approach it (I took calculus in HS and found it pretty confusing, but when I had to teach it in grad school it seemed like child’s play; I wasn’t any smarter, I had just become more mathematically sophisticated).

#5

Not quiet less than one month but about 42-43 days prep. I started around April 20. Not that I planned to do it this way, I passed Level 1 in Dec so realistically could not start till end of Jan but then in April I got married so could not do any prep until after my honeymoon. A big thanks to my wife for letting me study right after our honeymoon. Not many would do that.

The exam surprised me a fair bit as I went in thinking Equity and FRA were my strongest areas but I struggled in the exam, all seemed familiar but could get the right answer. My morning session was a total disaster but I kept cool and did the afternoon session significantly better.

In the end I passed with <50% score in Derivates (no surprises here), 50-70% range in Economics, Equity and FRA and >70% in others.

So you see I did avg to poorly in 55% of the exam but did well in 45%. So if I may offer any advice this is what it would be.

  1. Start early unless you really could not for reaons out of your control.

  2. Read from a prep provider if you are starting last minute, I really like Elan, they worked for LI and LII. But Ethics there is no alternative to reading from the CFA text. Ethics level II is way harder than level I as items sets are much tougher. I got most EOCs correct but had a awful 40-50% correct range when I did item sets.

  3. Do EOCs but remember EOCs items sets are crucial, I would do the stand alone questions pretty well but struggle with item sets.

  4. Please have a ‘formula’ sheet / note shet and read that every day for 30 mins in the last 3-4 days.

  5. Do mocks, but only if you have done the EOCs. Mocks I think are a poor substitue to EOCs simply because they dont cover the entire LOC, I did not get time to do Mocks so did EOCs.

  6. The hours required as people talk about are true, I did probably put in 250+ hours, I used to put in about 2-3 hours before work and another 2 hours in the evenings. fairly consistently and about 8 hours or so on weekends. So yes it takes time.

  7. Finally, give it a shot and dont stress, the exam is hard and here is a luck element.

Also, I came from a accounting/MBA background but math is not my strongest area so I decided to altogether skip derivates. Again, not the smartest move but I decided to do well in others and gamble.

Hope this is useful.

#6

I agree…if you’re smart enough, it’s not too difficult to do it in short duration, although i still wonder how you pulled it off within 10 days…I took a little more than twice as much time and did it…as i mentioned earlier, I did waste a lot of time in between as well…celebrated my birthday and the hangover the next day, etc…maybe I could have in lesser time with more fire up my a**…but 10 days certainly deserves an applaud…nonetheless, I think mastering the syllabus from the application perspective would require re-reading…clearing an exam like this can be be done with smart study and of course if you are capable…and a few of us have done it…congrats on your results!

what are you doing currently?..i think doing FRM makes more sense, given your background and quantatative orientation…doesn’t it?..

#7

Congrats on your results!

To talk about gamble, I did that with derivatives and quant…got between 50-70 in derivatives…and <50 in quant…i still don’t know what I did in derivatives to get above 50… :stuck_out_tongue: …but my other sections were good, including ethics…unlike your experience, I didn’t do much study on ethics…I had gone through the CFA text during level 1 in 2010 but knew that really well…read through schweser level II ethics material once and could recollect most of it…the first chapter was a repeat, so re-read the other parts once…didn’t solve ethics questions as I ran short of time, but I found the questions on the exam to be relatively easier than those on the level 1 exam in dec 2010…i don’t know how many of you had taken that one…having said that, this section can get super trickly as it was in level 1 my time…maybe the EOC’s are tough, i don’t know…but yea, a 70+ in ethics made up for poor scores in other significant sections like Fixed income, derivatives, in which I didn’t do that well…

Not quiet less than one month but about 42-43 days prep. I started around April 20. Not that I planned to do it this way, I passed Level 1 in Dec so realistically could not start till end of Jan but then in April I got married so could not do any prep until after my honeymoon. A big thanks to my wife for letting me study right after our honeymoon. Not many would do that.

The exam surprised me a fair bit as I went in thinking Equity and FRA were my strongest areas but I struggled in the exam, all seemed familiar but could get the right answer. My morning session was a total disaster but I kept cool and did the afternoon session significantly better.

In the end I passed with <50% score in Derivates (no surprises here), 50-70% range in Economics, Equity and FRA and >70% in others.

So you see I did avg to poorly in 55% of the exam but did well in 45%. So if I may offer any advice this is what it would be.

  1. Start early unless you really could not for reaons out of your control.

  2. Read from a prep provider if you are starting last minute, I really like Elan, they worked for LI and LII. But Ethics there is no alternative to reading from the CFA text. Ethics level II is way harder than level I as items sets are much tougher. I got most EOCs correct but had a awful 40-50% correct range when I did item sets.

  3. Do EOCs but remember EOCs items sets are crucial, I would do the stand alone questions pretty well but struggle with item sets.

  4. Please have a ‘formula’ sheet / note shet and read that every day for 30 mins in the last 3-4 days.

  5. Do mocks, but only if you have done the EOCs. Mocks I think are a poor substitue to EOCs simply because they dont cover the entire LOC, I did not get time to do Mocks so did EOCs.

  6. The hours required as people talk about are true, I did probably put in 250+ hours, I used to put in about 2-3 hours before work and another 2 hours in the evenings. fairly consistently and about 8 hours or so on weekends. So yes it takes time.

  7. Finally, give it a shot and dont stress, the exam is hard and here is a luck element.

Also, I came from a accounting/MBA background but math is not my strongest area so I decided to altogether skip derivates. Again, not the smartest move but I decided to do well in others and gamble.

Hope this is useful.

[/quote]

#8

I am in the same boat as you guys are. Two weeks before exam, only thing i knew was some valuation techniques. I set aside last three days to go over the parts i highlighted. I was comfortable with almost all formulae and did not jot it down to cram in the last minute. If you are one of my kind, the one who can slog out in the last two weeks, you should NOT GIVE UP. I think at least 10% of the people who passed did it by giving longer hours in the last 10-15 days. Having said that, i did have horrible last few days, days where i slept 2-3 hrs and could not sleep the night before exam because i was used to not sleeping at night. In the afternoon session, i was drained as if i was having the worst hangover of my life. Questions looked deceptively simple and was unsure if i was hitting right. In the end, your concepts never die in whatever situation you are. Understading the underlying concept is what CFA is all about. Does not matter you take coaching classes, put in 600 hours over a year etc. Get the fundamentals correct and the vignette staring at you is not bitter enough. I got 70+ in all topics barring economics (<50), i did not even read the economics vignette with five mins left on the clock.

#9

I can agree to the hangover you mentioned…worst of my life as well…did late nights during engineering and level I…but was never in such a bad state…this time, I just wanted to get done not knowing what I was doing…lol…the fact that I cleared surprises me :slight_smile:

even I faced time constraints…i think that is due to lack of practice…i had to think more than others…coming from investment banking background, I had a decent understanding of valuation and corp fin…but most of the other topics were new, with some basic knowledge here and there…

#10

Same for me. Looking back at my study spreadsheet I didn’t start actually working until May 6th, so that’s 27 days. In the last 2 weeks I averaged 6.5 hours of study per day and 4.5 hours per day prior to that, total study time of about 150-160 hours.

I also work full time, so yes it is more than possible to cram this stuff into sub 4 weeks and still pass. I’m also pretty sure I smashed the exam, >70% in everything and felt incredibly confident coming out so probably high 70’s or maybe even in the 80’s.

Anyway, not just gloating here, the point is that if you’re smart and sensible about how you study it is very much possible. I was in despair halfway through studying and posting here asking if there was a chance in hell I was going to pass. That said, it wasn’t much fun! I’d rather have spent a bit more time reading the material at a chilled out pace.

#11

My god this is a long winded thread

#12

Why not just take a year or half a year and study casually over that time? Doing it all in one month is too stressful and hard.

#13

I remember seeing you on the forum at that time…I joined the forum for the same reason as you :stuck_out_tongue:

Your score is pretty good for the hours you put in…guess you must have had previous knowledge / relevant wrk ex.

#14

Yes, it is…but many have some or the other issue…i wasn’t able to study prior to May due to something and wasn’t considering taking the exam…just did at at the last minute…

#15

You were lucky . People, don’t be enamored by this story and think it’s the norm.

You always hear the lottery winner story, not the countless failures stories.

#16

+1

#17

I agree…

+1 for my luck! :slight_smile:

#18

Yes we were lucky but we also did our best in the time we had and all we wanted to share is what you try and do if you are in a hopeless position.

#19

+1