Cracking L2 in 90 days

CFA Level II
#1

Hi all!

I need your help in figuring out the best strategy for cracking L2. Here’s what I was thinking -

  • Read all material from CFAI books in 30 days. This means that my uptake will be 50%.

  • Solve CFA mock exams/Kaplan exams for 60 days while referring back to material.

Does this make any sense? I found that question solving is the key to cracking L1. Also, I am able to give 3 hours on weekdays and 8 on weekends.

Appreciate your help!

#2

First of all, i would say, stay away from AF and internet and start reading.

And reading all the CFAI books in 30 days is impossible, so no, it does not make any sense, given the number of hours you are committing.

#3

Master FRA, Equity, Ethics, and Derivatives then you will have a shot at passing.

#4

Thanks for your reply. Okay, will increase the hours.

I’m still wondering if someone could tell me an appropriate strategy for making it in 90 days. It may seem stupid but I guess you can’t say it’s impossible.

#5

I started before you at 110 days. I’m on pace. I decided not to zip thru stuff and am not going to reread. Learning it the first time and cementing it. Using a lot of mnemonics so that I dont forget and can keep studying while working out, running or whatever. LIFO – Lower Inventory for the I – Lower Operating Income for the O in Lifo— Stuff like that. Then you can think about it on your own time.

Finished FSA, derivatives and 100 pages into equity. Instead of just letting FSA and deriviatives die away in my memory. I’m doing the mock exam questions for those two sections. Dont feel like panicking before the exam. I know those two sections well. Doing about 30 minutes of review for each of FSA and deriviatives a day. Dont forget stuff. It ruins everything.

I also wanted to do the hardest sections first that people mentioned. Equity is a lot easier but I’m doing that now as well cause its a large chunk of the exam.

I also had the last 2 weeks off so I’ve been studying about 10 hours a day. Wont be able to do this later but I’m glad I’ll have equity, FSA and derivatives done.

#6

need to read way more on the weekends, i would say at least 12 hours?

even if you read everything once, it takes time to read all those pages, and you really can’t skip anything.

Not to mention we are talking about L2 here, you need to do the questions, and they take time.

Is it possible with increased hours, yes, but is the probability high? no

But i wish you the best of luck!

NANA

#7

Thank you. I really did benefit with your experience.

#8
#9

Thank you, that helps me a lot. I think I will have to re-think my stragtegy and cement concepts as I proceed. Appreciate your help.

#10

I started L2 this way, I am fast reading FRA text only without practicing schweser questions, and once I finish reading the complete book I will do all calculation questions from CFAI book. I’ll see if it goes well otherwise I’ll study as I did before study text>examples> practice>next topic. For L2: Retention is the name of the game.

#11

…For L2 CFA: Retention is the name of the game.

#12

I’m not really looking forward to studying for this level… really thinking that I made a mistake signing up for this… >.<

#13

I think its possible - but not likely…

The schedule you give would get you in the area of 300 hours study time in total. What did you do for L1 and what is your background? I think for most 300 hours is a little light for L2 - this is my opinion - but if you breezed through L1 and have a background that would expose you to some of the more time consuming portions of the CBoK then maybe it is possible (FRA/Equity). I would suggest either switching to a third party note provider as the time to read the text will be shorter - or find a way to add about 5 hours per week to your schedule.

just my 2cents