Do we have something like the Darwin Awards for CFA candidates ?? I think the outcome would be to 1- Try to cheat during the exam 2- Underestimating the commitment needed 3- take the wrong calculator in the exam hall 4- using outdated material (like those from P2P network) 5- not practicing enough questions & just focusing on curriculum reading 6- ??? your ideas ??? (spending our time on this forum when we barely got 45days left and just approached FSA ??)
Look, I was just soliciting some tactical advice…I currently work overtime AND am completing a degree…am used to hard work. Fortunately, it looks like I will have some more time in May to prepare…there are still 7 weeks before D-day…it seems to me that if I can put in an average of 6-7 hours 5 days a week with maybe 9-10 hours in the 2 weeks before the exam, I will at least have put in the requisite time. As far as I see, the problem is in the quantity of the material, and not its difficulty per se. Is there at least consensus on this? Incidentally, i like the Galloway marathon plan. You get killed at the actual event if you’ve been doing 60-80/week…when I’ve trained, I’ve never gone over 30/wk, and finished fresh.
This guy’s rediculous. Anyhow, D’Artagnan, I think the mystery item on your list should be remembering the correct calculator, spare battery, and screwdriver, yet forgetting pencils. What sort of idiot would do that, I’m sure his name wouldn’t ryhme with Swack Blan, that’s for sure.
Don’t forget to take your formula sheet!!! You don’t want to be remembering all of them if you can just take them with you for your convenience.
relentless, Here is some useful advice: do as many questions as you can to find out your areas of weakness. rinse and repeat. You have no time to be “tactical” and build up a comprehensive plan. Do all questions. Read Schweser on areas of weakness. Do more questions. If you get stuck, ask on this forum. Now that I’ve been my unusually helpful self, let me explain to you why you’ve been getting alot of stick from people here: 1) You have started VERY late and are way behind the average candidate in terms of preparation. 2) I see in the post that you say it’s not too difficult per se, but the scope is pretty broad. You are correct, but this is something you should have found out 3 months ago. You will need to answer 1 question every 1.5 minutes, which means that it helps to know everything inside out. You are seriously disadvantaged here. 3) You have no idea how much more seriously other candidates are in passing the exam. This is a harsh but fair crowd at AF. Joey and others have been more than willing to help out, and post very detailed explanations for specific questions you may be stuck on, but they don’t need to treat you with good manners, expecially when you have made some quite unfounded comments about how committed you are, etc. Suck it up… dont waste time arguing over this thread, and come back with specific questions. Then you’ll get some meaningful feedback.
JoeyDVivre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > “I am very motivated " > Except not as motivated as everyone else who > started months ago > > >“and ready to do whatever needs to be done.” > Well, unless that involved hard work like studying > for some reasonable number of hours to learn a > body of material. > > >“I have Schweser and CFAI materials,” > Good start > > >” but I need an action plan! " > I guess you waited this long for an action plan. > How can you need someone else to tell you how to > study some books sitting in front of you? You just > pick them up and start going however works best > for you. > > I really like helping people earn their CFA > charters. I really hate reading stuff like this. I really cannot see anything written by JDV that was unfair or unwarranted.
Wilier, that’s a good point about the time factor… Mcpass, I have the cram-sheet…it looks useful. I have heard about people cramming for Level I in three weeks and succeeding…would be interested in hearing from these folks and finding out how they did it. I have never made “unfounded comments” about how committed I am…I am committed, just with limited time. Not that I should even have to say this, but I work two jobs, one overtime, and have grad school deadlines on top of that. I am usually on my feet about 18/19 hours/day, and that includes most weekends, with a seriously ill family member, so FYI it’s less about leaving things to the last minute than trying to get time off from work so that I can fit the exam in. However, that is beside the point, because people should always treat one another with manners, even online, even on the job, at all times. That’s the way I was raised and those are my values. Period. If someone has an issue with that, he is welcome to show himself, come out and duel with me like a gentleman. I hope this is the end of the negativity. There are gonna be a lot more desperate crammers coming on here over the next few weeks and I hope they will be treated with compassion.
My advise is to cram now to pass Level 1… i doubt you will have a good foundation for Level 2 as alot builds on knowing Level 1 inside out. However, if you do pass Level 1, that gives you alot of time to start early on Level 2 and make up for a bad foundation. Anyway, condolences about your situation. Best of luck… start cramming, man!!!
Why do you want compassion? What sort of industry do you think this is? Do you think that you’ll get compassion if you get caught in a short squeeze? Or if you are long of a large investment bank and the hedgies pull their money? Actually, scratch that second one…
The FED will help you out, no worries…
Why not wait until December if you’re plate is that full? You’re more likely to learn the body of work than find some elusive method to pass in a month and a half.
relentless Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wilier, that’s a good point about the time > factor… > > Mcpass, I have the cram-sheet…it looks useful. > > I have heard about people cramming for Level I in > three weeks and succeeding…would be interested > in hearing from these folks and finding out how > they did it. > > I have never made “unfounded comments” about how > committed I am…I am committed, just with limited > time. Not that I should even have to say this, > but I work two jobs, one overtime, and have grad > school deadlines on top of that. I am usually on > my feet about 18/19 hours/day, and that includes > most weekends, with a seriously ill family member, > so FYI it’s less about leaving things to the last > minute than trying to get time off from work so > that I can fit the exam in. However, that is > beside the point, because people should always > treat one another with manners, even online, even > on the job, at all times. That’s the way I was > raised and those are my values. Period. If > someone has an issue with that, he is welcome to > show himself, come out and duel with me like a > gentleman. > > I hope this is the end of the negativity. There > are gonna be a lot more desperate crammers coming > on here over the next few weeks and I hope they > will be treated with compassion. Do you really want to know how people pass by craming for 3 weeks? It’s pretty simple, they do as many practice questions as they can, read as much as they can, and get lucky. WTF do you think they do? Drink some magic tonic? Why don’t you go back to studying…you might find some compassion in FSA - you did tell us how much you “enjoyed” it.
Oh, and I noticed that you registered onto Analystforum back in October of '07 and began the EXACT same thread about how to cram for the December exam. You are ridiculous…
ouch…busted… http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?11,631165,631953#msg-631953 so i’m guessing you didn’t learn your lesson the first time around?
Thanks everyone, those messages are buoying…yeah, i tried to cram last time, but there was no way in hell…some work stuff came down the pipeline and I had to ditch the examprep. I am seriously hoping to be able to get some down time this round.
relentless Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks everyone, those messages are > buoying…yeah, i tried to cram last time, but > there was no way in hell…some work stuff came > down the pipeline and I had to ditch the examprep. > I am seriously hoping to be able to get some down > time this round. just out of curiosity…did you sit for the exam? if you did, then you would know what it takes to pass…
Nope, there was no point…plus I had to fly out… I believe you guys that it is brutal. But I gotta give it my best shot.
It’s like the bloke who asked the Irishman “how do I get to Tipperary?” Irishman “Well if I was going to Tipperary, I surely wouldn’t be starting from here.” Start earlier. One would have hoped you’d have learned that from last time.
… (CFA Darwin Award)^2
Jeez, talk about spending a fortune to not take the exam… What was your PhD dissertation on anyway?