We’re going to have a CFA party, with 15 hour days
I appreciate the need to work, but I am not sure long hours is the way to go…fine for a cram type of exam, but not so sure this will work for the CFA?
agree with perdition. there shouldnt be a need to take time off for this exam if one has prepared well enough up until this point.
I will take 2 days off from work. Thurs, to read over all my summaries, and go through some key problems. And Fri, to give it one last review and relax in the afternoon.
i’m taking a week and a half off prior to the exam. not so much to cram, more to get my mind focused 100% for exam day. I agree, cramming isn’t going to work for the conceptual stuff, which is most of the exam, but can be helpful for the trivial pursuit kind of material like gips, corporate governance, EMH and parts of econ.
For me, it depends on what is going on at work. I’m supposed to have a new project starting, and the height of the work will likely be right about exam time. Go figure. Ideally, I’d like to take 3 days off, just to keep focused and prevent stress. Bad news for me is my company’s holiday party is the night of the 4th. I’ll be the only sober one there…
i have from nov 26th on off, so 10 days off before the exam. i think the cramming will make a huge difference. i passed all 4 parts of the cpa by cramming for 2 weeks. i have went throught this material once so far and started my 2nd review. i think the “cramming” in the final two weeks is going to make a huge difference in my confidence level going into the exam, especialy in areas like ethics and other things that i havent reviewed as much.
I’m with you nyccfa!
I’m not allowed any time off. Will be working right up to Friday 5th.
Most advise at least a week. Murphy’s law often kicks in with work for the week before the exam - ie. you are forced to work twice as much as usual, have a crazy deadline all of a sudden due, client deliverable, etc. Its best to block out the time just to clear your schedule if you can.
im taking a week off as work give 5 days study leave for CFA.
I don’t have a job 
Bexter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m not allowed any time off. Will be working > right up to Friday 5th. I’m sure my exam is the 7th, not the 6th
Isura - I feel your pain. I don’t have a job either – was laid off on the day the markets went apesh$t - was it September 18? So my employer has given me ALL THE TIME I NEED to prepare for this thing. (Don’t know what kind of smiley to put after that…) Funny thing is I still feel kind of unprepared at this point - even after having started in April, done more than 2100 QBank questions, listened to all the Schweser .mp3 discs (some more than once), watched 95% of the videos etc. Obviously it’s the type of exam you can never TOTALLY feel prepared for, but still… Good thing is that I’ve still got three weeks left - and will be cramming as much as I can handle - while not having to go to work each day. That is definitely one of the silver linings of having been given a pink slip. And I can credit this studying for having given me something to focus on over the past two months - other than the fact I’m unemployed. And I’m actually not feeling too much anxiety, as it may turn out that I land a job at a company where the boss apparently doesn’t even know what CFA stands for! So at this point, passing the test may be more of a personal thing than anything else…and I don’t want to let myself down.