I just passed Level 1 and I want to get started on Level 2 as soon as I can but I’m not graduating until Decemeber so I cannot actually register for Level 2 until late December. I want to read the CFA books but do you think I will have enough time to read all the books and leave myself with enough time for review if I start on January 1st? My other option is to study using Schweser since their books become available in October I believe but I would much rather read the CFA books front to back. I put about 250 hours into level 1 and got over 70 in everything however I hear level 2 is insanely hard and that little things get tested that might take up a paragraph or two in the CFA text. Any thoughts?
Many people on this forum passed Level I this past December and therefore wouldnt even have received their results until Jan. 23. I got my books and officially started to study around Feb. 1st. You have plenty of time if you start in January…
hmm…and by Feb. 1st I think I mean procrastinated until March.
jalmy8 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You have plenty of time if you start in January… probably not completely accurate. you will have enough time but you’ll probably be stressed. i wouldn’t say plenty
I was never stressed. Maybe most people on this forum are I guess? I dunno, I was never one to get overly stressed about an exam. Edit: The final week before the exam was pretty stressful. Nothing that a good workout can’t fix. No matter how much I studied, there were certain tricky questions that I would have never gotten right.
Found out it was a pass on Jan 23rd. Started studying on Feb 1. In hindsight I wish I would have already had Quant and Derivatives out of the way. Those 2 can take a full month to really get down pat. That extra month in January would have been pretty helpful and given me a little more review and test time at the end. If you start in early January and go hard it’s fine.
I’d recomend starting a couple weeks into January, this gives you ample time for review and test taking over the last month
I guess it would depend on your background. I passed L1 in Dec07. However, didn’t hear about results until Jan 23. By the time I got my books, it was Feb 1. I thought I would still have enough time to study, but I didn’t eventhough I put in 300+ hours total. Another 3 weeks would have made a huge difference. I should mention I don’t have a finance background so I feel I need to put in a lot more time than is recommended. I felt more prepared for Level1. Didn’t have enough time for derivatives or pm this time around.
You can order the books from the CFAI bookstore without registering for the exam. When you eventually register, they’ll credit you the cost of the books. So, you can get them now, even if you can’t register until after graduation.
Depends on what else you are doing? Starting a new IB job and moving? No way. But if you aren’t working you will of plenty of time.
If you can pass Level II in 12 months, than you can pass it in 4 months… It’s just takes a little more concentrated effort.
THanks for the input guys. I guess I’ll start in January… that way I can concentrate on my last semester and then dive into the material as soon as that’s done. I will be working for time but it’s for the government (Canada) which is not stressful at all and no overtime/extra hours will be needed. That is unless I find a job in investments which I hear is nearly impossible given the current job market.
When you start in January don’t try to peak too early otherwise you’ll suffer from burn out syndrome.You will reach your peak way ahead of time and start dipping from that point which you wouldn’t like to do.
thanks for posts, guys. i get my Level II CFAI books next week and my level II Schweser books in October…that should give me 11 books to ready, not to mention flash cards + secret sauce. i also keep hearing war stories about level II. today i told someone i passed level I and they laughed, saying level II is a lot of equity and no walk in the park
Thanks busprof… I found the bookstore. Im gonna call and make sure they’ll credit me when I register. If I can do that I might start a little early like November or December.
I think if you got over 70 in everything that starting in Jan would be plenty of time. I wasn’t able to start until mid March in earnest for level II and I can tell you that it wasn’t nearly enough time. I do feel that if I could have started in January that I would have been pretty prepared (at least as prepared as you can get for this exam). Whatever date you choose make sure you have a schedule you can maintain. Burnout when you need to be peaking is not a good thing. Good luck.
like slash said, plenty of time is the richest statement I’ve ever heard–if you have never seen any of the level 2 material.
jpm351 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > like slash said, plenty of time is the richest > statement I’ve ever heard–if you have never seen > any of the level 2 material. This totally depends on how much time you are putting in each day. If you start in Jan and put in 3 hrs per day and 8 on the weekends then that should get it done (it will be a lot of hours anyway). On the other hand, 1 hour per day and 4 on the weekends might produce a totally different result. So one person’s Jan might be anothers Nov depending on the number of effective hours they put in.
I’m thinking that not Every Little Thing gets tested out of CFA… A better interpretation is that… since the format is item sets… they would ask a few questions in the same topic area of the item set. If they asked item set questions which you are unfamiliar, then scoring high for that whole item set is gone… (unless your know legimens or something liek Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter books)… 6 Q = 5% of your total mark. In the end, it really is the same, you relaly need to understand and retain in your frontal lobe the whole curriculum if possible. 4 months was cutting it tight for me with a business graduate background… when you get very close to exam date you start realising the value of additional study days. However, when you’re this far away from exam date now, you really know sh*t all, and theres little value added… Start ploughing through the curriculum …
i thought i already responded but i don’t see my entry. anyway with a reasonable academic background and/or relevent experience, january should be fine… i started late feb. and i think it was enough in general… if you start early, then make sure you really pound the CFAI questions at the end of each chapter. if you don’t get into those heavily, i can’t really see what you’d need more time to do. i certainly didn’t need more time to look over the material more.