This is what I wrote to one of my friend prep’g for L1 and slacking…Thought this might be helpful to others too… 1) First thing, make a calender and paste it on the wall… and stick to the schedule, whatever you are planning to do… 2) Commit to spending little more than 3 hours a day during weekdays and like 5 hrs on weekend. 3) You have just one Goal - to take > 70% on every single study session and that will get your overall score also >70% This will virtually guarantee success… If you are feeling bored, find someone (from meetup.com or ur friends or thru’ www.Analystforum.com) and network with them and both stick to schedule…too much will be a crowd, I would suggest you hv one good partner to study… you both will shine. Breaking the big task of taking the exam… You have 18 SS (actually its size of only 16) Check this , http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/courseofstudy/topicareaweights.html Spend proportionate time (Meaning Ethics is 15% of the exam, so you should spend 15% of your total time toward mastering Ethics. Portfolio is only 5%, so yoiiu willbe spending only 5% on mastering that topic… ) Like I said before you should hv completed you review and should know all the topic areas relatively well by end of this month. You still have 15 days, you can actually do it… if you hv only 2 books, assuming its only 4 or so Study session…) March and beginning of April: (Goal is to stop studying by reading the book…) Day 1 :: Try to download videos, it will take like 3 to 4 hrs watching 1 study session, Day 2 :: Immediately following that you should take the book (preferebly schweser) and read every single LOS - dont skim just understand and spend some ~3 hrs onthat. Make notes, jot down formulas , so next time around you will just see that… Supplement with Secret sauce Day 3 :: Now you know the subject, start talking Practice questions 1) Do all the end of chapter schweser questions 2) Do atleast 50 Schwerserpro (QBank) questions on that topic. 3) Defenitely do most of CFAI book end of chapter Continue the same for next SSession, for the next 3 days. Weekends :: You should take a progressive test… Meaning… Take a cumulative test on all the study session that you have completed in the past. so weekend1, you will have 2 SSs on which you are taking the test, and weekend2 you are taking 4 SSs and weekend 3 you will have 6 or more Study sessions that you have accumulated and taking a cumulative test on. In a week with the above schedule you will complete 2 SS and in next 3 to 4 weeks you can complete atleast 8 Study Sessions, thats 1/2 the curriculum. Its not an himalayan task, just 3 hrs of dedication a day for a month… Full of April: (Goal is to learn by practice) : Remember remember… Reading is just acquisition but Practice is retention. You should be used to 3 hours of studying by then, now spend all that time to do Qbank. Try to do as many problems from Question bank… Key is : Take 1 & 1/2 hrs of practice test and then another hour or so of verifying what went wrong. This review is the actual learning that will keep you sharp for the exam. If you absolutely dont know something, then take the book and read / view the video to understand that concept well. Full of May: Concentrate on talking 3 hrs exam on 1 weekday (tue or wed) and one 3 hrs exam (ofcourse paper format) on weekend (sat), Then review the exam result for next couple of days. This way you can take 8 full 3 hrs exams easily. You will hv 2 or so free CFAi exams (and paid available too, actualy they are 1/2 exams) - use them wisely. Definitely give it a try, a few question patterns from that will show up on the exam. a) Review all the wrong ans and see why you got it wrong b) Review all the wrong choices - but dont restrict yourself in understanding the right choice alone…Know for what reason a certain choice is wrong. c) Review (actually skim) all the qn/answers you got right, and see whether you got it for the right reason (weed out all guesses) Good practice would be while taking the test, after you answer a questions, mark, G (for Guess work), ? (not 100% confident) or Tick (if you are damn sure) against each. This will work like a freekin confidence Barometer. Goal again is to get more than 70% of ticks and more than 25% of ?s First 6 days of june, do whatever you want, I know with this you will already be damn ready. Good luck with your prep.
that is generous of you to spend the time laying out a plan for your friend, but are you going to take the test for him too? Your friend needs to decide once and for all whether he wants to go for it or not. This test is where you separate the men from the boys (just an expression ladies) and it takes dedication, hard work, and smarts. Everyone gets tired of studying, but he needs to persevere through it. " True perseverance is the hard work you put in after you have already worked hard." Newt Gingrich tell your friend to cowboy up and git r done. good luck! let us know how this turns out
Like someone said “Its 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” . My job was to just fill that 1% and hope I did. I will spend 99% toward my L2… thanks