For all those who passed L2 now

CFA Level II
#61

I just used Kaplan Schweser and put in a total of 317.5hrs of prep. I would do 3 hours a day, 7 days a week by getting up early and put in 1.5hrs before work and another 1.5hrs after work the only exception being Wednesday’s where I would sleep in since the online class is 3hrs at night. I would also do about 3 hrs on Saturday and Sunday, usually early before the gf and roomie would wake up. I would usually read the chapter, watch the corresponding online video, then do the Kaplan end of chapter questions, then watch the lecture on Wednesday nights so I hit the topic a few times to really get the concepts in my head. I used the calendar Kaplan provides, entered in days I knew I would get no studying done ahead of time, then stuck to that calendar sometimes having to make up some time if I fell behind. This gave me about a month of practice time where I took 4 practice exams, usually in 3 hour chunks, then I would hit the Q bank and really drill into the areas I scored very low on while also focusing on getting my Ethics, FRA, Equity, and AI as high as possible.

Practice Exam 1: 52% (took when I didn’t feel prepared but figured it would show me what I really knew or not)

Practice Exam 2: 67%

Practice Exam 3: 52% (literally every topic I didn’t know came up on this exam)

Practice Exam 4: 59% (didn’t feel super confident but test day was too soon to take another).

The last 2 weeks before the exam I would put in 5 to 8 hour days (which also preps my stamina for the grueling exam day) to take the practice tests, take as many Q banks as possible (which I averaged 75% on), review concepts, etc. At this point I also really only focused on my strength areas and hoped that they would come up on the exam more often than the weak areas where I would just take the statistical 33% correct. I also hit the flashcards the last 2 weeks trying to memorize the formulas.

Lastly, I took the day off before the exam and just relaxed, watched a ton of dumb TV (watched F is for Family…its ehhh), slept when I felt like it, and ate healthy food so that my brain could recharge and I could go into Saturday ready to rock. Also, pack all your stuff the night before so you just need to show up to the exam on Saturday and don’t skip lunch on exam day. Take those 2 hours to really relax and eat some good food and let the brain recharge.

My final results were:

<50: Corp Fnce, Derivatives, Econ

51-70: AI, FRA, Quant

>70: Equity, Ethics, FI

I think I just passed by the hairs on my chin but like Dom says, " It doesn’t matter if you win by and inch or a mile; winning’s winning." In hindsight, I would have memorized some formulas earlier which I think would have boosted by practice exam scores and I wouldn’t have taken a week off to go to Aruba in the beginning of May and instead done some serious initial review that week instead so I would have higher scores going into the exam. No matter how much you prep though I think everyone comes out of the exam feeling like a complete failure and is shocked to get the congratulatory email but that’s what makes the CFA so special, right?

#62

Does IFT and/or Mark Meldrum use the CFAI curriculum for videos or their own notes?

#63

Yes they do - i highly recommend IFT Mocks and Mark Meldrum videos

#64

As a CFA Exam taker with a full time job, I would say that it is tough. After working for 8-11 hours, I could hardly focus. A tip for everyone who is/will be in the same boat, I would suggest taking Metro to work instead of driving so you can review the formulas or notes. That is A LOT OF TIME for us with a full time job.

#65

Thanks friends for the valuable feedback

#66

Working full time. Passed with a 40/60/80 score of 72%

October-January - Read through Schweser at a relaxed pace, hopefully just retaining very top level knowledge

January-April - Read through it again, this time listening to the audiobook at the same time, making flash cards on topics I though could be tested, and completing the topic tests

May - 3-day crash course. One exam every weekend, remediate during the week.

Week of - Three days off, two exams & remediation

Night before - Studied till ten, got a good night sleep.

#67

Working full time.

Passed level 1 decemeber - studied for 2 months and failed band 6, knew it was coming but wanted the experience.

2nd attempt - Started on January 1st and read every page of the CFA material, completed all BB’s and EOC, the final weekend completed my first CFA mock, the last week just worked thourgh EOC and Online topic tests. I didnt track the hours studied but it was huge, i wanted it badly.

Not a pretty pass but passed >70% in Equities, FI, and Dervivaties, everything else 50-70%

#68

Thanks dear friends for the valuable feedback

#69

I work full-time. Last year, I was in wealth management and this year, I am an investment analyst, so I definitely work more hours during busy times now.

I was in Band 9 last June, so close, it was crushing. This time around, I studied even harder (which I didn’t think was possible), but also maybe smarter, I had to with my work hours. I heavily focused on the higher-weighted sections and I definitely practiced more. From Jan-March, I did all the end-of-chapter questions after each reading. I like to stick to the CFA material, but I do watch videos from IFT and/or Schweser to learn, they explains things in plain English and it’s faster than reading so many pages.

In the last 4-5 weeks: I took every single topic test on the CFAI website, except a few equity as equity is my forte in this exam. There are 4-5 full mocks that can be made out of these topic tests, which I think are always tougher than the EOC or even the real thing. I made mini-mocks out of these topic tests for weekdays, 90-180 mins each and practiced those before/after work, and full mocks for the weekend. I also took the CFA mock exam, one Schweser, one Wiley, and 1-2 IFT mocks. So I would say, especially for the last 4 weeks, I really was just doing timed practice and consistently scoring 75-100% in the important sections because of it. Anything that I kept having trouble with, I would just go back to the text book and videos and re-learn.

In the last week, I focused on getting 80%+ in my best subjects, but also understanding pension accounting in FRA and swaps/derivative strategies (my weakest topics leading up to the exam). I wanted to make sure I have a handle on those item sets before the big day.

Hope that helps!

#70

Passed on 1st attempt. Basically I went through Schweser notes and made sure to learn for understanding the 1st time around which can honestly be hard to actually hold yourself to. Then after finishing a section doing CFAI and Kaplan end of chapter problems + blue probs and reviewing answers that I got wrong or was unsure of. After completing a whole topic area I would hammer a focused 60-120 question Q bank quiz (some people think they are useless but they help with topic retention). Then once I finished all reading I made a shit ton of note cards for all the equations and I hammered mocks (making sure to correct after). Last month before exam I did topic tests (some times multiple times for weak scoring areas), CFAI mock + correct, and Kaplan quicksheet + note cards until my eyes bled (practically).

#71

Here is my own strategy, which i think differentiate me with the others:

I think QM is a total waste of time for me. In the high school, my score in statistics was always a total mess. Dunno why, i think i was just born not to understand QM at all. So, i decided to carve out QM from my CFA study plan. Worth to note that in the level 1 the weight was only 5%, in level 2, the weight was only 5-10%, and not to be tested at all in level 3. So i passed my level 1 on the first attempt. Level 2 was another story as i failed last year due to overconfident. However, i kept my strategy of not touching QM at all, and focused my energy to other topics. Whenever it came into QM, i always fill the B answer right away. Given only three options, the probability you fill the correct answer would be 33% in each my QM qs. In worst case scenario i ran out of luck and didn’t fill in any correct answer, i would only lose 5% of my whole score. But…

It came into surprise in this June’s exam that the QM came in with 10% weight!!!

I always did the mocks and it never came in with 10% weight. I was doomed, I already believe that i would NOT pass this year.

However, i think my strategy WORKED OUT very well. I did pass! My QM was truly in the left but my other topics were in the right!!

So, listen here. ALWAYS spend your energy to testable areas you know the best, do your priority list! Believe me it will save you a LOT of time to study, as well as in the exam date. Several of my colleagues ran out of time in the level 2 exam and didn’t even fill the testable areas they knew very well, while I even had 5 minutes+ in each exams to recheck my answers.

Hope it helps!

#72

A thread filled with great advice but just thought I would add my 2 cents for those attempting Level II in 2018.

I passed second attempt this year, got band 6 last year. My key takeaway this year? Topic tests, mocks and a study group. I did 9 full mocks and all of the topic tests twice. IFT mocks were excellent, as were Schweser (albeit not as straightforward). Passed this time with 6 categories > 70%. Leave at least two months for pure questions I would say.

Good luck!

#73

Whatever you just said looks like a copy paste of my journey…i also passed dec 2015 level 1…was burned out… So give this year level 2…started in start of nov… And followed almost same plan…

#74

Without doubt the key for me were the CFAI EOC tests (extremely similar in style and complexity). I personally didn’t benefit from the topic tests for 2 reasons;

  1. They are much harder

  2. They had more of a focus on concepts not true to what my exam experience was.

Really focus for the last month on hammering questions. Fundamentals are the 6 Shweser mocks. You score well on this, you will nail the exam. I cant emphasize enough that practice makes perfect

#75

Thanks friends for the great advice

#76

Passed on my first attempt using Schweser notes, Qbank and mocks, and the CFAI topic tests and mock.

Good luck for level 3 guys!

#77

I work full time in Finance and do international travel Mon-Fri. Had an undergrad in geology, so no prior “textbook” experience. Hence, studying on weekdays was tough for me. I made the most of my weekends studying around 8 hours on weekends and 3 hours weekdays (usually when on the plane ride after I’ve exhausted the movie list). Averaged around 10-12hours/week Feb-Mar.

I started studying in February. From Feb-Mar mostly reading Schweser notes and doing CFAI EOC questions and Schweser chapter questions. I would read over the CFAI text for any concepts I didn’t understand from Schweser.

By the start April, I was finished reading all the curriculum and did all the review questions. The entire month of April I was churning through Schweser practise exams to stimulate the exam setting. I did 4 Schweser mocks in April and reviewed concepts from the CFAI text I didn’t understand. I did these questions dispersedly, never sat in to write one all in one go. Averaged 15 hours/week in April.

All of May I studied around 30 hours a week. I realized I still had a lot of gaps, so I took every free moment off work to study. This was when I did topic tests and reviewed CFAI blue box questions and re-read a lot of main concepts I was missing. I also did the CFAI mock exam the first week of May in a “simulated” exam environment and first scored 63%. Clearly, this was a good reality check and enough motivation to suck it up until the end. I subscribed to Mark Meldrum videos during the last week and it helped tremendously in filling the gaps. If I had found about his content earlier, I would have subscribed a lot earlier.

I took the week off leading up to the exam and just studied 16hr/day. This was a combination of writing 2 Schweser mocks and re-writing the CFAI mock. Scoring in the high 70/low 80 range.

Was very pleased with passing on the 1st attempt scoring >70% for all topics except for Ethics and Derivatives which were below 50%.

#78

Everybody have different strategies, so, you just have to find the one that works for you.

I failed last year but passed this year.

My advice will be for you to use the curriculum, at least for the first 2 readings before going to Schweser or other supplemental study notes, but also, you need a solid video lecture along the way, i used IFT, so i do recommend them, and finally, a lot of mock exams and practice questions, that is the key to everything, so be ready to spend some extra bucks to get those.

Cheers.

#79

Thanks friends for the great feedback

#80

My internship ended at the end of March at which time I decided I would do level 2. Obviously, it wasn’t a good start as there were only 2 months until the exam. My advantage was that I had all the time I needed during those two months. In the beginning, my study was ok. Notwithstanding the time constraint, I wasn’t as productive as I ought to be (I constantly questioned my ability to pass in just 2 months). One week prior to the real exam, I did the CFAI mock exam and got 44% (I hadn’t done any mocks before this one). It was super depressing. I told myself I had to pass and spent the following week studying literally 15 hours per day. In the last two days prior to the exam, I did 3 Schweiser mock and got fantastic results for Equities, FRM, FI, and Corp Fin, meh for Econ, Ethics, and AI, and the rest is below 50. I was super stressed that at one point my brain would just shut down due to accumulated pressure. After the real exam, I thought I had a slight chance of passing as I found the exam was harder than the schweser mocks. Surprisingly, I pass with everything above 70% except for PM and QM below 50.

The moral of my story is, I guess, if you really really want to pass the exam, you will have a chance no matter what position you are in. Admittedly, your chance of passing will decrease as time goes by without studying.