How’s studying for L2 coming along? I am, unfortunately, taking L2 next year in 09, so i’m missing out on the Dec/07 class progression. I might just pick up the Schweser and start reading before CFA material escapes me. So, just curious on how everyone’s faring with this new challenge.
Personally I’m finding it difficult to get back in the same routine as I had for level 1 in December. Not sure what that is attributed to. As for the material, there seems to be a lot of material from last year’s level 1 exam that is now on this year’s level 2 exam. Hopefully that will make the exam a little easier, although I doubt it.
Had a hard time getting going, plus my first child was born a little over a week ago, so that killed about a week of study time. Finally getting back in a groove and yesterday was the first day since finding out my L1 results in Jan. that I was motivated to get to it. I’ve run through FSA twice, done my ethics reading, and should finish Asset Valuation tonight. I suppose I am lagging a bit, but my Qbank scores have been good som hopefully that means I am at least retaining a lot of it.
I am finding it extremely difficult to cope up with the L2 study. Hardly find any time to do the readings after office in weekdays. I would call myself lucky if I am able to read Schweser once before the Exam. I just managed to ready some FSA (2 Study Sessions) and my head hurts. Planning to do Time Series tonite. Lord give me the power!!
It’s been pretty rough to be honest. I use Stalla and I went to the Econ lecture but wound up skipping the studying for it because I needed more time for Quant/FSA. As of now, I’ve finished ethics, quant (time series didn’t bother me as much as some other people…either I’m really screwed and don’t know it or my brain is good at that stuff – could be either), and one part of FSA (intercorporate investments). So it’s safe to say I’m pretty behind. I’ll still need to go back to Econ at one point and I need to start taking some tests to make sure I’m retaining what I’m learning. I’m sure the December-June L1 and L2 is do-able, but with work and other trials & tribulations, it’s been quite annoying, to put it lightly…
Nice to see all you L1 buddies here again at L2. Ancientmtk, prossetti, budfox427 and dennis2085 I remember you all were serious contributors to the L1 forum. We will take an oath here to nail this bloody exam come June-08, the hunger in me has struck my neurons. There is no way we will be able to read all the CFAI books, or do n-times of revision, or do 4500+ QBank question … we will have to play smart here. See you around guys…
I’m having trouble as well. For L1 I was able to focus for 3-4 hours at a time. Since I’ve started studying for L2 I haven’t been able to put in more than 2 hours back-to-back. Hopefully I’ll snap out of this and be able to put some serious time into this again.
I am definitely having trouble as well. Schweser does not seem as clear as it did in L1 and I am getting through the book like 10 pages at a time, which is horrible.
LongOnCFA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am definitely having trouble as well. Schweser > does not seem as clear as it did in L1 and I am > getting through the book like 10 pages at a time, > which is horrible. I’m having the opposite problem. I am blowing through Schweser like I am reading Dr. Suess or something. And my retention sucks.
I moved to New York City last July right out of college and decided to study for Level 1 in August. I had a bunch of friends from college and therefore I easily made excuses for why I had to study on saturday night because they knew me well enough to not bother me. However, now that I started Level II and have settled into my normal studying routine, my friends have started meeting lots of new people and I’ve been feeling pretty anti-social as of late. Not to mention, I met a great girl back in late december but I can tell she’s weighing her options as to continue dating or not because I don’t have time to go out all weekend. Studying in your early twenties is certainly tough. So yes, I’m finding it very difficult to study right now - I’m about halfway through FSA, but I havn’t done any studying since last thursday.
Hi Dinesh. You were one of the ones who stood out as well, I’m VERY glad you (and some others who helped me like cpk123) passed. I’ve been using the CFAI books more than Stalla because the Stalla books (like Schweser, I’m assuming) is way more confusing. It seems like the Stalla questions are really easy too, which unsettles me because I’m struggling with the reading and acing the questions, more or less, which was the opposite of what happened in LVL 1. I’m not sure what fate’s going to bring me this time. In LVL 1 my problematic areas were econ and derivatives and I relied SOLELY on Stalla. So if I read CFAI books for those topics (and now FSA because pension accounting is mumbo-jumbo with Stalla), maybe I’ll be alright. It’s going to be a tight squeeze and I might not be able to pass this one…of course I’m going to do my best though! Good luck to everyone…let’s motivate each other to succeed!
It’s good to know that we’re all in the same boat on this. I think we’ll be OK - we passed Level I so now there shouldn’t be any major surprises come exam time, everything will just be more difficult. Lets just make sure we try and finish up the readings by the end of April. Goodluck everyone.
If you guys who are finding the schweser notes difficult; and haven’t been through the stats and FSA yet, you’ve got no worries, it’s all downhill from there. If you wrote LI in Dec, you might laugh when you hit economics… It’s all a repeat with the exception of triangular arbitrage. I’m entirely with budfox427, dr seuss has nothing on Schweser once you get past the FSA readings. I’ve been told that the CFAI texts are much clearer on FSA and Quant, I’ll be refering to them before taking a crack at questions. I have to say it seems more difficult to focus on LII but I’m looking forward to tackling this beast and having a full summer without the hiliter stains and caffeine shakes.
too bad im missing out on the fun here. L1 time was actually one of my most productive times of my life and also the most anti-social period. Hope u all conquer this new challenge and reap thru this like hot L1 cheese!
I sat and passed L1 this December as well and am finding that reading is going very quickly. I think finally passing L1 (second try) has really energized me to push through this stuff. I’m using the CFAI materials this time as opposed to Schweser, but I plan on buying a Q-Bank CD when I get closer to reviewing. Ethics seems more difficult, but its more a matter of pounding questions to see different methods of appliction - there is a clear method when applied to enough scenarios. Stat also looks to be a bit harder, but more condensed. Working through it is a pain. The econ seems to be a joke, but that’s what I though on L1 as well until I took the exam. The FSA doesn’t seem too bad, but there are a lof of rules and dates to get caught up in (especially pensions and stock options). Hopefully will make it though this weeked. Hopefully we can stay focused for the remaining months and knock this one out as well. Good to read everyone’s posts again - look forward to leaving more of my own.
Finished Ethics, Quant, Econ, and half way through FSA… Ethics same a LI. I think I’ll do questions here and there until the last weeks leading up to test day. Quant was pretty brutal for me, but got through it with the CFA text. I would suggest this to anyone who haven’t looked at this section yet. There really is no benefit to a shorter Schweser (sp?) or Stalla text if you have to go through 10 times. I think I’ll hit up a few questions on this topic every so often to keep it current. Econ was straight from LI so it was basically a refresher for me. I didn’t do so hot in Dec, so i’ll definately try to improve this time around. FSA looks crazy at first but gets a lot clearer the 2nd or 3rd time around. I finished sections 1 and 2 and from the questions in Stalla it looks like FSA 3 is LI recap (not sure though). I’m shooting for completion of all material by 5/7 giving me 1 month of recap (exam falls on the perfect saturday this year).
Does CFAI give u free text of the curriculum? or do u ahve to buy those?
now it is a part and parcel of the fees you pay. earlier fees were close to 500$ and no books. now fees are about 600$ and they give you the books as well. 
CP
I am done with reading all Schweser books and switched to studying CAIA Level I material last week. Should get back to Level II in mid March. The subject matter of the Level II is much more interesting than Level I so no extra motivation needed. P.S. budfox, I hope you did not name your kid (given it’s a boy) Gordon:)))))
I almost feel like I’m at square 1 with mental capacity. I felt I was over prepared for the Dec. L1 exam and showed some good results. As it stands now I’m not retaining anything. My reading is really slow only averaging about 20 pages (CFAI text) an hour going through FSA. Quant may have been even slower. That is really really slow. I feel like a moron half the time making my way through the material. It’s a struggle. Hopefully at some point it will click again. Quant was touch for me but econ was really easy. Heading to a FSA San Fran seminar next week and hopefully that will put the pieces together. Congrats on the kid Budfox!