Studying more than 800 hours means I covered all the past exams back to 2008, and all the Schweser mocks…
I was not close to 100% but my grade was higher than 70-75%, I answered all the questions on AM session and understood all of them… and I have 6 subjects under 50%…
Since I didn’t miss any questions and I applied all my understanding for the exams, the only way that I could’ve mistakenly answered those questions is that I missed hidden points in the questions… Otherwise the concept are the same for either AM or PM
Understanding the questions is not the same as getting them 100% correct every practice. Do the exams over and over until you can actually get 100% each time (or very close). Maybe its overkill but it worked for me.
About 200-250 hours. From February onwards. Least that I put in for any of the levels. It is a pass. But not a pretty result sheet as I had with L1 and L2.
One side is to study CFA books to expand your finance knowledge and be an expert in the field, and the other side is just study the way to pass the exam…
By doing the same questions over and over, I might pass the exam but it would not help me to have a better understanding of concepts,
Unfortunately, I am not that kind of person who just to get to the goal would be my highest priority… since the CFA is not a requirement for most of the jobs in the market
Passed on my first attempt but I also put in 600+ hours. After passing Level 2 I told friends/family I was going to be absurd with studying. The thought of having to ruin another Spring gave me motivation to just get it over with.
I have offered - but they do not want to sell 2014 material - claim it does not exist anymore. I can pay 1.250 USD now, but will not recieve the video before december, which cuts the study time substantially.
I asked, if I could pay now and recieve 2014 video and have these replaced, when 2015 came online. I have some family obligations and therefore want to start earlier this time.
The question perhaps isn’t how many hours to devote to studying, but how to maximize the precious few hours you have available to study. Lots of people think they need to read everything and do everything to maximize their chances, but this just leads to hours piled on to hours. The question is really all about efficiency. Essentially, you can back into the most frequently tested and most valuable aspects of the exam by starting at the end – yes, STARTING at the end, in the sense of starting with the AM exams published by CFA, as what you don’t understand in these exams will force you into the text at the most relevant points which you will then read and understand in the context of the actual questions asked, not in the context of the “reading.” My advice:
START with CFA AM published exams (all of them that you can find. Some questions will no longer be relevant, but not much time wasted). Read the answers, work the problems, understand them in depth. Then, do these exams yourself, again, without the answers and see what you come up with. Know these cold.
Do every blue box example in the CFA texts. If you see a formula somewhere in the “white text,” look at those.
Do Ethics problems at EOC and read a bit in GIPS.
That’s it. You’re done. Most efficient study plan ever and you are highly likely to pass.
