Congrats to all of you!! I’m sad to say that I didn’t make it this year, but I (and others I’m sure) would love to hear what you did to pass. When did you start, how much time was put in, whether you used Schweser or CFAI, practice tests, and anything else you think was key in getting that “pass”. Thanks and good luck to you in LIII!
I used Schweser exclusively and didn’t start till Feb 1. I would rather have had more time, but I took level 1 in Dec 07. I killed level 1, but level 2 was close. My strategy was “cut out sleep”.
You’ll get it next year! I read ALL of CFAI text and did ALL questions at end of readings in the text. Also did all CFAI practice and mock test and used Schweser and Stalla practice tests the last few weeks of studying. I crammed in a couple of readings of Schweser’s Secret Sauce at the end too. I started in January and studied 320 hours. Good luck!
CFAI books all the way…every single page…Started Novemeber '07 to be on the safe side. Very well paid off. Anish
I did just enough. I started in October at a leasurely pace and picked it up gradually, using the CFAI books and Schweser. I didn’t use the q-bank nearly as much as at Level 1. Maybe 300 questions max. I did all the Schweser and probably 20-40% of the questions in the CFAI books. I read all of CFAI over about 6 months. I killed L1 last year and realized I overstudied. This time I made it through L2 with a reasonable margin, but not anything special. A few things got in the way of studying more. I met my girlfriend, changed jobs, and moved to another part of town in March/April. All and all I think I was lucky to pass.
It took me 3 times… I really don’t believe I can provide any good advice!
my case is very close so I guess it is not very helpful. I used schweser materials alone. Without doing any mock exams. Just read through all schewser text and did the excercise behind each chapter. I didn’t touch the CFAI text since it is too much material. I felt I could do much better if I had taken a few sample exams from schweser like I did at level one but I was too cheap to buy them this time. I felt level II have far more materials than level I and exercise questions are very useful to help you refresh your memory. I only started in Feb when I knew my level I score. Even that, I forget almost everything I read earlier. I can’t imagine what people would do if they started in 07. Aimee Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Congrats to all of you!! > > I’m sad to say that I didn’t make it this year, > but I (and others I’m sure) would love to hear > what you did to pass. When did you start, how > much time was put in, whether you used Schweser or > CFAI, practice tests, and anything else you think > was key in getting that “pass”. Thanks and good > luck to you in LIII!
I passed. I used Schweser for everything but Ethics and CFAI for ethics. I started studying in late January after the 12/07 Level I results came out. I felt very rushed at the end and would have been MUCH more comfortable if I could have started studying a month sooner, but I guess it didn’t matter.
95% Schweser, 5% CFAI. Totally killed level 2. Started level 2 right after Dec. 2007 Level 1 since I knew I had passed level 1. I really just busted my a*s. I probably put in 400+ hours. I don’t have a bachelor of finance or a business degree which probably explains why I put in so much time. I didn’t use the CFA practice test because I think they are a joke, only used Schweser. But honestly try to do as much as possible, I honestly just ran out of motivation by the end. Reread Schweser multiple times and made sure I truly understood the sections before taking any of the practice tests. I think that if you try doing the tests before you understand the material you’ll shape your learning to the questions that you have done already, which is obviously bad. I think that is why some people fail, it is because they take the practice tests way too early and then study so much afterwards not realizing that they are not learning properly. Good luck to you next year, and just put serious time into the material. Matt
Schweser, schweser book 1 exams, CFAI end of chapter questions, a few areas in CFAI text to fill in some gaps, and all the CFAI mock exams.
Used CFAI books (did all end of chapter questions where available), Schweser QBank and did the CFAI sample/mocks. I started in Feb (did Level 1 in December. I did take a couple of weeks off before the exam and also managed to get a second read of the CfAI material. I did FSA 2-3 times mainly because it took me that many reads to get something to stick. (Everything would seem straightforward when I read it, but I go hammer out a few QBank questions and i am lost). For me the key thing was just getting the time to read everything more than once (and a few problem areas more than twice) i think.
Here’s my advice, FWIW. Make sure you KILL on the topics that really matter: Ethics, FSA, and Equity. My 40/60/80 score was about 74%. I got <50 on three sections, and >70 on all the others. The thing is, the ones I failed were the ones that didn’t count much: Econ, Alt Inv, and Port Man. I really made sure I nailed the important ones. The three I failed were only 18 points each, and FSA and Equity are 72 points each. That’s a huge difference. I did 80% schweser, 20% CFAI. Started in late Jan, about 20 hrs / week.
I only used Stalla for Level 1 and Level 2 and although I know most people use Schweser, Stalla worked for me (I am a Chem major, no previous finance) and I will use Stalla for Level 3 too probably. Hopet his helps.
I didn’t start working full time until right after the exam. I studied the 3 weeks before 6-8 hours a day using Schweser. For L1 I did the same thing but had four weeks. I would not recommend my method at all. It was torturous.
It might have been overkill, but i read the curriculum pretty early just as a background so the info stayed in my head, during work i read schweser notes, did Schweser Pro Q bank, almost the whole thing, and book 6’s and 7’s from 06-08 (just didnt do irrelevant material), but i think what helped me with alot of the fringe material is i read or crammed books 1-5 of the Schw notes, 6 days before the exam and tried to think of all the little tricks they may throw at me, it helped me on Ethics, Real Estate and PM even though surprisingly i was below 50
I read the CFAI books, went to the weekly BSAS review classes, read schweser and then did all the practice exams. I truly believe that everyone on this board has the ability to make it through the program, some will just have different journeys. Good luck to everyone going forward, never give up or give in!
I actually realy liked the Schweser videos. I don’t here many people using them, but I have a real hard time reading all of the CFA Texts. It is a little boring if I don’t get a high level overview first. Some other points. CFA Texts are great for Quant, even though we didn’t see time series, the examples in the text were very thorough building on each other gradually. As others stated above, nail FSA, Equity, and Ethics. Do all the CFA Mocks. They really come at you in different angles. As for Derivatives JSCOTT24 saved my ass whe he shared his notes on FRA and Swaps. It turned one of my weakest area into a real strength. If anyone wants his notes send me an email and I will be glad to provide. tcasperite@gmail.com. Or do a search.
<200 hrs with no financial background. Exactly a year ago I had no clue what CFA meant. Anyways, I decided to write the exam to get some basic financial knowledge. I did not have much time so listened to CFA audio while driving to and from work. The audio was utterly useless for most topics but works for review. I checked out a few videos but that was painful too. Finally decided that the only way to do it was to study from the schweser notes and read the CFAI text for parts that schweser does not cover well. My big advice: finish the material as quickly as you can and hit the practice exams. Also, focus on understanding the material as opposed to speed while you are in the early phases of mock exams. I never looked at an answer unless I was 100 percent sure of the correct answer. I would review the entire topic from schweser text or CFAI if I had to, but would never peek at the answer and try to reverse engineer the soln. To hell with ppl. that tell you its too damn difficult. Dont trivialise the exam, but no point getting intimidated. I tell myself, if i can get 99 percentile in GMAT, then how tough can it be to get 47th percentile in this exam? However, to truly understand the material, 250-300 hrs with CFAI text coupled with lots of practise questions will hold you in good stead. For me, the CFA program is a warmup for MBA, so passing with authority meets my objective.
Smarshy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here’s my advice, FWIW. > > Make sure you KILL on the topics that really > matter: Ethics, FSA, and Equity. My 40/60/80 score > was about 74%. I got <50 on three sections, and > >70 on all the others. The thing is, the ones I > failed were the ones that didn’t count much: Econ, > Alt Inv, and Port Man. I really made sure I nailed > the important ones. The three I failed were only > 18 points each, and FSA and Equity are 72 points > each. That’s a huge difference. > What he said
I used Schweser for everything, I didn’t touch the CFA books. I started in January, and spent about 4-5 hours each day, on average 6 days a week. I did take the mock exam.