I’m studying for June and the first book I started off with was Econ with the Schewser notes…I read it pretty carefully and did well with the concept checkers and with the econ questions on the exam practice questions. So, then, feeling pretty confident, I read through all of the FSA material and did pretty well on the concept checkers for each chapter…but then I got an intense beating when it came to the Schweser questions at the end of the FSA notes. There are so many damn details and complex little things to remember about CFI/CFO/CFF/ratios/tax rate movements, and it’s like everything I’d read was just a big blur…I knew it made sense when I read it, but then promptly forgot it the day after 
Well, anyway, I just wanted to rant a bit…and also ask…any tips for retaining the FSA material? I was thinking of madly doing QBank questions until my error rate decreases as more and more concepts are solidified and stick in my head…any suggestions? I haven’t done much accounting before, so a lot of this stuff is new to me.
Ya man, just keep hammering it. What helped me was always reverting back to the equation Assets = Liabs + Equity, and how it has to balance, that really makes you understand the fundamentals behind the movements (CF’s, ratios, etc.) Also, don’t get bogged down with the complex sections, pay equal attention to the early chapters and late chapters on general practices and methodologies. They will test each FSA chapter equally, at least that’s what it felt like.
Yup, it’s funny how most people focus on the tough stuff and overlook the easy stuff thinking that wouldn’t be a problem, but when those easy questions show up on the exam, you have a hard time recalling some of the stuff cuz you spent way too much time going over the hard stuff. Make your own notes, is what I’d recommend. Once you’re done reading a section highlight the important stuff and then WRITE down whatever you made of it. That’s how I did FSA.
I feel these to be the most important concepts to learn for Level 1 -understand the cash flow statement (what is included in operating, investing, and financing activities) -understand the fundamental differences between IFRS and GAAP (this is quite important actually and will be tested) -understand the effects that certain transactions will have on the balance sheet/IS and make sure you know how to journalize them. -know all the ratios from L1 curriculum and how certain transactions will affect those ratios. there are others but these are the most important, i guess the curriculum will change slightly next year.
Once I started considering how every transaction related to the A=L+E equation things made significantly more sense to me. I realized that you don’t really need to memorize a whole lot as you can just figure out how ratios are affected by looking at just that equation.
Yea def that A = L + E thing really helped. Peter Olinto - thank u!
totally. another piece of advice - don’t memorize. you really need to take the time to understand what is happening. This way when they through in the twists you can reason your way through how Fifo vs Lifo effects Current ratio, CFO all that good stuff.
Thanks guys, lots of good advice here. How do you relate the A = L + E equation to stuff like cash flows and ratios? I don’t have the video series so if someone could elaborate with a few examples, that’d be great!