Dear All, I am just wondering if you guys can give me more insight into the CFA programme. I am planning to sit for my level 1 exam in June. I am not really sure whether it will a good idea to sit for the exam in June. I am working full time and employed in the finance industry at the moment. I have completed my MBA recently and while going through the Level 1 course outline I found that I have already covered most of the topics in my Under and Post grad. But I am bit concerned with the time I have to devote to the studies. I usually get busy with my work and it might not be posible for me to give like 3-4 hrs a day. I just wanna know what do u guys think when should I sit for the exams considering the level of the exams and topics. Whether the programme requires thorough studies or it might be a bit easy for me who has got background in finance and also working in Finance. And also I just wanna know what materials should I follow. I will be completely relying on self study considering that what books should I follow. Do you guys reckon I should only go the course books sent by CFAI or should buy some extra materials(shcweser) and practice papers. Can you please recommend what practice papers and material I should follow. And yeah I have heard that you can get the shcweser books and practice papers online for free. Is that true if yes what is the link. If somebody can provide me with these informations It will be highly regarded…and hey is there any body from sydney… cheers
Ricky, I think you’ll be fine for L1 with your background and work exp. It won’t be easy, but as long as you can put in 15-20 hrs a week (weekends?) between now and then I’m sure you’ll pull it off In your case I’d highly reccomend Schweser as it cuts the chase and saves you a ton of time. A little bit more money though… There are quite a few Aussies on here, myself not included though. Good to see more on here from down under
Hey Halifax thanks for the advice…I might have to plan stuff…I am bit concerned with extra load of work I have all the time whether I will prepared to give 15-20 hrs on the weekend…U definitely need time to relax…But nehow I will plan but before that I have to enrol and get the study material which I heard is quite vast and requires a lot of reading and time and see whether I will be able to sit this june…or other december is fine with me…And yes regarding schweser can I but them from normal Uni bookshops or have to order them online…and how much do u think it will cost me to get those materials…and is it posible to buy second material it will be cheaper for me…and yes how bout the practice exam papers…n yeah just curiousity sake what level r u on n what r u doing these days…and another quick question say if I go for the december paper is it better to read from the CFAI course material rather than going shortcut through schweser…mate sorry to be a pain but just wanna make the right decision…thanks again for your help…take care…
halifax I apologise if there is some incorrect sentence phrasing…M at work and was typing without even looking at the post hahahahah…
no prob…what’s up with the periods though? Sure, you can get a decent deal on eBay usually for schweser notes to save money, and make sure you buy both exam books, (ie volume I & II) which will give you 6 exams in total and will prep you for the real deal. For Level I, you don’t really need CFA notes, maybe a bit on LII and III where some of the material is less familar and less review. You get the CFA books when you reg for the exam now, so they’ll be there as an option. I would reccommend reading the CFA books for ethics for sure as it is so key. They’ll always be there as an option. There is plenty of time for you to prep between now and June…but I know it’s summer down there, so December is a bit more attractive perhaps on that front!!
Tell me about it Halifax, was free from study on Dec 2nd, and had all summer to catch up with the partying, alas we only have about 1 month of good stuff left (In Melb). Ricky, I just got notes and put in 10-15-20 hours per week for 4 months then took a week off to study before the exam (total around 310hours) and passed, highly recommend the CFAI exams when they become available, though they are costly
hi ricky… have u actually signed up for the jun exam yet? If so you would have the CFA books - so you would know how big it is. The CFA books come included in the exam fee - so you’ll have a nice pile of books whether you read them or not… If you haven’t signed up yet - no big deal - takes only a few of days to deliver. Also if you have signed up, you might want to sign up for review sessions run by CFA Sydney society - 6 x saturdays at UTS starting on Feb 9th. If you can spare 6 saturdays (?) check out http://www.cfas.org.au/cfa/cfa_prep/default.aspx Problem is the deadline for signing up for this is end of this week. You don’t actually learn stuff there - it assumes you have done the readings and know the stuff beforehand - but’s it’s good for review - resolving probelms, practice questions, networking, etc to find out more you could ring up the CFA sydney society organiser - richard brandweiner at Perpetual - don’t have his number but email him first - richard.brandweiner@perpetual.com.au - good guy. If you are going to do the CFA Sydney society thing (saturdays) the fee includes some Schweser summaries + admission to the Boston society practice exam - so you might not want to buy any extra stuff until after the first Saturday with your background June should be fine. 129 days is plenty! but the clock’s tickin’…good luck!
hey null Thanks for the information…I haven’t yet registered yet I will be registering next week…i am plannin to sit in DEC 08…I don’t only want to pass the exam but understand all the concepts so that I can apply in my career…I think for june test I might be able to clear it but then I will be studyin to pas the exam…and I don wanna do that…and also I do have time constraints because of my full time job and its hard after work to put so much of concentration for 2 hrs. But anyhow I will email richard and have a chat about it…n may got the session in feb. to have a feel but will definitely be attending the sessions for DEC 08…I am, sure it will help me alot…Thanks for your help mate…highly appreciated…
Ricky(Sydney)…your use of copious punctuation has filled me with mirth…
I would go for it in June Ricky, that way when you need to tackle level 2 next year you can be certain you have enough time, and are not waiting around for your Dec 08 results
hey rob Thanks for the advice…i was just wondering if you can suggest me what books should I nut and what exam papers and sample question should I buy…
I used Allen Resources notes and Qbank, I passed, however most people on the formum go for schweser so I using their notes and qbank for level 2. The CFAI exams are a must in my opinion, so maybe go schweser notes and qbank and CFAI exams. The reveiw course in Sydney looks good also though it is another $1,400 to spend
hey robb so you say I should go for schweser notes and schweser qbank and when you say CFAI exams, r u talking bout the 5 exams which are available on the CFAI website and for which you have to pay around 50bucks…so you reckon if I do all schweser notes and qbank with the sample papers it will good for me…
yes, thats the ones, pricey but very helpful. Thats what I’m saying, obviosly you’ll need to put in the time but as far as materials go that should do it. Anyway, the CFAI books come with the registration so if you need greater depth you can refer to these
Hey Ricky, I’m also from sydney… maybe try a past/practise exam and see how you go? then just focus on the areas that you’re not so good at… given your background, you should be fine…
hey bluey what level r u on…thanks for ur advice…and what books did you follow…I mean to say what extra material did you follow…I am plannin to schweser books and the q bank and will do the practioce exams on CFAI webiste when they are available…do u think its enough for me…or do u suggest I should only study from CFAI notes…
also from Sydney. The fact you cover material both in under and post plus working in a finance industry. You should be able to nailed it relatively easy. With level 1, I think Schweser notes is a good to have, Qbank was used extensively when i was studying for it. I think your strategy is spot on if you can stick with it. You can drop me an e-mail at slow.takumi AT gmail.com if you would like to discuss further.
… Why am I seeing so many dots here??? Is this something related to my eyesite?? …
Hey Ricky, I just passed the L1 Dec07 exam… taking a year break before sitting the L2 exam… I started by reading through all the CFAI texts (helped me since it had been about 3 years since i studied at uni, so it was mainly to get my momentum going)… then i went through the Schweser texts, questions, and also did q-bank exams after every topic… then as exam time neared, i took all the practise exams that i could… good luck…
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