How do people read so fast through the notes

I’m a junior analyst in a bank and a lot of my work involves the market and product valuation, that’s also what interests me and why i wanted to take the CFA exam.
I found myself dwelling on topics I like for too long(derivatives for example) and just want to figure it out…it takes too much time. So i had to push myself to read the other stuff. and i read one module per hour…
how can i be faster? I’m not that type of person who can remember things even if they don’t understand…

does anyone know that, if it’s ok to just go through the practice questions on CFA website? and then if something’s confusing, then go check the notes?

I always read the official notes and made my own condensed notes. Took lots and lots of time, but it forced me to slow down and think about the material.

may i ask how long it took you to prepare for the exam?

LI was a super long time ago for me, but I would say I conservatively put in a solid 100 hours of reading & writing. It was an awful drudge, but I could read through ALL my notes in the space of a solid day and highlight anything as “must memorize” or “oooh, if I were on the exam committee, I would ask this!”

AND MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR CALCULATOR!!! IT WILL BE YOUR ONLY FRIEND DURING THE EXAM!!! THE APPROVED CALCULATORS HAVE OODLES AND OODLES OF FUNCTIONS TO SOLVE THE NASTY QUANT PROBLEMS THEY THROW AT YOU!!!

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thanks!! and for the calculator you meant most NPV stuff right? in quant chapter
Does the online exercise on CFA website covers all LOS? i.e if i go through all questions and understand the answers, then i would be ok for all the real questions?
I do find myself a more exercise type of person. as i cant easily lose concentration when just do the reading,

Quant also includes the stats stuff, e.g. mean, variance, linear regression.

LI was a good 15 years ago for me, so I have no clue as to the quality and quantity of CFA website questions; any practice questions I did came from the readings. It never hurts to look at the source material either.

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thanks man!

:smile: :nerd_face:

You can also speed up knowledge retention if you use supplementary CFAI providers like Schweser books and leaflets. I generaly recommend this as CFA books are burdensome to go through , though pretty good.
R

I believe because they already know a high percentage of the information they are reading, just refreshing it a little bit! This is no magic!

thanks! though embrassed to admit it, i am reading the notes… and still have A LOT of questions… despite all the years of finance study. I guess i never managed to figure them out(more like just cracking the exams)

yeah guess so… I guess i just dont really understand stuff and that’s making me slow