What I mean by that is, besides using the most popular study guides (i.e. Kaplan) what else do you do?
From the limited amount of information people could divulge on the June L1 test, there was a great deal of information not covered in the prep guides and found only in the CFAI books. That is a tremendous amount of information to get through, let alone comprehend. My fear is that even though I am doing well on the Q-bank questions, I will be clobered on the test because of the sheer volume of information I have to take away from the 4000 +/- pages of CFAI material. Most people I know who have passed L1 only used the guides as reference and for questions - what can I (and others) do to manage all of the information we need to learn?
Here are the materials I used for Level 1 (still awaiting results).
Schweser Books
Qbank
CFAI EOC questions
Schweser Mock Exams, CFAI mock exams and CFAI sample questions (These CFA materials are on their site)
That seems like more than enough for me. I didn’t feel the need to look at the CFAI books. I felt that a good portion of the material on the exam could be found in the Schweser study guides.
In terms of managing the information, I found Q-bank worked best for me.
I think the big thing is don’t get caught in the weeds. As you start to get familiar with all of the material in general, take a step back and understand what is you know and don’t know. About 30-45 days from exam day I typed a list of things that I was weak at. You are right there is a lot of material. Take a deep breath and be honest with yourself of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Then spend the majority of your time looking at that stuff.
The Q bank was great for keeping things I understood fresh. I would take small quizzes (10-15 questions on multiple sections) in a day. On a weekday with limited study time I could touch on parts of 4-5 topics while on a Saturday or Sunday I could touch on something related to all 10 topics. Plus it helps with some of the basic concepts sorting out things that are touched on in the CFA material (IFRS vs GAAP, Z test vs T-Test, etc…)
It definitely is a balance between retaining familiar info and learning new info, and I as much as I studied I couldn’t remember everything. Lol, I don’t know if it is possible, but this might help.
If I had to do it over, I would have used Q bank and CFA EOC questions a little earlier. I waited till about late March (though I started reading the books a few months earlier), and while I wanted to get through all the CFAI EOC questions, I only got through about half.
I belive that you will be more confident if you take the following:
Schewser workbook, Schewser notes : by understand all concepts ( the word _ understanding!!! _ ) and review it 4-5 times before the last 2 months
You can skip Qbank, but make sure you do all CFAI questions ( at level 1, I believe you dont’ need to read CFAI currriculum, but if you have time, it’s good to get more knowledge there)
CFA samples exam, CFA mock exam - do it 4-5 times ( pls devote your 2 last months to do it after you get all understanding of concepts)
I use Schweser, but also do CFAI EOC + examples in the curriculum. I have feeling that Schweser concept checkers are way easy, so I try to find examples with solutions and keep working on them until I get everything right. Anyway I am also a Level I Dec 2014 candidate so I have no experience in the exam, but that is how I am studying.