Could someone please shares (from previous CFA Level 1 experience) – a) What should NOT be done this week ? b) What is the most effective way to utilize these 6 days? c) What should one concentrate on Friday? Thanks,
studying 
a) book 7 by schweser b) practice exams in schweser book 6 c) remembering formulae (Quick sheet)
why should book 7 books NOT be done?
im gonna spend this week doing book 6 and book 7…plus the online cfai exams… hopefully i dont burn out before then
how come no one sets asides a few days just before the exam to go thru the main concepts or flash cards if you have all over again briefly?
My plan for this last week is to do q-bank questions on the areas I’m scoring low in (FSA, PM, AI) during the day at work (on downtime, of course) on Monday and Tuesday and doing book 6 tests at night. Wednesday - Friday I have off and am going to spend 12+ hours each day going over as much of the material as I can, memorizing formulas etc, while focusing on my weak areas. At the end of each day long study session I’m going to take an online CFAI test. Friday night after my last CFAI test I’ll probably hang out and watch a good movie then go to bed around 10:30pm (I can’t sleep more than 8 hours or I’m all messed up the next day for some reason. Too much sleep is just as bad as too little sometimes).
How are the bad scores working on your confidence?
i would try not to leave yourself anything to heavy for friday…the day before the exam i was pretty wired and found it hard to concentrate…maybe ethics review in the morning and then get a good sleep…just my 0.02
Well, my overall scores aren’t terrible (mid 60s), it’s just the few areas I mentioned that I’m performing less well on. I actually like the fact that I’m only scoring low in a few areas because it enables me to focus my studying for the next week. I think the final week is one of the most vital study periods because that is the information you are going to retain the most. After reading tons of threads on this forum about all of the scores and such, I’m really not as nervous as I was before. I just went to my high school reunion last night and spoke to a few people about the exam, who also happen to be taking it next week. They have barely done any preparation save a course and maybe some Schweser study note readings. I believe the average person is much less prepared than we might think they are. The people who post on these forums have a very very good sense on what the exam is all about and have studied diligently for it, therefore the pass rate on these forums is much higher than the CFA wide average of 38%. The book 6 AM average was something like 64%, but even those averages are misleading because the average is taken from just a sample of the population of CFA candidates (i.e. the ones who are actually making a real effort to study and therefore are probably the ones who are more likely to pass). All that said, if you’ve been studying diligently, posting on these forums, and generally doing as well (or maybe a little worse) than the average person on this forum, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Anyways, just my take on it.
You’re probably right dubs. I’ll most likely end up doing less on Friday than Wednesday and Thursday.
Any of you here still do not remember the formulas at this point? I still have to open books/cheat sheet to get the formulas. That scares me!!
i try my best not to use open book/cheat sheet when doing prac exams… it forces you to really think about the question, and derive the formula if you have to…or at least, how to take a calculated guess… if you see a weird question, just think, if i were in the exam right now, what would i do?
guys, is it too late to re-read the books now? I am working on the exams/questions and have noticed that I forgot quite a lot of what I read (incl. not understanding some concepts) but I am afraid to go back and re-read as it’s getting close to the deadline.
JUST DONT TOUCH BOOK-6 and BOOK-7 now … they are demoralizers… Just read summaries/ forumla sheets/ flash cards/ quick sheets … don’t heavyweight on FRIDAY… just keep it light, meditate, sleep well and nail the exam straight on it’s HEAD.
Dinesh, you only took one exam and you did well on it. Even though the book 6 exams are more calculation based, they reveal the topics that need review. Book 6 is a good tool if it’s used to find weaknesses and provide direction for your review.
I took L-I in June 07 and passed comfortably with >70% in all areas. So, what did I do in the last week? a. continued banging out lots of problems from the Schweser Qbank to refresh those concepts. b. revisited the CFAI online questions and revised those concepts c. DO NOT FORGET TO RE-READ YOUR ETHICS PORTION!!! d. Don’t concentrate too much on the calculations. Make sure you understand each and every concept. e. Now is not the time to learn anything that you hadn’t previously understood. Leave it alone. You’ll probably lose 1-2 questions max. Utilize that time for revising other areas. f. Relax. Don’t study anything on the last day…or just re-read your notes. g. Keep it very light and do some stuff that you like doing, whatever it might be- movie, good food, play with your dog etc. (DO NOT TOUCH BEER though.) All the best champs!
ruhi22, thanks for the suggestions!! Do you think 120 questions are doable in 3hrs? I mean… time is not an issue there?? I was working on those Schweser-Book-6 and I was overshooting by almost 1 hr per session, so I’m dammm worried about the timing contraints. Appreciate your thought on this? - Dinesh S
Dinesh, I wouldn’t worry about overshooting the time limit. I’ve heard from many people that the exam is more logic/understanding the concept rather than heavy calculations i.e. Book 6. I bet that you’ll finish with plenty of time to spare 
Time wasn’t a problem for most of us in the exam. You should be able to complete it comfortably…as long as you keep track of it and don’t get stuck on any particular question. If you don’t know how to answer 1 ques, just skip it and come back again later. Another thing= no need to follow any order. I started with whatever section i was comfortable with first. be careful with the scantron though. lots of people marked their answers wrong and had to re-do it, thus losing out on a lot of time.