ATH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I always found that no matter how many hours I had > put in during the months before, I solidified most > of my exam-ready knowledge in that last week > before the exam when I put in about 8-10 hours per > day. Taking that week off before the test was a > great use of PTO and helped me study without > burning the midnight lamp. For me, it was all > about peaking at the right time. Concur - but this also works on a micro level. First time I did this I had a cup of coffee before the exam started, which made my mind go everywhere on the AM section. Second time - I knew what my body’s response to caffeine would be, so I took a 32 oz Dunkin Donut’s iced coffee two hours before the AM session with a breakfast sandwich so that the caffeine would be on delayed release. Much better alertness. Eat right and sleep well in the days before the exam!
Ok there are WAY too many thread on studying tips… I’ll leave my second last post to this forum here and bid you all adieu and good luck next year (I’ll probably creep on here once or twice more) 1. Its not about hours - its about what you want to get done. For me, I wanted to go through the CFAI textbooks, do the questions in the CFAI and Schweser books, and do as many practice exams as possible (b/c I learn that way). And then I did all of that - I have no idea how much time I put in, I suspect its less than 700 and its more than 150. Decide what you want to get done to feel prepared and then do it - who gives a **** about hours put in? 2. For those in the Schweser v. CFAI debate, the difference in total material in CFAI v. Schweser is at most 15% more… that’s one extra day of reading. This isn’t L2 or L1 where Schweser material is anywhere from 50-60% less than the CFAI texts… I can’t believe no one has pointed this out yet *rolls eyes* 3. For what its worth, I used erasable pen - Pilot Frixion was my pen of choice 4. Practice is important for the morning section. Experiment with a few tactics and go with the one that works for you. Me, I like to power through the entire morning in under 2 hours and then go back to “bulk up” and check my answers for the last 1 hour - but that’s my style. Some people like to go slow and finish the last question as the proctor says “pencils down” - w/e works for you really. 5. Nobody likes a douche - there’s a higher concentration of them writing than the average population. Don’t be a douche Good luck guys
About 75 hours, split fairly evenly between reading Schweser, watching videos, and doing practice questions. Working in the industry, of course, helps a ton.
l1 : 2 wks full time l2: 2 months part time l3: 3.5 months part time
For level 1 I don’t remember. For level 2 I put in about 200 hours the first time and failed, and then 250 hours the 2nd time and passed. For level 3 when I failed last year I put in 270 hours. I put in another 330 hours this year and passed.
batgirl4ever, Thanks for your great comment - So true about number 1,2 and 5 - eyeroll and all. I’ll take into consideration for next June points 3 and 4. Guys, please don’t be a douche. A
batgirl4ever Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Ok there are WAY too many thread on studying > tips… I’ll leave my second last post to this > forum here and bid you all adieu and good luck > next year (I’ll probably creep on here once or > twice more) > > 1. Its not about hours - its about what you want > to get done. For me, I wanted to go through the > CFAI textbooks, do the questions in the CFAI and > Schweser books, and do as many practice exams as > possible (b/c I learn that way). And then I did > all of that - I have no idea how much time I put > in, I suspect its less than 700 and its more than > 150. Decide what you want to get done to feel > prepared and then do it - who gives a **** about > hours put in? > > 2. For those in the Schweser v. CFAI debate, the > difference in total material in CFAI v. Schweser > is at most 15% more… that’s one extra day of > reading. This isn’t L2 or L1 where Schweser > material is anywhere from 50-60% less than the > CFAI texts… I can’t believe no one has pointed > this out yet *rolls eyes* > > 3. For what its worth, I used erasable pen - Pilot > Frixion was my pen of choice > > 4. Practice is important for the morning section. > Experiment with a few tactics and go with the one > that works for you. Me, I like to power through > the entire morning in under 2 hours and then go > back to “bulk up” and check my answers for the > last 1 hour - but that’s my style. Some people > like to go slow and finish the last question as > the proctor says “pencils down” - w/e works for > you really. > > 5. Nobody likes a douche - there’s a higher > concentration of them writing than the average > population. Don’t be a douche > > Good luck guys +100, Thank you 4 advice.
I don’t even wanna count. I wouldn’t be surprised if I hit the 1,000 mark considering I started in early September. Not only that, me and my friends took 2 weeks off prior to exam day and studied our asses off for 10+ hours a day. That’s already 140 right there. Stalla class was 16 sessions x 8 hours so that’s 128 right there.
I started in April from ground zero with a week-long course with 7city, then took 3 days inbetween the bank holidays to study(missed the bloody royal wedding) and finally took a week off just before the exam. It worked out for me. I studied way harder for lvl2 and lvl1. For lvl3 i didn’t even manage to read the schweiser books, only the secret sauce.
I ended up with a total of 424 hours. The most time used of all levels. I started slowly in August with around 5 hrs / week, finishing the first round of CFAI reading + EOC in January. Then I joined a Level III review class around the same time to spice it all up. 32 hours disappeared in Qbank. Not great, but helped me get into the groove. They definitely need to add more questions for most of the sections. 77 lovely hours with exams; results coming in at 59% - 82%. Repeat and rinse for the rest.
@sounboy - there is nothing wrong with you. WHo knows what went wrong on the day? You sound as if you knew the material. That said, forzajuve did some analytics on the results from the data some people on here posted to show how concentrated the spread between pass and fail is at this level (using the 40/60/80 rule) and the difference between a band 4 fail and a pass was only 5 percentage points (https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwoaXamLWQIOY2JiODAzYmQtMDkyMC00MDMwLTk5NzUtMGFhNmU5M2ZmYmZk&hl=en_US). I recognise that there is lots of wiggle room given the 40/60/80 assumption but using that nevertheless, it means the difference between pass and fail was just two correct/incorrect questions in the afternoon session. Keep going and have faith. You’ll get there and don’t waste time now. Get straight back into it while the knowledge is still fresh-ish. Good luck
~100 hours from 10/1 to 12/31 (8 hours per week) ~230 hours from 1/1 to 6/3 (12 hours per week) + ~50 hours at Schweser Windsor Week ~40 hours the week before the exam (took off from work) Total about 420 hours * I never once studied on a Friday or major holiday. Most week day studying was from 6:00pm to 7 or 7:30 pm. Weekend studying from 8:30 am to 11 am. For me the key was a regimented, disciplined time allocation over a eight month period allowing myself one day off per week.
I estimate I studied a total 750 hours for level three, 1100 for level 2, and probably about 400 for level one. in total that’s about an entire work year. you have to be crazy to do this stuff.
probably 75-85 hours if you are doing 250+ hours and you fail, you need to have a long hard look at whether it is right for you
did about 400 for level I (200= band 10 first time, the other 200 got me through with flying colors), 600 for level II (passed first time), 250 for level (failed miserably). Im starting in december this time and targeting 600 hours, im not leaving anything to chance
BobRizzi31 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > probably 75-85 hours > > if you are doing 250+ hours and you fail, you need > to have a long hard look at whether it is right > for you Hey Bobby, Why do you care how long another person studies for this exam? Your < 100 hours of prep time for Level III is abnormal, and you know that. If someone studied approximately 300 hours and finished in Band 10, should they really “need to have a long hard look at whether it is right for you”?? Show some respect, please.
60h total for all 3 levels; always asking myself why the institute doesn’t allow to take all 3 tests parallel. finished l1 with 5 hours spare, l2+3 with 4h spare. so could have done all 3 tests in just am session. now i want to take gmat. seems so easy that i’m actually asking myself to put in negative hours…
IRS-Trader Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 60h total for all 3 levels; always asking myself > why the institute doesn’t allow to take all 3 > tests parallel. finished l1 with 5 hours spare, > l2+3 with 4h spare. so could have done all 3 tests > in just am session. now i want to take gmat. seems > so easy that i’m actually asking myself to put in > negative hours… ROFL!
BobRizzi31 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > probably 75-85 hours > > if you are doing 250+ hours and you fail, you need > to have a long hard look at whether it is right > for you damn i need to stop creeping on this board… BobRizzi: Just because you survived an act of Being Stupid (be it studying much less than you should, or shoving firecrackers up your nose just b/c you can) doesn’t make you less stupid for doing it… it just makes you lucky (and… any idiot can be lucky… that’s the definition of luck)
Level 1 about 350 (Looking back I way overstudied) Level 2 = 475 (I kept track of every hour) Level 3 about 550 did not keep track rough idea I did L in Dec then L 2 in June I was highly motivated and very productive for L2. Having a 10 months to study for L3 made me not as productive. I have to agree that productivity is key but hours do matter. 75-85 hours? Just the EOC’s, mocks, samples and previous exams without any reading or video time for me would be longer than 75 hours.