Okay, I been around AF enough to know that lots of people hate this question, but please if you don’t want to help just ignore the topic.
Things are tough for me right now, I cant do any studying, and I have yet to do anything worth mentioning.
I am taking a month off from work, and planning to study 10 hours a day during the month of May. For a total of 300 hours. For those who passed, or those who managed to get through a good chunk of the curriculum, is this amount reasonable? I know it varies from person to person yada yada…Just saying from your own experience…
If I decide I dont stand much of a chance, I simply wont go for it, what is the point, give up my entire yearly vacation only to have a low chance at passing…
This is not normal, and it won’t work for many people including me. Suggest running some simulation, like study 10 hours a day in weekends…It also depends if you are familiar with the topics. To pass or not to pass depends more on exam skill than the grasp of the material, I think.
You are right about simulation, i am going for 10 hours today (friday is weekend in dubai). I think I can disipline myself, the question is did some people out there pull it off with just 300, or this number is not valid for level III
10 hours a day would be an unrealistic goal for me, on weekends i’m maxing out at 5 hours a day at the moment. closer to exam day i might do a bit more but still wouldn’t do 10 hours. there is no way in the world i could keep this up for 30 days straight, would be exhausted come exam day.
I’m sure someone has done it in 300 hours or less, whether you can ( and in 30 days no less) is a different question. I myself need the recomended 250 hours for pure study of the material - on top of that I need more time for EOC’s, practice tests and grading, and the extra time I spend on AF. All together it’s probably more like 500 hours, but that’s just me.
Amount is reasonable. If that’s the only question you want answered, then yes, sure, for an intelligent person with average test taking skills and an average CFA level three exam, 300 hours of study is enough.
There are some other follow up points I would like to use to qualify my answer, though:
-300 hours assumes quality study time.
-300 hours assume quality relaxation time to let the material soak in and to do other things. Read a few books on learning, for most people the upper limit of ‘focus’ on a task is about 5 hours per day max.
-I’m assuming that you’re at least an average test taker and that nerves don’t play a role.
-I’m assuming that the exam you get is a ‘normal’ mix of curriculum and doesn’t focus on a particular niche topic too hard this year.
Given that the assumptions above are pretty unlikely (especially taken as a group), I’m gonna say if you did the “300 hours over 1 month, in 10 hr/day increments” study plan, I think the above assumptions are way less likely to hold. i.e. if you study 10hrs/day for 30 days, you are more likely to have nerves, you are less likely to have quality time, you are less likely to have quality relaxation time to let material soak in.
So I’d say if you studied three hundred hours the way you’re planning to and did it 100 times for 100 different level three exams, I’d be surprised if you passed more than 35 of them.
TL;DR: 300 hours is probably enough, but not the way you’re talking about doing it.
Immersion can help, I think your plan will work assuming this is for LI. For LII or LIII I think the material may be too much for that amount of time. To me, the quesiton is simply whether or not it’s worth burning all the vacation over.
Some people can do this. For me, 10 hours of study per day would be unrealistic. My brain would turn to mush even if I could manage to look busy, and then things wouldn’t sink in.
But it’s also true that you don’t have to learn everything. You just need enough to get about 70 percent. Perhaps it can be done. It’s just not recommended.
I actually think the time compression doesn’t matter that much. You can definitely cram for CFA exams. It’s not beautiful, interesting knowledge that you must allow to sink in. It’s just memorizing a bunch of stuff. The sense of urgency might even motivate you to study harder. Plus, it’s not like you need to sit down for 10 hours at a time. Study for 3.3 hours in the morning, 3.3 hours after lunch, and 3.3 hours after dinner. There’s time to rest in between.
With that being said, about 50% of people fail L3. So, OP, assuming you are average in preparation and intelligence, there is a good chance that you will fail anyway. Take that into consideration before committing to any particular course of action.
Edit: Now that I think about it, you probably shouldn’t take a month off. People will notice that you are gone. If you fail, your reputation at work will be damaged.
Did not even remotely consider this but on reflection - yeah. That is some serious downside if you do a very very public “all-in” bet on L3, all your work colleagues know it, and you fail anyhow.
^ haha, now you guys just ruined this guy’s chances … BUT brokecfa still has a way out. Tell them you’re taking some exotic vacations, and will come back right before L3 to give it a try, just to see what happens. Be prepared with some old vacation pics to be uploaded on Facebook every weekend to support your story, and you’re good to go.