How many hours

LOL. I can’t even guess how much time I spent on AF leading up to the exam.

I need to quit reading the forum in January so that I can study, but I’m hooked. I’m somewhat glad I didn’t find out about AF until after I passed level II. I spent probably 250-300 hours on Level 1, but definately put in more time for level 2. I even replayed several lectures in the car with my laptop to listen to them on the drive to work. It was definately worth it though to get that “pass” Level 3 will be my biggest challenge for time (there’s a shortage of CPA’s and we have to implement 8 new auditing standards along with training new staff, go through a computer conversion, and endure another busy season all before next June), but AF certainly inspires me to try my hardest.

I have never figured this one out. What is an hour of studying? Is it the time spent in the office working on your whiffle ball grip? I don’t just sit there and gaze at a book. I have long thought this was one of the least valuable things discussed here. I think I added up about 200 real hours of intense studying at one point. I think it took me about 500 hours to achieve that number, but who knows. I mean I went on runs thinking about GIPs acronyms for petesake… does that count?

613 hours

917 hrs - it was worth it.

steve stevens Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I mean I went on runs thinking about GIPs acronyms > for petesake… does that count? I counted this stuff towards my tally of 290 hours. If it helped me pass the exam (ie. searching YouTube didn’t count, except I did find ONE CFA-related clip, albeit non-investment related), it was counted.

Probably the average candidate has too much focus on total study time. I passed Level I quite easily before knowing anything about the recommended 250-hour study time. When I went back and approximately tallied my study time, I found out I studied for less than 120 hours. For Level II I started real late and using the rule, figured out I needed to study 6 hours every day to make the recommended 250 hours before the exam. I did my best trying to put in six hours daily (but didn’t get there) and passed just fine but my study time was not as efficient as for Level I. For Level III I became slightly obsessed with putting in a proper amount of study time and the study time suffered as a result (but passed). Putting focus on the amount of hours put in is probably not the best way to go. When you have learned the concepts, you are ready to go regardless of whether you had to put in 100 hours or 1000 hours to get there.

<200 for L1, passed easily <200 for L2, passed easily <200 for L3, failed miserably! I will top it up to 500-600 (300 to 400 this year) to make sure I pass this time now that I know L3 is not a gimmie!

>Zigy: I mean that when I was not sure, but I was just supposing which answer is right, I was right indeed. Gee…read between the lines…