How to get over 70 % in each section

I am one of the few miserable fellows who failed in June 2008. First thought of giving it up but could not let it go as I was enjoying it. Now i decided to study to kill - means over 70 percent in all sections. Those who passed, if they are still around level 1 forum please suggest how to keep balance. Like, i felt financial statement, corporate finance, portfolio management interesting so study hard in that and only touched other sections. This strategy didnt work for me so i have to go for each section. In particular, ETHICS - which took me down. I regret of not giving it proper time…huuuuh…i wish…

Got over 70% in every section. I broke studying down over 6 months, covering 3-4 chapters a week. Each chapter review involved reading the CFA text once through for familiarity, then again taking 1 page of notes per chapter. I’d then do the chapter questions at the back and drill the schewser Q bank. I did not use any schweser notes, secret sauce, etc. Just CFA texts and qbank. I left 5 weeks to re-review everything… about 1 week per book… and the last week was practice tests and focusing on weaknesses… and chatting with people here on tough spots.

is this the schweser q bank or is there another q bank that i dont know about?

Over 70% in every section except Equity My advice is to read CFAI books. They clearly ask from them. I thought that the exam was pretty easy because I read CFAI material several times. I solved end of the chapter questions from both CFAI and Schweser books. I used Q-Bank only in the areas I felt weak, but I solved all the sample and mock exam questions CFAI provided. Good Luck!

I got over 70% in everything. Keep in mind I’m taking finance in University (one semester left) so a lot of the material was review 1) I Read the CFA Books front to back 2) Did the Shweser end of chapter questions 3) Did the Book 6 & 7 Exams In total I studied about 250 hours

I got >70% in each section. I started studying the first week of January. In my opinion there is just too much information in the CFAI texts to read all of it word for word and expect to remember it all for exam day. I used primarily Stalla and supplemented more difficult topics with CFAI readings. While it is true Stalla has condensed and focused readings and therefore lacks the depth of the CFAI text, their only objective is to prepare you to pass the exam, this is not the objective of the CFAI texts. I would say I used Stalla 90% and CFAI 10%. Also make sure you master the CFAI mock and sample exams, I really think those were not only helpful from a topic review perspective, but they were a good representation of the types and difficult of actual questions on the exam. Good luck.

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Over 70% in every section except Ethics I didn’t read the CFA books as tryin 2 read something that thick just puts me to sleep. I also have a really short attention span so its difficult for me to just read stuff as i dont have the concentration 2 conceptualise and make heads and toes of things. Instead for bout a month and abit I read through the schweser study guides and just made sure i understood the basics and what the LOS wanted me 2 know i.e. understanding ratios vs memorising formulas etc. After that for the remaining month and a half all i did was do practice questions with the Schweser Qbank and any exam papers i could find…eventually through an iteration of repeated mistakes and tryin 2 understand where i went wrong through referrin back 2 notes, it started 2 make sense and it just came 2 me… i guess its dependent on ur style of learnin but 4 me things dont sink in if i read it…only when i get a similar answer wrong twice do i get annoyed and then remember! good luck buddy

Getting over 70% on each section is cool but not exactly the goal. I’d be willing to bet that the reason you failed is that you thought you could do the ethics section just by choosing the answer that was the moral high ground so you didn’t have to study it… Suggest that you study ethics much harder, put in some time reviewing other stuff (in particular FSA goes through me like Chinese food).

I spent around 3 month to read the CFA text book (including the problems after each chapter), another one month to review by using schewser notes, then one month Q-bank, sample exam, etc, and review anything I did wrong or not sure during the Q-bank. I have been able to achieve 85-90% in mixed question section in Q-bank, sample, book 6 exam. That will let you pass the 70% on all section.

I think you already figured out a good success formula. Too many candidates study to pass. If your aim is to get 60-70, your chances are extremely low. To do well on this exam, you have to prepare as if you are aiming for a perfect score. Then, with a little luck, you shall pass. I speak from my experience as having walked into the exam in both of those scenarios.

Over 70% in all sections besides Alternative Investments and Ethics (oops!) My advice is read the CFAI books cover-to-cover and finish all of the books 2 months before the exam and then start to take tests. Supplement your knowledge in the 2 months before the exam with the Schweser material as it is more succinct and time is of the essence at this point. Do not completely rely on the SchweserPro testing software as it is too simple, instead rely on the the Schweser test books as these exams are more difficult than the exam. I only scored over 70% on two out of the six Schweser exams I took and yet I fared very well on the “real” exam. Also, read the ethics section in the CFAI twice, once at the beginning of your studies and once in the last week before the exam. As I noted above, I scored between 51-70% on the Ethics section so you may want to take another candidates advice on that section. In my defense, the Ethics questions on the exam, especially the second half, were written in a very confusing manner. All the best.

stalla and schweser are only for people with finance backgrounds, in my opinion. read the CFAIA texts front to back and you should be fine. I only used the CFAI texts for 3.5 weeks and 2 days before exam i went over flashcards that i last minute ordered from schweser. of course, this webaite was a MAJOR MAJOR reason i think i passed. this site is unique and that we are all going thru the same issue and many of us get tricked by the same things in the material…so talking about it and discussing strategies or memorization tricks helped me, personally speaking. honestly, I think reading the CFIA books is enough to pass the test. some of these prep services can confuse you further… also, if you do the CFAI texts, make sure you do all the problems in the text, too! people read the book but dont do the problems at the nedo f each chapter. the problems are key. in the end, answering your question is very difficult since everyone has thier own way to win over this test… however, we can also put a different roof on a house, the foundation is ALL the same: the CFAI material sent to you.

understand the material and do lots of problems

i got >70 in all, i believe this CAN be of help to you, this wot i did: 1. Read & learn the entire Schweser material PROPERLY at least twice. (if i didn’t get somiet id read and ponder again for hours till i got it) Solve the concept checkers, MARK the ones u got wrong and do them again after few weeks. take the self tests. try the Qbank as well, if u can… it helped me tons. 2. REVISE THE ENTIRE MATERIAL AT LEAST TWICE BEFORE THE EXAM and the most important part 3. SOLVE AT LEAST FOUR PRACTICE EXAMS FROM SCHWESER (i scored 70% plus aggregate in all but low in ethics) START EARLY, the earlier the better. may god be with you. Alles gut PS: someone here just posted he got >70% in all the 10 in L1 he ‘failed LII miserably’ (sic)

The goal is to get +70% on every section, but it’s not really necessary.

This is my approach as well. I am testing in Dec 09 and even though a finance undergrad, I am reading CFA texts cover to cover like I dont know anything; putting in like 20+ hours every week and drilling down chapters and end of chapter Qs. I dont know if this is a good sign or not but by following this strategy, I have scored 90+% in the end of chapter Qs for Ethics and Quant… Plan on getting QBank only within the next few weeks and thats it. Will leave 2 months at the end for review!! Good luck all. mcf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Got over 70% in every section. > > I broke studying down over 6 months, covering 3-4 > chapters a week. Each chapter review involved > reading the CFA text once through for familiarity, > then again taking 1 page of notes per chapter. > I’d then do the chapter questions at the back and > drill the schewser Q bank. > > I did not use any schweser notes, secret sauce, > etc. Just CFA texts and qbank. > > I left 5 weeks to re-review everything… about 1 > week per book… and the last week was practice > tests and focusing on weaknesses… and chatting > with people here on tough spots.