I am taking liberty of jumping to L3 forum. I passed L1 yesterday and looking forward to kill L2 in Jun 09. I would like to know your valuable suggestions in regards to strategy to adopt. I am particularly interested in knowing strategy of those who passed back to back in dec and Jun. I am sure you understand the need to do so much in just 127 days. Because of time constraint I am reluctant to use VCD, CFAI text…i would rather go for shw. notes, Q Bank and mock exams for review. Can you please enlighten us with your views…I am sure loads of new crowd in L2 also interested in knowing your strategy.
I did these two levels in Dec and Jun. Indeed there’s not much time between these two exams so I focused only on Schweser Study Notes, QBank and Practice Exams. My strategy was as follows: Reading Study Notes and doing Concept Checkers - 2.5 months Reviewing all the material from SN and focusing on QBank - 5 weeks Doing Schweser Practice Exams and Online CFAI Exams - 2 weeks Each week I spent 15-20 hours studying on average. It worked for me, but it was really crazy to master all this level II stuff in such short period of time.
Thanx rado.pl Come on L3 guys ur input really needed…for many of us
Q-bank was great for level I but I didn’t find it helpful for Level II. I used CFAI materials + Secret Sauce + one sample exam.
Thanx maratikus… Unfortunately, we do not have too many months - shall we just read Equity, FSA and portfolio management from CFA text… Also tell us about number of hours reqd.
geranimo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanx maratikus… > > Unfortunately, we do not have too many months - > shall we just read Equity, FSA and portfolio > management from CFA text… I finished reading Ethics that I found on the CFAI site before I found out that I passed Level I in January of last year. Then I started reading CFAI materials and finished them by the end of April. I had one month to review. > Also tell us about number of hours reqd. I tried to put 10-12 hours a week but that really depends on your background, etc. I would highly suggest hanging out on AF though. I’ve learned lots of shortcuts here. For example, mwvt came up with his indirect way of calculating pension liabilities, etc.
HEre are my thoughts, and I will be frank about it Unless your background shores you or your work schedules is featherweight you may have challenges. (of course you may be a super brain which is of course a real plus) 1. Practically I will work from the reverse. You are going to write an exam…answering questions so seek to approximate to that in your studies as much as possible. I recommend a. ALL end of chapter questions in the CFAI text. If the knowledge gained from Schweser cannot make you answer then you refer to the text b. Sample exam plus as many mocks as you can afford. I saw a feww questions that looked similar to stuff I had seen on the mocks. c. As many of the scweser exams in book 6 as possible. Book 7 can be £$%^%*% d. In my experience some of the CFAI texts were REALLY WELL written including Quant, Derivatives and PM. my two precious cents …at a time when a cent is tough to come by
maratikus, you don’t know how much lighter i am feeling now…your comments reinforced that…its do able
geranimo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > maratikus, you don’t know how much lighter i am > feeling now…your comments reinforced > that…its do able geranimo, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but maratikus is not your normal human. In fact he is so far out on the right tail of the distribution it is stupid. Even with that being said, you can do it in the amount of time you have. I was forced into a similar position at level 2 and used mainly schweser (CFAI texts for ethics and PM) and was able to squeek it out . It remains to be seen a compressed schedule will affect level 3 (at least in my case), but I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. Put some structure to your studying and make sure you stick with it. You don’t want to have a bad week and start to feel overwhelmed because you have fallen behind.
Oh it’s very possible. Lots of people pass L1 in December and L2 in June. There are no shortcuts, just a lot of work. I passed L2 only with Schweser, and my feeling is that if you know Schweser really, really well, you’ll be fine. And if you want, you can always supplement with the CFA texts.
Lots of good advice already, so I won’t repeat them. I’ll just add that the John Harris Accounting Class definitely helped me pass Level 2. IMO, by far the best money you can spend on CFA prep.
mwvt9 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > geranimo Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > maratikus, you don’t know how much lighter i am > > feeling now…your comments reinforced > > that…its do able > > geranimo, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but > maratikus is not your normal human. In fact he is > so far out on the right tail of the distribution > it is stupid. > > Even with that being said, you can do it in the > amount of time you have. I was forced into a > similar position at level 2 and used mainly > schweser (CFAI texts for ethics and PM) and was > able to squeek it out . > > It remains to be seen a compressed schedule will > affect level 3 (at least in my case), but I > wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. > > Put some structure to your studying and make sure > you stick with it. You don’t want to have a bad > week and start to feel overwhelmed because you > have fallen behind. Agreed. It takes a herculian effort. I did it but the pass rate for Dec-Jun guys was fairly low and a lot of extremely intelligent people I look up to didn’t pass. I’m not sure the added stress with your job would be worth it right now, but it is doable.
I failed L3 in 2005, yet passed in 2006…after going 2x2 Dec/June for L1/L2. 1. Don’t be cheap. Buy the latest stuff. Sign up for the courses. If you fail, then it will cost you even more. 2. Start in January. You need to avoid burnout factor 3. Work Out. Your mind needs to be free during the test. You can’t afford to stress up. 4. Sign up for an analyst class and schweser review if given in your city. 5. Study Schweser for LOS, yet do all of the end of chapter questions multiple times throughout your study period. 6. Write flash cards. SS on the front. Answer on the back. Study these on the exercise bike each day. 7. Last month - Review schweser guides and take tests. That should do it. This will require around 300 hours. The first time I took the test, I put in 300 hours, yet I didn’t take the analyst class, write flash cards or do the end of chapter questions. I failed and it was brutal. I had to shake things up the next year. So, I took the class and read everything. Yet, I think Schweser does a good job, except with their questions. They don’t give enough and their questions are easy. The end of chapter questions in the text books are critical in L3. Not that they are as difficult as the test, yet they are the best preparation for those questions. L3 is about merging topics. Let the others take L3 lightly. You have an advantage in that you know it is a b—h. So, you can prepare and crush it.
Black Swan - what was your strategy?
My strategy was to dump a rediculous amount of hours into studying. I can’t remember, but I’m almost positive I was over 500 hours. I used CFAi texts and AF solely for preparation. Took careful notes and had a sweet formula sheet to study that someone here compiled (I forget who it was). CFAi texts are advantageous in several ways where they provide more depth, but only if you are willing to put in longer hours to adequately cover the greater amount of material. In other words, below 300 hours I believe Schweser is better than CFAi but this reverses above 300 hours. The key is to pick a curriculum and know it inside out. Regardless of what you use, do the CFAi end of reading questions, they’re a great indicator. I really didn’t have any special strategy, but retention will be your biggest enemy as there is a massive amount of detailed material. In some ways, I think the brevity of Schweser helps because it helps mitigate this problem, but if you are willing to sink the hours to reach a similar level of retention with the CFAi texts, it definitely has more depth. Regardless of what you do, be sure to use CFAi for Alt Inv, PM, Time Series and maybe FSA too. Also, take at least one CFAi practice exam, although I recommend you do as many as you can afford / have time for. Take them early, like 2-3 weeks out. Don’t postpone taking them due to worries about getting a good score, just take them about 3 weeks out, the feedback helped me realize I had a black hole in my knowledge base and patch it. Don’t avoid your weak areas or things you dislike studying, you simply must be good at everything due to the variablility of the topic weights. Also, look at the CFAi exam weightings on the website allocate your time in line with those percentages. Don’t get caught up focusing 15% of your time on one hard area worth 5%. Don’t mistake pages spent on a topic as a “sure thing” to be tested. We were absolutely positive that time series and FCFF / FCFE models as well as several other “core” topics would be tested, but they never showed up. Instead we got slammed with obscure points. Just continually look for obscure things you draw a blank on and refresh yourself on those, this is where odd threads on the forums help you most. There is no such thing as too obscure. Count on taking the last week off of work if possible, it’ll go a long way towards stress management and preparation. Study ethics / GIPS last and know it inside out, LII and LIII ethics questions are extremely more difficult than the intro to ethics in LI. With all the brain power on the AF forums, after much heated debate, we were never able to agree on the answers to the ethics questions on the exam. Regarding the actual exam with the vignette styling, read the questions first then go back and read the case, it saves time and mitigates distractor data. On exam day I got my “worst case scenario” topics with max weightings. It was comforting to know that I had prepared with that in mind.
Awesome…you people are great. Goodluck for L3.
I studied for and passed L2 last year in 98 days (start on March 1st) due to requirements to take other smaller exams for work. This was after taking L1 in December. My quick points in helping me pass: - used Schweser exclusively (notes and Qbank), nothing else - make Ethics the LAST thing you study - know Equity INSIDE and OUT (it carried me through) - make list of formulas that are unfamiliar or difficult (I studied this the most the week before the exam) - take as many Book 6 and 7 exams as possible - take 1-2 CFA practice exams online (to familiarize with the style of questions) And a couple things I wish I would have done differently: - focus on international economics and FX - don’t take any areas for granted (happened with me in PM) The biggest thing is making it a priority. I was not allowed to study at work and had a lot going on in my personal life, so there’s no reason you can’t get it done if you devote the time and know the material. I’m no right-tailer, but I’m proof you can make it.
I did L1 in Dec, then L2 the following June. I studied for a little under 4 months for L2, Totaling roughly 300 hours. Used Only Schweser (Notes, Qbank & Videos). In the last few weeks I read Secret Sauce many times. I feel that basically you just need to put in the hours until you feel comfortable, the hardest thing is making the sacrifices needed.
I probably put in about 300 hrs(maybe more) between Feb - June '08, which turned out to be plenty of time for me to master the material. I was probably ready to take the test in early May. If you are able to completely set aside your social life for 4 months in order to put in the amount of time necessary, it is very doable. I would contend that you actually have an advantage having taken L1 in December, because this stuff is more fresh in your mind. I found it harder to get moving this year after taking several months off. Now that you have your PASS results, you just need to hit the ground running with guns blazing until June.
This is a great thread, exactly what I needed. Thanks for all the feedback. Good luck!