So I passed level 2 and i am happy but i put in like >600 hrs of study. On the other hand, i see several people post that they just did it in a month’s prep or like 200 hrs. HOW??? Kinda sucks for me! But still hard for me to believe, i understood once could do that for L1 but this is FREAKING L2. One person said that he didn’t even have time to pract. How in the world did they get used to the question style? Either way, if they are saying the truth, Kudos but i am still pissed 
No need to be pissed or jealous b/c in the end it doesn’t matter. The folks who brag about it must really want a cookie or deficient in some other social area.
How do you know that you would have failed if you only used 200 hours?
i am jealous of the fresh college grads hired by Investment Banks
Quite simple, i hadn’t even finished the curriculum @ 200 hrs let alone practice etc. Of cource i would fail… My first mock was in the low 60s
i always cheat when doing the EOC… going back and forth at the solution (not actually using it as a quiz)
You may have an advantage over those people when you are preparing for level 3 exam since you are more familiar with all the concept. 
If you think that’s bad check out this guy he only studied one week, with Passivation Phenomena!!!
http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-ii-forum/91314316
Why do you guys believe everything on the Internet?
My first mocks were in the 50s and I think my highest was a 65 or so and I was fortunate enough to pass. You never really know how the chips will fall on exam day.
I’m one of the roughly 200-250 hr folks, but over a long stretch. I started slowly preparing in the fall and then got down to probably 5-7 hrs a week for Jan-March due to spending too many hours at work.
I put in around 200-250 hours and only took one half of a mock test. I was just cramming so much at the end I had no time to do anything but study. Not an ideal way to study and my stress levels were so high that I would have rather put in way more time and not had to worry… definitely nothing to be jealous of lol!
you mean you used Arif Irrfannuallah’s amazing prep course and still spent over 600 hrs? What is the point of using a prep course if it doesn’t cut down the time you spend on studying?
You got it right, the dude is amazing but i stumbled upon him around march. I also purchased selected topics since i had spent to much on other prep cources trying to fig out what would work best. I started with the curriculum and i knew that wouldn’t cut it. Then i jumped onto elan since i used them for L1 but the were rediculous with timing and releasing their notes, finally got a hold of some schweser and thank God for Mr. Irfanullah!! So hope that explains the 600hrs +
I call bull - there is no way you can pass with just a week of studying
Look at it this way - you’re interviewing two candidates, one says “Dude I totally smoked the L2 exam in only month of study” the other says “Damn I put in 600 hours to pass the exam and some guy says he passed in a month”
Who do you hire?
Candidate 1 who at best takes large risks completing projects on time, at worst is a lying SoB who brags about performance he never achieved
or
Candidate 2 the guy who put in 600 hours
C’mon you know the answer
My other point - stop worrying about trolls, they could be telling the truth, but then it’s a multiple choice exam, give it to enough monkeys and one will pass with a day of study.
Do you really believe that anyone can pass without practicing, or with minimal practice? Having passed L2 you should already know that the curriculum is not hard conceptually. No integrals of 3rd degree or dynamic econometrics, right?
The challenge is on memorizing all those concepts, and for that you need time, regardless of your academic/professional background. Even the most privileged memories will have to take the time to read the curriculum or at least the notes.
I know this is off-topic, but what is the chance that someone passes with 0hrs, 100hrs, 200hrs study?
If you prioritise and guess, maybe 50% chance of passing with 200hrs study. I’d say 300hrs would give you 75% of passing for a typical analyst.
Assuming you still remember some things from Level 1 (like ethics, basic NPV calcs):
0hrs
- E(questions right) = 40%, for multi-choice out of 3 for 120 questions.
- Maybe 5% of people under this approach will get the required 65% from guessing. Enough to pass.
100hrs
- E(questions right) = 50%.
- Maybe fine tune Ethics, focus on basic Accounting, Quant, Equities theory, and EOC. Guess the rest.
- Maybe 20% will pass.
200hrs
- E(questions right) = 55%.
- Maybe have a better understanding of the above topics, plus basics of Fixed Income and Economics. Guess the rest.
- Maybe 50% pass.
Cindarella and Hailtothevictors guys you’re killing me out there!! Of course that is a total load of shit. Please guys.
N to KevinCFA I wouldn’t worry about it mate, the hours I studied and what I did before that level 2 exam are truely sickening. I’m not kidding although one day it’ll be funny, there may have been some PTSD from it. I did 130 hours in the last 2 weeks alone, massive overkill and possibly a wrong move but I got the result. It was do or die. The commitment to work and dealing with the workload are very significant in being succesful and you should be proud of that, whether you pass or fail. You probably could have failed with the wrong exam popping up, such is the nature of the beast!
But we got through! So be proud, recognise your efforts and look forward! Also good work to anybody who did it with 200 hours study that’s really cool. Maybe we could have done that, maybe not but for me, I can honestly say no stone was left unturned.