I’ve been studying for a while now, very slowly, and was very (probably too) relaxed… but now it’s November & I’m freaking out. I think I studied wrong… I’ve read all the Schweser books, except Ethics, which i’m working on now, and I’ve done all the EOC questions from Schweser. BUT I read most of the books a REALLY (like May) long time ago and I’m pretty sure I don’t remember anything… AND I didn’t do any Qbank questions as I went along. From what I’ve read on the forum, most pple have completed the readings and also did Qbank questions throughout their studying… and now most pple are doing sample exams. I’m soo freaking out right now… there’s only 4 weeks left… I haven’t done any Qbank questions & I read the books so long ago that I think I’ve forgotten all the material! Any words of advice for me?? Please help!! Thanks!
change your name to cfa09???
First word of advice would be not to panic. There is still a lot of time left and the good news is that you have completed all the readings - it would be impossible to remember everything you have read., so don’t worry The best thing from now until the exam would be to practice loads of questions, review material where you find you are weakest, and take as many practice exams as possible. If you set yourself a timetable of 1/2 weeks for review and Qbank, then you have another 2 weeks for past papers and further review which is plenty of time. I cant remember all the material, but as I am doing questions I am starting to remember things. I am planning to start mock exams next week. Keep your head up and stay focused. Best of luck
lol Ninja, that is quite funny…but seriously CFA08, like Suzmis said just hang in there…worst comes to worst you’ll fail…but then there’s always next year…and chances are that you’ll actually enjoy doing it , because you now know what the heck it’s all about…and start to relate things to each other…can only make it more fun.
Not doing any Qbank questions was mistake #1. Anyone can read the material, not everyone can retain it and apply it. Just take a mock exam and focus on weak areas (and knock out thousands of questions in the next month).
plenty of people passed without qbank.
Thanks for all the advice, everyone (& even the funny comments!)… I just had a panic attack yday, but I’m better now! I’ll just do as many questions as I can now, and hope for the best! Good luck to you all!
QBANK is of utmost important. My plan for the next 4.5 weeks Rest of This Week - finish reading and reviewing secret sauce Next Week - read and study my personal 107 page outline from reading notes (my notes highlight concepts, whereas secret sauce does formulas etc) 2nd Week - CFAI Mock Exam on a saturday morning (Free One), QBANK all week, Stalla and SemFinance Videos 3rd Week - CFAI Mock Exam on a saturday morning ($60 one), QBANK all week, Stalla and SemFinance Videos Last Week- Re-Read ALL CFAI end of chapter summaries and do some QBANK questions, and REREAD ethics in its entirety. Day of Exam - pray
I passed without QBank.
Jensens, how did you ensure you retained all the material? Through Schweser and CFA end of chapter questions?? And w/o the Qbank, did you just reread the material many times?
Both Schweser and Stalla have Practice Exam Workbooks, plus end of chapter questions in the CFAI text and in Schweser and Stalla study guides, plus CFAI mocks and sample exams…
My study approach was as follows: - Read Schweser LOS answers for a reading - Read the CFAI Text for that reading - Re-Read Schweser LOS answers, but added items or little notes that I thought the text covered well, but Schweser didn’t touch on - Studied the Schweser notes - Worked CFAI problems at the end of the readings - re-studied/re-read the Schweser and CFAI text as needed Kept to a pretty good schedule of 1 SS per week (studying Sunday to Saturday with Saturday being more problem-solving intensive). Started the first week of Jan & finished with about a month to spare for review. As soon as I finished studying all of the material, I began taking the CFAI practice exams (took all of them, not just the free one…Last one was about a week before the actual exam). After I got a good feel for the types of questions to look for, I knew how to gear my studies for the final month. Three really important things for me were: 1 - When I studied, I never studied for more than 45 minutes without taking a break. Studied for 45 minutes and took a 15 minute break. I can’t put enough emphasis to the importance of the 15 minute break. It allowed for me to study all day on the weekends without burning out. 2 - Knowing the formulas. I wrote and re-wrote them over and over again during the final month before until I knew them completely. 3 - Took the final week off before the exam. From Saturday all the way through Thursday, I went through all of the material 1 final time. It was absolutely painful, but I wouldn’t have been able to make it through that week without the 45/15 rule. It was also very important for me, as a lot of the information I hadn’t seen in a while was coming back in a rush. Didn’t study at all the Friday before the exam, or the morning of the exam. Needed those days for all of the material to gel in my mind. My study approach was basically full of hard work and long hours. I wanted to know the information so well that I could, if I so pleased, successfully explain the concepts to someone with no finance background. My goal wasn’t just to pass the exam, but rather to know the material well, and as a result, pass. I intend on taking the same approach for L2 (only starting earlier since the exam is supposed to be more difficult). With full-time work, it can be extremely difficult to keep the schedule (1 SS/week). Keep in mind, this approach may not work for everyone. It was somewhat time consuming, but I didn’t think there was any way for me to get through it (and be able to retain the knowledge) without putting that amount of work into it. Looking back, I probably could have done less. However, I don’t regret one minute of what I did with my studies. It was completely worth it the second that I saw PASS on the screen 8 weeks later. Whatever your approach is, good luck. L1 was not easy (as can be seen by the consistently crappy pass rate).
great post Jensen. If you wouldn’t mind, could you elaborate on that final week. you said you went through the material 1 final time i’m assuming you mean schweser + the notes you made? I’m doing the same thing, taking the week off prior, and trying to figure out the best way to spend my time that week.
hows does everyone feel about reading Secret Sauce one time over that last week before the exam to refresh concepts?
jut111 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > great post Jensen. If you wouldn’t mind, could > you elaborate on that final week. you said you > went through the material 1 final time i’m > assuming you mean schweser + the notes you made? > > > I’m doing the same thing, taking the week off > prior, and trying to figure out the best way to > spend my time that week. Primarily the Schweser and hand-made notes. There were some topics that were a little slower to come back, so I would then crack open the CFAI books for those points. I did some mathematical problems that week, but there wasn’t a lot of time to spare. Most of the studying was conceptual by that point in time for me (as I already knew the formulas and had practiced a good amount by that time, so I knew how to use them). It was the kind of week where you test where your breaking point is.
Secret Sauce is a really great review tool. I re-read about a third of it in the past two days and was surprised by how quickly it went, which tells me the material is starting to come together better in my mind. Was very encouraging as I rev up the mental engines for this final month. I am starting to feel more confident now and the anxiety is starting to recede…feel like I’m going to be ready on December 6.
Secret Sauce is great, but its a bit light for this point in the review. I plan on reading SS twice. Read it now to bring all the concepts back into my head, then do heavy review based on my 107 page outline i made during my readings, then practice and mock exams and QBANK, then re read Secret Sauce and the CFAI end of chapter summaries the week before the exam to kind of wrap up all the main points of my.
Read Secret Sauce a few times, do sets of Q-bank 120 advanced questions tests (actually maybe 2 sets of basic questions only, then 2 sets of intermediate only and then 4-5 sets of advanced only) and review what you don’t know well using CFAI materials or Schweser. Memorize the 7 Standards with sub-standards.
I didn’t start qbank until last week. But I did all the CFAI book questions and only been studying about 3 months so everything is pretty fresh. I wouldn’t worry too much since you’ve done the readings and rereading is much easier!
NINJA GAYDAD, that was f*ing hysterical