Just did 2008-2011 Mock exams alongside some EOC questions. Didn’t read through material this year as I was short time for studying (MBA ate up my time), was nervous going in but once you have paid in, may as well try. Used iPad version of the books for most part. Only major two aids were a Flash card app I bought for my iphone/ipad (cost $20?) and a formula sheet I created that hammered the meat and potatoes formulas/ratios into my skull. Technique: Every morning for the two weeks prior to the exam I recreated those formula sheets from scratch, became my ritual. Note that I studied traditional way last year, Band 9 Fail on the L2 for 2010. Level 2 Pass Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - - * - Corporate Finance 36 * - - - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 * - - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 * - - - Quantitative Methods 18 * - - My test clearly shows the importance of the big sections; having the formulas down hard helped alot with FinRep and Equity. The irony is that last year my score was the inverse of this year - I cleared all of the exotics like derivatives and PM clean and did poorly on the big sections. Background: BA in Econ and finishing my MBA (sad I failed Econ, not sure how that happened lol).
Passed on first attempt. Only used Schweser notes and videos and did not do any CFAI EOC questions (ran out of time). I did however do all of Schweser’s EOCs and did all six of their practice tests plus the CFAI 2011 mock (7 mocks in total). To memorize formulas, I ripped out the formula sheets at the back of the Schweser books and took brief notes on them. After, I stapled them together and used these sheets to review and memorize. I also typed up a 180 page study guide (sorry, can’t hand out due to potential copyright issues but I would recommend making one). It took a few weeks but was a great review. Easier to go through 180 pages of detailed notes than a couple thousand pages of text. I used this to review every LOS in May. Read through it a few times. I believe Secret Sauce is too vague because it leaves out too many LOS’s. Elan Guides had a decent review guide but I think I liked my own better. I started studying in Feb and didn’t start picking it up until I had more time in mid March. I do not have a MS or MBA so most of this was new to me. May not be the best plan for everybody but my results today proved that it worked for me. Thank you to all those in the LII forum who helped out over the last year. I creeped on here for a while before I signed up. This is one of the best resources I believe any CFA candidate can have. Good luck to those who are staying. I will see the rest of you who passed in the level III forum.
Passed Level 1 in December and began prep for Level 2 March 15 using Schweiser. No CFA books this time. I went through all material three times including questions. I estimate I studied about 250 hours. I also did 4 full mock exams included in the 250 hours. A couple of disclaimers. I am a CPA so obviously accounting came naturally. I also was completing my MBA during this time so some overlap with course work. Lastly, I obviously did not have a job which I felt was huge factor to my success. The only sub 50 score for me was on quant which I found peculiar b/c I focused on area the most during my prep and still got burned. Good luck all. P.S. Studying for Level II was the hardest thing I have ever done followed in short order by Level I. This program does not mess around and it is only for those that will put 110% into the prep time.
passed. I reed the text book and finish sample and mock.
Passed! Studied 3.5 months and from Schweser only. The Schweser videos are amazing, I would have not understood a lot of the material in the short time frame if I didnt have the videos, 3 professors take you through the material; Andy Holmes is a god! The other 2 professors cover accounting and derivatives and they suck big time. They’re super slow and its frustrating to follow their lectures. Almost smashed my laptop a few times going through their sections. First question I solved was 7 days before the exam and that was from the Schweser Practice Exams…I solved Practice Exam Volume 1 and had only enough time left to solve the CFAI Mock AM paper, just read through the questions and answers on the PM Mock. Did not work on a single CFAI EOC. Definitely could have been better prepared as I felt the exam was tricky but not difficult (difficulty was less than that of Schweser exams & CFAI mocks) but glad to have passed.
Passed. This worked for Levels 1 and 2 for me: 1. Start with the Schweser book on each topic, and work through their notes for that topic. Use the CFAI books as a back-up reference if there’s anything Schweser doesn’t make clear. Annotate your Schweser books DENSELY in pencil with marginal notes to yourself and highlighting. Don’t make ANY notes in the CFAI books. 2. As you do step 1, be awake, aware and interested as you use the CFAI books: “Is there anything I happen to see here that I don’t think I’ve seen in Schweser?” If there is, add to your Schweser book annotations. 3. After you finish each topic, do the Schweser EOC questions. Where you get things wrong, add to and correct your Schweser book annotations. Make liberal use of eraser and correction fluid. By now, each Schweser chapter is starting to look like a set of Leonardo da Vinci’s notes, and well-thumbed and dog-eared too. 4. Now turn to the CFAI book EOC questions for that topic. Where needed, go back to your Schweser book annotations and make changes and additions. 5. After all this, your Schweser books become your key resource for the last few weeks. Use post-it sticky notes in these books to mark the important formulas , lists, diagrams, etc (ie don’t spend time setting up flash cards).
I agree with the posts above. i would also add that passion and hard work are keys to success. you need to live, eat and breath CFA for a certain amount of time in order to pass this test. no exceptions.
Passed L1 in December 2010, passed L2 this June. L1 Results: >70 on everything but quant. L2 Results: - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - - * - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 - * - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Quantitative Methods 18 - * - I personally didn’t even crack open the CFAI curriculum books - the level 2 books are still sealed in the box. For L1 I used Elan guides + Elan questions + Schweser Qbank + CFAI mock exam. I started studying early August and averaged about 12hr per week. For L2 I used Schweser notes + Schweser Qbank + Schweser practice exams + CFAI mock exam. I started studying late December and averaged about 12 to 15hr per week. All studying was done during the week after work - I gave myself the weekends off as a reward and way to relax a little. For both levels I initially read the notes and did the end of chapter questions. I then spent about 2 weeks doing only Qbank to get a feel for the type of questions. I then re-read the study guides and took notes in areas I didn’t feel comfortable with. Finally, I spent the last month and a half or so doing Qbank / practice exams and re-reading the notes I took. Glad to finally have some time off from studying now. Good luck to everyone retaking L2 or moving on to L3!
I failed band 5 last time, and this time passed. My recipe: I really focused this time on reading the material, and trying to go as deep as possible and understanding every little concept. In the first read through, I read each chapter 2-3 times. Midway through my read through, I went back and started reading the old stuff again while concurrently reading new stuff. My reading style was - skim a chapter, then go through it and read each line, and finally in the third round, read the chapter in excruciating detail while letting the details marinate in your head. In the first read through, only after doing the above routine did I attempt the EOCs - and usually did well. I did nearly all of the EOCs twice (although on some of the really long chapters, did maybe 3/4 of the EOCs) I also did another read through + EOCs after doing the above. Basically read the chapters over and over and over and over again. Thing is, I was really struggling on the Schweser mocks, and did poorly on the CFAI mock. I don’t think I crossed 65% on any single practice test. But on testing day, I was really well rested, and was able to think very clearly, and I guess I just had really internalized the knowledge hopefully. That was also the problem for me on L1 too btw, I struggled on practice tests but did well on real thing. My advice basically is - Know the concept in granular detail, don’t expect to know the answer to every question but instead try to figure it out with the concepts you know, and finally get a TON of sleep.
Just passed L1 and I’m going to take all this information into account. Great thread and thanks everyone for contributing!
I am very happy I passed the exam. I expected mine to be close call and passed. Preparation seriously for 2 months (3 hours on weekdays and 10 hours on weekends). I don’t have finance background, so it was a bit tougher to study in 2 months. I read 50% CFA Material (FRA, Ethics, Corp Finance, some Equity EOC), rest from schweser material. took 7city online classes (very helpful to track your progress). 3 pair of mock tests( CFA & 7city). A week off before exam for mock tests and revision. I thought I will be 50 to 70% in FRA and > 70% in Quant/derivatives which would save me. It went other way around. anyway, I passed that’s what matters most. L2 Results: Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - - * - Corporate Finance 36 * - - - Derivatives 36 * - - - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - * - - Portfolio Management 18 * - - - Quantitative Methods 18 * - -
Hi Guys, I passed with the following: - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - * - - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - * - - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Quantitative Methods 18 - - * I used Schweser extensively, but also CFA curriculum - the best thing I thought was doing EOC questions so many times that I remembered a lot of them - they really get you in the mindset that you need to be in to approach the exams successfully. The other thing that I found useful was actually teaching the material - whether it is to a study mate - over skype to someone else, or just to your cat, you will retain so much more info and have a much deeper understanding of the material. Best of luck, I would recommend starting early and over-learning the material, better to put in 400 hours over 1 year than 200 and fail, and then 200-300 the next year…
I had a rather unorthodox approach as I was time poor, worked long hrs in non-finance role and studied late at night. I passed but just barely. Enrolled on the last day possible w 2.5 mnths. I’ll prob elaborate in a different post but my plan was to: - study only schweiser except EOC for ethics. - do my own notes after reading schweiser topics. - review schweiser topic questions but don’t calculate answers to any questions. I pretty much looked at a question, thought abt what I would do (50% of the time hav no idea), and just look at the answer and say ‘ok now I know’. Honestly, I did abt 5 calculations for questions prior to exam - swaps, FRAs and pricing options. - write answer explanation in question for future references. - same approach to mock exams. This was a high risk strategy but I had no time but it paid off. I hav a super short term memory so only committed formulas 48hrs prior to exam. But that was crazy in hindsight. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - - * - Corporate Finance 36 - - * - Derivatives 36 * - - - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 72 - * - - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - * - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - * - - Fixed Income Investments 36 * - - - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Quantitative Methods 18 - * -
4 months of prep last yr and failed. 6 months of prep this time. Majorly used Stalla. EOCs, AI from CFAI. Did samples and mocks as well. Not a pretty pass though
Passed. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 *-- - Corporate Finance 36 -*- - Derivatives 36 --* - Economics 18 - - * - Equity Investments 72 - *- - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - -* - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - -* - Portfolio Management 18 --* - Quantitative Methods 18 -*- When I came to the forum, everyone had to say that for level 2, simply schweser won’t work. You need to study from CFAI texts. A lot of re-takers warned about the question paper being completely different from schweser in terms of content and language. I paid no attention and I see many others didn’t pay attention to such warnings. I started studying from 28th Jan. Did schweser notes thrice, including the concept checkers self-test. Also I solved vol 1 & 2. Took this year’s CFAI mock. The only use of CFAI text was to study code and standards for ethics. For other topics of ethics, I used schweser. I did EOC for two topics only, ethics and FRA. And I installed probank but didn’t solve a single question from it. I believe schweser does a good job and level 2 is about retaining. Retention was the most difficult thing this time. Even after reading it three times, I felt like I have forgotten the models. That’s all. Congrats to all passers. Sorry to hear about those who failed. All the best to those who’d be taking it next June.
from mainland China and I am not major in finance in college. Passed with 2nd try. Just studied from 2011, using notes and CFA books. Also learn a lot from guys here and thanks! No quick method and just put time and effort into it and I think u will get PASS finally! Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - * - - Derivatives 36 - - * - Economics 18 - * - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 * - - - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 - - * - Quantitative Methods 18 - - *
Passed (3rd attempt) 2009 - Band 1 (Started a new job in Feb. and didn’t even open the books) 2010 - Band 4 (Studied, but not as hard as I should have) 2011 - Pass! Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 - * - - Corporate Finance 36 - * - - Derivatives 36 - * - - Economics 18 * – - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 * – - Quantitative Methods 18 - * - My method: -Started studying in November (wish I started earlier) -First, I read the topics that had the heaviest weights (e.g. FRA, Equity, Corp Fin., FI, and Der) in the CFAI text. -Took copious amount of notes. -Once I was finished with my notes on all the topics, I created a study plan on which topics I wanted to cover first. -Once I had my study plan, I did all the EOC questions (multiple choice and open-ended questions). -I constantly was updating my notes when I found “hidden gems” of info in the answer explanation pages. -By April, I finished all the EOC for all the topics. I then went back and re-answered the EOC questions that I got wrong the first time while at the same time re-doing the EOC questions in the heavy weighted topics (FRA, Equity, etc.) -By May, I did the 2010 and 2011 CFAI mocks once and had gone through most of the EOC questions at least twice some three and even four times. -Took the week before the exam off to review notes and answer some more EOC questions. -The Friday night before, did some lite note reviewing on the lower weight topics (e.g. Econ, Quant, etc.) -Got some good rest and ate a good breakfest in the morning. Went into the exam cautiously confident. -I also tracked my hours too just to make sure I was on track of hitting my goal of 500 “quality” hours of studying. This helped me stay focused.
-schweser EOC and examples -all schweser mocks and CFAI mock -CFAI EOC Ethics -Qbank (mainly did advanced questions, some intermediate). qbank wasn’t as useful as it was for Level I, but it’s still good to practice trouble areas. also, i think the advanced questions are good for ethics. -kept doing all problems over and over again until i pretty much knew them by heart -i did this with essentially a month and a half left (pulling in about 10 hours of studying a day). -reviewed ethics again the last couple of days prior to the exam. Item Set Q# Topic Max Pts <=50% 51%-70% >70% - Alternative Investments 18 * - - - Corporate Finance 36 - - * - Derivatives 36 - - * - Economics 18 - * - - Equity Investments 72 - - * - Ethical & Professional Standards 36 - - * - Financial Reporting & Analysis 72 - - * - Fixed Income Investments 36 - - * - Portfolio Management 18 - * - - Quantitative Methods 18 * - -
A lot of people used Schweser here… Do you feel Schweser did a good job of preparing you for the exam? Or did you have to frequently refer to the CFAI books? Do you feel the Schweser books helped save you time?
99 cannon sloop Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A lot of people used Schweser here… Do you feel > Schweser did a good job of preparing you for the > exam? Or did you have to frequently refer to the > CFAI books? Do you feel the Schweser books helped > save you time? I’m sure it saved time because the consensus seems that the CFAI textbooks are verbose. Make no mistake–I passed because of Schweser, BUT I studied my ass off. Although I did do the Ethics questions from the CFAI textbook, I don’t think it would’ve made a difference if I hadn’t. Read my post again how I studied.