Importance Of Studying Sections In Order?

CFA Level II
#1

Hey - anyone care to opine on whether it’s important to study the sections in order? do any sections use lots of knowlege from an earlier one?

i want to start with the sections that are easy for me…so start with fixed income, derivatives, economics and then onto the ghastly equity/accounting stuff at the end. Any reasona why this might be a bad idea?

Cheers

#2

Sounds like a good approach to me. I think the key is to have a plan and to stick with it. Starting with the easier sections will allow you to build some momentum so that you are ready for the trickier sections.

#3

I am no authority on all this - Absolutely agree with Chad here. What is important is to have a plan and sticking to it! I for one work the reverse - Like to hit all the hardest things first. I prefer to work on hardest things first when my mind is still not tired. Its a personal choice in the end. Follow the way you prepare from childhood for exams - dont try to change it! All the best mate!

#4

Such was my thinking first time i signed up for L1…never actually started it as i couldn’t face doing FRA! for me its all about getting ‘knee deep’ through the topics i like, so that i have no choice but to read about financial statements lol

#5

I would not risk running out of time and hence to FSA first, middle, last, and all the time.

#6

While you certainly need to be aware of the time constraints, I would also note that some of the content ‘builds’ on previous content. For example, the quant material can show up in just about every context: Equity valuation, portfolio management, fixed income analysis, etc. Some of the equity valuation stuff relies heavily on cash flow and ratio analysis in the FRA section, so maybe doing FRA before equities is a more ‘efficient’ plan. I think you can safely leave ethics for last, because as important as it is, it’s just a lot of reading and common sense - it’s easily the most ‘stand-alone’ section of the material.

#7

I am starting with FRA & Corporate Finance followed by Equity. Ethics to go last. Not sure about the middle yet. My plan is to constantly step back and review these high point topics to ensure mastery. FRA reading 6 takes alot of time for me to understand (post employment, multinational, and intercorp investments).

#8

i never thought about starting with the easiest first… guess its not a bad plan.

#9

I did level 1 in a near random order. Pretty sure I went like: {FRA, PM, Equities, F.I., … quant, ethics} and I did fine on the test. There were definitely a few times where I thought, “man I wish I did this section before that other section” or something like that, but it wasn’t a big deal. But level 2 may be a different story…

#10

I always build momentum and do the more difficult parts a little later. Start with some easy parts first and otherwise try to keep it in a serial order. So for me its - quant to the end without eco and fsa. Then fsa, then eco then ethics.

#11

For L2, I plan to start with econ and go in order from there. I’ll come back around to ethics last and maybe study quant for a day or two, haha. Any more time spent on quant than that will probably make me want to blow my head off.